The Second Family (You, Me & the Kids)

A toned down [physcial] attraction? - Not everybody is [physcially] agressive - Alex Malone certainly did want to get Tess in his bed - she was pressing for it - a bit unrealistically given she has only just met him.What a shock for a 25 year old young woman to find out that she has 2 half-siblings. Nick is 13 and Molly is 6, then to find out that her father had been alive just a few months ago. Wow!Alec is working out his post-trauma of his military days and loves working with children in social services, trying to help better orphaned or abused children's lives.Alex has a sister and brother-in-law and is very close to them and values family. So he is hoping that Tess will come to understand the gift of having a family.Finally with Mavis guiding her and kicking the stinking habit of living for her career, Tess comes to value the love that is blossoming between her and Molly and learning to guide Nick into adolescence with Alec's help.Ah, we slowly come to realize that there is some kind of hanky-pankying going on with the kid's lawyer, Jed Walker and the art dealer.I loved the way Alec's sister was woven in to help bring understanding to Tess about Alec's past. The attraction of the two was lightly touched upon - enough to solidify the romance without boring the story - not every story needs [physical attraction] to hold it together. Did feel that Tess was not suspecious enough when dealing with the father's estate but then a lot of women are dumb when it comes to legal matters.I think the story was well written and thoroughly enjoyable and different from all the PMS written into most every story. As you know I hate the premise that premarital bed hoping is the norm - ah well, to each his own.Very Definitely Recommend --------- It will be enjoyed by a lot of readers [with open minds]!

Twenty-five years ago her father deserted her mother and her when she was a little girl. For years she has prayed he would come see her, but nary a word came from him. That hope ended when her mother was put away in a psycho ward. Chicago business executive Tess Wheaton obtains what she wished for as a child, but not the way she wanted to hear from him. A Boulder lawyer has informed her that her dad and his second wife died in a car crash, leaving their two children, thirteen-year old Nick and six-year-old Molly temporary wards of Colorado. She wants nothing to do with her half siblings or her father's estate.Nick and Molly arrive at Tess' office as she is on the phone with Boulder social worker Alec Malone. Tess demands Alec come pick up his two charges immediately. He agrees to arrive tomorrow. As Tess comes to know her siblings and more about the father who left her behind, she soon wants to raise the two youngsters, but with Alec at her side because she loves the three new people in her life.Though the ease in which Tess "forgives" her father's desertion seems off kilter after two plus decades of hurt, anger, and accusations, fans will enjoy this substantial engaging relationship drama. The theme focuses on how the four prime characters evolve from individuals with their own needs (except Nick's efforts to nurture his younger sister) into a cohesive loving family. Readers will appreciate watching Tess struggle between a growing love for the three newcomers in her life vs. her animosity towards her father.Harriet Klausner