Character Conversation with Catherine Whitfield, Heroine of A Borrowed Dream by Amanda Cabot

Heidi here. Today we have with us Catherine Whitfield, the heroine from A Borrowed Dream, written by Amanda Cabot. I read A Borrowed Dream and absolutely adored it, you can see my book review here.

Catherine, all I’ve heard since I came to Cimarron Creek is what a wonderful teacher you are.  Why did you decide to become a teacher, and what’s your secret for motivating children?

You’ll have to excuse me for laughing, but the truth is, I haven’t always been a good teacher.  In fact, I used to dread going into that schoolhouse each morning.  The only reason I volunteered to teach is that I’m a Whitfield and the Whitfields, along with the Hendersons, have a sense of noblesse oblige.  Our parents and grandparents instilled in us the need to serve the community in some way.  As an unmarried woman, I didn’t have many choices, so I decided to teach.  The problem was, every single day I felt as if I were a fraud, standing up in front of those children.  Who was I to think I could teach them anything? 

That doesn’t sound like the Miss Whitfield I’ve heard so much about.  What changed?

Lydia came to town.  You’re probably wondering how the woman who opened the best candy store in the whole state of Texas could help a stumbling schoolmarm, but she did – and it wasn’t only by feeding me delicious chocolate creams.  You see, Lydia used to be a teacher herself.  In fact, she grew up in an exclusive boarding school.  She knows more about teaching than I ever will, but she also gave me one piece of advice that changed everything: she told me to remember what I liked – and didn’t like – when I was a pupil.  Once I did that, I knew how to reach my own pupils.

It sounds as if your dream of serving the town came true.  Do you have any dreams that haven’t yet come true?

I wish you hadn’t asked about that, because I’m afraid that my dream won’t ever come true.  I have a dream that just won’t go away.  In it, I’m in Paris, walking along the Seine toward the cathedral of Notre Dame. 

I know it’s a long way from Cimarron Creek to Paris, but it seems as if you could make that dream come true.

Last year it was more than a dream, it was a plan.  My mother and I planned to go to Europe, and one of our stops was going to be Paris, but then …

I heard your mother died.  Oh, Catherine, I’m sorry to have brought up unhappy memories.

It wasn’t your fault.  If it hadn’t been for Doc Harrington and those horrible leeches, my mother would still be alive.  I will never, ever let anyone I care about go near a doctor.  All they do is kill people!

Surely there are some good doctors.

I’ve never met one.

Let’s not talk about them, then.  I must say that your house is lovely, and it feels like a home, not just a house, but I wonder if you’re lonely living here all alone.

I won’t deny that there are times when I wish I weren’t alone, but I can’t bring my mother back, and even though the matchmakers seem to think I ought to marry, I won’t settle for being someone’s second choice.  Don’t look so surprised.  That wasn’t a hypothetical statement.  I hate to admit it, but the man I thought I was going to marry turned out to be fickle.  Believe it or not, he fell in love with Lydia.

That must have strained your friendship with her.

Not as much as you might think.  You see, Lydia wasn’t attracted to him and made sure he knew it, but the damage was done.  I knew he wasn’t the man for me.

If you were looking for a husband, what would he be like?

It’s easier for me to tell you what he wouldn’t be – he wouldn’t be a doctor, that’s for sure, and he wouldn’t have been married or engaged or in love with someone else.  I want to be my husband’s first and only love. 

Do you think you’ll ever find such a man?

I don’t know, but I hope so.

Amanda, thank you so much for playing the part of Catherine Whitfield today, she is certainly an amazing person 😀  Readers, here in information about A Borrowed Dream, where you can actually meet Catherine Whitfield in person as well as Amanda Cabot's biography. We hope you enjoyed our little diversion from the regular Saturday author interview. Also, please note that a bunch of Amanda's prior kindle version novels are on a nice discount, check the options out here.

There is no such thing as an impossible dream . . .

Catherine Whitfield is sure that she will never again be able to trust anyone in the medical profession after the local doctor’s treatments killed her mother. Despite her loneliness and her broken heart, she carries bravely on as Cimarron Creek’s dutiful schoolteacher, resigned to a life where dreams rarely come true.

Austin Goddard is a newcomer to Cimarron Creek. Posing as a rancher, he fled to Texas to protect his daughter from a dangerous criminal. He’s managed to keep his past as a surgeon a secret. But when Catherine Whitfield captures his heart, he wonders how long he will be able to keep up the charade.

With a deft hand, Amanda Cabot teases out the strands of love, deception, and redemption in this charming tale of dreams deferred and hopes becoming reality.

Author Bio

Amanda Cabot is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels including the Texas Dreams trilogy, the Westward Winds series, the Texas Crossroads trilogy, A Stolen Heart, and Christmas Roses. A former director of Information Technology, she has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages.  Amanda is delighted to now be a fulltime writer of Christian romances, living happily ever after with her husband in Wyoming. 

Social Media Links

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https://twitter.com/AmandaJoyCabot/

http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

Buying Links

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