First, a little bit of news. I am still working on The Storm King and hope to put out a little teaser in a few weeks. I’ve had a terrible cold for the past two weeks. It was so bad that I had to take some time off from work. I even had a Covid test, just to be sure. It was negative. But I went several days without writing a word. I am back to it now, and the manuscript is at 38383 words, but that break put me back from my expected first draft deadline of September 4. Also, my nephew and his family are coming into town tonight and I hope to spend some time with them this weekend. I haven’t seen them since my mom’s funeral two years ago. The next weekend my cousin and his family are coming up from Milwaukee. So I will lose some writing time, but it is so nice to see people I don’t get to see very often.

My next bit of news is about my new furbaby. Her name is Dottie. She is about 6 weeks old now. A friend rescued her and her motherless siblings when they were maybe a week old. I kinda fell in love with her pictures and today Callie brought her home to me!

I hope you are enjoying summer (unless you are on the other side of the world. Then I hope you are enjoying winter) with lots of good reading and no covid!

Anyone who knows me knows I love cats. In the past few years I’ve had to put two of my furbabies to sleep. Merry was almost 17, and Dixie had health issues that couldn’t be fixed without a very expensive surgery, and maybe the surgery wouldn’t be successful anyway. It is always hard to put our babies to sleep. Masuka is getting up there in age too.

A friend recently rescued a motherless litter of six. She is bottle feeding them and looking for furever homes for them. I fell in love with this little calico. I have staked my claim and Callie thinks she should be ready to come to me in a month or 5 weeks. I kinda like the name Dottie but I’m not sure. What do you think? What would you name this adorable little girl?

When I think of the Fourth of July I think of potlucks, picnics, kids games and of course, fireworks! Anyone else? I remember writing a scene in Wolf’s Oath that had fireworks. Well, not literal fireworks. Because, ya know, gunpowder based fireworks would be dangerous in the bedroom. *smirk* I thought I’d share that chapter here. FYI This is the wedding night scene. At first Connie told Des she wasn’t ready to have sex with him. Spoiler: she changes her mind when she sees him getting ready for bed. To read it, click HERE. Warning: For adults only!

Des Wolfe

I hope all my American readers have a very happy and safe Fourth!

I think everyone will agree that 2020 was a bad year. The first half of 2021 was rough too. Some of you may know that on July 10, 2020, I was diagnosed with Stage 3c colorectal cancer. Cancer is a scary word. Would I die? The surgeon told me that a majority of people with my diagnosis live 2 to 5 years.

Oh, boy. Scary stuff. My oncologist, though, was a cheerleader. He said we could and would fight this. He laid out a treatment plan for me. First, infusion chemotherapy every other week, with an infusion pump to wear at home for two days. That started in August and ended in December. After that, 28 daily radiation treatments with oral chemo pills. I finished that on January 21st. It wasn’t always easy, but I powered through all that, and CT scans and MRIs showed the tumor had shrunk enough that surgery was likely to be a success. They couldn’t guarantee it until they were actually in and saw what was there. My surgery was at the Mayo Clinic to remove the tumor and the affected lymph nodes. When I woke up the surgeon told me she was sure they had gotten all of it. YAY!!! Party time! Being sick a=from chemo and burned from radiation was worth it!!

However, a week later she called me (a surgeon renowned in her field called personally!!) to tell me that the pathology report had found a secondary kind of cancer called well differentiated neuroendocrine tumor. This type was fairly rare and was good at masquerading as healthy cells. She was still sure she had gotten all of it, but I would have to go back in three months for another scan to see if this other cancer was detected anywhere else.

Can you imagine how hard it was to wait for three more months to find out if the cancer had spread? I drove down to Rochester on June 22, had the scan, and met with Dr. Hobday, the Mayo oncologist, on June 23. That’s when he gave me the news:

I AM CANCER FREE!!!!

