L S Mason: 2 books

After fifteen years in Garoth House, orphan Zeah Boyd finally ages out; taking with her a mystery that haunted the kids all those years. Life on the outside proves not to be the freedom she imagined. Homeless, she struggles to rise above the obstacles keeping her down and is stubbornly determined...

Thirty year old Edwin adopts Deanna aged thirteen and destroys all her hopes and dreams when she is eighteen; then tries to kill her when she is twenty. She hides out in the home of aging Park Ranger Eli. Deanna makes a promise to Eli that she doesn't want to keep but he shares two secrets with her...