Taking Back Mary Ellen Black

Taking Back Mary Ellen Black
Lisa Childs

A starter marriage hadn't been the first act Mary Ellen Black had meant to script for herself, but bowing out provided hard-won perspective: The most important things in life were not things at all, but the people she held dear.In her case, the lovable eccentrics she called family, the ones who were more than ready to support her leading role–if only she'd step into the spotlight. So now Mary Ellen's drafted act two–her return home–and she's pretty sure she's ready for the performance of Her Life, starring a strong, single mother of two.She's all dressed up and ready to take on the world…and take back the woman she was meant to be.

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Taking Back Mary Ellen Black

Starring

Mary Ellen Black…in the role of a spunky single mom determined to reclaim her identity after losing it (and everything else) in her recent divorce

Supporting characters

Jenna O’Brien…in the recurring role of brutally honest best friend

Amber Nowicki…as Mary Ellen’s preteen daughter who’s just beginning to understand what it means to have an identity

Shelby Nowicki…as Amber’s pesky, attention-grabbing younger sister

Frank Black…as Daddy, Mary Ellen’s first and most enduring love

Grandma Czerwinski…as a woman, wise despite her years

Mrs. Jacques…as friend, neighbor, cheerleader and benefactor

Nonsupporting characters

Eddie Nowicki…as a man whose broken dreams break him financially and emotionally

Louise Black…as Mary Ellen’s hypercritical mother who is threatened by her daughter’s strength and determination

Special guest star

Ryan “Rye” O’Brien…as the young, studly love interest

Lisa Childs

“Ms. Childs keeps her readers glued to the page with a potent combination of romance, humor and suspense.”

—Escape to Romance

Award-winning author Lisa Childs has been writing since she could first form sentences. She grew up not far from the west side of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was her dress rehearsal for creating Mary Ellen. At eleven she won her first writing award and was interviewed by the local newspaper. Now, with a wonderful husband and two young daughters, she is a veteran player in the trials, tribulations and joys of motherhood and marriage.

Readers can write to Lisa at P.O. Box 139, Marne, MI 49435 or visit her at her Web site, www.lisachilds.com.

Taking Back Mary Ellen Black

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

With special thanks to my editor, Stacy Boyd,

for your help and support with all my books

but most especially for understanding how important

Mary Ellen is to me!

And for three of the strongest women I know, love

and admire—my sisters, Helen, Phyllis and Jackie.

With extra thanks to Jackie for providing the

mortgage brokerage information.

Contents

CHAPTER D: DAY Divorce

CHAPTER E: Employment

CHAPTER F: Friendship

CHAPTER G: The Girls

CHAPTER H: Happiness

CHAPTER I: Initiation

CHAPTER J: Jackasses (apparently not all men are)

CHAPTER K: Kids

CHAPTER L: Leave it alone

CHAPTER M: Meeting Rye

CHAPTER N: New housing & a New Eddie

CHAPTER O: Occasions

CHAPTER P: Paint Stains & Pestilence

CHAPTER Q: Quitting Time

CHAPTER R: Revelations