Bette Firth

Juliet Bette Firth

Juliet Harper was newly widowed when she retired from her job after thirty years. The timing for the retirement was planned, the widowhood was not. A condo in Florida seemed like a good idea for her new life of leisure, but never in her wildest imaginings did she expect to fall in love! Ned came into her life with a bang, literally! He was having an unpleasant cell phone conversation with one of his ex-wives, and Juliet was preoccupied with the recent news that her savings were not going to be sufficient for her anticipated lifestyle. They crashed into each other in a hallway and got off to an unpleasant start when a spilled drink ruined Juliet's clothes. Things worsened as this scene was repeated a couple of days later. Ned was an extremely wealthy man and wasn't in the habit of apologizing to anyone, for anything. An apology was in fact given, and a dinner helped to calm the water. Of course, Juliet never dreamed she would accept an invitation to visit the man's home in Colorado! She was pretty straight laced and made it clear that she had to have her own room and no 'funny business' would be tolerated. Ned agreed to that and was as good as his word. What followed was love, something neither Juliet nor Ned had ever known before. Juliet's marriage had been cold and unsatisfying and Ned's three former wives hadn't stirred him up all that much, either. So it was that both parties were surprised to experience these new feelings as they approached the half-century mark. There was a rocky patch when Ned's financial dealings with his ex-wives caused a rift but he wasn't going to let that get in the way of his new happiness. Juliet wasn't so sure. She had predicted that his money would come between them and it almost did. Adult children, five of them altogether, are added to the mix, some with good results, some not so good. Both Juliet and Ned had settled into their solitary lives and had pretty much accepted the probability of being alone for the rest of their days. Th