Presented by SHANNON MUIR’S INFINITE HOUSE OF BOOKS
SPONTANEOUS CHOICES SHORTS features short serialized fiction by author Shannon Muir, that may be later released as part of e-book or print collections. For all of January and part of February, Thursdays will feature this special serialized story, “A New Chapter of Love”. This is Part One. Three young women became bound together by poor choices in love, resulting in motherhood for each of them, and family connections that brought them together. Now mothers to their children, they worked together to write a new chapter for each of their families while supporting one another in a blended unit. Now, with all of their children just starting into elementary school, the three women find they have a little more time and freedom for themselves, and start to discuss the things that would bring each of them a little bit of happiness.
“So, you’re seriously thinking about dating?” Vallenda Narváez asked her half-sister Caitlin Blacke.
“I have no plans to go straight to the bedroom, Vallenda. I just want to find someone who can appreciate me for me, and can love me and my daughter for who we are. Besides, it’s not just like I was randomly dating. Some fellow swept me off my feet my freshman year of college and married me for the money he thought I’d inherited from our late Dad, Vallenda, if I need to remind you.”
“True. When that jerk found out our Dad came from a wealthy family but was a black sheep, he dropped you like a hot rock,” Vallenda agreed. “And I won’t lie that I’ve flirted with thinking about dating too, but after finding my son’s father on a dating app and things going the way they did, I may want to do it differently. A lot has changed.”
Caitlin turned to the other mother of their group, Saundra Waldgrave, a relation of old friends of Caitlin’s grandmother who had found herself in similar trouble and reached out to Caitlin.
“Saundra, please don’t feel pressured by this. I know you loved your husband and didn’t expect to be widowed young with your boy and girl twins. Grieving takes time.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t my husband’s kids. They were fathered by a rival of my father’s who tried to blackmail me into an affair, and then I got pregnant and hid the truth from my husband, who found out and ending up dying in an accident. Everyone still believes they’re Corey’s kids, and their real father has stayed far away. But I know he’s still out there. Until I feel comfortable with my spontaneous choice, and that I can live a live without fear, dating will be the furthest thing from my mind.”