Interview w/ Lydia Tyler from Lydia's Gunslinger By: Julie Lence

Thank you for joining us today, Lydia. Your likeness is to the left, so readers can visualize you as you answer the following questions:   

Where is home? Austin, Texas. Mama and Papa have a grand city house, with a cook and two maids. Mama enjoys socializing with her circle of friends and helping at the church. Papa works closely with the governor. Actually, he and the governor share a relationship akin to brothers. I’ve referred to the governor as my uncle most of my life.        

What is your family like? It’s just Mama, Papa and me, and the servants. Mama is very sweet and has a kind heart for everyone. My growing up years, she and I had tea every afternoon when I came home from school. She taught me to appreciate fine silks and satins, to conduct myself in a manner befitting a lady, and to never look down on someone else.

Papa works long hours and is often called away on business. He’s like Mama in that he has a kind heart and goes out of his way to help those in need. Regarding me, he’s strict, but he’s also loving and indulges my every whim, including my latest quest to find suitable homes for 4 orphans.

What brings you to Revolving Point, Texas? I have failed the children miserably. I asked everyone I know, and could not find homes for them. They are such sweet innocents. Ben’s almost a man. His sister, Abby, is pretty and as kind as Mama. Their little brother is adorable, and Lacy clings to me so much that I fear even if I did locate suitable parents for her, she wouldn’t go with them. Which got me to thinking that maybe they could stay with me. Not at Mama and Papa’s city home. There isn’t room. But an orphanage, with plenty of bedrooms and a long table to share meals…

I’ve scoured Austin for a lot to build an orphanage, but I again failed. Then Papa suggested I didn’t have to build in Austin, that Texas is home to several towns that have space to build an orphanage as grand as I envision. I traversed Texas and settled on Revolving Point. The Rio Grande flows just behind town. I can teach the children to swim, and the land I chose has apple trees and room for horses… a more perfect area doesn’t exist.      

What did you think the 1^st time you saw Roth? That he was in desperate need of a haircut. His stringy hair touched his shoulders. Worse was the guns he wore. I detest guns and violence.    

How would Roth describe you? I’m sure he’d say I’m uptight and snobbish, maybe even a prude, and too outspoken, but I have little choice but to present a strong façade. The children are of the utmost importance to me, and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure they have a home… to ensure they know they are loved, even if that means ruffling a few feathers. Now, if I can rid myself of the annoying Mr. Coper, the headmaster Papa hired to help with the children’s education, I just may succeed with all of my plans.     

How would you describe Roth? Now that I’ve had time to get to know him, he’s definitely a menace… on the outside. On the inside, he has a heart worth knowing, worth loving. He cares greatly for the children and abhors Mr. Cooper. If only he’d hold me close to him…    

How do you relax? I don’t. The children and overseeing the building of the orphanage take up so much of my time, as does Mr. Cooper usurping my authority. If I had to venture a guess, I suppose I’d answer with a hot cup of tea at the end of a long day, with my feet propped up on a stool, but those times are rare.     

What is your biggest fear? That Mr. Cooper will ruin all of my plans for the orphanage. From day one of Papa hiring him, he’s tried to wrestle control from me, and has succeeded on a few matters. Most recently, he had a wall built to divide my office inside the orphanage into two rooms. Blessedly, Roth tore down the wall. Guns, danger; he really is a good man.    

What is the best advice someone gave you? A long time ago, Papa told me if something was worth having, then I needed to work extra hard to obtain it and keep it. Roth is worth having, and persuading him to agree a union between us isn’t a bad thing is a challenge I intend to win.      

Sounds like you know exactly what you want and how to get it. Thank you for joining us today, Lydia. It was a pleasure chatting with you. And thank you for leaving us with an excerpt I’m sure readers will enjoy.

