Brides Series

After years of pressure, blind dates and other hook ups instigated by friends, Heather finally finds the one at the age of thirty six. One not to settle for less than the best and believing in her dreams of the perfect mate, Heather's dream is about to happen in three weeks time. But a knock at the door to their home one Saturday brings mind blowing news. News that could shatter all her dreams of the perfect man. Will Heather loose faith in everything she believes in or will she rise to the occasion and believe that there is a silver lining in everything, and that the man might not have to be perfect but perfect for her. 'So,' Charlotte turned to me. The heat of the spotlight on me unnerved me. 'Let's not even go there,' I interjected. 'Go where, I haven't even said anything yet.' 'Well we all know where this is going.' 'We need to address the fact.' Georgina chimed in her two pence worth of wisdom. 'Time is certainly moving at lighting speed.' 'You don't say,' I said. 'I thought it was moving at normal pace.' 'Back to what I wanted to talk about.' Charlotte fiddled for her mobile phone. 'Let me guess, you've found me another date!' I rolled my eyes. 'Well you didn't do well on the dating site we enrolled you onto.' She flicked through some pictures. 'I didn't ask you to put me on the dam dating site in the first place!' That had been a shocker! My two best friends in the world had gone behind my back and signed me up to a dating site. 'We've got to get this ball rolling.' Charlotte didn't look up from the mobile. 'Yeah by going on a date with a bunch of men who want nothing but fun times! Or who only text you when they want to get into your freaking pants! Or jerk off! Gees thanks!' 'Oh sweetie they were just numbnuts! It happens in life you know… before you meet the right one.' Georgina piped. 'You have to meet a few frogs before meeting your prince.'  'You think!' 'The problem with you Heaths is that you're too picky, you've got to lower the bar a little,' said Georgina. 'Is that so? Well as far as I'm concerned I've done my part, it's not my fault if the guy pulls a Houdini on me or an Irish goodbye.' 'A what now?' Georgina looked totally perplexed. 'The faders, they just stop texting, stop calling. I can't for the life of me understand that behaviour. Why don't they just say, not interested! Who needs that shit! I mean was that the way it was when you met your Larry?' 'Nope,' she giggled. 'We just bumped into each other at a festival and it was love at first sight.' 'Great!' I'm less than impressed. Talking to Georgina sometimes was like talking to a penguin. How a woman with a PhD in economics could be so dim sometimes made me think my career choice in journalism had been the wrong choice. Psychology of the mind would've served mankind better. 'Here he is!' Charlotte stopped at a photograph. 'If I wasn't married I'd have gone with him myself.' She pushed the picture in front of my face. 'He just joined our company; he's young and hungry for ambition.' I studied the hunk in the picture and had to admit that he was very good looking. Tall dark and handsome, just the way they're ordered. It sounded like a commercial for chocolate!

Life after marriage wasn't as simple as it sounded. There are a lot of challenges Dean and Heather have to face. For one they have a child that has shaken their partnership and not too long after that, Heather discovers a deep dark secret that she wished she'd known about before saying 'I do!' Although life can be challenging there is one thing Heather has learnt and that is unconditional love. There is no substitute for it and it keeps her going when things get really dark. But with everything, nothing lasts forever and at the very dark tunnel there is light in the horizon that makes love worth everything it's made out to be. Love goes Beyond Vows. Excerpt If only I'd seen the signs, if only I'd understood it at the time, perhaps we wouldn't have gone through all the trouble, perhaps we would've sought help earlier. I don't know what triggered it, the news of his son or other things I wasn't privy to but found out later than I would've liked. I just wished life had prepared me for what was to come. You live a life with your head in the clouds, dreaming of a happily ever after, but after you've said I do, nothing prepares you for what lies ahead. I thought I had it all figured out and at first we did. We had accepted the news of the child, we would work together but there was a secret demon lying in the mist of it all. Just waiting to come out and catch us all unaware. This was our life and we never saw it coming.