A Valentine’s Love Story

When a young receptionist in Raleigh and a businessman from her company’s Atlanta branch fall in love over the phone, their unsanctioned romance results in a baby on the way. But, alas, their relationship doesn’t survive the unplanned miracle. Then their daughter asks to meet her father eighteen years later. Will the stirred-up sparks result in a heated argument—or the old flame being fanned?

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“I don’t write romance.”

I can’t tell you how many times I insisted this was a non-negotiable when my agent and I spoke. What right did I have? My own experiences were messy, to say the least. I wasn’t qualified or interested in writing “Happily Ever Afters.”

But the truth is, while my personal story isn’t what I ever imagined for myself, it does seem to make people swoon. So, here goes…

Jeff and I met when I was twenty. I was working at the front desk of a French-owned company, which also had a branch in another state. Not long after I took the position, I discovered a frequent caller was a man from that other branch. Within a couple of weeks, his calls to the switchboard became more frequent, with more chitchat before I transferred him. Eventually, he stopped asking for anyone but me.

We met, and the sparks we’d felt over the phone were fireworks in person. In time, we discovered we were expecting. But there were complications in our relationship, and it didn’t survive the length of the pregnancy. He met our infant daughter a few weeks after she was born, but we still parted ways.

Over the next eighteen years, my daughter and I grew up together, and we grew to be the very best of friends. She was the greatest gift I’d ever been given, and in return, I wholeheartedly supported her dream of moving to Paris after high school for an education and future as a fashion designer.

Just after her eighteenth birthday, a few weeks before we hopped the plane to France, we made arrangements to have lunch one day with her father. In all these years, they had never met, and it was going to be easier to arrange before she moved out of the country.

Let me tell you, that lunch was truly all about them meeting, but those sparks were back!

A few years later, our daughter suggested we all fly to Vegas so Jeff and I could elope.

Crazy? Maybe.

But that’s just what we did!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Whatever your story or situation, I hope you know you are loved!

“How precious is your unfailing love, O God!” Psalm 36:7