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
Buying
Links