I had hoped and prayed that I was. And I thought that I was, because for an entire year I had NO interest in writing but

on June 4 I had an idea for a new story. Actually, an old story. I have a bunch of old notebooks that I had scribbled stories in years ago. I remembered one story I had started about 20 years ago but never finished. Suddenly I really really wanted to find it and finished it. I had to go through a ton of old notebooks to find it. I did find it and I am pleased to say I have improved as a writer in the past twenty years 😉

So, I am pretty much re-writing it from scratch and I am loving it. The title is The Storm King. It is a fantasy romance between a conquering king (think Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan, only much sexier) who is set on conquering the lands of his enemies, who had captured him as a teen and made him a slave. The only person who ever treated him decently there was the governor’s beautiful young daughter. She helped him escape, and gave him a pearl pendant on a gold chain as a souvenir to remember her by. He swore to return and marry her. But there is a big twist. More about that to come in the future. I expect it to be around 60,000 words, and I am at 16,450 right now. So I have a good start on it. My goal for the rough draft to be done is September 1. The next story is the Fire Prince, and The third in the trilogy is The Ice Lord. I haven’t been this excited about writing for years!!

So that is my update. I am doing well. I still have a little recovery from surgery to get through, but I feel like I have my life back. Here is hoping for a much improved second half of 2021. I hope you all are well and have wonderful reading material to keep your kindles and nooks busy this summer.

I started writing Gina’s Wolf as soon as I finished the last edits on Victoria’s Cat. I loved Gina, with her self control and take-no-crap attitude toward the hero. And Cole honestly tried to set aside his Alpha tendencies to please his mate. The setting and the Omaha versus Kansas-Missouri storyline was intriguing. There were some bad guys that dearly needed to be taken down. I really loved the story. I should have been able to finish it a couple of years ago. But…

The last couple of years have been hard for me. Noisy neighbors made it hard to concentrate on writing. Moving home and taking care of my mom cut into my writing time. In fact, I struggled to find any pleasure in writing. Then when my mom died I completely lost my mojo for about a year. But then I was SO CLOSE to finishing the book I was able to push through it. Thank God my editor mostly liked it. She pointed out places that needed some work and pointed out things she liked. I think Gina’s Wolf turned out pretty great. I hope you will enjoy it!

You can find Gina’s Wolf at

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/2QUyu8a

Amazon.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08GJTF11H

Amazon.de https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08GJTF11H

Amazon.ca https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08GJTF11H

Amazon.au https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08GJTF11H

Apple https://books.apple.com/us/book/ginas-wolf/id1529122354?uo=4&mt=11&at=1010l9S2

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ginas-wolf-maddy-barone/1137539713

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gina-s-wolf

Strong Hearts, my comtemporary romance that was part of Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire & Rescue Kindle World, has re-released. So if you wanted to read it but couldn’t because it was only availble on Amazon, here is your chance. I really love Brutus. He and Denise are flawed people who manage to make their love work in the end. 🙂

Buy it at Amazon.com

Buy it at Amazon.uk

Buy it at Amazon. ca

Buy it at iBooks

Buy it at Barnes & Noble

Buy it at Kobo

Hello! I need your opinion here. As I close in on the finish of the last book I will write in this world (at least for a while. I kinda a have an idea for a story for Laura the Lobo) I want to let everybody see old favorite characters. It’s not really feasible though. I have started a scene at the Plane Women’s House where the weary wolves and their ladies sit down for a meal. My intention was for characters to have a walk on parts, Just a minute of screen time as a sort of a final farewell. But I am not sure that is really best. It drags the story out. And how much will Gina care about people she doesn’t know?

It might be better for me to have an epilogue where Carla, Rose, Lisa and Tami sit down in a year or so for a cup of coffee while they watch their children and grandchildren. They can talk about how their lives are so different than they expected them to be the morning in 2014 when they boarded the plane.

What are your thoughts?

Meanwhile, here is your snip with the beginning of the scene at the Plane Women’s House.

__________________________________________________________________________

Chapter Sixteen

“Almost home,” Cole said.

Gina leaned over him to look out the train window. At first, she saw nothing but dead grass wet with spring melt. No town. No farms. No trees. No people. In a minute, the train chugged up a slight rise, and by leaning further over Cole she could see a panorama of grasslands bordered by bare trees, and faintly, a low line of buildings in the distance. Kearney?

“Twenty minutes,” Cole said, pulling her back into her seat with an arm around her waist. “We’ll be at the station in a bit, and two hours after that, we’ll be home.”

Anticipation twirled around nerves. “And you ― I mean, we live outside Kearney, right?”

“Yes, about six miles north.”