To purchase Lydia’s Gunslinger, please visit Amazon here:

www.amazon.com/dp/B007873DIE   

Excerpt:

He ducked inside the mercantile and waited for his sister to finish with a customer. The woman left and Debra stepped out from behind the counter.

"Where have you been?" she asked, approaching him. "You need to get upstairs. Lydia's waiting for you."

His gut hit the floor at that. Lydia knew he'd left town for a few hours. She wouldn't come here looking for him unless something was wrong. "What happened?"

"I'll let her tell you." Debra touched his arm. "Don't lose your temper, Roth. She's upset and needs your help."

He scrambled out the door, down the side of the building and up the stairs, where he paused and took a deep breath before quietly opening the door and stepping inside. Lydia sat at the table, with her fingers wrapped around a cup and her head bowed.

He shut the door behind him and crossed the floor, gently touched her arm. "Lydia?"

She looked up at him. Tears swam in her cat eyes. "He means to have Papa and the governor take my children from me," she whimpered.

"Who?" He hunkered down beside her.

"Mr. Cooper. He saw me leave the livery with you and said people will question my morals if I continue a relationship with you."

"Sonofabitch!" Roth slammed his fist on the table.

"I can't lose them, Roth." She shivered. "I won't lose them."

"You're not gonna lose anyone." He stood and pulled her into his arms, held her close and petted the back of her head to ease her trembles. "I'm the deputy around here. Some folks respect that. Others…" He shrugged. "I'll stay away. Make things easy for you."

"I don't want you to stay away." She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. "I want you to pummel Mr. Cooper. Hard."

He couldn't help but grin. She hated his guns. But she wasn't too adverse to him pummeling someone when the need suited her. The thought floated across his mind that he should kill Cooper and put an end to her troubles before they got any worse. But something hinted a bullet wasn't what she needed most from him. "I can beat Cooper to within an inch of his life and run him outta town, but it'll only make matters worse for you." He caressed her cheek.

"You like punching people."

"When I know that will solve the problem. Cooper isn't like that. I shouldn’t have told you he was. He'll take the beating. And then he'll heal and come back." He sat on the chair and pulled her onto his lap. "Short of killing him, the only way to get rid of him is to take away what he wants most."

"My money." She frowned. "I'm not giving up my trust fund. I need that for the children and the orphanage."

"You don't have to," he soothed. "Marry me. You wouldn't agree before. Agree now. Listen," he instructed when she started to object. "We'll move into the orphanage with the tots. Once Cooper realizes he's lost your money to me, he'll strike out against me and then I can pummel him for you." He threaded his fingers through hers. "I'll sign that paper, Lydia. I don't want your money. Or anything else you own. You'll keep everything after we divorce."

She quieted a moment, looked at her fingers laced with his and Roth wondered what she thought.

"Your plan to dismiss him and hire someone else won't work. He'll only make more trouble and force your new headmaster to quit." He tipped her chin up. "I ain't the quittin' kind."

She swallowed hard and searched his features. "You're offering to do this, but you get nothing in return."

I get to see you morning and night. "I get to make Cooper's life a living hell like his uncle made mine." He grinned sadistically.

She smiled softly and touched her palm to his cheek. "You would enjoy that. I would, too."

"Then you're agreeing?"

"I don't know, Roth." She sighed and looked away. "A marriage in name only doesn't seem… satisfying. It seems like a prison sentence. For both of us."

He perused her heart-shaped face and green eyes. "Men would go to the calaboose willingly if women like you were there."

She emitted a small, pitiful laugh. "Somehow I doubt that."

"I don't." He tucked his finger beneath her chin and brought her gaze back to him. "You detest marriage. You told me. But this is the only way to get rid of Cooper."

"I detest being a divorced woman more than I detest marriage." She slid off his lap and onto another chair. "Society doesn't care if a man is divorced, but a woman is shunned and gossiped about as much as those girls you have working for you at Miller's. If I earn the respect of the townsfolk now by marrying you and then lose it later when we divorce, the children will be made to suffer." She entwined her fingers around her cup and stared at the tea. "I won't have my children ridiculed because of me."

