Guest Author, Linda Poitevin

Today's guest is Linda Poitevin, fellow Rose and part of the Goddess Fish Promotions blog tour. Linda's latest release is A Fairy Tale for Gwyn, the story of a disillusioned single mother who unexpectedly finds love with a very determined and special man. Please join us as she talks about what it's like to be a mom, and how she uses that experience in her writing. Welcome, Linda!

Out of the Mouths (and minds) of Babes…
As the mom of three girls (identical twins and a later sibling), I felt uniquely qualified to include four-year-old twins and a seven-year-old girl in A Fairy Tale for Gwyn – and I had huge fun doing so. My own kids are now pretty much grown (the oldest are nearly nineteen and the youngest is fifteen and a half), but I still clearly remember the challenges of little ones…and their occasional precociousness.
While none of the incidents that occur in A Fairy Tale for Gwyn actually happened in our house, we did have our share of “moments” – and of priceless memories. I’ll never forget the time we bought an antique piano (at a garage sale, of all places) and had it delivered to our home. When it arrived, our then five-year-old girls began banging enthusiastically on the keys and I warned that the piano wouldn’t play beautiful music anymore if they continued treating it that way. Lovers of classical music at that point, they both stopped immediately and one, looking horrified, asked, “You mean it’ll play rock and roll instead?”
And then there was the time our youngest was in grade one and was refusing (very politely) to do the worksheets given to her by her teacher. I explained that her job was to do as the teacher asked; she agreed and the problem appeared to be resolved. Fast forward two weeks: I picked up my daughter after school one day and a substitute teacher greeted me at the door with the news that dear daughter had again refused to do her work. I reminded my daughter of our agreement and she looked up at me in complete innocence. “But, Mommy,” she said, “that’s not my teacher.”
Incidents like those definitely inspired the more interesting challenges my heroine, Gwyn, faces with her own children, Maggie, Nicholas, and Katie, as well as those tender moments we all treasure. I’d love to hear about one of your memorable moments with a child, too – whether the child is your own, your neighbor’s, or your sister’s. And if you’re a writer, have you used that experience in a story?

Blurb

Gwyn Jacobs doesn’t believe in happy-ever-after.

Ever since her ex-husband walked out four years ago, abandoning her with a toddler and infant twins, Gwyn has been mother, father, and bread-winner all rolled into one. Her own scarred heart and failed marriage aside, she is determined not to open up her children’s lives to the possibility of another heartbreak...until her very own fairy tale falls into her lap -- and the hero won’t take no for an answer!

Excerpt

“I think you should,” he said.
Gwyn reached for the handrail and gripped it until the ache in her knuckles remained her only link to reality. She thought she should, too, but decided to make sure they were thinking about the same thing. “Should what?”
“Know why else I’m leaving.”
She gulped for air. She absolutely didn’t want to know, she told herself, because it was for the best, and reasons didn’t matter. They couldn’t matter. But when she tried to deny him, she managed only a thread of a whisper, a single word. “Why?”
Strong, heated fingers closed over hers, slid against them, twined with them.
“Because if I don’t leave now, I won’t leave at all.” Gareth’s thumb stroked her wrist, playing havoc with her pulse. “Because, besides missing my plane and breaking my contract, I’d still be here in the morning when your kids woke up, and you’d hate both of us if that happened. And because I respect you, and them, too much to do that to you.”
Gwyn squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on his words rather than his touch. Respect…kids…she felt certain the words should have some importance, but she couldn’t seem to get past the warm, pulsing ache spreading through her body.
Gareth’s voice swore in her ear. He’d moved closer. Close enough that his scent filled her senses to overflowing, and his hair brushed her cheek when she moved her head, and…
“You’re not helping,” he muttered.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Wh-what?”
“I said, you’re not helping,” he grated.
With a shock, Gwyn realized that he hadn’t been the one to move, and that her own feet had somehow shuffled forward, bringing her to teeter on the edge of her stair, her free hand resting against his shoulder for balance. Her face flamed. She dropped her hand and stepped back.
“I’m sorry.”
Gareth’s clenched jaw made his smile look somewhat tight. “Don’t be. I’m just a bit rusty at this honorable thing. Which brings us to the next discussion.”
Gwyn would have liked to retreat a few more steps before she tried to discuss anything with him, but he still held her hand captive. And with his thumb continuing to travel its hypnotic path over her wrist, she couldn’t muster the will to pull away. She cleared her throat. “What discussion would that be?”
“The one where we decide what we do now. You see, much as I’m enjoying Goldfish soup and doing chicken pox dot-to-dots, I’m afraid those pursuits still fall under the heading of friendship.” He lifted her hand in his, turned it over in his grasp, and traced a finger across her palm. “I meant what I said about wanting more than that from you, Gwyn, and I don’t know how long honor will hold out.”
Nothing on earth could have persuaded her to meet his gaze at that moment.
Gareth lifted his other hand to push a strand of hair away from her face. “Come away with me.”
Except maybe that.

Linda Poitevin lives just outside Canada’s capital, Ottawa, with her husband, three daughters, and a varied collection of animals. In her spare time, she gardens (organically), cans and freezes the family’s winter fruit and vegetable supply, knits (basically), crochets (better), and starts way more projects than she ever finishes. (Fortunately that doesn’t hold true of her books!) She loves spending time with her family, having coffee with friends, walking by the river and watching thunderstorms…in about that order.