Wild Widows

After I suddenly lose my husband, Patrick, in a senseless shooting, I’m lost in a sea of well-meaning people trying to make the unimaginable seem possible. When a friend of my sister’s connects me to the Wild Widows, I find a group of fellow travelers who understand my new reality in a way no one else in my life ever could. The Wild Widows have one requirement for membership to their group: I must be open to the possibility of a "Chapter Two", which is what they call a second chance at love.

Eighteen months after suddenly losing the love of my life, I’m coming out of the fog of early grief and taking a hard look at the rest of my life. With three young children to care for on my own while also managing their grief, I haven’t had a lot of time to ponder what’s next for me. When I think about what I really want, I keep coming back to one thing. Or I should say one person—someone who understands what I’ve been through because he’s been there too, only his losses were far worse. I find myself thinking about him all the time, but is he ready for the things I want?

In the year since I lost my wife in childbirth, I’ve been all about survival as I adapt to life as a single dad to our son. That’s especially true after my mother-in-law also died suddenly. Life has been way more than I can handle, but somehow I’m getting by, thanks mostly to the Wild Widows, a group of fellow travelers who make me feel less alone with my grief. They encourage me to hire fellow Wild Widow Wynter as my nanny, and that’s been working out great, until two things happen—she and my son go missing, and when they’re found safe, I realize my feelings for her are anything but platonic.

Almost three years after losing my husband, Jim, to ALS, I’ve started to emerge from the fog of widowhood, thanks in large part to my sexy roommate—and former high school crush—Tom Hammett. When he offered me a suite in his spacious home, he got me out of my parents’ basement where I’d lived with Jim during his illness and since his death. But now Tom is experiencing a health crisis, and I’m not sure I have it in me to go down that road again, even if I suspect I might be falling in love with him.

Years ago, when Taylor Cummings-Lonergan co-founded the Wild Widows with Iris, she never imagined she might need the group a second time, but that’s exactly what happens when her new husband, Will, is killed in a tragic accident at work, leaving her two children heartbroken for a second time and a new baby due soon. Iris and the other widows step up to support Taylor during this difficult time, but each of them is forced to ponder the vagaries of life and love and whether their optimistic approach to life after widowhood is realistic now that they know disaster can find them again.