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Los Angeles area – Present Day OTHERWISE ENGAGED is about four women affected by an almost adoption over twenty years ago. Shannon is dating Aaron, and he proposes marriage, which she accepts. But she can’t tell her mother, Cindy, because Cindy is also engaged and planning her wedding. Shannon and her mother are so close that she knows that Cindy will suggest a double wedding. That isn’t what Shannon wants. While out looking at a potential wedding venue for Cindy’s upcoming wedding, the women cross paths with two other women. Cindy and the older woman stare at each other. Both are clearly upset. Shannon learns that years ago, when Cindy was pregnant with her, she was nearly adopted by the other woman, Ava. Ava was affected by the almost adoption and coming face to face with not only Cindy but the now adult child she almost adopted leaves her stunned. Shannon is beautiful and looks so much like Ava and Cindy. The child that Ava and her husband adopted, Victoria, doesn’t look like either of her adoptive parents. Victoria learns who Cindy and Shannon are, and why Ava seems shaken by meeting them. Now, Victoria questions whether she was ever really wanted by Ava. As you can see by now, OTHERWISE ENGAGED is an emotional tale. Victoria is a stunt performer and is currently injured. Ava never approved of her choice of a career and seems bent on pressing her to change it. But Victoria is equally determined to be unlike what her mother expects. While she is laid up, she is working on a screenplay, but it’s not working out the way she wants it to. After finding out about Cindy and Shannon, Ava invites them to dinner along with Victoria. The four women talk, but there is an awkwardness. Victoria feels like the odd one out. It doesn’t help that her relationship with Ava has always been stilted. Victoria’s birth mother was the family maid who had already planned to give up the baby around the same time that Cindy decided not to give up her baby. Is Victoria just a substitution? Meanwhile, Shannon is unsure what to do with her life. Cindy and she have always been close, as her father was never in the picture. In fact, their birthdays are days apart and always celebrated at the same time. Shannon has begun to feel smothered by her mother’s “control” that she has over her. Cindy even mentioned in the past few weeks that she wished Shannon were engaged because they could have a double wedding. This is not what Shannon wants. So, for now, she and Aaron keep their engagement a secret. But secrets have a way of getting out. OTHERWISE ENGAGED is a story about the journey of these four women. They all have personal flaws that have affected their mother-daughter relationships. Ava attempts to reconnect with Cindy because at the time of the “to-be adoption,” the two women had become close friends, almost like sisters. But this reconnection causes issues to arise because there are too many “what ifs” to ignore. By the end of this tale, the four women will find the answers to their insecurities and be closer, if not as friends, then as mothers and daughters. Don’t miss this emotion-filled tale. Patti Fischer |
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OTHERWISE ENGAGED – Susan Mallery