She took his hand and held it tightly. Soon she would see her new home. He had described the place he called the den to her, and she wasn’t sure she understood it. It was a one-story building from the Times Before with lots of sleeping rooms. It had once been a hotel, where many people could stay during their travels. There was a big kitchen and a large dining hall where they all ate together, and a communal room where the Pack gathered in the evenings to sing and play games. It would be nothing like the formality in the President’s mansion in Kansas City, so Gina was sure she would like it. The only thing that nagged at her was the lack of privacy. He’d said they would have their own room in the den, but with wolf hearing, everyone would know what they were doing in their room. She ran her gaze over Cole’s handsome face, down the thick column of his neck, to his wide shoulders tapering to a narrow waist and sighed. He still hadn’t made love to her even though she felt much better. Even her mom was on the road to recovery

She glanced back over her shoulder. Her mom rested on a cot near the back of the train car. Jay sat next to her, holding her hand and whispering to her. The rhythmic rattle of the train drowned out what he was saying. Her mom’s mouth, less swollen than it had been three days ago, had a gentle curve. Gina was sure it wouldn’t be long before she had a new stepfather.

In the seat across the aisle, Patia and Ray also held hands and murmured quietly together. Considering that only a few days ago Ray had been near death, he looked incredibly healthy. Ray’s dad, Mayor Madison, was drowsing with his head slumped against the window, his wife’s head on his shoulder. Even as Gina glanced at them, they straightened. There were a dozen other pack members in this car, and their excitement, though suppressed, was clear. Everyone wanted to be home.

The sliding door at the front of the car opened and Taye came in. Half the men from the Clan and Pack had left Omaha on four feet, running over the Nebraska prairie to bring word back to their kin of what had happened in Omaha. That still left over one hundred men to board the train and guard their women and wounded. Too many to fit into one train car.

Taye walked down the aisle, swaying easily with the rocking of the train, nodding at the men from his pack. He paused to touch his daughter’s head with gentle fingers before giving Gina a smile.

“Almost home,” he remarked to the train car in general.

Mayor Madison stood up and stretched. He said with feeling, “I can’t wait to be home and quit of this Omaha business.”

His wife said teasingly, “Eddie, are you afraid that Marty has run Kearney into the ground?”

Mayor Madison’s face creased in a smile. He was a handsome man. Thirty years from now Ray would look just like him. “I’m sure my brother has been conscientious, but his new wife might be a distraction.”

The train whistle shrieked. Gina looked out the window again and saw they were entering Kearney. Home? She gripped Cole’s hand tighter. He looked down at her with a smile so tender her breath caught. She didn’t know what living at the den would be like, but Cole would be there, so it would be home. She smiled back.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Summer?” Taye asked.

Her mother had decided to go back to her first husband’s name. She said since Todd had already had a wife, she had never been legally married to him. Gina approved.

“Well enough to walk off the train on my own, Mr. Wolfe. I don’t need to be carried on the cot.”

Taye considered. “The wounded in the car behind this one will disembark first. Jay, when they are off, you’ll help Mrs. Summer down the steps and into the station. Then Ray will go. Cole, you and Gina will be third. Then everyone one else will follow.”

The train slowed as it passed through Kearney. It wasn’t a big city like Kansas City or Omaha, but it looked well kept. The streets were clean and the buildings she saw seemed to be in good repair. A gaggle of pre-teen boys ran alongside the train as it passed, waving excitedly. With a hissing of brakes, the train slid to a halt beside a long building whose roof extended into a shelter over a platform.

Gina watched Jay help her mother up from the cot and guide her slowly, gently, along the aisle to the door with one burly arm around her waist. Ray stood up without any help, although Patia hovered close as they exited the train. Gina took a deep breath and stood up. Cole walked very closely behind her, and for once he didn’t push her aside so her could go out first and check for danger.

After she stepped down from the train it was a whirlwind of new faces and some that were vaguely familiar to her. Ray Madison was there, hugging his brother, Eddie, and sister-in-law, Lisa, and his nephew who was almost his own age. His wife, the big blond woman named Victoria, was there. Gina remembered her in the coffee shop the first time she’d laid eyes on Cole. Victoria almost smothered her in a giant hug, congratulating her boisterously for accepting Cole’s mate claim. She met an older man with long iron gray hair in two thick braids. Des was the head of the pack that lived in Kearney. Connie, his wife, was a gruff woman with direct gray eyes and silvery white hair.

“Come over to the house,” Connie said to Taye. “Renee has been cooking since White Horse brought the news that you’d be on the train today.”

