Jo Goodman
To find characters to illustrate my first family saga, I cut out models from the Sears catalogue. I was in fourth grade, but it was a start. In seventh grade I wrote a melodrama about two orphan sisters, one of whom was pregnant. There was also a story about a runaway girl with the unlikely name of Strawberry and one about mistaken identities and an evil blind date. My supportive, but vaguely concerned parents, sighed with relief when I announced I was going to write children's books. They bought me an electric typewriter and crossed their fingers, but somehow PASSION'S BRIDE came out. No one was really surprised.
I graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry and some notion that I would do marine research. Years of competitive swimming didn't help me anticipate seasickness. A career change seemed in order. I began working with adolescents and families, first as a childcare worker and later, after graduating from West Virginia University with a master's degree in counseling, as a therapist. I am currently the executive director of a child caring/mental health agency and find my work and my writing often compliment each other. One grounds me in reality and the other offers a break from it.
“It is necessary to know that Cole is a neat-freak. They are both exhausted after a medical situation happens in the story. This is not part of the quote. "Cole sat at the head of the table at a right angle to Rhyne. He snapped his napkin open and tucked one corner into the collar of his shirt. When Rhyne looked at him in surprise, he said, "You're too busy to do more laundry. I thought I'd try to keep my shirts reasonably clean." Rhyne continued to stare at him. "What?" he asked, looking down at himself. "Have I already spilled something?" "My heart," she said feelingly. "All over you.”
“There aren't any dancing girls in Bitter Springs," Finn said. "Leastways not he kind that kick their legs so high in the air you can see..." He leaned forward, looked around Kellen for this brother, and asked, "What do you call it?""France," Rabbit said. "They kick their legs so high you can see France."Finn nodded. He looked up at Kellen. "You ever seen France?"Kellen sighed feelingly. "Not in a long while.”
“You can let your breath out," she said, moving around to the side of the tub. She gave him the bottle again. "here, have another drink. I'm all done. You're going to live.""I knew I was going to survive the injury," he said lowly. His eyes held hers. "I didn't know if I was going to survive your attentions.”
“I'm not that squeamish, Mr. Stone.""Ethan," he said. "I'm naked. I'm in a tub. You're wearing my nightshirt. You've already slept in my bed. I think you should call me Ethan.”
“Love made room for conflict. It allowed for the expression of more than one view and invited the paradox that disagreement was vital to harmony. Love required accepting and meant changing oneself rather than demanding change of others.”
“Weakness begets evil”
“She hesitated. “I’m not sure I understand.”“Don’t you?” he asked. “You changed my heart, Rachel.”She felt her throat constrict, making any reply impossible.“Rachel?” Her silence rarely made him uncomfortable, but this time he had no clear view of her features and no way to gauge her reaction. He wondered if he should have made a more straightforward declaration. “Did you hear me say I love you?”She turned her cheek into his shoulder. “I heard you.”
“He chuckled. "I cannot speak for other men, but I want the woman who stumbles over a word like virgin and can say whore without raising a blush." His smile faded and he spoke soberly. "Your soldier… your first love… and every circumstance that followed in some way brought you to me, and while I can wish that you had never had your heart hurt, that you had never suffered even a moment of doubt, of pain, of sadness… of betrayal, I also know that you would in some way be changed. It would have made your life different. Mine also." North gave her hand a light squeeze. "Whether we are shaped by the circumstances of our lives, or by our perceptions of them, I still find I very much admire the shape you have become.”