Free First Chapter of Unexpecting

If you’re like me, when you choose a book to read it feels like an investment of your free time, as well as some money! Here is where I provide you the opportunity to check out “Unexpecting,” just as if you were in a bookstore! Enjoy!

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Book Description: (from the back cover)

Shelley and David are a couple of almost-empty-nesters preparing to embark on the next stage of their life. They’ve just ordered white furniture and are planning the vacation they’ve waited their entire lives to take.

Their life is catapulted in a completely different direction when Alexandra, seventeen and pregnant, shows up on their doorstep and announces that she’s the daughter they never knew they had! Their life becomes filled with dilemmas as they add not only another child, but also a baby to a household that was just about to become serene.

Shelley feels like she no longer fits in anywhere and to top it off, having two teenage girls suddenly plunged into being sisters and school mates is not exactly warm and fuzzy. When Alexandra’s behavior becomes erratic, the couple is faced with even tougher decisions to make.

Hold on for an emotional yet witty ride as you join this family of characters in a story of love, loyalty, heartbreak, and humor that with stay with you long after you turn the last page!

If You’d Like to Buy the Book Now, please find it in paperback or Kindle here.

Full First Chapter of “Unexpecting”

Chapter 1

It all started on a Tuesday morning. Shelley stood in her kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee and marveling that there was any left in the pot. The house was completely silent; no one else was home and during the busy summer season, that felt like a near miracle.

With three college-aged kids home for their break and a fourth living at home full-time, she and David would often joke that the kids and their friends were like a mathematical phenomenon: They seemed to multiply faster than amoebae, resulting in somewhere around nine teenagers at any given time. Sleeping, running around in bathing suits, asking for a ride, and eating, eating, eating… ceaselessly eating.

So when the doorbell rang, Shelley didn’t run to answer it. The UPS man, whose job brought him to their door with astonishing regularity, would ring it whenever he left a package on the porch. And since she wasn’t expecting anyone, she saw no need to go to the door in her PJs and reveal to the young-ish, good-looking courier that she was still in a state of undress even though it was after ten o’clock.

Then it rang a second time, which meant that either it was a package she had to sign for, or a neighbor stopping by for some as-yet-unknown favor to ask. Sighing, she set down her mug, still her favorite despite the chip on its rim because it said, I’m 30… it seems like I should have money by now. It had been modified with a Sharpie on its ten-year anniversary to read, I’m 40, and when she’d reached forty-five she decided not to bother updating it anymore; it was still funny.

As she approached the door she could see through its glass oval that there was a woman standing on the porch. Bracing herself to deal with whatever solicitation it might possibly be, Shelley opened the door and discovered that it wasn’t a woman at all. It was a girl-woman. And not just any older girl/younger woman, but one that was hugely pregnant, her glistening face pocked full of acne, and bright blue eyes so watery they reminded her that she’d been meaning to water the hanging flower baskets on the porch.

“Yes?”

“Is this the Morsony household?”

Shelley knew immediately that this was not someone intimately acquainted with the family: She had pronounced Morsony the way most people would, more-sewn-ee, when in fact her husband’s unusual ancestors had decided to pronounce it more-sunny.

“Yes it is. Can I help you?”

“I need to talk to David Morsony.”

“He’s not here at the moment. May I help you with something?”

The girl blinked. Her first tear fell and she fidgeted with her blonde ponytail. Shelley noticed that her hand was trembling and watched with horror as the girl’s lips began to quiver in a fashion that she knew could be a precursor to the bawling, snot-bubbling drama she was very familiar with, having raised two girls of her own.

Averting her eyes, Shelley glanced toward the driveway, noticing that there was a Ford Focus that looked as if its only opportunity to move would be via a tow truck. It was blue, with a dented front fender and two different colors of duct tape hanging off one of the headlights. The windows were open and at first glance it appeared that someone was sitting in the passenger seat. Then she realized that it was a dog; one of those gigantic brindle dogs that made her think of that 1980s movie starring Tom Hanks.

The girl was sniffling and wiping under her eyes while Shelley thought longingly—and selfishly—about her coffee, abandoned on the counter inside. She didn’t mean to seem uncaring, it was just that after raising four kids through their teen years, including all the ups and downs with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends and so on, the sight of a crying teenager on the porch seemed like yet another daily drama rather than an actual event.

At the same time, there was a niggling sense of foreboding lurking in the back of her mind. Shelley noted that she didn’t appear to be selling anything, yet she had asked for her husband, David. Strange.

Slapping at yet another mosquito and beginning to perspire, Shelley looked at the girl, waiting for her to say something. Neither the bugs nor the heat ever let up during North Carolina summers and they were both out in full-force that morning. The girl leaned up against one of the porch columns, causing Shelley to realize that since she was so uncomfortable, the pregnant young lady must be about ready to collapse.

Mentally relinquishing any hope of enjoying her quiet morning, Shelley gestured toward the rocking chairs and asked if the girl would like to sit down. But either she didn’t notice the gesture or chose to ignore it because she said, “That would be amazing,” and stepped toward the entry.

Quickly deciding that she didn’t meet the qualifications for a dangerous intruder, Shelley held the door open and the girl squeezed past with her big, tight belly leading the way. Walking straight ahead into the kitchen the way all visitors do, she sat at the counter where Shelley’s stool was already pulled out from her earlier attempt at solitude.