Taye cast a considering gaze over his wounded, especially Gina’s mom. “That would be great. Might not stay too long though.”

“No problem,” Said Des gravely.

His wife nodded. “Bet you’re all tired and longing for your own beds.” She turned to the Madisons. “You’re welcome to join us. We’d be glad to have you.”

Eddie Madison shook his head with a smile. “Thanks. We appreciate it, but I want home.”

“Another time,” Des said, still grave.

Patia raised appealing eyes to her father, who shook his head sternly. Patia sighted and gave Ray a tender kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It took about twenty minutes to walk to the house they called The Plane women’s House. It was a three-story brick building with stone lions perched on either side of stone steps. Gina had heard of this place. It was a famous restaurant. At the top of the steps was an older man whose gray streaked black hair was as thick and long as Des’.

“That’s Hawk,” Cole whispered in her ear. “Renee is his mate. Do you remember her?”

Of course, she remembered Renee. She was the chef whose food had made The Plane Women’s Eatery famous. But she knew Renee for other reasons. Renee had been taken prisoner along with Victoria when her Todd’s men had stopped their train and taken them captive back in … Gina caught her breath. That had been only a month ago? Shock rooted her feet to the stone step she was climbing.

Cole instantly stopped too. “Gina? Are you okay?”

A month ago, she had barely known Cole. In fact, she’d been scared of him. She shook her head in disbelief.

“Dad!” Urgency sharpened Cole’s voice. “Get a doctor. Gina’s―”

“No, I’m fine,” she cried. “I’m fine.”

 There were at least seventy of them here, and all of them stopped to look at her with worry.

“Really, just fine.”

To prove it, she gave everyone a big smile and started up the steps again. Hawk watched her with concern in his dark eyes. His sharp gaze moved to spot a little behind her. “Bring the ladies right in.” He sounded as bossy as Cole at his worst, but kind too. “Clear the way.”

In only a minute Gina was seated at a square table with Cole on her left and her mom on her right. Jay was across from her.

North Dakota weather is crazy. Did you know that? It’s not even Halloween and we are expecting MAYBE a blizzard at the end of this week. Maybe. You can read more about it HERE if you are interested. Maybe it will miss us, or be just a little rain. We can hope.

I have a teaser but it is quite short. I’d like to wait so you can read the entire section. I thought instead of a teaser I could do an impromptu giveaway. I have a few books left over from signings this summer. Maybe someone would like to have a couple. I thought I would offer the winner their choice of any TWO of the books above. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. It doesn’t matter if you live in England, Germany, Australia, Canada or the US. Everyone is welcome to enter. If you live overseas, I will probably have them shipped from Amazon to you. If you live in the US I will sign the books and mail them myself.

Here is the fine print: One entry per person. I will let Random . org choose a comment on Saturday night, October 13 at 8:00pm central time. Don’t leave your contact info IN your comment. You will have the chance to enter it when you begin your comment. I will email the winner. If I don’t get a response within 24 hours I will have another comment drawn.

Ready? Good Luck!

The trials and tribulations with the air conditioner continue. It took two weeks, but they finally brought me a new… no, not a new air conditioner, but a different air conditioner. Two men installed it and left. I was thrilled. However, as a I learned the following day, it doesn’t work very well. It was 82 outside and 84 inside my apartment. I called the rental office again, and they promised to send someone out.

Still waiting. On the day when it was 88 degrees (I think that is about 31 C) I packed an overnight bag and headed out to find a hotel to stay in. I planned to send them the receipt and ask for repayment. I was half way down the stairs when I decided I was being stupid. A friend from church had offered to lend me the portable air conditioner she had bought a few years ago to cool the pavilion tent for her daughter’s wedding reception. It was time to accept the offer.

Elmer, the Portable Life Saver, has been doing a very nice job of maintaining my sanity. The weather has been cooling. Yesterday it was 79 and today was 74. Tomorrow will be 64. So *maybe* the hot weather is done for the year. But then again, 90 in October isn’t unheard of.