Roth sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and thought about what she'd said, and what she hadn't, as he studied the slump to her shoulders and the frown hugging her lips. She cared a great deal for her tots, but they weren't the reason behind her hesitancy. "What's giving you doubt, Lydia?"

"I told you, the children will suffer and–"

"Bullshit. Something else is on your mind. Spill it."

PIONEERING GRIEF - Susan Horsnell

Wow, I cannot believe how fast the past month has gone.

Unfortunately it has not been a good one for my husband and myself. First we lost my dear father-in-law, then my mum and dad’s beautiful Jack Russell passed away and in the last couple of days we lost my father. It started me thinking about family and the devastation of loss, especially for the Western Pioneers in the United States.

 

How did the women cope with the loss of their husband?

In these days the husband was often the sole provider. Research shows they turned to Prostitution, hurriedly married again – often to someone many years older who was willing to take on a widow and another man’s children or, the lucky ones turned to family who were willing to help. Times were hard though, and often parents were unwilling to accept the burden of a widowed daughter and her children. She was often turned away to fend for herself. I cannot imagine the sadness these women would have felt at such rejection.

How did parents cope with the death of a child?

It is a well-known fact, the mortality rate of children during these harsh times was so much higher than today. There were none of the medications we take for granted, infection was rampant and being the “Wild West” – accidents happened on a regular basis. Some women literally ‘pined’ themselves to death, men either broke down in unimaginable despair or chose to deny the child had ever been born. The more ‘stoic’ couples, looked to each other for the strength to push through such tragedy. I often wonder, how many small crosses were erected along these treacherous trails? Do we really have any idea?

How did survivors cope with the rest of their family falling victim to Disease?

During their travels west, Pioneers were affected by weather, famine and disease. Whole families could be struck down with Yellow Fever, Influenza or some other rampant and highly contagious disease but sometimes there could be a lone survivor. How would this survivor feel? Many questioned why they had been spared when the rest of their family had been taken. Young men who survived such tragedy would often turn to alcohol or crime and within a few years many ended up dead themselves. Young children who weren’t taken in by other pioneer families, would be dropped off at orphanages in the next town they arrived at. At this time, the cruel and desperate conditions in some orphanages, would have been likened to a ‘fate worse than death.” Their futures would have been dismal thanks to the attitudes of the day – most orphans were considered worse than street waifs. These poor little mites really had their chance of a successful life, reduced.

 

 

Do I wish I had been alive during such harsh times? Definitely not. I have the utmost admiration for pioneers in any country. They knew what it was to ‘do it tough’ and often did it without complaint. These days if our computer doesn’t boot up fast enough, we think we’re hard done by. We have a lot to learn about strength of character from these people, about conquering hardships and accepting what we cannot change. About accepting death and moving on.

We also need to learn to be thankful. In times of death we need to remember the deceased’s’ contribution to this world. We should celebrate their lives and try not to grieve and mourn our losses too badly. In both my father’s and father-in-laws’ cases, it was a privilege to have been related to men of such standing. They each loved their families dearly, worked hard to provide for their wives and their children and a rarity in this day and age – they each honoured their marriage vows for more than 60 years. Will they be missed? Deeply. But, I will smile when I recall the good times along with the things they did and said.

I am grateful for the fact that these days, people can pass away quietly, without pain, thanks to modern medicine.  How gut wrenching it must have been for some of the pioneering families to watch loved ones die in such agony.

So, next time you feel like complaining about a computer that won’t start, a car in front that is moving too slowly or the rain that bucketed down after you just finished washing your car – think of your forebears.

Until next month, God Bless and take care.

Sue

Susan Horsnell 
Western Romance Author

  
Website:    http://horsnells.wix.com/susan--1  

Blog:          http://susanhorsnell.com/