In A Mother's Arms

I’m Victoria Bylin. It’s great to be blogging today. I have a new book on the shelves and it’s one of my favorites. “Home Again” is a novella in the April 2009 LIH Mother’s Day anthology. The overall title is In a Mother’s Arms, and I’m paired with Jillian Hart.

I had a blast with this story. The heroine, Cassie O’Rourke, has a 12-year-old son who’s determined to get into trouble. He starts by throwing a rock through the church window. That act of rebellion puts him in the path of the town sheriff, the man Cassie jilted fourteen years earlier.

What I love about this story is the heroine. Cassie is doing her best to teach her son how to be a man, but she just doesn’t get it. Here she is . . . A woman in 1890 Colorado, running a store, raising a child and divorced. She knows nothing about boys. Her adolescent son is a complete mystery to her. Can anyone relate? My two sons are grown now, but I remember some very strange moments.

Their minds just don’t work the way mine does! I’ll never forget putting a frozen pizza in the oven for my oldest son and a friend of his. They were about 15 years old. When the timer went off, my son took out the pizza, tore it in two and handed half to his buddy. That was that. Why waste time with knives and plates? I would have cut it into 8 pieces. Maybe six. Two guys, two pieces. It made sense to him.

Cassie’s problems with her son go a lot deeper than shortcuts in the kitchen. Her son is in desperate need of a father figure, a man who understands his urge to fight and protect. God provides that man in Gabe Wyatt, but Cassie has a lot to learn about boys. Men, too! Gabe, fortunately, is patient. Love does that to a person.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love being mom even more than I love being a writer. That says a lot!