Anyway. Now that Elmer is on the job I’ve been able to write again. We are getting close to being done with Gina and Cole’s story. I have a LOT of re-writing to do, but there’s a lot I feel good about keeping too. So, here is the next snip in our story:

_______________________________________________________________________

Gina left her mom and Jay and walked down the mezzanine to the stairs, where she found she had to pause for a minute to steady her knees. She used the banister to support her weight as she went down one step at a time. A young man she didn’t know leapt up the stairs. He was young, perhaps her husband’s age, his jeans and cotton shirt showing off his long and lean build, with his nearly white blond hair in two braids reaching almost to his waist.

“Wait! Let me help you,” he said.

He may have meant to be polite, but it was an order, not a request. Clearly, he was related to her husband in some way even though he was blond and blue eyed. And he didn’t bother with giving her an arm to lean on. He picked her up and carried her downstairs, across the room, and into the private dining room off the kitchen, where he placed her solicitously into a chair.

“There.” He stood back and smiled at her. “We haven’t met. “I’m your cousin Taylor Stensrud.”

She had no idea how he fit into Cole’s complicated family tree, but she smiled back. “I’m Gina.”

“Colby’s mate.” He nodded. “Have you eaten?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Hey! Parker! Bring some breakfast for Miss Gina.”

A second man leaned into the dining room, saw her, and ducked back into the kitchen. He came back in only a few minutes with a plate heaped with more scrambled eggs and bacon than she could eat in a week and put it on the table in front of her. He was almost a carbon copy of Taylor. His blond hair was a few shades darker than Taylor’s pale blond. They must be brothers.

“Thank you,” she said.

The two brothers stood, just staring at her until she cleared her throat. “Fork?”

“Oh.” A vivid flush washed Parker’s lean cheeks. He pulled a  fork out of his back pocket. “Sorry. Here.”

They continued to stare at her while she ate. Soon two more young men joined them, and then a third, and Gina imagined an exotic animal in a zoo might feel like this. She waved her fork at them.

“Hey, guys? Is there something I can do for you?”

They shook their heads.

She put her fork down with considerably more force than needed. “Then why are you looking at me? It’s rude.”

The three newcomers blushed. It was clear even through their dark tans. Parker cleared his throat. “Someone hurt you,” he said. “And we’re pissed as hel…er, really angry about it.”

Taylor added, “No woman should be hurt like that, but especially not a woman who belongs to the Clan.”

The other three muttered agreement.

“Good grief.” Gina wondered if they had seen her mom yet and if they considered her a member of the Clan. “Are you all related to my husband?”

Yes, they all were related to Cole, and went into detailed descriptions of how their grandfathers were the brother or cousin or uncle of Taye’s dad. Gina lost track long before Rose appeared in the door.

“Boys,” she said severely, “quit bothering Gina. Mrs. Madison needs help at Mayor McGrath’s house.”

The five young men filed quickly out of the dining room, nodding at Gina. Rose sat down at the table. “Don’t let them bother you. How are you feeling?”

Gina took a bite of bacon. “Not too bad. A little tired now.”

“That’s to be expected.” She examined Gina’s face. “I bet that hurts.”

It did, but as long as she didn’t move too much it was bearable. “It’s okay. You know, I can’t eat all of this.”

Rose smiled at the still heaping plate. “One of those boys got it for you, I bet.”

“Parker. Or Taylor. I can’t remember which is which. But they aren’t boys. How old are they? Mid-twenties?”

Rose shrugged. “I suppose so. I just think of that whole generation as boys.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I feel so old.”

“You don’t look old.”

Rose giggled. “Thank you. I guess I’m pretty well preserved for a woman who was born almost ninety years ago.”

How strange, to think this woman sitting at the table with her had been born in the Times Before, when people traveled in airplanes and could speak to people hundreds  or even thousands of miles away. “What was it like in the Times Before?”

Rose shrugged again with a half-smile. “Different. Not necessarily better or worse, just different.”

“Do you miss it?”

“No. “  rose considered. “I miss some of the conveniences, and sometimes even now I miss my mom, but this is where my life is. My children and my mate are here. I wouldn’t go back without Sky, and Sky would have hated the Times Before.”

 Gina wondered if she would have liked living then. She couldn’t imagine it. Would Cole have liked it? “I wonder where Cole is? Has he come back from getting Ray?”

Rose’s eyes unfocused and her head tilted, as if she was listening to a distant noise. “No, not yet, but he will be here soon.”

Only a couple of minutes later Cole and Taye came into the dining room. Cole came immediately to her chair. He eyed her still heaping plate. “Eat,” he urged.

