In 1965, Peter & Gordon sang the song written by Buddy Holly called "True Love Ways." As a youngster, I danced my first slow song with a woman in the Community Center who I decided would be my wife one day. She was from Deer Park, Texas. Funny how life branches out in many directions... it never happened.
Our story, much like the song, is unique because it is both romantic and realistic. It recognizes the truth: that sometimes life will be difficult. Our leading characters will cry, but they'll work through it together. It might possibly bring them closer. While this song acknowledges the outside world (sharing joys with those who really care), it is also intimate. "Just you and I" know these ways of true love.
I've often thought of this song in terms of a couple starting out - the use of "will by and by," "throughout the days," and "will bring us" suggests that they're looking into the times ahead; yet, it's applicable in far greater scope as seen in the writing of this novel.
In our story, Marco Naumann has fallen in love with Simone Wolfensohn in New Orleans. She was most definitely a catch of any young man. However, she lived in high society and demanded that Marco be wealthy before getting married.
She found a way by his marrying a dying girl, Miss Kerstin Hoffman, who would soon inherit several million dollars of a magnificent estate in the Dutchy of Oldenburg in Germany. Marco was to marry her, and when she died, take the inheritance, and come back for Simone's hand in marriage.
Kerstin laid on her death bed as Marco walked back into her life after a fifteen-year absence. "I love you, Marco like you're the very last of my kind. You speak the same language as me. Oh, God, Marco, to be around you is like finally not being alone...as if all my life I've been isolated in a windowless room. Then, after all these years, you walk through the doorway, across the room, into my life, as if you were strolling over a summer meadow. How is it, Marco, that you are much, much more than sunshine? How is it you breathe life when there isn't anyone else that can? Tell me, Marco... why is it you are my medicine? Who could love me more than you? So, Marco, from this moment forward, know this...while I breathe, I am yours in mind, body, and soul. I love you!"
Our story has many twists and turns. In the first of a two-part edition, we find that there's another possible descendant, a cousin named Norman Hoffman, who works in a small mining community outside San Francisco. He is the son of the second-born, Florian Hoffman.
He gathers all his documents that prove his identity and begins his travel to New Orleans to present his papers to the law firm, Slaton & Slaton, down on Poydras. However, his travels come to an abrupt stop. One will have to wait and find out if the wolves devour him in the forest after a bullet passes through his chest.
Lots of questions go unanswered. Does Kerstin Hoffman live or die? Does Marco inherit the great fortune and return to Simone for her hand in marriage. Does Norman Hoffman survive and prove that he is next in line for the grand estate's wealth in Oldenburg, Germany.
