A New Life

By Stephanie Kepke

Does a baby turn your life upside down or right side up? New parents, Grace and Zach, find themselves drifting apart after months of no sleep and no sex, not to mention too many fights over the dishes, laundry and in-laws. Sometimes it seems as if they'll never find their way back together. Is the love they still feel for each other beneath the layers of frustration and unhappiness enough to reignite their forgotten passion?

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Feb 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781628308198

Stephanie Kepke

An award winning author and blogger, Stephanie Kepke’s second grade teacher told her she should be a writer and she hasn’t wavered in her path since. In her past life—before kids—Stephanie was an arts reporter and music journalist. She lives in New York on Long Island with her husband, her three very active boys and two slightly crazy rescue dogs (one of whom is three-legged). She lives right in between the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean—and loves to have her toes in the sand.

Book preview

Inc.

Can I push longer? I asked, gasping.

They had already counted to ten, the nurse and my husband, Zach, each holding one knee. I took an extra sip of air at seven—they didn’t know this; I was supposed to hold my breath and bear down all the way through to the count of ten—so I could push a bit longer. I needed to. That wrinkly gray head, slick with wet swirls of hair, needed to come out.

You can if you need to, Grace, but remember to rest. The nurse patted my leg. During the thirty seconds before the next contraction hit, she put the oxygen mask over my face. Breathe, she whispered in my ear.

An hour earlier the epidural wore off just around the same time the Pit drip kicked in with a force that knocked the air out of me. We need another cocktail, the nurse shouted into the intercom.

It seemed like an eternity before the anesthesiologist slid next to me, colorful pendants hanging from his neck almost brushing my cheek. Each contraction still grabbed me in the back first, then the belly and strangled me. Whatever he shot into me didn’t make much of a difference. But, that head kept me going and I bore down with all my might, feeling stronger and weaker than ever before.

Go, Grace. Go, Grace. Push. Push. Push. Go. Go. Go.

I was a racecar driver. My pit team was cheering me on. I was about to finish the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, the Iron Man Triathlon. I was Woman hear me roar.

Kudos for Stephanie Kepke

Ms. Kepke won the Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America Cleveland Rocks Romance contest in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements category.

She was a finalist in the Charter Oak Romance Writers Golden Acorn Contest in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements category.

She was a finalist in the Connecticut Romance Writers of America Write Stuff contest in the Women’s Fiction category.

She was a finalist in the Golden Acorn *Quick Look Hook* contest.

A New Life

by

Stephanie Kepke

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

A New Life

COPYRIGHT © 2015 by Stephanie Kepke

My Life With You lyrics

Copyright RSTAR LTD 2014

Used with permission of artist

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Diana Carlile

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Mainstream Women’s Fiction Edition, 2015

Digital ISBN 978-1-62830-819-8

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

Dedicated to my husband, Jeff,

and my sons, Drew, Joshua, and Aidan.

Thank you for your