“I’ve already had enough. I’m stuffed. You want some?”

Carla came in. “Silly question.”

Cole sat down, took her fork and began shoveling in eggs. Taye put his arm around Carla and kissed the top of her head. Gina hoped that meant they had made up.

“How is Ray doing?” Carla asked. “Is Patia with him?”

Taye nodded. “We’ll bring her back after supper. Ray is tired, but doesn’t want to sleep when he can snuggle with his fiancée.”

Gina wasn’t sure if Taye approved of the snuggling or not. “Sky is at the mayor’s house,” he told Rose, who nodded. “At one o’clock this afternoon we are meeting with General Atwater to sign a treaty.”

“A treaty?” Carla’s voice was cautious. “Those didn’t work too well for your people back in the old days.”

Taye brushed a kiss over the top of her head. “This will be different. Atwater promises to never use what’s left of the Kansas-Missouri army to attack anyone ever again. We and Omaha promise to not take any more revenge.”

Cole growled.

“I know.” His dad put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “After what they did to you and others, they are getting off lightly.”

“If you can call killing more than seventy-five percent of their army ‘lightly’,” Carla said with a touch of sarcasm. But the sarcasm was nearly drowned by satisfaction.

Gina swallowed. So many dead. How many of them had she known? Were the privates who had guarded the ladies’ tent among the deada? Guilt tried to prick her. She silently told it to go away and put the blame where it belonged: squarely at her stepfather’s feet.

“We could have killed them all,” Cole said harshly. He put the fork down, the plate empty now. “This Atwater knows it. He’ll march what’s left back to Kansas City.”

“Don’t envy him,” Taye said. “Telling the mothers that their sons are dead won’t be easy.”

Gina shuddered. “Aren’t there any wounded?”

“Sure. A few hundred. Some of those won’t live to see Kansas City.”

Some of them were just kids who joined the army because they were drafted. But that was Gerald Todd’s fault too. Cole leaned his weight against her arm.

“Don’t cry for them,” he said quietly. “We didn’t kill anyone who wasn’t wearing a uniform.”

She leaned into him. “I know. It’s war, and you didn’t start it.”

“No,” Taye agreed. “We finished it. Do you want to witness the treaty signing?”

Gina thought about it. “Is Cole going?”

Her husband nodded.

“Then, no. Cole can tell me all about it tonight.”

Cole kissed her lightly. “Every detail you want,” he promised.

Wow! September is here. I am so looking forward to fall. I want to sleep under a blanket. I want to feel cool enough to enjoy a cup of hot tea. I want to wear my flannel.

I also want my air conditioner to work!

It broke down about a week ago. No, two weeks ago. Maintenance came a week later to fix it. It did work for about 4 days, but yesterday it died again. Luckily the weather has been fairly cool, but my apartment is hot and stuffy if it is even 70 degrees out. And I really, REALLY hate to be hot.

OK, enough whining. Tomorrow is back to work after a wonderful (if non air conditioned) 5 day weekend. I did some spinning, some knitting, some reading, some sewing, and some sleeping. I did some writing too. Here is some of it:

___________________________________________________________________________

Gina remembered all the times her mother had bowed to Todd’s wishes, telling Gina to do the same. How many times had her mom brushed off her daughter’s unhappiness? How often had she showed impatience with Gina’s yearning to have her own life? She tried to keep accusation from her voice. “You married him.”

“I did.” Her mom’s bloodshot eye gazed blindly toward the covered window. “I was a widow, alone with  a small daughter to protect, when I met Gerald. He was attractive. Oh, not handsome,” she added, correctly interpreting Gina’s expression. “But charismatic. There was something about him that made me feel cherished and safe. I married him because there had already been two attempts by men to steal us and force me to marry them. I thought he was our best choice.”

“He was a monster,” Gina said flatly.

Her mom’s hand picked at the blanket covering her. “Yes, he was, but I didn’t know that at first.” Even with the swelling and bruises, the bleak expression was plain on her mom’s face. “In the beginning, he was charming. He told me over and over how lucky he was to have gained a wife and a daughter at the same time. He treated you like you were his own.”

Gina remembered times when Todd had played with her. Maybe she had even believed him when he said he loved her. Maybe.

“Then I found out that I was wife number two.”

Gina blinked at that. “You didn’t know he was already married?”

