This week I’m hosting Marta Perry with Home by Dark, Diana Brandmeyer with Mind of Her Own (ebook PDF file), Carole Towriss with In the Shadows of Sinai, and Loree Lough with For Love of Eli. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (January 27th) evening.
For Love of Eli (Quilts of Love series)
by Loree Lough
Interview with the hero:
1. Reece Montgomery, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
In my opinion, being a pediatrician is just about the most remarkable career out there, because kids are remarkable. In med school, I thought I’d specialize in cardiology or oncology. Then, as part of my routine intern training, I spent a few weeks in pediatrics, and learned how rewarding the work would be. And since I never expected to marry and have children of my own, I figured the choice might satisfy my yen to become a dad. And for the most part, it has.
2. What do you do for fun?
Between work and taking care of my townhouse and my sister’s place, there isn’t a lot of time for fun. I have two cars—a roadster that satisfies my need for speed, and a sedan with plenty of space for Eli’s safety seat—and get a kick out of rotating the tires and changing the oil. And spending time with Eli, of course.
It hurt like crazy when Margo named her jar-head husband’s sister as Eli’s guardian. But between you and me? I saw the way Taylor reacted when the crotchety old lawyer read the will. She was as stunned as me, yet she suggested an every-other-weekend arrangement to make sure my relationship with Eli wouldn’t suffer.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Laying down the law at the office! Maureen and Gina run a tight ship, mind you…but sometimes, it feels like they forget who works for whom, y’know?
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
That people will find out how much I resent my parents. It seems petty and cold, even to me, to rail against their missionary work. I’ve tried, but I can’t forgive them for leaving me in charge. Not just of Margo, but of the cooking and cleaning and everything else that went along with taking care of a house. All while trying to earn the kind of grades that would earn scholarships, because how else was I supposed to get a decent education, and take proper care of Margo. A vicious circle, I tell you, all so they could run off to one foreign country after another to do God’s work.
The Fourth Commandment says “Honor thy father and thy mother.” It doesn’t say honor them if they’re attentive and caring and there. It just says do it. Not an easy feat when nearly every thought of them begins with hypocrites.
5. What do you want out of life?
It’s more a dream than a want, but I’d love a normal life. A wife, a house with a yard, instead of a wood-and-glass townhouse. And kids. Lots of ’em. Don’t get me wrong…I love what I do, but it sure would be nice to take care of my own kids, not just other people’s.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
That’s easy: Eli, and anything that has to do with his well-being and happiness.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
Do I read? Ha! I spend at least two hours a day, reading…research stuff, mostly, so I’m always current with the latest trends in medicine. Business books, too, so I can make smart investments, because Eli has already been through enough in his short life. He shouldn’t have to work as hard as I did to earn straight A’s, too. I read management books, too, so that my office runs efficiently.
Haven’t read the Bible in a long, long time. This will sound crazy and petty, but it ticks me off that God took my parents! I know it was their choice, but…. And besides, there are only so many hours in a day….
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I don’t let people get close. Well, except for Eli. Being open to relationships, committing to other people, means letting your guard down. And that means disappointment, anger, bitterness.
So I guess I’d have to say I might like myself better if I could just step out in faith and trust somebody. Taylor might be that somebody…if I hadn’t spent all these years, blaming her for the way Eliot abandoned Margo and Eli….
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Nope. No time for stuff like that. If I had a pet, it’d be a dog. Golden Retriever. I know, I know…they shed. A lot. And need to be brushed, often. But they’re beautiful animals. Smart. Affectionate. Great with kids. Which, if I had a dog, would be a must, since Eli is such a huge part of my life.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I’d go back to my childhood, and spend a lot more time at church…and on my knees…learning how to pray so I could ask God to help my folks realize that their job as parents was more important than missionary work!
I’d treat Taylor a whole lot better, too. She was young when she lost her parents, and it wasn’t her fault that she got stuck with an idiot brother who loved the Marines more than he loved Margo and Eli.
Come to think of it, Eliot’s lack of loyalty reminds me a lot of my parents’.
So yeah, I’d treat Taylor way better. She deserves it. Eli couldn’t have a better mom. Hard as it is to admit, she’s better for the kid that Margo was. And if not for Taylor, Eli and I wouldn’t have this tight, father-son relationship….
