A Hero's Love Song - Arlene James - Bog

Rey lost a foot serving his country in Afghanistan then returned home to raise four younger siblings. Working as a mechanic on a painful, ill-fitting artificial limb makes life tough. Playing saxophone and singing with the HOBBY RUN Variety Praise Band not only provides very welcome recreation and relaxation for Rey, it also brings in much needed extra income. Rey is an upstanding Christian man trying hard to provide for his younger siblings what their somewhat obsessive late parents could not or would not. The very last thing Rey needs is a beautiful young woman with a baby insinuating herself into his household, especially as she does not even seem to know who fathered her child and he has impressionable sisters. It doesn't help that he's terribly attracted to her. Della has to find a way to provide for her innocent son. She's working as hard as she can, with no help from her family, who never supported her decision to give birth. They considered her determination to carry and keep her child proof that she was not raped as she claimed. So be it. Image is not important to her. Only being the best mother possible to her sweet boy matters, but providing for him alone is a big challenge. They are homeless when Rey's sister, Mary Sofia, who works with Della as a waitress in a small diner near the University of Arkansas, invites them to stay with the family until she can get on her feet financially. Still, she fully understands why Rey can't allow her and her baby boy to stay in his house. She's overjoyed when he arranges for friends of his in the HOBBY RUN band to rent her an affordable apartment. The band members are loving and supporting in ways that Della has never experienced before, and she begins to believe that Christians aren't just about image, like her parents. Then disaster strikes when one of her rapists, who is attending the university, finds her at the diner. She knows the when he sees her son, he'll realize that he or one of his friends could be the boy's father. Suddenly she knows that she has more to fear than his harassment. What if he demands testing? What if the actual father comes after her or even sues for custody of HER son? Thankfully, Rey stumbles into the situation, quickly sizes it up, and passes himself off as the boy's father. When he learns the truth behind the boy's parentage, his feelings for Della swell into something remarkable, and he knows the only way to protect her and her son is to marry her. Despite misgivings, Della agrees to marry Rey, but she fears that she'll never be able to enjoy a healthy, full relationship with him. As time passes, however, she falls deeply in love with her husband, her personal hero. When she starts seeking ways to alleviate the pain with which he lives daily, she finds a personal calling. As her efforts at last yield success, she becomes Rey's personal hero. In the end, their love and the level of trust between them is surpassed only by their mutual faith in God and all that He has brought them through. They find that they are not only capable of meeting all of life's challenges together but enjoying all that marriage allows.