Charity Sunday: For the children in Sulawesi - #CharitySunday #tsunami #Unicef #giveaway

It seems that every day brings a new story of some horrific disaster.

Many of my friends and family in the US are reeling from the effects of recent hurricanes Florence and Michael. Meanwhile, since I live Southeast Asia, I’m getting painful daily reports on the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi, Indonesia, two weeks ago. More than two thoussand people are confirmed dead from this dual disaster, with thousands more missing. Meanwhile, in comparison to the wealthy United States which has resources and systems in place for coping with emergency situations, Indonesia is a developing country, with Sulawesi one of its poorer regions. The tens of thousands of survivors in Palu and Donggala, the worst hit towns, have literally lost everything.

Today’s Charity Sunday is intended to provide some small amount of assistance to these victims. For every comment I receive on this post between now and next Sunday, I will donate one dollar to Unicef, the United Nations children’s organization, which has teams on the ground helping kids left orphaned, traumatized and homeless by September 28th’s double whammy.

https://www.unicef.org/stories/deadly-earthquake-and-tsunami-hit-indonesia

To encourage you, I’m also doing a giveaway. Every person who comments will also be entered into a drawing for a free copy of my Halloween BDSM erotic romance, Coming in Costume. Please include your email address so I can find you if you are the winner.

And I hope you’ll share this post with your friends, family and fans. The more comments I get, the larger my donation.

Here’s a bit from the book, to let you know what’s on offer! (The book includes two bonus stories featuring the same characters, too: On the Beach and Silver Bells.)

“On the desk, Miss Archer. Arms out, palms flat.”

I should have realized Greg had something up his sleeve. Normally he hates big parties. His work requires him to interact with all sorts of people, but I know he finds it stressful. To relax he prefers more—how should I put it?—intimate gatherings. So I really should have understood he had some deviant plan in mind when he told me about the Halloween masquerade.

“Samson-Sewell Advertising—you know, Bella, they’re one of our biggest accounts—anyway, they’re throwing a huge Halloween party. Pulling out all the stops, I gather, to impress their clients. They’ve actually hired the Roosevelt Rotunda at the Natural History Museum for the event. I’m surprised that’s even possible, but I guess money talks, and these days they’ve got plenty. Which is great for our firm, of course.”

“And you’re going?” I looked up from my breakfast to scan my husband’s darkly handsome face. A half-smile played on his lips.

“We’re both going. It’s next Saturday night. And they want everyone to come in costume.”

I clapped my hands in delight and his grin broadened. Greg knows how much I adore costumes and role-playing. “Oh, wonderful! Maybe we can go as a pirate and his captive! Or the sheik and the harem girl… Or how about a Roman aristocrat and his slave?”

“You want everyone to know you’re my sub? My filthy, kinky, obedient slut?” He revved the motor of the vibe strapped to my clit. I moaned and clenched my muscles, struggling against orgasm. Fortunately, he released the switch before I lost control.

“Greg—sir—please!” I gasped. “It’s Halloween. The one night we can be someone else!”

“Sounds to me like you want to show off your true self, Bella.”

“I—you know, I just like to play with those fantasies.” Rising from the table, I went to hug him, moving carefully so as not to dislodge the BenWa balls he’d slipped into my pussy before we got out of bed. “But we can wear less—um—revealing costumes if you prefer.”

He nuzzled my hair; I burrowed deeper into the warmth of his arms “I guess that might be better,” I continued, fighting to keep the disappointment out of my voice. “For your business and all.”

“Leave the costumes to me.” His lips grazed mine, triggering a sweet spasm between my legs even though the vibrator was off. “You’ll be pleased, I promise. Trust me, love.”

“You know I do, sir. Always.”

* * *

Please don’t just disappear without leaving a comment! Help the poor kids in Indonesia, and maybe get a sexy book in return!

Thank you!
 

Children Are Our Future

By Chelle Cordero (Guest Blogger)

I touched on the subjects of orphans and foster care in both of my latest releases, A Chaunce of Riches and Common Bonds, Tangled Hearts. In Chaunce both Samantha and Ben had grown up together in the same foster home; in Common Bonds the heroine Layne was orphaned young and made a ward of the state when her ailing grandmother couldn’t care for her.

