REAL LOVE...WHAT IS IT?

by Linda Warren

Every time I brainstorm an idea for a book I try to figure this out. What will attract and keep my hero and heroine together forever. I focus on giving them personalities that will cause conflict and turmoil in their lives, but since I have the power I can guarantee them a happy ending. Yeah, right, the little voice in my head says. Most of the time it’s really hard to get there. That’s what makes the story interesting and keeps my hope alive that someone will actually like my characters.

In the Texan’s Christmas, my Dec release and the third book in the Hardin Boys trilogy, I struggled with the H/H’s motivation (even though I thought it was clear in my mind) and wanted to beat my head against the keyboard when I couldn’t rationalize their actions. So I called my editor and we went over the synopsis and tweaked it a little. A lot stood in the H/H’s way. Lucky (Lucinda Littlefield) and Kid (Cisco Hardin) were high school sweethearts and vowed they would be together forever. But Kid went hundreds of miles away to college and Lucky went to nursing school close to home. He promised he’d call and come home often. He didn’t do either. Campus life and all the pretty girls were too much of a temptation.

This is where the difficult part comes in. How do I redeem this hero? Kid is a ladies’ man, a charmer. He’s also a business man and his company needs Lucky’s land to complete an oil drilling deal. So he has to face Lucky for the first time in years. Lucky is hurt by his betrayal and she’s not willing to give an inch. This is where I was stuck. How do I keep them together? I struggled with it for a long time and then bam. It hit me. I love it when that happens. I knew Lucky had to get the resentment and bitterness out of her system first and she does that in a big way. After that, Kid’s character changed. He saw himself through her eyes and he didn’t like what he saw. He hates what he’s done to her and sets about redeeming himself and seeking her forgiveness. Up until then I was sweating bullets and wondering if I’d ever make the story work. I had my own black moment, but was relieved these characters finally found their happy ever after and real love had survived despite all the obstacles in fictional romance world.

Now for the real world. I witnessed something that gave me the warm fuzzies about real love in my own backyard. We live on a lake in Texas and in the spring Canada geese arrive to spend the summer. When the weather starts to get chilly, the birds fly south but return in the spring. One summer the bobcats moved in and killed all the tame geese and ducks except for one old gray goose. I guess he wasn’t very tasty. The Canada geese were able to fly away from danger. Then one day I noticed the bobcat had gotten to one of them and had broken her wing. It dragged on the ground and she couldn’t fly. Now when the geese migrated in the winter, she’d be left alone with the old tame goose.

I’ve heard it said that Canada geese mate for life. What a concept. Her mate’s instinct would be to fly away in winter and I wondered if he would stay or go. Maybe in bird language he would say, “See ya in the spring.” So I watched every day as the geese started to leave in groups on their way south. One morning I looked out the breakfast room windows and saw the goose with the broken wing looking lonely. I was thinking that lousy so-and-so left her. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement and there was the male. He stayed! Now that’s real love. Ah, I had a warm feeling all day.

Wouldn’t it be great if that first spark of attraction we feel when we meet our mate for the first time would last forever, for better or worse, in sickness and health? So what do you think real love is? Do you see it in your own life, in your friends, your neighbors? Or have you read a book, witnessed something that made you feel all warm and fuzzy about love?

I’m giving away a copy of The Texan’s Christmas to one lucky winner.

It’s December 1. Have you started shopping?

Thanks and Happy Holidays,
Linda