Handbag and Book w guest author Michal Scott ~ Unexpected and Delightful and a #newbook

 My little cat handbag was an unexpected and delightful find at a church Christmas bazaar last December. Kittens in Christmas stockings patterned with snowmen and little yellow mice. It was irresistible.

Its surface holds white quilted serpentine stitching that makes the little cats look like their moving. I’ve had to re-stitch the handles because only 7-1/4 x 8-1/2, I make it  hold more than it’s little snap can keep from spilling out. I had a chance to buy a larger version but declined. The artist had all handmade items like this. So of course I can’t find her name. Am I sorry now. :-(

Freed Man seeking woman to partner in marriage for at least two years in the black township of Douglass, Texas. Must be willing and able to help establish a legacy. Marital relations as necessary. Love neither required nor sought.

Ex-slave Caesar King placed this ad because he needs a wife to keep his land without paying an exorbitant residence fee. Free-born Philadelphian Queen Esther Payne answered the ad because she needs a husband who won’t make her a submissive wife and mother. Each agrees this marriage of convenience will give them what they want. However, when they kiss at the wedding ceremony, the love neither Caesar nor Queen sought or required rears its head. In the battle of intellectual and sexual one-up-manship that ensues each is determined to come out on top. But who’ll be the first to cry uncle if victory means surrender? 

A soft light shone at him from her eyes. “Sorry for your loss.”

“None needed. Good comes from bad. Death, not slavery, took my boys from me. They never had to live as someone’s property.” He sat a little straighter. “Our children will never have to worry about that.”

“Our children?” She swiveled in her seat. “You made no mention of wanting children, just marital relations as necessary. I understood that to mean intercourse.”

“I wrote I wanted to leave a legacy.”

“A legacy. Not a dynasty.”

“Legacy. Dynasty. Is there really so sharp a distinction?”

“To my mind there is. I understood you meant to affect future generations—endow schools, found churches, create civic associations. I didn’t realize that meant children. I agreed to having sex, not having children.”

 “Of course I want children.” His brows grew heavy as he frowned. “Doesn’t having sex lead to having children?”

Find Better To Marry Than To Burn at: Book

Find Michal Scott at: Website