Continuing from Pt. 1 - an attempt to see whether there are any Romance novel formulas that apply to the novel I'm writing intermittently about Alina and Bren...
Let me put Bren aside for now, because he is not really the love interest..
Stesha wasn't supposed to exist--well, not as such. When I first conceived of the idea for the novel, Alina and Bren were to have parted with a promise to always be true, but the situation of their land--which was to change rapidly from a forest to an industrialized landscape due to some sort of conquest--led to such radical changes in who Alina perceived herself to be that she would not have been the person that loved Bren before he left, or whom he thought he loved. Rather like, in The Princess Bride, how Wesley as the Dread Pirate Roberts was not the same as Wesley the Farm Boy. But as I thought about what barriers they might encounter when Bren returns, it seemed to me that Alina should be pregnant. And then, it seemed that for her to have latched onto someone other than Bren, she would have to be shamed into abandoning her hope that Bren would come back for her--or to have had her self-worth badly damaged. It seemed not enough to have her jaded and cynical, or even for her to be a subversive. So I cast her as having been damaged sexually--objectified and used. But I couldn't leave her there. Someone unlikely needed to be there to provide healing... and hope.
Stesha and Alina already have a Romance novel scenario. After all, he finds her broken, and helps to heal her. That healing involves a consummation, though it starts as physical and becomes emotional. He teaches her to survive, and to want to survive. And then he leaves. And then what? I don't have a definite formula for what happens next, but I'll try...
Scenario 1: Stesha is called away, and doesn't return. Alina may or may not receive word that he has died. Shortly after he leaves, she realizes that she is pregnant. She progresses through most of her pregnancy on her own, waiting... again. And surviving. Waiting isn't very exciting. She is vulnerable, and needs protection from the authorities. Someone offers to marry her to give her legitimacy. This is borrowed, in a way from the most recent Outlander novels, because it has the "true love" going away followed by a situation that causes her to lose hope that he will return. But in this case, if Alina accepts and Stesha returns, Alina's relationship with Stesha, while marriage-like, is not marriage, so the new marriage would be binding. Bren brings nothing to this party, having no rights under the new regime, which necessitates a new character.
Scenario 2: Stesha is captured or deported, and can't return. Alina may or may not receive word that he has died. She realizes that she is pregnant. She progresses through her pregnancy until she can no longer hide it, at which point Bren and Stesha both return. Tension ensues. In a young adult scenario, she would recognize her desire and affection for both men. The one she favors might be significantly flawed, and so unable to love her back--at least at first. When she finally decides to devote herself to the other, the one who was previously flawed might have resolved whatever difficulty there was, causing further tension. Either Stesha or Bren would then have to find a different path.
Scenario 3: This one is bound to be a bit more sordid, as I am thinking of a strange combination of Lancelot/Arthur/Gwenivere and a film by Pedro Almodóvar Carne Trémula. Stesha is called away. Alina may or may not receive word that he has died. She realizes that she is pregnant. Bren and Stesha both return, and in a battle, Alina and Stesha are both wounded. Alina loses the baby. She mourns for the baby, and for Stesha, who has been paralyzed from the waist down. By mutual consent, Bren agrees to help Alina to conceive.
Scenario 4: Stesha is called away. Alina may or may not receive word that he has died. She realizes that she is pregnant. She progresses through her pregnancy until she can no longer hide it, at which point Bren returns. He realizes that her current life is untenable, and that he has nothing to offer her. He offers nonetheless. They decide that he will help her find Stesha, and if they find for certain that he is dead, Bren will offer her companionship and raise the child as his own. Stesha has, in fact died. Bren must now help Alina to rebuild her own life and build a life with him.
Scenario 5: Stesha is called away. Alina may or may not receive word that he has died. She realizes that she is pregnant. She progresses through her pregnancy until she can no longer hide it, at which point Bren returns. He realizes that her current life is untenable, and that he has nothing to offer her. He offers nonetheless. They decide that he will help her find Stesha, and if they find for certain that he is dead, Bren will offer her companionship and raise the child as his own. Bren stays with her through childbirth, and they rediscover their affection for one another. He is devoted to her and to the child. They continue searching for Stesha, having had word that he is alive. They find Stesha, and tension ensues. Alina must decide which attraction/affection means more to her. Ultimately, she remains with the father of her child, to whom she is (already) symbolically wed.
A simpler scenario would involve only Stesha's return, or only Bren's return. If only Stesha returned, he would probably have to be damaged physically and emotionally, meaning that Alina would have to nurse him and be patient with him, while also raising their child. If only Bren returned, their relationship would probably remain celibate, and he would be like a brother to her, helping her raise the child.
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