Love on the page

When I was first outlining the story that became The Jewelry of Grace, I decided to write on some subjects that I had either never touched on before, or had only mentioned in passing.

Whereas my first novel, The Pride of Central, revolved around a baseball team, I decided that a main character in The Jewelry of Grace should be a fan of golf. That's two opposite ends of the spectrum for me.

The main characters, Grace and Adam, often celebrate life's victories with red wine. I can't even smell that drink without feeling upset in the stomach.

But the most significant shift would be making The Jewelry of Grace a love story. The Pride of Central had two will-they-or-won't-they couples, and some other teens dealing with crushes, but these relationships did not drive the story.

In The Jewelry of Grace, the romance between Grace and Adam is one of two driving forces to the story. (The other is the search for the jewels - I'll say more about that in a future blog.) But as I prepared to write about the couple in the first couple of years of their marriage, I had to ask myself:

What is a love story?

I suppose that could be answered, "boy meets girl, girl likes boy, boy likes girl, happily ever after," but I wanted something deeper than that, because love is something deeper than that.

A love story should include meaningful, emotional dialogue. But that's not what a love story is because that is not what love is.

A love story can include lovemaking between the main characters - though The Jewelry of Grace fades to black to keep the story PG - but that's not what a love story is because that's not was what love is.

To quote Bob Goff, "Love does."

Despite what our first thought often is when we hear the word, love is not an emotion. Love is sacrificial desire to benefit another person, even at no benefit to one's self.

Even at risk of harm to one's self.

This is not only seen in romantic love. Parents and children, friends, even strangers can show love for each other by giving up something of themselves for the other's good.

As I was writing about two newlyweds, though, I wanted to express this kind of sacrificial love in the relationship between Grace and Adam. Yes, there are romantic words exchanged. Yes, they are newlyweds so you know what they're doing between some of the chapters. But I wanted the truest expressions of their love to be when one sacrificed for the other.

Adam has no emotional connection to the jewelry that is being sought after in the story. There is the likelihood that the expense to find the jewels will be more than the jewels are actually worth. But he shows his love for Grace by being all in to search for them, when his natural instincts would be to have a bigger home and new set of golf clubs.

But love does. And Adam will do a lot for his bride out of love, even if the time comes when she is unable to do anything for him.

Grace will also show that sacrificial love back to Adam in a different way. But, I don't want to put too many spoilers out there for a novel that is two weeks old.

As we near Valentine's Day, I think our society at large and couples individually should remember that decorative hearts, cards, chocolates and flowers can all be a part of love. But it's only really love if love gives up something of itself for the other's benefit.

Next week: Slow and steady