THE MEASURE OF ENOUGH by Deonna Kay ~ Character Guest Post, Excerpt & Giveaway

The Measure of Enough
by: Deonna Kay
Genre: Psychological Fiction/Women’s Fiction
Release Date: March 25, 2025
Publisher: Yellow Shoes Press

Thirty-four-year old social worker, Kacee Robinson, runs a non-profit agency helping women and children move away from bad situations. Kacee moved away from her own bad situation years ago and pledged never to return to her hometown of Glendale, Texas, or to the mother who abandoned her right smack in the middle of her hateful pre-adolescent years—just when she needed her most.

Now it is Kacee’s mother who needs something from her. With the entire town rallying behind the cry, Kacee has a decision to make. She can put aside everything she thought she ever knew about this woman who made a feeble attempt at raising her, return to the town, and conduct the necessary business like the grown-up professional she knows she is. Or she can stand her ground, continuing to struggle with the nagging questions and residual scars of her childhood.

Before she can make a decision, Kacee fears her life may be in danger and a rapid turn of events prompts resolutions that cannot be undone, setting into motion a slide of events as slick as the oil-engendered family from which Kacee was born.

The echoes of the past reach out to her while in Glendale, grabbing on and not letting go as they wind her down a country road through pages of her mother’s journals and twisting her into an unexpected new fate from which she will never be the same.

Growing up, I (Kacee Marie Havemeier Robinson) learned to solve my own problems and hide my feelings. Mom was busy taking care of the rest of the community with her volunteer work to tend to my issues. She was always leaving me and Daddy, before the divorce, to spend her time at this organization or that. After the divorce, she was working a lot and was too exhausted---both mentally and physically. I think that led to some of her mental breakdowns. I tiptoed around as a child, mindful of what I shared with her. She always told me she loved me and that I was “enough,” but I never fully felt it. I think that’s part of why I chose going into social work as a profession, seeing her struggle as she was immersed into the healthcare system. That, and my aunt’s profession. Since becoming an adult and my recent visit back to Glendale, I’ve learned so much about my mom and the reasons behind why she struggled that I was blinded to as a child. It’s amazing what opening your mind and your heart to past transgressions and different possibilities will do.

Therapy and I have a love/hate relationship. The battle runs way down deep, growing in the pit of my stomach like some putrid, perverse fungus. After each session I’d tell myself it was useless and that it wasn’t going anywhere, yet some unknown magnetic force drew me back for the following week’s opportunity to pick apart my pitiful life and “get to the bottom” of the bane of my misery.

The answers to my own questions—those which have thrown me into therapy for half of my life—just might be hidden in Glendale. The thought turned over in my mind after Edna’s phone call–-even before I spoke it aloud to Margaret.

Margaret’s lobby walls were bare, save for the single faded watercolor painting of a man holding a young girl’s hand and wading through an empty wheat field. You’d think she’d opt for something a bit livelier. After all, most folks come to visit her trying to find a recipe for that life goulash they managed to dang near destroy on their own.

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Deonna Kay is a native Texan, the proud mom of a young adult daughter, an over-sized dog, and the fuzziest cat you’ve ever seen. Her passion of writing began as a child and has carried over into her adult life. She is a business owner and loves to travel, particularly to Disney World. If you enjoyed THE MEASURE OF ENOUGH, please visit the author on her website to follow her future endeavors and updates.

Places to find Deonna Kay:

Website | Twitter | Instagram

You can follow The Measure of Enough Blog Tour here.

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