Warning: If you haven’t finished reading Keeping Faith yet, this blog reveals an event later in the book that you might rather not know yet. In that case, stop right here, bookmark this blog and come back to it later.
My neighbor hollered over the other day and asked, “What did you have against Olivia?” Another friend dittoed those sentiments with “Why did you have to kill off poor little Olivia?”
It does make me seem heartless and cruel, but the book reflects the broader aspects of life and how each and every person who enters our space can play a role in the outcome. Most readers, after finishing the entire book, but not during the chapter itself, seem to understand that it was necessary for Carol to be flung from the pages, allowing Patrick to be free just in case there is a remote possibility that Sue might re-enter the picture.
But friends have almost been mad at me for “what I did to an innocent little girl.” I tell them Carol was innocent too. Most people who die certainly don’t deserve it, but they shake their heads and counter with “well, what difference would it have made to let little Olivia live—she wouldn’t have complicated a possible ensuing romantic plot.”
Yes, it would have made a difference—a big difference because Patrick would have grieved differently. His priorities would have been centered on raising a young child rather than changing his life and moving temporarily to Boston and so forth. Plus, don’t you think there was a subtle justice in losing her since he didn’t change his life to raise his first daughter, Faith? Life doesn’t always give us second chances. What goes around comes around!! I wonder if he thought about that??
Anyway, Patrick needed a clean slate; to be unencumbered by as much of his past as possible. Although there is way too much in his past for that to really happen, it did set him up for a major and much needed change. Besides, if a reader is wanting a “happy ever after book,” mine may not be the right choice because my works will always represent life as I think it is…sometimes hard, sometimes easy, but always hopeful.
The reader may not always like where the plot takes her or be happy about the outcomes of each character, but if the reader finishes the last word of the book and wants more, then my goal has been reached. In a way that premise also reflects the real world where we should anticipate what’s next with continual hope that the rays of tomorrow’s sun will be warmer and brighter and the sweetness of the next experience will remain on our tongues forever. So stay tuned for book three!!