Originally featured in the anthology Fantasies of a Housewife, and "Desert Dreams and " is a contemporary romantic short story.Shaylene Thomas is a busy working mom. Raising her two girls on her own in rural Arizona's high desert country, each day is an adventure filled with both beauty and challenges - and she wouldn't trade a moment of it for all the riches in all the skyscrapers in the world. But sometimes she dreams of a warm pair of arms to curl into at night... and sometimes dreams come true.