The Story Behind His Holiday Family (Love Inspired, December 2011)
Over the years I’ve watched my hometown, Biloxi, Mississippi, go through one hurricane after another. Two of the hurricanes were category five and did extensive damage–Camille and Katrina. My mother was director of nursing at the hospital and would spend a lot of time at the hospital during the hurricane and afterwards. When Camille hit in 1969, my mother was a school nurse, and after it hit, she worked with families who lost their homes. She was only one of many people who pitched in to help people get back on their feet–medical staff, fire fighters, police officers, neighbors, strangers.
When I was thinking of a new series to write for Love Inspired, I decided I wanted to show how a town can come together and rise above a tragedy to put their town and lives back together. Having seen that on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after a hurricane, I knew that I wanted to show how a town recovers from a hurricane.
As I was writing the first book in the series, I found myself putting some of the experiences that happened to me in the story. With one particular hurricane, I was visiting my mother during my summer vacation (I was teaching school at that time). My son was with me. A hurricane was coming toward Biloxi. We prepared my mother’s house and we were getting ready for it to strike. It made a ninety degree turn toward Florida and we thought Biloxi had been lucky and missed one. We went out on my stepfather’s boat to do some deep sea fishing. We were gone all day. By the time we came back to the pier in the late afternoon, we discovered that the hurricane had made an about face turn and heading back to Biloxi. My sister-in-law and I got the last rental car out of Biloxi right before the hurricane hit. All planes were grounded and the only way we were going to fly home was to be ahead of the storm and catch a plane in Memphis (she to Florida, me to Oklahoma). The whole experience was a wild ride. My emotions took a ride on a roller coaster.
Recently we had several earthquakes in Oklahoma. After talking to some people after the earthquake, they said they would rather deal with a tornado than an earthquake because they knew what to do. When the earthquake hit, I didn’t–a lot of people in Oklahoma didn’t know–what to do. I just sat in my lounge chair. Since then I’ve read what to do. I’m better prepared. Not that I want to be in an earthquake–tornado–or hurricane again.
About the Book: When Hurricane Naomi tears through a small Mississippi town, a daring rescue unites two heroes. Nurse Kathleen Hart is a single mom racked by guilt over her husband’s death. Firefighter Gideon O’Brien—orphaned as a young boy—has lost too many people he cared for. To rise above the storm’s devastation, Gideon helps Kathleen and her sons rebuild their home. As Christmas approaches, they discover that even the strongest of storms can’t destroy a romance built on the foundation of faith.
Bio for Margaret Daley: Margaret Daley, an award-winning author of seventy-six books, has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com.
I visited New Orleans the yr before Camille and was so sad to find out the dystruction of that beautiful city.
I love romance stories and can’t wait to read “His Holiday Family”. Thanks for the opportunity to enter giveaway.
Hi, Miss Kallie, nice to see you here. I know what you mean about seeing some old things destroyed by a hurricane. Our church (over 150 years old) was finally destroyed in Katrina. It actually made it through Camille.