Praise for Geri Krotowâs debut title, A Rendezvous To Remember
âGeri Krotowâs assured debut is a true gift to readersâa novel packed with emotion and filled with an expansiveness that crosses generations. It combines a womanâs journey of the heart with her discovery of devastating secrets of the pastâ¦all adding up to a triumphant and uplifting conclusion.â
âSusan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author
âGeri Krotowâs debut book is a wonderfully written story of love nearly lost. Actually, itâs two wonderfully written stories, interwoven through time.â¦I will anxiously await this authorâs next book. Her style is fast-moving and easy to read, and this book is very highly recommended to anyone who enjoys romanceâ¦or an emotional book.â
âRob Ballister, www.militarywriters.com
Geri Krotow is a ânew author to watch.â
âDebbie Macomber, New York Times bestselling author
âI stand in total amazement that this is Geri Krotowâs first published book. What a beautiful and moving story of love during two very different generations! Talk about an emotional punchâ¦A Rendezvous To Remember is a real-world story told with all the heart and emotion of real people loving each other.â¦A Rendezvous To Remember highlights the true depth and power of love.â
âCK>2S Kwips and Kritiques
âGeri Krotow makes a notable debut with A Rendezvous To Remember, an absorbing, richly detailed story with wonderful characters.â
âRomantic Times BOOKreviews
Dear Reader,
It is with great delight and joy that I wrote What Family Means, my second published novel, for you. Set in my native city of Buffalo, New York, and the surrounding western New York area, this story demonstrates what love of one another and love for family can do. It can bridge backgrounds, communities, people from all walks of life. In the not-too-distant past heroes and heroines from different backgrounds and upbringings werenât applauded when they fell in love, or when they managed to make their love work despite overwhelming odds against it. Will Bradley and Debra Schaefer not only made it through the struggles and conflicts that their families and society threw at them, they raised a beautiful family. And their love still endures after almost forty years of marriage.
I hope you are able to cheer on both Debra and Will as they face their conflicts, yesterdayâs and todayâs, to provide a love that lasts a lifetime, not just for them as a couple but for their family. Love, this is what family means.
Please send me your thoughts on this story via my Web site, www.gerikrotow.com.
Peace,
Geri Krotow
What Family Means
Geri Krotow
Raised in Buffalo and western New York State, Geri always dreamed of romance and adventure. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, she moves around the world with her navy pilot husband, two children, a dog and a parrot. Geri loves to hear from readers. You can reach her at her Web site, www.gerikrotow.com.
With all my love to Alex and Ellen,
who teach me every day what family means.
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Present Day
Buffalo, New York Debra
âYOUâVE NEVER BELIEVED ME about this the whole time weâve been married. Why should I expect you to change now?â
Will Bradley, my husband of thirty-five years, stared at me with an intensity that made my hands clench on the shirt I was putting in his suitcase. His charcoal eyes sparked with annoyance. Will was never one to get easily worked up, but judging by the twitch over his left eyebrow, my latest obsession with our grown childrenâs lives had sent him over the edge.
Or at least very close to it.
âI hear you, Will, you know I do. But the kids, especially Angie, havenât had the smoothest path.â
I tried to keep the âlookâ off my faceâthe expression Will and our children said Iâd mastered. The âIâm right so donât even bother to argueâ look.
Apparently I didnât succeed in keeping my face blank. Willâs nostrils flared as he drew a deep breath.
âDammit, Debra, you go back to this every time.â Will referred to my long-held beliefâand, okay, guiltâthat our interracial marriage had placed undue burden on our children.
He glanced up from packing.
âWhat do you always say to me, Deb? âItâs the twenty-first century. The new generation doesnât see us in terms of skin color. We donât get a fraction of the stares we used to draw.ââ
âGive me some credit, Will. I know that times have changed, and the kids are all doing greatâbetter than a lot of our friendsâ children.â
I stood up from the bed to make my point.
âAngieâs always had it the toughest. Sheâs older than the twins and remembers the more-blatant prejudice in high school and college. Jesseâs family wasnât immediately supportive of their white son marrying our biracial daughter.â