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

“What are you thinking?” Mark asked, stopping his pacing and looking down at me.


I squirmed. “It’s a big commitment.” No way could I tell him what I really was thinking.


“And giving me half the house and car wasn’t?”


Mark resumed pacing. “And now I can actually pay my half. Makes me feel I’m an equal partner.”


“You’ve been using most of your wage to help pay the bills,” I protested.


“Help. Yes. But I haven’t been paying half.”


I don’t know why, but the lesson of the widow’s mite from the Bible popped into my head. “You paid what you could afford.”


“And now I can afford more. I can afford to pay off the house.”


Mark was right, it did make perfect sense. The suggestion struck at the heart of my Yorkshire sense of thriftiness. Why continue to pay every month when we could pay off the mortgage and the house would be ours? I nodded. “You’re right. Let’s make an appointment with the building society tomorrow afternoon.”


Chapter 29