The Bright Side

Bailey Kingsley-Ekhart: The Kingsley women had a reputation for being pretty enough to get a man but not savvy enough to keep him. A family of women who were mothers but never wives.

I thought it was my responsibility to break the generational curse, so I married. The joke was on me, when after five years of marriage there were no pregnancies.

When a pregnancy finally happened, I lost the baby and my marriage. Now, all I wanted to do was rediscover Bailey and recapture my joy.

Brighton “Bright” Strong: The dude she married was a clown. He couldn’t handle her on his best day. And in the end, he fumbled her in the worst way.

I was up next, and I didn’t care that she wanted to be left alone. I didn’t care that her past left her prickly and unsure of herself. All I wanted to do was make her laugh and see her smile.

She was looking to rebuild. I owned a construction company. I was all about rebuilding. Once she stopped fighting and her ex stopped pretending that what he broke could be fixed . . . it was up.

She would be mine.