For those of you who’ve read Falling In Love With Her Husband (the first romance I ever wrote), you’ll recognize the name Kent Ashton. He was the man Ann Statesman was in love with. She wanted to marry him, but when the scandal of his relationship with Rebecca was exposed (Rebecca was pregnant with his child), he had to end things with Ann. From there, he did some shady things that made him the villain of the book.
Well, the other day, someone asked me if he ever changed his life for the better. The answer is yes. After Kent went to Ireland, his uncle showed him tough love, and because of this, Kent did change his life around. I always saw a happy ending for him, though I hadn’t figured out the specifics on what happened to him. I’m thinking his time in Ireland led him to a conversion experience, and when he returned to the United States, he decided to become a missionary. Given his tainted past along the East Coast, he opted to go as far west as possible, California.
So I was thinking, as he’d be going to California, he’d probably pass through Omaha since Omaha was a big central hub for travel back in the early 1900s. And who happens to be in Omaha but the Larsons? And considering the time period he’d be making his trip, it’s possible that one of Dave and Mary’s daughters could be old enough to marry him.
I’m thinking of bringing him into the Nebraska Romance Collection. Nothing is definite yet. But it’s something to consider.
Anyway, as I was driving on a country road this morning, I was thinking of Kent and why he did what he did in Falling In Love With Her Husband. In that book, we’re only given Ann and Todd’s point of view. We really don’t know why Kent did what he did. We can only guess. Honestly, I never got in his head, so I didn’t know his point of view. (Some characters speak to me and some don’t. Kent was one of those quiet ones.) I only knew he changed his life around after he got to Ireland.
What I’d like to do is explore his point of view in Falling In Love With Her Husband to get a better feel for him. I’ll be doing this on this blog, but I’ll do it as the inspiration strikes. I can’t force his point of view. It has to come to me. We’ll see how things go in the upcoming weeks. 😀
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Will he be any kind of parent to his child with Rebecca?
Rebecca had a miscarriage, so that won’t be an issue. 🙂
Actually, now that I think about things from his point of view, I’m not even sure she was pregnant. I think she might have lied and told their parents she was to secure an engagement with him. I’ll have to write more scenes in his point of view before I know for sure what happened.
I just wrote the first scene and scheduled it for tomorrow’s post, and I was surprised to find out Kent wasn’t as money hungry as I thought he was. It’s so weird how characters develop the story for me, but I learned they do a better job than I do.
I would LOVE to see this story come out! I always wondered what drove him to such desperation and delusionment. Start asking him questions! I bet he’ll open up and tell you all about himself.
It’s shocking how much I didn’t really know him when I wrote Falling In Love With Her Husband. I thought he was the way he was presented in the story. Now I’m finding out how wrong I was. I think he’s more a victim than a villain, and the reason he was sent to Ireland might have even be a lot different than I thought. I’m really enjoying how his story is unfolding. I’m hoping to get a couple more scenes up this weekend. *fingers crossed* I find out more about him as I write them. This is when it’s fun to write. I love it when characters tell me who they truly are. 😀