When Love Knocks Again by Mari Hernan

LOREN
A celebration unfolded against the backdrop of my profound loss.
I was the maid of honor at my sister’s wedding.
He was the blissfully married best man.
When the procession began, I slipped my arm through his, and he put his hand over mine.
“I’m sorry for your loss” were the first words he ever said to me.
Little did we know that our paths would cross again four years later when fate reunited us as neighbors.
He’s now a widower, shouldering the weight of parenthood alone.
The connection blossoming between us is both sweet and unexpected.
He pursues me, but I resist, bound by the memory of my late fiance.
Will I ever have the courage to love again and embrace my second chance at a happily ever after?

AARON
I made a promise I never thought I could keep.
Finding love and a mother for my little girl was a comforting lie to my dying wife, never part of my plans.
But then I saw her again. The young girl I met four years ago is now a woman.
Her emerald green gaze reaches deep into my heart.
Witnessing how she loves my daughter ignites hope that love is possible again.
I never anticipated that the promise I made in the shadows of grief would lead me to a second chance at a happily ever after.