Character Interview with Pendleton Petticoats

by Shanna Hatfield

Our interview today is with three characters from Pendleton Petticoats, a series that highlights brave, determined women who live in the western town of Pendleton, Oregon.

During the early 1900s, Pendleton was a modern, progressive town, despite its Wild West reputation. In addition to 18 bordellos and 32 saloons, Pendleton offered residents such cultured experiences as an opera house, a French restaurant, and a tearoom. It was the second city in Oregon to have paved streets and boasted a telephone office as well as wonders like indoor plumbing to those who could afford the services. The women in Pendleton Petticoats are from diverse backgrounds but find unity in following their hearts and chasing their dreams.

Aundy, Caterina, and Ilsa join us today to talk about life in Pendleton.

 Welcome to you three lovely ladies. Tell us a little about how you each came to be in Pendleton.

Aundy: I came to Pendleton as a mail-order bride for a kind farmer named Erik Erikson. We wed as soon as I stepped off the train, but had a wagon wreck on the way home. Erik died three days later, leaving me, a city girl, his farm and everything he owned.

Caterina: Growing up in New York, I never expected to live so far out west. When a mafia boss decided I would marry him, my family helped me escape and I got off the train here. Aundy was the second person I met and we’ve been friends since.

Ilsa: (Giggles) You forgot to mention the first person you met was your incredibly good-looking deputy sheriff husband, Kade. You literally ran into him when you turned a corner and smacked into his chest in the first hour after you arrived in town.

Caterina: (Glaring at Ilsa) So I did. Thank you for sharing that with everyone. Let’s talk about why you came to town.

Ilsa: Because Aundy, she’s my sister, and Garrett, he’s Aundy’s husband, rescued me from our horrid aunt in Chicago and brought me here. I met Caterina's brother, Tony, and fell in love. Our brother, Lars, moved here, too. He married a wonderful girl named Marnie and they started an orphanage.

 What does a typical day entail for each of you?

Aundy: Garrett and I live on the place I inherited from Erik. Our day starts early in the morning with chores. I still don’t like gathering the eggs because our rooster is a nasty little fellow, but I enjoy everything else on the farm. Well, almost everything. I still can’t abide mice or snakes. My favorite thing is riding my horse with Garrett or sitting on the hill above the pasture watching our sheep. Thanks to our Chinese cook, I don’t have to spend a lot of time in the house.

Caterina: Kade and I live on the outskirts of town with his behemoth dog, Ike. We ride into town together in the morning. He goes to work at the sheriff’s office and I go to my restaurant where I create Italian food that reminds me of my family. We have twin boys, Brett and Ben, and our daughter, Rachel.

Aundy: Caterina is an amazing cook. You really should drop by sometime for dinner. Her ravioli is divine.

Ilsa: And you have to try one of pastries. In fact, if I don’t stop eating there so often, I’m going to have to let the seams out of my dresses.

Caterina: You could always learn how to cook…

Ilsa: (Shakes her head) I’d rather sew. I have a dress shop just down the street from Caterina’s restaurant. I design and create clothing, primarily for women. I used to sew for the most elite in Chicago’s social circles, but my fashions are now shipped to places like New York and Paris.

What’s one thing people might not know about your town?

Caterina: It’s growing faster than we can imagine. In the few years I’ve been here, there has been a boom in new businesses and enterprises, like Ilsa’s boutique and my restaurant.

Aundy: There’s also a boom in less savory businesses, like those in The Underground.

What’s the Underground?

(Caterina and Ilsa both look at Aundy)

Aundy: There are tunnels running beneath a section of town that connects several businesses and provides a place for unsavory characters to quench their thirsts, play cards, and engage the services of… um… (Aundy leans close and whispers) women of ill repute.

Ilsa: Before the city put in the new sidewalk with glass prisms to light the tunnels, men used to stand down there and peek through the grates set in the boardwalk, trying to get a glance up women's skirts. I was so glad when the grates disappeared.

 That’s certainly scandalous. Have any of you ever been in the Underground?

Caterina: Gracious, no!

Ilsa: I should say not! It’s no fit place for a lady.

Aundy: Oh, goodness, look at the time. We really should be going. Thank you so much for inviting us here today. We’re so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to connect with your readers.

 Thank you for joining us. Any parting words for our readers?

 Ilsa: If you enjoy historical fiction, clean romances, or a good western, I hope you’ll consider reading our stories in Aundy, Caterina, Ilsa, Marnie, Lacy, Bertie, Millie, and Dally

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Readers can catch up with some of the Pendleton Petticoats characters in Home of Her Heart, releasing Aug. 10. The characters are older, wiser, but still full of fun! 

 All he needed was a bride…

Who said anything about falling in love?

Orphaned at birth and a loner all his life, the last thing Sergeant Klayne Campbell needs is for feisty Delaney Danvers to entangle his thoughts.  Bravely volunteering for a top-secret mission almost certain to get him killed, Klayne can’t bear the thought of dying utterly alone. All he wants is to face death knowing his life meant something to at least one person. Offering Delaney a marriage of convenience, he plans to leave behind a war bride as his beneficiary. After just one night as her husband, Klayne realizes he’ll do anything to survive and return to her.

The moment she met handsome Sergeant Campbell at a holiday party, Delaney’s whole world shifted off kilter. Full of fun with an unquenchable zest for life, she isn’t afraid to go after what she wants. And what she wants is Klayne. When he prepares to join a hazardous mission, she seizes the opportunity to give him a reason to fight his way back home — to her heart.

A tender, sweet romance rich with history and enduring love, Home of Her Heart captures the era and emotions prevalent during America’s entry into World War II.

Home of Her Heart - pre-order now for just 99 cents! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073V5H2PR/

~*~

 After spending her formative years on a farm in Eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky heroes.

When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

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