O Mother Where Art Thou

Four families. Four women. Four young men. Four mothers. Four sons.

Love, of a kind no one is supposed to feel — and yet, they do.

Nearly a quarter million words, more than five hundred pages, words to warm your heart … and other parts, too.

Man of the House

She’d not seen her son go from fully nude to even partly clothed for a long time, not since he’d been five or six or so and fresh out of bathtime. That small boy was still there in her memories, but every trace of his innocent little body was gone now, replaced by this well-developed sculpture of early manhood.

Tragedy leaves five adopted children in the care of a sixth, a young man who is just as shattered by his father’s death as his mother is by her husband’s murder. Trying to find a way to heal themselves and get on with their lives, they move to a new town, a small town, with the goal of starting over and putting down new roots.

But as Joey continues caring for his younger siblings, his mother Carrie must confront a reality she doesn’t know how to deal with: Her son isn’t a little boy any more, and her woman’s nature is beginning to notice the man she sees emerging in him.

A Lad, Insane?

Tabby grimaced. “Look, Annie, it’s okay. I think I understand. I probably would do the same thing in your place. I mean … I mean I wouldn’t be having s-sex with Walsh, but if I were with someone his age … maybe if you had a son, I might’ve slept with him, and I’d’ve…” She blinked and shook her head. “I understand.”

Walsh Donovan is the mid-teen son of fashion designer Tabitha Donovan, who numbers David Bowie among her clients. Walsh has it all, including a spacious bedroom in a loft in the SoHo borough of New York, a retinue of girls who know his bedroom as well as they know his body, and energy enough to see to all their pleasures.

Tabby, tortured by an unholy attraction, sends her son to spend time with her lifetime best friend, Annie Peters — and eventually discovers Walsh and Annie have become lovers. But her outrage isn’t because Walsh is barely sixteen when Annie beds him; it’s because Tabby is jealous.

It’s an untenable situation, and it must change. Somehow.

Whatever You Say, Mom

Reggie was utterly rigid, half a foot of solid heat. I shivered again. It would be so easy. Did he know how close he was to getting what he was after? And was he even after it at all? Just one hint from him, just one sign of interest, and he would have everything he wanted.

Trying to help her son Reggie get over the latest heartbreak — dumped by a girl, again — his mother takes him for a weekend getaway at the beach. She’s glad to see him begin to bounce back and be more like his old self again, but they encounter a small snafu in their plans: A convention has caused all the hotels to be booked nearly solid, and the only room they can find is a single, with one bed.

A single mom, a recently-single son, in a single bed for a single night … a night neither of them will ever forget.

Only a Motion Away

We went back to watching the sky, the sea, the lighthouse. I don’t know what Chris was feeling right then, but I know what my experience was, in that timeless, endless stretch we shared. Wave after wave of giddiness, warmth, and delight coursed through me, making me feel alive, feverish, fulfilled — all at once, with a purity and power I’d never known before.

Sasha Parker made some hard mistakes when she was young, but her son Chris isn’t one of them. Releasing him for fostering and adoption as an infant seemed like the smartest decision at the time, but now, years later, she’s not so sure of that. So she reaches out to him, initiates contact, and they begin to know each other — not as mother and son, but as a woman and an intelligent, insightful young man.

Reggie’s forgiveness balms Sasha’s heart, and they find themselves experiencing something neither of them has ever felt before, when they realize they have a lot more in common than shared preferences in landscapes.

O Mother Where Art Thou

Available now.