Episode 14: The Making of True Loves Ways by Sidney St. James

<p>n 1965, Peter &amp; Gordon sang the song written by <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died'><strong>Buddy Holly</strong></a> called &quot;<strong>True Love Ways</strong>.&quot; 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.</p><p>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&apos;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. &quot;Just you and I&quot; know these ways of true love.</p><p>I&apos;ve often thought of this song in terms of a couple starting out – the use of &quot;will by and by,&quot; &quot;throughout the days,&quot; and &quot;will bring us&quot; suggests that they&apos;re looking into the times ahead; yet, it&apos;s applicable in far greater scope as seen in the writing of this novel.</p><p>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.</p><p>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&apos;s hand in marriage.</p><p>Kerstin laid on her death bed as Marco walked back into her life after a fifteen-year absence. &quot;I love you, Marco like you&apos;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&apos;ve been isolated in a windowless room. T