“Would you like some iced tea?”

“Sweet tea? That would be great!” Disproportionately appreciative, Shelley hoped she realized that this was no home-steeped, prepared-in-the-sun-all-day sweet tea. It was Crystal Light, the former New Yorker’s halfhearted attempt at Southern hospitality.

Accepting the glass and a napkin, the girl immediately started mopping the sweat that had beaded up on her forehead.

“So, can I ask why you’re wanting to speak to my husband?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so. So, you’re David’s wife?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

A dawning sensation swept over Shelley, bringing pinpricks to her formerly relaxed body as it occurred to her that this girl was not only similar to her own seventeen and nineteen-year-old girls, but she was also not that much younger than her twenty-two and twenty-four-year-old stepsons. And she was pregnant. Very pregnant. Her internal rosary beads started twisting as she understood that they could be in for some seriously bad news. How many times have I talked to those boys about safe sex? The anger welled up inside her even though she had no information yet. I’ll kill them!

The girl fidgeted with her napkin, twisting it into a pointy little cone, then tapping its end with her fingertip. “You’re probably going to be surprised,” she said, her eyes turned downward.

“I may not be as surprised as you think,” Shelley replied, looking pointedly at her stomach.

“I’m David’s daughter.”

*****

She was right. Shelley was surprised. And that was an understatement. Disappointment washed over her as myriad implications spun through her head: David lied to me; David has a child he doesn’t take care of; David lied to me!

It just seemed impossible—theirs was a marriage built of trust! A second marriage for each of them, the ten years they were together still felt like a dream come true. Every day. They told each other everything, shared every thought, feeling, nuance of their lives. From day one their philosophy was that they might as well be honest, be themselves, because eventually the truth would come out anyway. Unfathomably, it seemed that day had come.

The girl was watching her, undoubtedly seeing the horror reflect on her face as the betrayal of David’s omission coalesced in her stomach. It just seems impossible, was all she could think. David is the most ethical man I’ve ever met. Or even heard of! The idea that he had a child he had nothing to do with was preposterous. Yet here she was, sitting in their kitchen.

“He doesn’t know.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t even know I exist. My mother never told him.”

Relief and confusion combined so that Shelley didn’t know if she felt better or worse.

“Do you mind if I use your bathroom?” The girl indicated her belly with the commiserative expression all pregnant women use when they’re talking to another woman who has had children. Shelley tried to ignore the childish, midlife crisis part of herself that resented the assumption that she had kids. Of course I look like I have kids. I’m a forty-six-year-old woman who has kids! she admonished herself.

“Sure, it’s there in the hall, to the left.”

“Thanks.”

Shelley picked up her mug and took a sip of the now-tepid coffee, then dumped it down the sink. Pulling the pitcher out of the fridge, she poured herself a glass of iced tea and contemplated what to do. Standing there in the quiet kitchen, a squeaky, high-pitched noise broke through her thought process. Listening carefully, she realized that it didn’t sound like the neighborhood toddlers or any other recognizable sound.

Striding toward the front of the house, the bathroom door flung open just as she was passing it, smashing into the top of her foot.

“Omigod, I’m so sorry!”

Shelley rubbed the spot, which she already knew would be yellow and blue by nightfall.

“I’m really sorry, are you okay?”

“Sure, I’ll be fine,” Shelley looked at her, questioning.

“I was rushing because that’s Tiny, making that noise. It’s too hot for him to stay in the car and he hates being alone.

“Oh.”

“Do you think it would be okay for me to bring him in? Just for a little while? The air-conditioning will make him feel so much better.”

Shelley peered through the front door at the enormous animal. A true pet lover, she liked dogs; she would even go so far as to say that she loved dogs. But this was a huge dog, and a dog she didn’t know. Her mind’s eye went into her living room where there was brand new white furniture—she and David had ordered it when their youngest turned seventeen. The plan was to hurry up and enjoy nice furniture while the kids were older but didn’t yet have grandchildren to bring over and destroy it.

Shelley looked at the girl. Her face was filled with hope. She looked again at Tiny (who was anything but). His chin was resting where the car window was wide open, heartbrokenly staring at the house and occasionally making a yelping noise that made him sound… well, tiny.

“How does he do with cats?” Shelley asked, thinking of Frick, their nineteen-year-old cat who had been melancholy ever since losing his buddy, Frack, just six months earlier.

“He’s great. He loves cats!” the girl exclaimed in a desperately bright tone.

“Fine,” Shelley sighed, hoping that he loved cats as friends rather than as hors d’oeuvres. “But make sure he doesn’t chew anything in here.”

“Oh, he won’t.” She smiled, a glimmer of happiness brightening her face for the first time since she’d arrived. “He’s a really good dog. You’ll see.”

The girl went outside to get Tiny while Shelley went into the kitchen and phoned David at work.

“I need you to come home. Yes, now. Right now. And drive carefully. I love you.”

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and if you decide to read “Unexpecting,” I thank you in advance for choosing my book for your valuable free time!

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Have a fabulous day!  ~Sincerely, Lori Verni-Fogarsi (LoriTheAuthor)

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