Harts & Hurts

This story isn’t a retelling of Romeo & Juliet. This story is more like, After the Poison. For almost a century, The Hart and The Melrose Families have had animosity, and bad blood between them. What happens when one young couple defies the feud and falls in love? They start to live their happily ever after, of course. When their romance is cut short by their untimely deaths, there is a directive in their will that their infant daughter is to be raised by their siblings, Griffin Hart, and Anistyn Hurt.

Anistyn Hurt has never known a time when her maternal family (The Melroses), and The Hart family have gotten along. She doesn’t subscribe to holding the grudges of people who are long since dead. Anistyn judges people on their own merits. Based on her interactions with her brother-in-law, he was a good man with a good heart, who loved her sister completely. He always treated Anistyn like a cherished family member, but never in a million years did she expect him and her sister to leave guardianship of their daughter to her. Anistyn tended to be a dreamer, but the thought of pairing up with a Hart in co-guardianship was a lot, even for her.

Griffin Hart doesn’t have time to hold grudges against people who have never done anything to him personally. As a former professional football player, he’s focused on solidifying his place as a television analyst. His schedule is completely demanding. His days are filled with meetings, game tape, statistics, and interviews. He’s never even considered making space in his life for a baby. Now, not only is there a baby, there’s also the baby’s aunt—and the expectation of his brother and sister-in-law that he’ll step up to the plate.

Determined to honor their late siblings’ final wish, Anistyn and Griffin agree to raise their niece together. As bottles, sleep deprivation, diaper changes, and midnight feedings dominate their new dynamic, they seamlessly move from co-guardianship to partnership.

Their siblings had always hoped that their daughter sharing the blood of both families would provide a bridge toward healing, now it’s also providing a growing affection between her aunt and uncle. Will Anistyn and Griffin rewrite the family’s history all over again, finally giving Romeo and Juliet the closure they never received?