H. C. Brown - An Evening At Starlight

An Evening at the Starlight is a story I wrote forthe Noble Romance Timeless Desire Blog Tour. With such a theme, I knew I'd haveto tap my sentimentality and so I did.
I've been a non-professional genealogist for manyyears and in that time, I've uncovered some incredible stories within my ownfamily tree. One involved my great-Uncle Roy, who died in a flood in 1945,leaving behind a young wife and four small children.
Though I never met Roy, I did meet his wife,Dorothy, many years later, in 1997. She was a frail woman of 82 at the time andwe enjoyed several afternoons talking about Roy and the hard-scrabble lifethey'd shared for all too few years.
"I told him not to go," she said, when Iasked her about the day of the flood. "It had been raining for hours andthe creek had flooded its banks. He went to work anyway and on the way, he andanother man stopped to help a family trying to get some of their things out ofthe house, as the foundation was shaky."
Aunt Dorothy cried when she told me how the wholehouse shifted and came off its foundation, sending Roy downstream, where he wasfound several hours later. "I told him not to go," she said over andover, as tears streamed down her face.
The entire time, she held a tiny photograph of her,Roy, and their oldest daughter, the only image she'd ever had of the man shestill loved, some fifty-two years after his death. "He was so kind, soloving. He loved to kiss."
That story has stayed with me and became the one Iloosely based An Evening at the Starlighton. Starlight tells the story of Royal and Doe. A youngman comes into the Starlight, a 1940's bar, marital troubles on his mind. Bud,the bar keep, hears him out and then relates the story, in the hopes that Johncan understand the deeper meaning behind the words.
Being a huge fan of noir, I do hope the reader feelsthat vibe.
When it came time to title the story, I discussed itwith my husband and he said, "An Evening at the Starlight." It fitbeautifully and lent to the '40s feel of the piece.
One last bit of trivia. The woman in the frame onthe cover is actually my mother. Her name was Gladys Isabelle Sweener Martinsonand a lovely woman she was. She was Roy's niece and knew him well when she wasa child.
She loved to dance, as did Doe. Mom died in 1999 atthe age of 70 and she is truly missed. I thought it quite fitting that she bethe image of Doe for the story. I think she'd have like that very much.
Here's the blurb for An Evening at the Starlight:



John has a hardtime forgiving and forgetting, and his wife Christie's tired of trying.
Doe and Royal'slove story reaches through the years and gives hope to a young man who's losthope in his relationship.  An Evening atthe Starlight and a tale of a once in a lifetime love that wouldn't die mightbe exactly what John needs to move past the hurt and cherish the love he has.
Clickhere to read an excerpt and to purchase An Evening at the Starlight.
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