Heart’s Desire is the prequel to NEVER TOO LATE TO LOVE. I’ve provided some glimpses into Tiffany as portrayed in HD.

Bonus Excerpts from HEART’S DESIRE: Tiffany

Tiffany’s choice

It was three o’clock in the morning. Tiffany Eastman sat in front of the dim lamp at her antique French Provencal desk. She was alone. A fifth of vodka sat in front of her, alongside an empty glass. She started to open the bottle, hesitated and closed her eyes in pain. Then with a ferocious movement, she threw it into the fireplace and it exploded into a thousand broken shards.

Tiffany sank into the plush cream carpet in front of the cold fireplace, and the force of her sobs bent her over. She didn’t bother to stifle her wails. No one would hear her. Dante was with his girlfriend and Sidney was with his. Jenny was passed out over a bottle of Southern Comfort in her bedroom. Like mother, like daughter.

After a while her sobs subsided. Tiffany stood up, resolute and walked back over to her desk. She pulled out a blunt nosed .22, a lady’s pistol, the handle daintily inlaid with carved ivory. Laying it on the desk, she sat and stared at it.

These were her choices. She could end this travesty called a life, the miserable life that now infected her daughter. Jenny was just like her. A drunk. A worthless, useless drunk.

Or, she could change.

Dying was easier. She picked up the pistol and caressed it. She thought of the past. When she was Jenny’s age, life was full of promise. She’d married an ambitious man, who played and loved as hard as he worked. She was going to have his child. Sidney continued to rise in the ranks of state government. She was active in society, charity work, clubs, her sorority. When her children were babies, life was good.

When did everything change? When did Sidney and her grow so far apart that he never touched her? That she hardly remembered him ever loving her? When did he turn cruel, his words and actions as painful as blows? When did her children grow away from her and into their own lives?

And when did she take the first drink to escape? She never looked back from that first drink. Solace and oblivion was only vodka martinis away.

Jenny. That failure hurt more than anything. Her baby, so young, losing her life before it even started. Sobs started afresh. Tiffany stared at the gun on the desk. What if Jenny chose this way out? The easy way.

There was no point in going on for herself. Her life was hopeless, she was a failure; her kids were the only good thing she’d ever done.

What would Jenny do after she was gone? She touched the gun and she knew. Tiffany couldn’t allow it to happen. She had to go on for her daughter. She had to be strong for Jenny. With shaking hands, Tiffany turned away from the gun and picked up the phone book.

Tiffany and Sidney

Tiffany had a pass to leave the alcohol treatment center today to prepare for her upcoming discharge. She looked forward to discharge with trepidation, knowing she would have to start all over again. She had to find a place to live, a job, friends, an entire life. And she had to do it by herself, one day at time, without the crutch of alcohol. She prayed she was up to the challenge. For today, she was.

The housekeeper let her into the house. “I’m just going to look around for a while, maybe pack a few things,” Tiffany said. The housekeeper nodded and went back to her work.

Tiffany wandered the rooms with a sense of nostalgia. How excited she’d been when she and Sidney first bought this home, confident he would win re-election and be in Washington a long while. How pleased she’d been when Anthony finished the interiors. It had been her dream home. But it hadn’t been enough.
Their home in Atlanta had been rented out for years. The lease was coming up for renewal, and maybe she’d move back home. She’d had enough of Washington. Tiffany pulled out her notebook from her purse to make notes on what she wanted shipped to Georgia.

She stopped when she reached Jenny’s bedroom and pressed a hand to her mouth, willing herself not to cry. Jenny would be hospitalized for a year in lieu of prison. It was a good thing, Tiffany reassured herself yet again. Jenny had been on a downward spiral, and now she was forced to accept help. Jenny would be paying the Bailey family back for the rest of her life though. She’d heard that their lawyers were going after Sidney’s money. Good, Tiffany thought. She hoped they’d get it.

Sidney loved position and money. Losing it would certainly hurt him more than the loss of his family. But, she had to face her own desires for those things. She’d stayed with Sidney for the security of money and marriage to a powerful man. Lord knows that financial security and status was all Sidney had ever offered her.

She heard the door slam shut and she shivered. It would have to be Sidney. What was he doing home this time of day? She steeled herself and went down the stairs to meet him.

He looked wild. His usually smooth white hair ruffled, his tie askew.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were still locked up with your daughter in the funny farm,” he snapped.

Tiffany stiffened. Sidney’s insults no longer had any power over her. “I’m cataloguing the things I want shipped to Georgia. I’m also going to pack a few clothes.”

Sidney cocked his head. “Now what is wrong this picture?” he asked. “Oh, I can hardly recognize you when you’re not drunk. You’re not going anywhere. As soon as you get out of the funny farm, you’re coming home where you belong. I’ve put up with you not holding up your end of this marriage long enough,” Sidney said.

“I take it you haven’t heard from my lawyer yet?” she asked.

Sidney waved a hand. “I disregarded that crap. Everyone knows how crazy you are now that you’ve checked yourself into the loony bin. It’s no secret what I’ve been putting up with,” he said.

Tiffany’s eyes widened in anger. “It’s true. I’ve been crazy to put up with you all these years. But it’s over now. I’m getting a divorce and starting my life over. It can be amicable or nasty, it’s up to you.”

“Sorry slut,” he snarled. “Everything I’ve done for you down the drain. What do I get in return? You’re no better than that sorry-ass Brent I just fired.”

“You fired Brent?” she asked faintly.

“Damn right. And I’m sick of your foolishness. If you think you’re going back to the insane asylum, you’re mistaken. They put all this foolishness in your head. Get your butt into the den and make me a drink. You know what I like. Get one for yourself while you’re at it, I liked you better drunk.”

He glared at Tiffany standing there, frozen in place. “Don’t you hear me, woman? Move!”

This was the crap she’d put up with for too long.

“Kiss my black ass,” she said in measured tones, and turned to walk out the door.

Sidney roared and grabbed her by her neck.

Tiffany gave a strangled scream as Sidney started to drag her up the stairs.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking back to, bitch? I’m going to teach you a lesson you won’t forget.”

Heart’s Desire, July 1998