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To Have and To Hold #24
Homecoming
After her terrifying ordeal in the Middle East, Cassa Welles is coming home. A tall, dark beauty, she has a fervent love for the country whose freedoms she has been denied--and a heart- stopping ache to feel Dan's arms around her once again. He is her partner, her loving husband, her homecoming.
For Dan Welles, the months of believing Cassa dead and his world destroyed are not easily forgotten. Their tender passion flares anew, but painful questions remain unspoken as they seek to set aside the past and revel in the joy of their reunion.
For Dan Welles, the months of believing Cassa dead and his world destroyed are not easily forgotten. Their tender passion flares anew, but painful questions remain unspoken as they seek to set aside the past and revel in the joy of their reunion.
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1984
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March 27, 2020
Homecoming opens with magnificently improbable melodrama. Our heroine has just been released from nine months as a hostage in the fictional sheikhdom of Suwanon (“situated in the strife-torn area between Lebanon and Syria”).
While on a solo buying expedition for oriental rugs for the family business, the h had accepted an invitation to attend a dinner at the French consulate. When the consulate was bombed by terrorists and the survivors taken hostage, one of the French diplomats suggested the h should assume the identity of a Frenchwoman who had died in the bombing because she would be safer under that identity than as an American with no passport. When they are finally freed, the diplomat then suggests she might want to seek legal advice (because of the whole stolen identity/no passport thing), so the h calls her lawyer brother and doesn’t have time to call her husband before boarding the plane for New York.
Her brother picks her up alone at the airport (because apparently the entire length of an international flight wasn’t enough time for the brother to call the husband and tell him that his wife wasn’t dead and was on her way back to him?). Useless brother explains that he hasn’t seen much of her husband since the h was declared dead, but he has heard rumors the husband was dating another woman. He offers to take his sister to his apartment and contact the husband from there, but the heroine is eager to be home and showered and dressed in her own clothes, so she insists he take her to her marital home. They arrive to find an elegant party underway, with the OW as hostess. Just as the guests raise champagne glasses to toast the husband’s engagement to the OW, the heroine declares,
The OW is perfectly dreadful throughout the scene, clinging to the husband’s arm and saying things like “We’re both so glad you’re safe, Cassa” and explaining that of course she had donated all of the heroine’s clothes to charity because it was so painful for the husband to have those reminders in his home. Fortunately, the heroine’s sister-in-law is on hand to offer items from her wardrobe (which will now fit the heroine, since the hostage diet is so effective). The husband offers to swing by for the clothes after he takes the OW home. (Seriously, he has spent all of three minutes in the company of his undead wife. Does he ask the brother to drive the OW home so he can remain with his wife? No. No, he does not.) During the drive, he is shocked to discover the OW expects him to divorce his wife and marry her.
Now, ignoring the fact that I don’t believe this is remotely how American nationals are repatriated after a foreign hostage situation and that somebody (the embassy, the state department, the brother) should have contacted the husband and that it is ludicrously coincidental the heroine should walk in just as the engagement announcement is made, this would be a great start to a story about rebuilding trust and redefining a relationship that suffered a traumatic rift. But that’s not the story Ann Cristy comes equipped to tell.
Instead, we’re going to get a story about buying a new wardrobe, dining at the country club, and selling rugs. But not just any rugs. TORTURE rugs. Describing the heroine’s love for the family business, her brother says, “Our Uncle Aram used to tell her stories about the young children with deformed fingers who weave the rugs…” and the heroine later blithely describes the craft to some shocked customers:
Our heroine, romancelandia’s apologist for inhumane child labor.
Anyway, with so many clothes to buy and torture rugs to sell, we quickly lose track of the evil OW, who fades away despite one last valiant attempt to reclaim the husband during a night out at the country club where we rapidly come to realize that every single character in this book is upper middle class and smug with it. They are like everybody I never want to spend time with, all packaged in a single book for convenient portability.
While on a solo buying expedition for oriental rugs for the family business, the h had accepted an invitation to attend a dinner at the French consulate. When the consulate was bombed by terrorists and the survivors taken hostage, one of the French diplomats suggested the h should assume the identity of a Frenchwoman who had died in the bombing because she would be safer under that identity than as an American with no passport. When they are finally freed, the diplomat then suggests she might want to seek legal advice (because of the whole stolen identity/no passport thing), so the h calls her lawyer brother and doesn’t have time to call her husband before boarding the plane for New York.
Her brother picks her up alone at the airport (because apparently the entire length of an international flight wasn’t enough time for the brother to call the husband and tell him that his wife wasn’t dead and was on her way back to him?). Useless brother explains that he hasn’t seen much of her husband since the h was declared dead, but he has heard rumors the husband was dating another woman. He offers to take his sister to his apartment and contact the husband from there, but the heroine is eager to be home and showered and dressed in her own clothes, so she insists he take her to her marital home. They arrive to find an elegant party underway, with the OW as hostess. Just as the guests raise champagne glasses to toast the husband’s engagement to the OW, the heroine declares,
“I think that any engagement announcement is highly premature. Married men do not announce their plans to marry other women. In fact, this entire gathering strikes me as being highly inappropriate.”
The OW is perfectly dreadful throughout the scene, clinging to the husband’s arm and saying things like “We’re both so glad you’re safe, Cassa” and explaining that of course she had donated all of the heroine’s clothes to charity because it was so painful for the husband to have those reminders in his home. Fortunately, the heroine’s sister-in-law is on hand to offer items from her wardrobe (which will now fit the heroine, since the hostage diet is so effective). The husband offers to swing by for the clothes after he takes the OW home. (Seriously, he has spent all of three minutes in the company of his undead wife. Does he ask the brother to drive the OW home so he can remain with his wife? No. No, he does not.) During the drive, he is shocked to discover the OW expects him to divorce his wife and marry her.
Now, ignoring the fact that I don’t believe this is remotely how American nationals are repatriated after a foreign hostage situation and that somebody (the embassy, the state department, the brother) should have contacted the husband and that it is ludicrously coincidental the heroine should walk in just as the engagement announcement is made, this would be a great start to a story about rebuilding trust and redefining a relationship that suffered a traumatic rift. But that’s not the story Ann Cristy comes equipped to tell.
Instead, we’re going to get a story about buying a new wardrobe, dining at the country club, and selling rugs. But not just any rugs. TORTURE rugs. Describing the heroine’s love for the family business, her brother says, “Our Uncle Aram used to tell her stories about the young children with deformed fingers who weave the rugs…” and the heroine later blithely describes the craft to some shocked customers:
“As you can see, this rug is tightly woven,” Cassa commented. “Like many fine oriental carpets, it was woven by children. Sometimes their hands become almost arthritic from doing the work, but the knots are all perfect.” Seeing the horrified look on her customer’s face, Cassa hurried on to explain. “I know it sounds like child abuse, but I’ve heard that the people tend to have very close family ties. If the children are happy and well-loved, their lives can’t be so terrible. Middle Eastern youngsters have been weaving rugs for centuries.”
Our heroine, romancelandia’s apologist for inhumane child labor.
Anyway, with so many clothes to buy and torture rugs to sell, we quickly lose track of the evil OW, who fades away despite one last valiant attempt to reclaim the husband during a night out at the country club where we rapidly come to realize that every single character in this book is upper middle class and smug with it. They are like everybody I never want to spend time with, all packaged in a single book for convenient portability.
Displaying 1 of 1 review