We had told our parents about each other as things were getting serious between us. The dates were becoming more frequent and without saying it out loud in words we knew we were thinking about marriage. The day was set to meet his parents and younger brother at a charming Indian restaurant within the lush green central Delhi. I was shivering with nervousness but his parents tried to make me feel right at home. After some time I started having fun as they tried to know me better and calmed my nerves. My mother loved him the moment she met him. How could she not? He is an honest and honorable man whose world crashes down when I am sad. My father was impressed by him as well. Prateek and I were overjoyed as these things went without a hitch. In no time our parents fixed our engagement date before he was meant to leave for his sail. After the engagement date was fixed various people tried to discourage my family and I by declaring things like, “Sailors are not loyal to their wives” or “Being a sailor’s wife is a very tough life” and many more distasteful comments. It was hard for me to relate Prateek with any of those statements. I got unhappy whenever anyone made such assumptions about the merchant navy life without even meeting him once. We spent more and more time together as the marriage day grew close. The wedding was what my dreams as a little girl were made of and much more. I would like to write about our honeymoon but then that would be another story as it was filled with other adventures like our money and passports getting stolen on the day of our return in Paris. Luca is Marcello’s equally charming cousin. His flirty, goofy sense of humor endeared him to me from the start as he pursued the much more reserved, introverted Evangelia (Gabi’s younger sister). Their love story doesn’t stand in the shadow of Gabi and Marcello’s; it’s totally different and holds its own over the course of the series. The moment they finally admit their feelings for one another is so worth the wait!

Fast forward a couple of months and it was May, by this point the idea of love being a pipe dream became reality. I had been on a few dates, but most (if not all) just wanted ‘friends with benefits’, I wanted a companion — someone to spend my life with.So, as I sit here after eight months of marriage, after my husband has just left for the first sail after marriage, I would like to add that life of a merchant navy wife is hard filled with days when the only person to understand you in and out is far away. There are times when you have to take care of your family and home even when you feel miserable. Where a lot of nights are filled with crying in your room alone as your heart aches when the distance grows too great. But it is also filled with pampering from your in-laws because they know you are lonely, with support from your husband even though he’s not with you, with surprises and with hope of the times to come when the sailor comes home laden with gifts. You also know that you will come out as a stronger person. And the cherry on the cake is that this time I get to join my husband on the ship after a month or two. I was previously working in a publishing house but had just left it because I had planned on going on sail after marrying him. Also, I wanted to paint more as I am an artist. It would’ve been easy to fall into depression after he left. It was the first time the love of my life was away from me for months together after all. But my mother, my mother-in-law and fiancé made sure to keep me occupied and happy. I was spoiled with numerous outings and pampering at the salon. There was a lot of marriage shopping to be done as well. It was difficult controlling the tears whenever I talked to Prateek on Skype(video chat). How awful was to see him but not being able to touch him? I missed the big hugs in the warm sunset car. Finally…….My Marriage

It’s hard to remember the lonely feeling I had twenty years ago at this time. I was alone having left my husband the year before and had been living in a motel room with two small children until I could save enough money for a place of our own. Marcello and the two other leading men of this “fan-freakin-tastic” (as Gabi would say) time-travel series are my book boyfriends. They can make me swoon any day, and I’ve never been able to decide just who is my favorite. So **obvi** Marcello and his lady-love—the fiery, fierce, and hilarious—Gabriella (Gabi) Beterinni had to be at the top of this list. Moriyah and Derek are Malakhi’s parents, and in book one of the Cities of Refuge series, we see them fall in love and defy the odds to be together. But their story doesn’t stop with “I do”. In book two, we get to see them as an established couple with a large brood of young children, and by book three, we see them as a middle-aged couple with a nearly empty nest and a love that’s only deepened with the passing of time. Their unconditional, lasting love is true couple goals! So there we were, my son, daughter and myself, settling into a one bedroom house. It was quaint and supplied with more living space than we had been used to for the previous year. I spent Valentine’s day alone, my ex-husband had a weird schedule and would take the children from Sunday to Tuesday every week.Next is another unlikely pair—a doctor from the 21st century, and an early church leader from the 3rd… If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, chances are you have already read about my love of Connilyn Cossestte’s books. If you read my review of her 2019 release, Until the Mountains Fall, you will remember that I said it’s my favorite book of hers yet, and that IS the honest truth! I loved Rivkah and Malakhi’s beautiful love story so much! However, for the sake of this list, I decided to go with a different set of her characters whose story stands as an example of what true love looks like through every season of life.