Good afternoon. I pen this post with a few hmmms, and well... then I came to the conclusion, it just doesn't work.
Okay, let me back up.
I received an email from a reader upset with me that Rhapsody's wedding didn't feature an appearance from Melody and Symphony. From what I understand, the reader was highly upset with me and felt as if I dropped the ball or missed an opportunity.
I want my readers to be engaged and enjoy the story. There can be scenes and chapters which are powerful and there can be scenes and chapters which can overpower. The wedding scene for Rhapsody served two functions, 1) to show you how a woman who is always cool and collected is rattled to her core and 2) her mother is very much alive.
The scene didn't require any more characters because this is the first time the readers have actually heard Aunt Bethany speak. Yes, I shall say it again. In Lobsters, Bisques, and Berries, she is at Thanksgiving dinner and she does take an edible. If you recall, she is the one playing the piano and singing while everyone is dancing.
Aunt Bethany does not come to Oklahoma to Jamie's family farm, but she is at the wedding in New York and sings.
This is the one book where Aunt Bethany is given a voice, but the voice she is given explains or compliments the primary character, well, character. Aunt Bethany is her aunt, but she is also a mother figure in her life who has guided her into womanhood and being strong. Aunt Bethany also guided and mentored Harmony, but she is also faced once more with her pain.
Her husband ran off with her sister-in-law, destroying two families. That is a lot to process in one chapter, in one scene, and for Jeremy to find out his mother-in-law is in fact, not dead. Jerome has contracted a doula to travel on the private plane with them in case Harmony has any medical issues, and there is a lot going on.
Now, if you need me to catch you up, Melody, who is married to Lakota, lives in Maine, and has twin boys, Ahuna and Ahote.
When we left Symphony in Oklahoma, she was expecting.
If you do the math, and after six months of hot and tawdry with Symphony's father-in-law, plus a month, Symphony would be too pregnant to travel.
In the same breath, Melody flying from Maine to Maui with an 18-hour flight doesn't work. Who is going to fly for 18 hours with toddler twins?
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