London Bitches

Raylee London grew up by one rule: hit’em fast, hit’em hard, hit’em again if they get back up! Made her the undisputed leader of the London kids: twin sister, two orphaned and adopted girl cousins, foster sister, foster brother; each and every one stomped down hard by life early on. Raylee looks after them all; she is the original London Bitch! But Lafe Cantrell, the foster brother who came to live on the London farm when he was eleven after losing his mother to a grisly murder, is the glue that holds the family together; especially after Poppa died.

Girls left the farm right after high school; first college, then off to make new lives. Except for Kaylee London, Raylee’s twin sister who drifted from hospitals to clinics tying to kick her self-destructive alcohol addiction. Raylee went to law school; then the FBI; then under deep cover; family was told she was in Witness Protection, everybody else thought she was dead; almost was! Now, at the mid-point of their lives, their mother, who they affectionately call Ol’Woman, lies on her deathbed. And the children have all come home.

Told in a Then and Now format, London Bitches shows that our futures are chained to our pasts far more strongly than most of us realize, or are willing to admit. When Raylee London suddenly finds herself thrust back into the family she pretty much cut loose a long time ago: Foster brother (who still makes her itch way down deep where a lady ain’t supposed to scratch!), twin sister hell-bent on self-destruction, adopted sisters (who became more of a couple than mere siblings!), Foster sister (with her hoard of children and deadbeat preacher husband!), she must become Raylee London again; after being a lot of other folks for a lot of years. All she has to do is: remember who she was ... when she was Raylee London!

Family …
Ain’t about whose blood’s in your veins;
more about who stands by you when
th’shooting starts,
and helps bury bodies
when it’s over!