“Of course not. Plenty of men never have even one wife. Whoever heard of a man with two? I confronted him about it, and when he admitted that he had a wife I told him we weren’t legally married, and I was leaving.”

 “I bet that went over well.”

Her mom grimaced. “He became very, very sweet. You know the tone he uses—used—when he grew truly angry? He made threats. I wanted to leave. I wish I’d been brave enough to run then. I talked myself into believing we were safer with him than we would be on the run.”

Gina hurt her lip making a rude sound. Her mom looked quickly up at her.

“You’re right,” her mom agreed in a whisper. “We would have had a better chance then, before he became so powerful. But remember that I was a young woman with a little girl, and no family or friends to help. Maybe I could have found a place to hide if it was just me. But with a little girl? No. And I couldn’t leave you behind. Do you think Gerald Todd would have given up searching for us?”

Gina sighed. “No. But you should have run anyway.”

“Maybe. I stayed because I thought it was safer.”

“It was easier.”

Her mom hesitated. “Maybe,” she said again. “I told myself I was making the best of  a poor choice. As long as he didn’t hurt you, I could bear it.”

“Is that what he threatened?”

He mom nodded her head slightly. “He didn’t threaten me directly. It was always you who would pay for anything I did or said.”

Gina stared at her hand clenched over the wooden arm of the chair. “You were trapped.”

Her mom croaked a bitter laugh. “From the moment I met him.” She shifted her weight in the bed with a stifled grunt of pain. “I know h…” Her voice trailed off uncertainly, apparently balking at the word ‘hate’. “Don’t like me. I made choices that hurt you. I honestly thought they were the best choices under the circumstances.”

“I don’t hate you.” Gina was almost surprised by her swift words. But they were true. “I don’t even dislike you. I was angry with you. It seemed like you didn’t care enough about me. I understand better now.”

Silent tears slid into the hair at her mom’s temples. “Gi-Gi, I’m so sorry. I am so sorry.”

Tears stung her own eyes at the forgotten nickname. She hadn’t been called Gi-Gi since her father died. “It’s going to be okay. Like you said, we’re free now. You freed us when you shot him.”

“I had to do it.” Her mom’s voice was thick with tears. “I’ve never killed anyone before, but he would have killed you if I hadn’t stopped him. I had to do it.”

“I’m glad you did.” She could feel the bruises on her throat when she swallowed. “It worked out. He’s dead and we’re with people who will take care of us and never threaten us or use one of us against the other. We’re safe now.”

Her heart lightened when she said that. The truth of it was like the sun, chasing away shadows and warming the cold places in her heart. The mother she had despised for years could become a real mother, and she could be a better daughter. She would be a better daughter.

“Mom? What do you think about Jay?”

Her mom was silent for a long moment, and when she spoke it wasn’t about Jay. “Tell me about your husband.”

“Cole.” She smiled a little. “He’s not perfect. He gets bossy and tries to order me around. He’s gotten angry with me a time or two. He never tries to manipulate me. He doesn’t threaten. He’s never raised a hand to me. He would die to keep me safe.”

“He loves you.”

“And I love him. He is what a husband should be. I think he learned that from his dad.”

“That’s good.” Her mom nodded. “Okay. What do you think about Jay?”

“I only met him just now. But if he’s like the other men of his family I think you can trust him.”

Her mom went back to pleating the sheet. “I can’t have any more children.”

“I doubt Jay cares. Why don’t you take some time to get to know him? ”

“How much time would he be willing to give me?”

The bitter note in her mom’s voice made Gina wince. “He’s waited over fifty years for the right woman. Ask him. I bet he’s willing to give you all the time you need.”

Her mom smoothed out the pleats she’d created and looked at Gina. “I’ll think about it.”

“Mom, you deserve to be happy.” She reached and gently picked up her mom’s hand. “We both do.”

Fingers tightened over her own. “Can we start over, Georgina?”

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

“Good. Jay told me he would take me to where he lives as soon as I’m well enough. You will live there too. We’ll start a new life there. A better life.”

“Yes. Are you tired now? Should I leave you to rest?”

“I am a little tired.” Her mom gave her hand a squeeze before taking it back. “Could you ask Jay to come back in? I think I rest better when he is near.”

A few minutes later, Gina left Jay sitting in the chair, his knees touching the edge of her mom’s bed, while he whispered to her. A new stepfather? She was okay with Jay for a stepfather