It's always a joy to host a debut author.
Please welcome Inspy Author, Mary Felkins.
Thank you, L.A. for hosting me.
I began to wonder…what if two crisis-driven professions, trained to answer emergency calls, refuse to answer God’s call to love again?
I’ve always been in awe of first responders, those who make headline news in times of tragedy but seem to gain little recognition otherwise as they work tirelessly to respond to emergencies.
Throughout their shifts, they see so much of what most of us will never see. In addition to my trust in God’s protection, they’re the reason I sleep in peace each night.
For my first novel, I had the hero move from Texas to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains which parallels mine and my husband’s story in 1997. Although we made the move from Houston, Texas, I chose to have the hero move from San Antonio for one simple reason: my firstborn son is named Anthony. As simple – and fun – as that!
The heroine is an ER nurse in intent on leaving her hometown community in the foothills of North Carolina in pursuit of new life in another city. But what appears to be a wise career move is really lack of trust in disguise, a refusal to answer God’s call to love. Who can’t relate to justifying our reasons for turning in a particular direction when, behind it all, we’re running from the one thing God meant for our good?
Excerpt:
Tracy Cassidy’s life plan read like a doctor's script: wear lead apron over heart and manage affairs on own. If Plan A fails and pain persists then, and only then, a shout-out to God would be considered. After all, life was a vapor.
Hungry as Tracy was following a twelve-hour shift in the emergency department, the area outside Joe’s Hot Dog Shack needed to clear out stat. The command rose in her throat, but she reasoned that having to wait in line when hungry didn’t justify an irritable disposition. Mom said it marred the beauty of biblical femininity.
The hot dog stand, the likes of a tiny, roofed house, sat square in the parking lot of a small shopping strip. Cars whizzed along Highway 127, the four-lane, divided road beside it. Burning tobacco wafted from the customer ahead and tinged the air. Like those Atlantic league baseball games with her father. She pivoted toward a distant siren wail. Could be her brother Jack on patrol. Faithful to a family ritual, Tracy prayed. Keep him safe. Always safe.
Beneath summer’s sun, Tracy’s feet marinated inside her neon pink Nike’s. She slung her stethoscope behind her neck and inhaled the calming scent of Appalachian handcrafted rose and jasmine shea butter soap on her skin. A ‘just because’ gift from Mom, likely meant to dissuade Tracy’s consideration of leaving her hometown of Laurelton.
An older couple sat at one of two pine picnic tables beside the food stand. Tracy peered at them over her shoulder. A cheery yellow umbrella shaded them from the gauze of August heat. Their shoulders touched, eyes brightening like jewels. The gentleman tucked strands of graying hair behind her ears. He reached a napkin to her mouth. “Marilyn, whadya say we get married?”
The woman angled her face away then returned his smile. “Oh, Wilburn. You’ve been proposing since our wedding day sixty years ago.”
He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. Jeremiah Clark’s classic, Trumpet Voluntary, sounded in Tracy’s head and drew her thoughts to the unquenchable power of her parents’ love. Their story could have looked the same. If it hadn’t been for Dad’s badge.
Tracy gazed across the sloping Catawba Valley foothills that rose into indigo waves of sculpted Appalachian Mountains. Artistic brushstrokes of white cloud streaked an azure blue, mid-afternoon sky. Summer would soon give way to the glory of fall with sugar maple leaves, a sheer radiance of golden yellow, amber, and ruby red. A metal street sign colored in patriotic shades and anchored in the fertile road verge along the main road boasted Laurelton as an All-America City winner.
Yanking her thoughts back to business, Tracy considered her options. “So, if Cheryl tells me I got the promotion, I’m meant to stay in Laurelton and support Mom with Safe Shores Women’s Rescue Mission. But if not, I’ve got that dream job opportunity as assistant manager at Duke Regional Medical Center in Durham.” Sure tasted sweet. And she could forever darken the images of her fallen father that mocked her pain at every corner.
Her cell phone vibrated inside the pocket of her purple scrubs and disrupted the review of her carefully planned agenda. Another text from Robbie, Tracy’s former high-school sweetheart turned gorgeous-and buff-pharmaceutical rep. They’d been dating for over eight months since he’d first called on Dr. Rainer at the hospital.
Where are you?
“Persistent man,” she muttered.
Joe cupped a hand behind his ear. “Excuse me?”
Slipping the cell back into her pocket, Tracy advanced to the open, sliding glass window only to draw back at the pungent smell of chopped onion. She flapped her hand. “It’s nothing.”
Now, review agenda. Quell hunger, return home by close of business day, and contact Joanna Graves in Human Resources at Duke Regional Medical Center. Then she’d figure a way to wrap her mind around trading the beauty of the mountains for flat, granite landscape. Which was so not the picture of an All-America City. No matter. She’d make life work.
Blurb:
What if saying yes to love means trusting the kind of man you said you’d never marry?
What if pursuing a woman’s heart means restoring a painful past?
Why sign up to be Laurelton’s next cop widow?
Tom DeLaney, a hyper-vigilant cop and new hire from Texas, is wearied by years of failed rescue attempts to save his marriage to his ex. A free man, he moves to the foothills of North Carolina. Thing is, he hadn’t expected to fall for Tracy, his supervisor’s sister. But when his adolescent son is diagnosed with a chronic illness, he faces the risk of loving another woman with keep-out issues.
Fears related to the death of Tracy’s cop father and Tom’s inability to forgive the past threaten to sabotage any chance at love.
To trust again means surrender. Will they risk their hearts and answer the call?
Bio:
Mary A. Felkins is an inspirational romance author, administrator for Seriously Write writer's blog, and contributor to Refresh, a quarterly online Bible study magazine. In 2015, she was awarded a bronze medal winner for her scene submission to My Book Therapy's Frazier contest. Call to Love is her debut, inspirational romance novel.
She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and My Book Therapy.
Raised in Houston, Texas (and forever a Lone Star girl), Mary and her husband Bruce moved to the foothills of North Carolina in 1997. They are blessed to parent four young adult children. She can be lured from her writer's cave if presented with a large, unopened bag of Peanut M&Ms or to watch an episode of Fixer Upper. A surprise appearance by her teen idol, Donny Osmond, would also do the trick, although she’d likely pass out.
If, upon introduction, she likes your first or last name, expect to see it show up in one of her novels.
To receive Mary’s weekly story-style devotions and quarterly book news via email, join other #Felkinsfans at www.maryfelkins.com
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