In Common Bonds, Tangled Hearts Layne wasn’t nearly as fortunate as her predecessors who found warmth and comfort with loving foster parents. Her fate was much more dreadful and she wound up walking into a bad situation because she had no guidance to steer her. If just one person had been able to take her hand and help her… But then what would my book have been about?

As Dennis got ready for bed, Layne thought of her own childhood. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was just a toddler, she didn't even remember them. Her grandparents raised her; grandpa died when she was six, her grandmother had a stroke which left her in a coma when Layne was almost eight. Layne was put into a foster home close by so she could visit her grandmother in the hospital. Grandma died the day Layne turned eight. She figured it was because the state had never been able to trace down any of her mother's relations that she was kept in the foster care program rather than put up for adoption.

Some of the foster homes weren't too terrible, the parents were friendly and her foster siblings were nice to play with. But as Layne grew into a teen-ager and her tall lanky shape developed into a womanly figure, Layne found herself in a dangerous situation. She had been put into a home where the parents had two teen-age boys of their own. Her foster parents called her ungrateful when she complained that the boys were sneaking peeks of her while she showered or changed in her room. Layne tolerated it until the night one of her foster brothers climbed into her bed and touched her in ways he had no right to. She ran away before dawn broke.

The next few days she literally lived on the street with no money, no food and no bed to sleep in. That was when she met Charlie. He found her in the alley outside of his gallery and he invited her in to warm up, use the shower in the back of the store and sleep in the stock room; it was the first solid sleep she had in days. When she woke up, she found a tray laden with juice and milk and cereal and fruit. She was so grateful to him.

After she was rested and clean and the hunger pangs in her stomach were gone, he invited her into his office to chat. She told him what had happened and thanked him for his rescue. He asked her how old she was, she told him sixteen; he was forty-nine. He offered her a permanent solution, one which the frightened teen-age girl saw only as a fairy tale come true. He had money, he lived in a big house, he owned an international art company and he was willing to marry her. Because of her age, he handed her money and travel directions to a nearby state where the age of consent was even younger and he told her he'd meet her.

They met at the hotel and went to the justice of the peace where Elaine Cowan became Mrs. Charles Harris. That night he took her to bed and when she cried from the pain he caused her, he told her that the first time was the worst and it was a small price to pay for all the comfort she now would be living with. They went home the next day.

Layne got used to Charlie taking what he called his husbandly rights, but she never looked forward to them. She learned quickly that any refusals she made only made things worse. He wouldn't be denied; he didn't care what her reasons were. After the second month of their marriage, Charlie demanded that Layne take a pregnancy test. It was negative. He demanded another one every month after that and with each negative response, he became angrier and more abusive. Charlie told Layne that he "bought her" so that she should give him an heir. He told her that horrifying fact the very first night he beat her.

Recent news reports have been filled with the terrifying accounts of the earthquake aftermath in Haiti – among the many, many tragedies are thousands of children, many orphaned, who have no shelter or loving arms to hold them. Some of the orphans, in the system before the quake, were in the process of being adopted and sadly the paperwork is now buried in rubble so the delight of the children and their parents-to-be has to be put on hold until governments can sort through myriad details and red-tape.

This poignant plight leaves me so saddened – I wish I had space and money to house scores of these children, I would have the love. There have been many hopeful parents who have opened their hearts and arms just to be told that paperwork had to be filed and visas had to be issued. Current estimates say that these processes could take up to two years. Even opening our homes today will be met with delays and unfortunately children who were already being adopted will continue to take up bed space from many new orphans.

Hopefully governments throughout the world will help by making special emergency plans to push through the adoptions that were already in process. We must each ask our governments to consider refugee status for these orphans so that they can go to loving homes as soon as possible. If the paperwork waits to be done – it’s just paper. The children are our future.

Visit Chelle online at http://ChelleCordero.com

Common Bonds, Tangled Hearts is available now in print and e-book.