“No hyacinths?” she asked.

“No. This is it.” Wedding, not funeral. Future, not past.

I spun around on the stool, watching Manuelito spread frosting across a cookie. Gavin and his son were a package deal. No matter how this little boy got here, and no matter whether or not we were ever given a sibling for him, he was ours.

“Hey, Manuel?”

He glanced up and rubbed his hand across his nose, leaving a smear of blue frosting.

“Shall we take some cookies home to Papa Gavin?”

His dark eyes lit up, his little chin nodding up and down. “Yes!” he said. “More!” He returned to his cookie, spreading the frosting in earnest, as intense as Albert with his painting of the castle and its one lone light.

If fate had to give me something, if it already knew whether or not my future would ever include a baby of my own, then I knew I had to accept this gift, to nurture it, and to never hold myself apart.

Life wasn’t easy. We all had our hardships, our setbacks. But if Manuelito could come through everything that had happened to him, still wanting to share, still smiling at us with shining eyes, then surely I could let myself believe that everything that had happened — Finn, his death, Gavin’s run to Mexico, my forced move to San Diego — was necessary for us to arrive at this moment, this boy, and the new family we had formed.


THE END

* * *

While this is the end of Gavin and Corabelle’s story, you will see them again (and witness their wedding!) in Tina’s book — Forever Sheltered.


Tina may think she will never trust another man enough to fall in love, but she didn’t count on Dr. Darion Marks, a pediatric oncologist whose emotionally demanding job and personal tragedies have forced him to avoid romantic entanglements. Their relationship turns explosive when Tina learns the secret Darion is keeping from the hospital staff, proving that love can heal even the most shattered hearts.


To be there when they discover each other, and to know when Forever Sheltered will be released, join my mailing list for book announcements and excerpts as I write their story.


Meet other Forever Series book fans on the Facebook page.


I have promised my daughter Elizabeth that I will write Elektra Chaos next, so I will get it out this spring. It’s the final segment of my series for 8-12 year olds featuring children facing challenges. Elizabeth has epilepsy caused by brain damage when her twin sister died while I was pregnant. This will be the story that she wants me to tell. She is on the cover.



Love to all of you,