 | 29 Dec 09 |
A Reminder: During the holidays, Murder She Writes will be bringing you our favorite blogs from the past. Then on Monday, January 4th, 2010, we’ll begin a new year with new blogs! This was one of my first blogs and remains one of my favorites. As an update, Hannah and Anthony have celebrated their one year anniversary, are living out their happily ever after in a dollhouse of a condo in Savannah, Georgia and have adopted a rescue dog named Scarlett.
Sometimes, I think I write romance because that’s what I love to read. Sometimes, I think I write romance because I’m in love with love and this is my way of falling into it over and over and over again. Sometimes, I don’t even think about why I write romance, the way I don’t think about breathing. Because I just do.
And then something happens to make me remember why. This past weekend, I went to a wedding. A wonderful place to renew one’s firm belief in Happily Ever Afters, right? The perfect setting to clasp your hands, blink your tears, and say “Ahhhh. This makes me feel so good.” The ideal atmosphere to soak up the hope for the future and the joy of lifelong commitment.
And while all of that was palpable in the air in a small north Florida town where my whole family and a few hundred others gathered to celebrate the marriage of Captain Anthony Roffino and Miss Hannah Tedder, it was not the “I do” or the first dance or the best man’s toast that made me remember why I write romance.
It was another moment I experienced that day.
Like most people, I usually turn to the back of the church when “that” music starts. After all, this is the bride’s magical day, her moment of true glory, the walk in white, the float down the aisle on Daddy’s arm, the glorious Cinderella moment that little girls fantasize about and big girls remember fondly. But this time, since it was my dear, darling, sweet, gorgeous nephew getting married and I was on the “groom’s” side, I turned the other way, and I watched Anthony instead.
While the rest of the church let out a collective sigh as the doors opened for the bride, Anthony did just the opposite. His chest, broad from Army Ranger training and decorated with an array of medals, including the Bronze Star he earned in Iraq last year, literally puffed as he sucked in a breath. His eyes glistened with joy, his smile was tentative at first, as though he couldn’t quite believe what he saw, then blinding as the truth hit him. I watched him mouth “Oh my God” to himself and saw him clench his hands as though the thrill that shot through him couldn’t quite be contained.
That look, that moment, that path that took him across the world and through the dangerous streets of Baghdad where he fought for fifteen months in the infantry, all the time dreaming of the day he would be home — whole and healthy — to marry Hannah — that is why I write romance.
As some icing on the wedding cake, it was a military wedding, so Anthony’s groomsmen, an array of the most breathtaking heroes you’d ever want to write about, formed the canopy of swords as the bride and groom exited the church, each man more scorchingly handsome than the next.
They would be another reason I write romance.
That night, we danced and toasted and feted the young couple for many hours under the stars. We clinked for kisses and captured them on camera, we laughed with our loved ones and teased the teenagers into slow dancing to a few Sinatra tunes. We waved hundreds of sparklers to send the newlyweds through a tunnel of light and off to their honeymoon, and then we sipped cabernet into the late hours, marveling that the little boy who once freaked out his mother when she found him in the yard swinging a dead rat by the tail and singing “Born In the USA!” had made it through war and to his own HEA. One young man at the wedding, a heartbreaker named Captain Clay Chase, told us that he and Anthony had spent many, many nights in a tent in Baghdad, planning and praying for this wedding to really take place. I’m certain there were nights when neither one of them was entirely sure it would.
When the evening finally ended and I closed my eyes to go to sleep, the only thing I could see was the look on Anthony’s face when he realized his dreams had come true. That time-standing-still moment when a hero is hit not by a bullet, but by the power of love, awash with the realization that no matter what battles he has to fight in life, he will not face them alone.
That is the reason I write, and read, romance.
How about you?
© 2009, Roxanne St. Claire. All rights reserved.
Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times bestselling, RITA-Award winning author of nearly thirty novels of romance and suspense. The author of two popular romantic suspense series, The Bullet Catchers and The Guardian Angelinos, Roxanne is hard at work on new books for 2012, which will include the launch of a contemporary series, Barefoot Bay, and her first young adult novel, Don't You Wish, and a brand new stand-alone romantic suspense, Space in His Heart. A five-time RITA nominee, Roxanne's books have won the National Readers Choice Award, the Daphne Du Maurier Award, the Maggie Award, the Booksellers Best, the Book Buyers Best, The HOLT Medallion, multiple Awards of Excellence, and Borders "Top Pick"" for Romance in 2007. She lives in Florida with her husband, two teenagers, and one impossibly cute Australian Terrier named Pepper.
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OMG! I can’t read for the tears! If these guys aren’t true heroes, they don’t exist. Even their names are perfect for the role!
I hope the Anthony and Hannah are still celebrating their HEA! And what a perfect example of the power of romance: reading, writing, and living! Thanks for sharing, Rocki!
by Silver James December 29th, 2009 at 9:46 amThey are very happy, Silver. We call them “Hanthony.” xoxo
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 10:51 amBrought tears the first time I read it and again the second (ok, probably the 10th time) I read it.
by Terry Odell December 29th, 2009 at 9:48 amThanks, Terry! I love tears! xo
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 10:52 amI defy*anyone* to read that without getting a little misty!!
I can’t ever help slipping a romance into my stories (even though I don’t write romance per se). I’m a cynical beast much of the time, but I just can’t help myself, when I fall for a character I can’t help giving her a fella (or, you know, a *few*) (or, in my most recent book, a gal) to fall for.
One of my favorite recent workshop moments was when my pal Julie and I were talking about writing compelling relationships into mysteries. This was a mystery writer audience. We started by raffling off a bunch of books recommended by my RWA chapter as really nailing the romantic arc. Our audience was very pleased – especially when we told them that a lot more “primers” on writing romance were available in every bookstore…
by sophie littlefield December 29th, 2009 at 10:11 amI couldn’t NOT write a romance, Sophie. Thanks for stopping by and for reminding us that the best way to learn to write is to read. xo
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 10:53 amAwww, what a sweet story.
Though, Sophie, I didn’t get ‘a little misty’.
I read romance because I like happy endings. It’s not really the romance itself that attracts me, it’s the guarantee that both the hero and the heroine will actually survive.
I’m weird, I know. I believe in Happy Ever After, though, even if I don’t think it’ll happen for me , I believe it happens to some people!
by Barbie December 29th, 2009 at 10:46 amIt will happen for you, Barbie. The road might be rocky (so to speak!) but it will happen. While you’re finding it, have FUN. xoxox
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 10:54 amI love this story. And like Sophie, I definitely got misty-eyed. This is beautiful, Rocki, and just shows why you’re so damned great at writing romance and r/s and heroes and heroines we all love.
by Toni McGee Causey December 29th, 2009 at 11:22 amThank you, Toni. If only I could write it as hysterically as you do! xo
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 5:04 pmYeah, count me in as another teary eyed reader. Thanks for the moment!
by MJRose December 29th, 2009 at 12:03 pmRocki, this is just as beautiful the second time around!
I write about love because love changed my life. And because there are always stories in my head
The stories give the voices in my head something to do, LOL!
by Jen Lyon December 29th, 2009 at 12:26 pmle sigh
by Karin Tabke December 29th, 2009 at 1:19 pmCrying at work really isn’t a good thing. What a beautiful tribute to your nephew and his bride. This story is one of the reasons I read romances. I love to read the HEA. I’m still waiting for mine, but it gives me hope to read about and see other’s HEA. I’ve been in too many weddings to count and I always look over at the groom when the bride first steps in the room. Seen everything from tears to goofy grins.
by Liza December 29th, 2009 at 2:21 pmLiza – I hope you get your HEA very soon. Maybe 2010 is the year, huh?
by Roxanne St. Claire December 29th, 2009 at 5:05 pmI love this! I also like to watch the groom at weddings. What a wonderful story and even better that they just celebrated their anniversary. Thanks for sharing!
by Laura Griffin December 29th, 2009 at 6:27 pm[...] This post was Twitted by romancedoc [...]
by Twitted by romancedoc December 29th, 2009 at 11:42 pm