"Of Magic & Mistletoe", by Gratiana Lovelace (2020); (Completed)

Prologue through Ch. 01

"Of Magic & Mistletoe", Prologue & Ch. 01, December 21, 2020 by Gratiana Lovelace 

(All rights reserved; An original story copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace, 2020)

Author's content note: My 2020 Christmas short story here is a gentle romance mostly rated G for all, with some dramatic moments. I will serialize my story with a few chapter postings today here and on my SAL blog web site to get us started—so check back here again this later  this evening for Ch. 2. Then I'll continue with new chapters following about every other day through New Year's Eve. I hope that you enjoy my new story.

Illustrations: I cast my stories as I write them, with Richard Armitage as Luke, Erin Krakow as Diana and others as noted in the references.

"Of Magic & Mistletoe": Prologue/Wattpad Description

Christmas is a time of year that everyone who celebrates it looks forward to. Yet, when you have lost a loved one or are facing health or financial difficulties Christmas can be a challenging time of year. Two years ago in 2008, the then 32 year old Diana Groves lost her husband to a tragic accident at work in a manufacturing plant when a machine arm came loose and bashed him in his head and killed him instantly. Diana was grateful that her husband Benjamin didn't suffer, but that blessing is still cold comfort now two years later as she raises their now four year old son Benjy as a single parent. But Diana and Benjy will receive the gift of Christmas love and compassion this year, if Diana can set aside her sorrow to build a new future for her and for her son Benjy. So love and loss, and love again will need a bit of magic & mistletoe to bring joy and happiness to Diana and her son Benjy again this year.

"Of Magic & Mistletoe", Ch. 01: Needing a little Christmas Magic

In the last two years since her husband Benjamin died, the 34 years old Diana Groves [(2) above] has learned to be pragmatic, resourceful, and resilient. She has had to be for their now four year old son Benjy, named after his late father.

And though Ben was killed on the job at the manufacturing plant, the owners argued that his own actions of stepping into a well marked hazardous area contributed to his death. That Ben was actually running to assist a coworker having a heart attack while working at one of the machines at the time, did not hold sway with anyone.  As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished, and the good die young.

So her late husband's former employer only agreed to pay out to her and their son Benjy a lump sum of $20,000 via Ben's death and dismemberment insurance policy rider, and a widow's pension benefit of $1,000 per month for life. So coupled with Ben's social security stipend of $500 per month, Diana is barely getting by. She can't afford daycare for Benjy so that she could work outside their home—which is now a small one bedroom studio apartment in a section 8 housing apartment complex, due to their reduced circumstances.

But the ever hopeful Diana is trying to bloom where she is planted, for her son Benjy's sake. So with her noticing that her apartment complex residents are nearly half elderly--and her finding a part-time apartment complex care giver needed job notice on their communal laundry room cork bulletin board—Diana has become a part time elderly care giver as she works two hours in the mornings and afternoons for different care receivers—then she is paid two additional hours in the afternoon writing up her reports each day, while Benjy takes an afternoon nap.

And Diana's elderly Care Receivers don't have to pay for her Care Giving—with Diana helping them measure out their medicines, helping with food preparations, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Her Care Giver wage costs are covered by their state's Department of Aging and coordinated through the local YWCA.