This story is brought to you by doctor ordered bedrest and way too much Netflix time on my hands. I know at one point there was a story floating around with the same title but I can assure you that this story is not a rip-off of that one. Also, while the premise of this story does mirror the two films with the name Yours Mine and Ours, after the initial few chapters, it will grow a mind of its own, off into its own world. I like the idea from the film but I don't believe it was fully developed into a great story, so that's what I'm hoping to accomplish here. While there will be romance and courting, this story is not without angst and drama. Anybody who is lucky enough to be part of a blended family knows that heads will butt, feelings will get hurt, and miscommunication is natural. I hope to remain realistic while keeping an air of fiction in the mix. As the story progresses, the chapters will grow in size but as I'm setting the scene, the first several chapters are shorter than the preference of most readers. Stick with me, I have quite a bit written so the shorter chapters will follow each other in faster in posting.
Thanks for taking the time to read this story and joining me on this adventure. I look forward to hearing from you and getting your feedback.
(Also, anybody experienced in editing, who would like to take the time and care in helping me beta, your kindness would be much appreciated. Also, you'd get to read to chapters well in advance of the rest of the readers. Please let me know.)
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Callie was tired, to say the least. Exhausted was probably an understatement. At 48, a widow, a single mom of ten kids ranging from 4 to 18, she was always on the go from just before sun-up to hours after her last babe was in bed. When she wasn't wrangling her kids, chauffeuring them around, or cooking enough food for a small army, she tired her best to support them with her many failed attempts back into the fashion world. Money wasn't a problem, per se. With the life insurance policy of her late wife and the more than generous settlement from the accident that took her wife from them, there was plenty of income, except she didn't want to touch any of that money if at all possible. She had expertly managed to put all of the money into large college funds for each child. There was also her own trust fund if things became too difficult, financially, but she considered that blood money and only ever touched the principle interest because her father would never be the wiser. He was made well aware of any withdraws from the primary account but all of the interest was deposited into her own account without his knowledge. The only reason Callie even had a trust fund again was because after the untimely and unexpected death of her wife, her parents thought they could buy her heterosexuality. They would never understand and she knew that the moment she found herself with another female companion, they'd take the money back and probably demand the return of any money she had withdrawn from it.
Not that she was ever planning to marry again, with ten kids and a hole in her heart the size of Texas, it wasn't something she planned to do. Not only did she doubt any sane woman would take on her circus, but she doubted she could ever love again. Kat was it for her.
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Arizona never wanted kids or a family, her Coast Guard career was number one, the most important thing in her life. But then she met, Angela, and fell madly, deeply in love with the woman. Angela had always dreamed of a big family and Arizona would do, did do anything and everything to make her wife as happy as Angela made her. She was in a great place with her career when they met, going from the academy straight to the officer's club, which meant money was never an issue. She could support her entire crew by herself even though her wife continued with her journalism career anyway. Though after their first child, Angela worked from a home-base in the states instead of traveling alongside Arizona as she had done in the early years of their marriage. She worked through every pregnancy, while raising the kids, even when she became sick, almost right up to the end.
And there was an end, leaving Arizona the sole mother and caretaker of eight kids. Eight kids. With her career, Arizona spent months at sea or places around the world unknown, which meant she needed help. In order to support eight kids, she needed her job and it was all she'd ever known anyway, so her mom dropped everything and moved in with them to lend a hand and take charge. Even though their grandmother was around all the time, Arizona felt guilty for her long absences. Her youngest didn't even call her Mom or Mommy but Admiral as did Arizona's Coasties, and Arizona was pretty certain she'd been gone more of his life than she'd been home. So, when the opportunity to be the first female superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy presented itself, Arizona jumped at the offer. She packed up her family, again and hopefully for the last time, and moved to Connecticut. She couldn't pass up a nine to five job where she'd see her kids every day. Connecticut was home for her anyway and probably was as good a place as any to start over. Her kids had to be her number one priority, they were her number one priority.
To be continued . . .