Caren Crane

Connie Burns knew one thing for sure: she never wanted kids. After 15 years of marriage, though, lots of things have changed. Her best friend moved out of state, remarried and is having a new baby. Connie is also dealing with the realities of life with lupus. All the changes make her rethink having a baby, but her husband and her doctor are against it. Both encourage her to test the waters by being a foster parent first to see how it goes, since stress is the worst thing for her lupus. Not only is Connie a typical "type A" personality, but she has a high-powered career, a bedroom-sized closet full of shoes, a penchant for perfection and a compact sports car. Though she's not exactly primed for motherhood, she agrees they should foster to bolster her chances of becoming a mother. When four-year-old Desi is placed with them, Connie's life turns upside down and her heart is quickly lost. But parenting isn't for sissies and this little girl comes with more baggage than most. Desi's mother is in hospice dying of cancer. Not only does Connie face traumas like hosting a birthday party for a 5-year-old, she also has to learn on the fly how to help Desi deal with a new school, a new family and the devastating death of her mother. As they take Baby Steps toward building a life together, Connie has to learn that life is messy, shoes aren't mission critical, and an imperfect life can be full of perfectly wonderful surprises.

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