"Heartbroken Love"
by
Nan DeVincent-Hayes
Renaisssance Alliance Publishing, 2002
Major Characters:
Courtney Ellison: about 31, mother of two small children, an account executive for a public relations company in Manhattan; has a bad heart valve from rheumatic fever as a child; orphaned when an infant by an unwed teenage mother and thus raised by foster families and orphanages.
Through academic scholarships and by physical labor, she was able to attend college (Fordham University in New York City) and graduate at top of her class at age 25; married right out of college to a fellow classmate who died in a car accident in their third year of marriage; she raises the children herself in a small walk-up in the city.
Has bluish-gray eyes and long reddish-brown hair that she wears down or in a sweep; around 5'8" and slender; has high cheekbones, an endearing smile, and seems well-liked by her co-workers.
Independent and a free-thinker, she's not interested in filling the void left by her husband's death, particularly since she doesn't think any man would ever measure up to her husband.Lucas "Bull" Bradford: about 34, and is big in height and weight while yet seemingly gentle but enigmatic. His dark wavy hair falls over one side of his face, masking his mysterious black brooding eyes, and his dark "manhole" dimples all but melt Courtney. He's director of security and wants others to feel protected, confident and safe with him but Courtney finds him crimping her independence. He seems to oppose everything she believes in and to have no finesse. An only child, Lucas' mother died a few years before from cancer--an agonizing death, which has tainted his opinion of illnesses and modern medicine. His father, too, is under medical supervision since he has been placed in a nursing home with Alzheimer's; Lucas is an only child.
Not liking big cities, Lucas wants to sweep Courtney off her feet and take her and her children out of Manhattan to live on a nice, spacious farm.Minor Characters:
Sr. Ann M. Hudson: 60's, the diocese's representative who works closely with Courtney on a project, and who has over the years become her dearest friend, advisor, and confidant. Mrs. Elsey: the babysitter for Courtney's children, and sometime-substitute-mother for Courtney. Mrs. Elsey's in her mid-seventies and lives across the hall from Courtney.
CHAPTER-by-CHAPTER SYNOPSI SThe Prologue serves to introduce the protagonist/heroine (Courtney Ellison) and her conflict: a love for a man (the antagonist/hero) named Lucas "Bull" Bradford that she can't seem to capture; too, part of the conflict is Courtney's degenerating cardiac condition that worsens her chances of ever making a life with him because she thinks he wants nothing to do with sick people since his parents lived in ill-health.
Chapter One gives readers insight into Courtney's life at work and at home. In this chapter, we see the young widow trying to juggle two children and a job as a public relations executive that has her overseeing a small staff while dealing with big-shots in business. Too, we learn about how she handles (or rather, doesn't handle) her rheumatic heart condition. This chapter also offers a look into her personality and how her strength got her through her husband's accident. And although the atmosphere comes through in this chapter, it is in the next chapter where the setting becomes even more alive, making readers feel they're living the hectic pace of city life. Most important, however, it is in this chapter--chapter one--where Courtney meets Lucas, a man she tags as a "Hunk." And instantly they get off on the wrong foot.
Chapter Two throws readers into the nitty-gritty of living in Manhattan and into the details of Courtney's job. In this chapter, the hero makes strides towards getting he and Courtney together, but while sipping a glass of wine both come to blows over a theoretical issue: Courtney believes in modern medical care but Lucas doesn't, claiming hospitals take money without curing. And so the argument results in their parting angry with each other and themselves. Too, in this chapter, readers are given clues as to how Courtney's health will play in the overall picture.
Chapter Three shows Courtney regretting her fight with Lucas and wishing they could get back together again. Her wish comes true when the director she is working with on the media campaign for the kidney project sends Lucas to her to discuss security measures. In the middle of an argument over "proper procedures," Lucas bends down and kisses her passionately on the lips. They make up and all seems to go well until Courtney contracts a severe sore throat which turns out to be strep. This proves to have long term repercussions.
Chapter Four is one of the few chapters told from Lucas' point-of-view, as we see him struggling with rehearsing his marriage proposal to Courtney. This chapter, then, is light-hearted since we're offered insight into this big self-assured man's plight with trying to set up a romantic evening on to propose to the woman he loves on Christmas Eve--the same night Courtney's husband passed away six years before. Also in this chapter (still in Lucas's point-of-view), we learn of Courtney's job promotion and her worsening sore throat and resulting cold.
