Hero Interview from The Gift Wrapped Bride by Maureen Lang with a Giveaway

» Posted on Oct 30, 2014 in Blog | Comments Off on Hero Interview from The Gift Wrapped Bride by Maureen Lang with a Giveaway

This week I’m hosting  Marta Perry with The Forgiven (US and Canada only) and Maureen Lang with The Gift Wrapped Bride  from 12 Brides of Christmas (ebook only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on your post 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 (Nov. 2nd) evening.

51KArNJfRELInterview with the hero from The Gift Wrapped Bride by Maureen Lang:

1. Noah, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

Other than leaving kith and kin for the great unknown (and great unwashed) city of Chicago five years ago (back in 1843) then working on an engineering marvel called the Illinois and Michigan Canal, you might say I haven’t done much that anyone would call noteworthy. Well, except for the pranks I used to play as a boy. Now there was some fun. Harmless, of course. Boy’s play, like with pellet shooters. Once I hid a frog in Sophie Stewart’s lunch pail, and another time I tossed a spider onto her desk during a spelling test. Ahem—I guess I shouldn’t remember those things with a smile, since I’ve learned she sure doesn’t—but if the truth was to be told, even way back in grammar school I must’ve thought Sophie the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Why else would I have tried so hard to get her attention?

2. What do you do for fun?

You’ll be happy to hear I no longer play pranks to get anyone’s attention. After a long day working with Chicago’s water works department, the thing that really gives me pleasure is working with leather and carving tools. I know I’m not a real artisan—I’ve seen Sophie’s drawings and she’s the only real artist I know—but I like to think my little doodads on the saddlebags and satchels I’ve made might bring a smile to somebody’s face.

3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?

There’s only one thing I’ve ever put off, and that’s admitting my feelings for Sophie. Those feelings have grown up into something I know I will live with the rest of my life. I can just see the horror on her face if I told her I really did love her. She doesn’t trust me much. I guess she’s having a hard time forgetting I was always in trouble at school—although I have to admit once I put my mind to learning, it came easy. I wouldn’t have lasted long on the canal, or able to keep my job with the water works now if I couldn’t learn when I put my mind to it.

So that’s what I’ve decided to do with Sophie. Put my efforts into proving I’m not a scoundrel any more, and that she can trust I’ll always love her and want to protect her from trouble, not be the source of it.

4. What are you afraid of most in life?

I suppose it’s obvious by now. The one thing I fear most is having Sophie tell me she won’t ever trust me, or trust the faith I’ve found since striking out on my own. God knows my faith in Him is real, but if I can’t prove that to Sophie . . . Well, let’s just say I’ll have to learn to carry around a hole in my heart that can only be filled by Sophie.

5. What do you want out of life?

I used to be like a lot of people who just wanted to make myself happy. But since I’ve learned that God is really there, that He loves me so much He died for me, I want to live a life that shares some of that love with others. I know Sophie wants to feel God’s smile, too, so once I can convince her that’s my goal, too, I’m certain we’ll be a good team—for life.

6. What is the most important thing to you?

I’ve settled here in Chicago and I’m not going anywhere. This is home now, even though there’s plenty of trouble right here in this fast-growing city. What I want to do is help young boys avoid the mischief I know is too easy to get into around here. At first I wanted to help street boys just to impress Sophie, to convince her I’ve changed. But I’ve learned it’s easy to talk to boys who are so much like what I used to be, and to get them to think about things I wish I’d learned when I was as young as some of them. Other than winning Sophie’s love, there’s nothing more important to me than making a difference in the lives of these boys.

7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?

I sure didn’t like books when I was in school, but one of my best friends here in Chicago is an old man who has an entire library right in his own house. He’s let me borrow a bunch of them. So far I’ve read mostly sermon-type books because I have a lot of catching up to do. I skipped church most of my life. He also has a book of bird drawings that I can’t wait to show Sophie. She can draw a picture of any one of those birds just as well as whoever drew the ones for that book, but I’ll bet there are some birds in there she’s never seen.

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I’d change the way I used to be as a boy. Those harmless pranks I played on Sophie were just a sliver of some of the mischief I got into back then. But when I start feeling guilty I remind myself that the Bible says God put all those sins as far as the east is from the west. It reminds me of how much I have to be grateful for—and it makes me a little more patient with the boys I want to help, so I guess even though I’d jump at a chance to erase some of the things I’ve done, those memories have helped me become who I am today. God has a way of working things together for good, doesn’t He?

9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

I don’t have a pet now, but if I can ever convince Sophie to marry me I’ll want to get a dog. They’ve got the kind of loyalty I want to show to others.

10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

No doubt about it, I’d go back to Bethlehem to see Jesus when he was born. I’d like to have been one of the shepherds who were brave enough at the sight of real angels that they didn’t run away and hide—they listened to what the angels said and went to see who they were talking about. I like to think I’d have been that brave, because otherwise I’d have missed seeing God taking on the form of a baby, come to save us all. That was quite a miracle!