The Offering (41 page)

In some states, the birth mother of an adopted child has a certain amount of time into the adoption where she can change her mind and essentially take the baby back from the adoptive parents. We saw this possibility come up with Mario and Amelia. Do you think this is fair?

I think it's hard. Terribly hard on the adoptive parents who have given their heart to a child only to have the child—and their hearts—ripped out. It's especially hard when the biological parents don't seem to “deserve” the children who had been taken away. But if I were a young woman who surrendered my baby because I felt hopeless and helpless, I would hope and pray that I would be able to turn my life around and be granted a second chance with my child. So for the sake of young women like that, I do think the “revocation of consent period” is fair. Some agencies will not place a baby with an adoptive couple until after this period is over—if excellent foster homes are available, that might be the best approach.

According to your Web site, one of your interests is photography. How do writing and taking photographs compare? Which gives you more creative fulfillment?

They are very similar when it comes to marketing, branding, and selling, but they're quite different when it comes to creating art.
Yet both require a thorough knowledge of equipment and technology, and both deliver occasional surprises for the artist. Both are focused on eliciting emotion from the reader/viewer. Both have levels of competency: beginning, amateur, and professional. Both require the artist to see the world in new ways. Both, I suppose, can change lives and hearts. But photography doesn't require nearly as many hours to produce a single polished product. That's refreshing.

You've written more than 115 books. Where do you find your inspiration for writing fiction?

I find inspiration everywhere, but mostly from daily life. I'll read something interesting or hear something intriguing and think, “What if . . .” and I'm off.

What is your favorite genre to write?

I really don't have a favorite. I find that writing is like building, and as long as a writer can skillfully use the appropriate “tools” and follow the genre blueprint, he can write anything from a novel to a screenplay. Just as a builder would grow tired of making dog houses all the time, I'd be bored if I had to write every book in the same genre. I love mixing things up.

Do you have plans to write another book? Will we be seeing Mandy again?

I always have another book on the calendar, and I'm busy writing now. But I don't think we'll be seeing Mandy again . . . unless she shows up at my desk and insists that I get busy.

I
owe a debt of thanks to Dr. Harry Kraus, surgeon and novelist, who answered my questions about whether the scenario described in this book is possible . . . and yes, it is. I also owe a bundle of thanks to Natasha Rodriguez, who helped me with my Spanish—if you find any errors, they are mine, not hers.

For the record, I do have an attorney friend named Joseph Pippen, but to my knowledge he does not have dealings with shadowy characters, nor would he ever attempt to bribe a judge. He is, however, a good sport, and I trust he will forgive Mandy's musings about his namesake character.

Also for the record, I realize that U.S. Special Operations Command is located in Tampa, Florida, while most of the special operators themselves live around Fort Bragg, North Carolina. But one of our family friends is a special operator, and though he lives in North Carolina most of the time, he's also a local boy and we're proud of him. So I hope you'll excuse me for having Gideon and his family live in the Tampa area.

These two books were also very helpful:

S. F. Tomajczyk,
US Elite Counter-Terrorist Forces.
Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1997.

Stacy Ziegler,
Pathways to Parenthood: The Ultimate Guide to Surrogacy.
Boca Raton, FL: BrownWalker Press, 2005.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Angela Hunt Communications, Inc.

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First Howard Books trade paperback edition May 2013

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hunt, Angela Elwell.

The offering : a novel / Angela Hunt.—First Howard Books trade paperback edition.

pages cm

1. Birthmothers—Fiction. 2. Adopted children—Family relationships—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3558.U46747O34 2013

813'.54—dc23

2012037907

ISBN 978-1-4391-8205-5

ISBN 978-1-4391-8208-6 (ebook)