Chapter Five returns to Courtney's point-of-view. The chapter finds Lucas and Courtney planning their wedding, but in the middle of muddling their plans, an argument ensues over some detail. They argue again, but because they have to work together on the kidney project, they make up and resume their wedding plans, ironing out all the disagreements. While working on the kidney project and planning their wedding, Courtney's boss sends her to Oregon on business. There here health worsens so she see a doctor who tells her she must visit a cardiac specialist, as her "cold" has caused a heart infection, leaving her with few remaining choices.Chapter Six opens with the kidney project underway which features a big-name band on stage. Backstage, Courtney and Lucas butt heads over something as simple as who should stand where. They bicker in heated whispers, and both stomp away, angry. Courtney returns to directing the kidney project, but in one swift movement, she finds herself passed out on stage, in front of thousands. Lucas rushes to her side. Chapter Seven is the only other chapter narrated in Lucas' point-of-view; this is done so that readers may learn what's in his heart. He argues with Courtney in the hospital over her carelessness regarding her health--his concern being strictly her welfare. But Courtney counters that the only reason he is complaining about her being in the hospital is because of the medical bills. He tries telling her that that's not true but rather he's upset because he loves her and is worried about her. But she thinks he's irate over her being hospitalized. Finally, he resorts to extreme means. For her own good he tells her that if she doesn't start taking care of herself, there will be no wedding. She thinks this means he doesn't love her. Again they separate, one leaving the hospital angry, the other burying her head in the pillow, hurt.
Chapter Eight opens with cardiologists standing around Courtney's hospital bed telling her the bad news--that she will die unless she gets a heart transplant because the intravenous antibiotics they've been giving her aren't curing the heart infection. She's afraid to tell Lucas because she knows how he feels about sickness and hospitals, how he hates to be around people who are ill, how he despises modern medical care--all this because of his mother's painful and agonizing death from cancer. On top of this, he certainly doesn't make the kind of money it takes to pay long-term hospital bills. And worse, neither he nor Courtney could ever afford what it cost for a heart transplant. So she tells him she doesn't love him anymore in hopes that he'll forget her and thus be spared all the financial and emotional burden. She permanently breaks off the engagement, saying she doesn't ever want to see him again. When he leaves the room, she breaks down, weeping uncontrollably.
Chapter Nine is a short one; it features Courtney deliberating over her future. In order to live, she needs the transplant; after all, she does have two children to take care of, especially now since she has no future with the man she loved, so she should try for the surgery. But doing so means financial death for her, even bankruptcy, and then how would she and the children live? She debates the benefits of having a transplant over not having one, and considers the emotional, physical, and financial burden she would place herself under, as well as her children, who would end up living in abject poverty, perhaps even in some shelter, she thinks. So what should she do? Besides, with the long waiting list for transplants, she knows there's no guarantee she would even get one in time. She broods over her future, over her children's ultimate well-being, and over her loss of Lucas. Her life right now seems to be jumbled with mixed emotions, indecisiveness, and unrequited love.
Chapter Ten is the conclusion to the climax. The story opens with nurses wheeling a sick Courtney down a long hall to surgery. In the waiting room are her children, babysitter, and close co-workers, but nowhere is Lucas to be seen. Just as her children climb up the gurney to kiss their mother before she undergoes the knife, out of thin air appears Lucas, breathless and frantic, saying, "Why didn't someone tell me she's undergoing surgery! I had to hear through gossip she's having a heart transplant." Accompanying Lucas is an older man dressed in dark clothes who readers later discover to be a minister.
Lucas spots the children and others circling Courtney down the hall as she's being wheeled away, and so he and the man with him go flying after them. When Lucas catches up, he anxiously tells Courtney, "If I had known . . . I would have been here sooner. I love you, Cortie. Marry me."
She doesn't get the chance to answer because the medical team swarming over the gurney tells him, "Give her a kiss, Mr. Bradford, before she goes into the operating room."
"Why didn't you tell me this was happening," he demands of Courtney, but she can see moisture in his eyes.
"Don't worry; I'll be fine," she whispers, tears flowing down her cheeks. At last she knows how much he loves her.
"No matter how many transplants you need," he tells her, his voice choking, his lips on her cheek, "I'll be here for you."
"I love you, Bull," she utters in a soft, groggy voice.
"I love you, too," he says, "in sickness and health, for better or worse."
"Me, too." Her eyes are closed, her voice raspy, but she tries to nod, a smile all the while playing on her face.
The man in dark clothes standing next to Lucas announces, "Then I pronounce you man and wife."
And right in the middle of a hospital corridor Lucas and Courtney are forever united.
As the team of doctors and nurses wheel her into surgery, Mrs. Elsey, the children's babysitter, tells Lucas the good news: that Courtney is being operated on for a heart valve replacement and not a transplant since the antibiotics did work well enough after all to mend most of her heart.
Lucas nods and says, "And I'm just the man to make sure her heart stays mended the rest of her life."
-END OF Synopsis of HEARTBROKEN LOVE-This novel may be purchased in bookstores nationwide, through the publisher (Rapbooks.com) or via Amazon. Check also to see if the author has any copies available.
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