Excerpt: Titania’s Suitor, romantic suspense…(featuring the romance)

Graduate student (and nurse) Charlotte Stone and her husband Pete are separated…but Pete plans a special celebration for Charlotte.

To: Hansen, V
Date: Monday, January 12
From: Stone, Charlotte P
Subject: Oh my …!

Hi Veronica,

Where do I start? I had an unusual, but very enjoyable birthday! Pete picked me up at 4:30 and told me that we needed to work up an appetite. At first, I wondered if that was supposed to be a suggestive statement and I must have looked puzzled. But he just said – “Where’s your coat?” When we got down downstairs, there was a horse and carriage waiting. We got in and took off for a ride around the downtown area. (There are some advantages to living close to campus!) The afternoon was gray with a few flakes of snow, but it wasn’t too cold, and Pete had a bottle of wine and two glasses in the carriage. By the time we got back to the apartment, about an hour later, the lights were coming on. It was a very, very pretty picture, with the snow flurries and everything. After the carriage took off, we got into Pete’s car and we took off for the Canterbury. I’d been there for tea long ago, but never for a meal. The dining room is small and intimate, with lots of dark wood and tables in different nooks and crannies. We had our own nook. Pete sat next to me and had his hand on my leg until the appetizer arrived. I guess the food was supposed to be like higher-class pub food, or something on that order. It was good, and different. Pete kissed me a couple of times…we had enough privacy for that. Also, there were other diners, but it wasn’t crowded. Mostly we talked about our past. I brought up my recent visit to the Medici, and how it made me think about our early history as a couple.

From this romantic setting we drove to his parents’ house. We picked up Lauren. When we got back to the apartment, I took off my coat, of course, and Lauren said, “Ooh, you look pretty, Mommie!” Pete winked at her. Lauren did seem tired. I helped her get ready for bed and she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit her pillow. Then Pete went down to his car. He came back with two packages…very nicely wrapped, I might add. One was small, one was much larger.

In the first was a pair of earrings. They were small hoops, with tiny diamonds outlining the hoop. (Remember the movie Crossing Delancey? I was being wooed!)

The second box was the size of a shirt box. I opened it, then pushed aside the tissue paper. I recognized the contents. It was a pair of old pajamas – Pete’s pajamas! He kissed my neck and said “Can I spend the night?”

The scene fades at this point. . .

Back to reality in the morning. Lauren was very excited to see Pete there. (He meant to leave before she got up, but it didn’t work out that way.) Lauren, of course, hoped that Daddy was back for good, but he handled that extremely well. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and said that he would be emailing me later. He also took Lauren to school.

Now, I’m the one with the senior-prom syndrome. About my husband of twelve-plus years. Amazing! Studying was difficult today.

Hope your day went well!

Charlotte

Titania’s Suitor is available through Amazon: tinyurl.com/n35kwlu