Way back in my pre-published days, I had an idea for a story where the heroine was stuck in a country she couldn’t leave without a male relative to escort her.
In that iteration, I imagined the hero posing as her husband or maybe they got married under forced conditions–I still want to write that story. But in this one, I decided Leon and Tanja would be married, but estranged. They haven’t spoken in five years, but he suddenly gets the news that she needs him and he swoops in to rescue her.
I was in the middle of writing that delightfully dramatic opening when a baby began to cry in the other room. Not here in my house, but there in that storybook bungalow where everyone’s nerves were already balanced on a knife’s edge.
There was Leon thinking he only had to get Tanja free of these rebel forces, then they could get their overdue divorce and move on with their separate lives. He hasn’t seen her in five years so he knows darned well that the baby she brings out and claims is his isn’t.
Being a true hero, he gets both of them off of the remote island, but that’s only the beginning of their adventure. I hope you enjoy their reunion and gentle fall into becoming the family they all need.
