What About the Brothers?

If you’ve already read A BRIDE FOR MARCUS this post is for you. If you haven’t,  there are spoilers, so beware. Or maybe skip to the next post.

A number of readers have written to me, saying they enjoyed my Marcus book — thank you — but also expressing disappointment that there was no gathering of all Marcus’s brothers towards the end of the book.

I know how satisfying many readers find this kind of gathering, especially in the last book of a series — I do myself — and believe me, I tried to bring them in for the wedding. But though it was pretty straightforward to bring in Harry and Nell, when it came to Nash and Maddy and also Gabe and Callie there were practical logistics.

St Petersberg

For a start Nash and Maddy (and the children) were in Saint Petersberg (previously called Leningrad) in Russia. That’s a long way to travel. It would take weeks, possibly months, depending on the weather. (In winter, for example the city is totally ice-locked.) Then there’s the question of whether Nash could get leave. Of course I could make leave be granted, but I can’t fudge the distance — I like my books to be as historically (and geographically) accurate as possible. 

Landscape in  Northern Hungary

Gabe and Callie (and the children) would also take at least a few weeks to travel from Zindaria, which I had located (in my imagination) somewhere near Hungary.  So, since the distance from Budapest to London is  1726 kilometers (1073 miles) it would also take weeks, at the very least, assuming they could travel an average of 20 miles a day, which is optimistic, and takes no account of hills and mountains, bad roads and bad weather.

Hungary.

The trouble is, I also wanted Marcus and Tessa to get married quickly — the plot required and small, quiet, quick wedding so they could go on their honeymoon quickly, which is where their relationship really begins to develop.

And I didn’t want them to have to hang around and do things in and around London while waiting for Marcus’s brothers to arrive. Nor did I want to begin a chapter with “Three months later . . . “.

I could have had Harry and Nell come to the wedding — and I even began writing a scene with their arrival, and I tried to have Gabe and Callie and their children also happen to be in England — but then that distracted from the Marcus and Tessa story, and the tension between them just . . .  dissipated. It was more important to the plot to get them quickly married and away. than to have the brothers there.

I could also have invited the Devil Riders and wives, Rafe and Ayisha and Luke and Bella, but though he knew and liked them, they weren’t really Marcus’s friends. As well, although Marcus is now reconciled to his brothers, the only brother he really knew and grew up with and was close to was Nash, the one furthest away.

So I decided to leave the brothers and Devil Riders out of the wedding altogether, and hoped I could bring them in at the end. But if you’ve read the book, you’ll see that I didn’t manage that, either. I wanted a scene that showed how close Marcus and Tessa had become, and to tie off all the loose threads of the story.

I did have a vague idea that Lady Gosforth could have a Significant Birthday and decide to throw herself a grand ball — which of course she would call “a little party.” That might still happen, perhaps in a short story, though no promises.

So I hope you’ll forgive me for not having a brotherly reunion of all the Devil Riders and brothers. I did try, I promise, but it just wasn’t feasible.