Simon Peters and his partner Mark Smith face a number of challenging life events in the fourth and final volume of this heart-warming saga. Because of his time working on the streets after being kicked out of home by his father, Mark worries he may have contracted HIV. Despite knowing the lack of treatment options if he were to test positive -- this is the late 1980’s before the age of retro-viral drugs -- Mark is determined to know his fate. Things become complicated when Mark receives a letter from his father wanting to re-establish contact. Roy entering their lives presents further challenges, ones which ultimately threaten Simon and Mark’s continued happiness. Gay teens Sam and Billy play an increasingly important part in Simon and Mark’s lives, often regarding the older men as surrogate fathers/big brothers. Can this unconventional family pull together and become stronger, despite all the world has thrown at them?

Fireside Romance Book 4: Glowing Embers

“Back then I had a job in the clerk’s office at the shipyard. Your mum and I muddled along as best we could. Money was always tight, especially at the beginning, but we made the best of things. We were as happy as anyone had a right to be. I thought that we’d never be blessed with children though. I so wanted a son.”


“I got off the bus one October evening after finishing work. It must have been 1952. Your mum was bubbling over with excitement, she could barely contain herself. You remember what a happy woman she was?”


Mark nodded and gave a sniff. I patted his knee.


“Well, times that by three or four. She almost dragged me from the bus stop to our house. When she got me home she broke the news that she was pregnant. That was one of the happiest days of my…our lives.”


“Do you know how painful it is to hear you say you were happy when you were expecting Justin but the total opposite when I was on the way?” 


Chapter 25