Guest Blog/Giveaway: Andi Unexpected by Amanda Flower

Mr. Rochester the Caretaker

By Orange Tabby Cat Mr. Rochester from Andi Unexpected by Amanda Flower

Amelie, my roommate, named me after a fictional character from a novel called Jane Eyre. I just recently knocked it off of her bookshelf and read it. My word, how could she name me after such a moody rogue? Don’t get me started on that whole Bertha storyline. We would be here for hours. It makes my tail twist into knots just thinking about it. And of course the woman was a crazy as a dog on the Fourth of July, but who caused her mental break, hmmm…? But I digress. I only hope that my own behavior will redeem the name Mr. Rochester for all time. Yes, I am just a mild-manner orange tabby, but cats have many responsibilities.

I am the caretaker of three girls. It started with only one, Amelie, she claims to be my mistress, but make no mistake I am the one supervising the others in the house. The other girls are Amelie’s nieces: Bethany and Andi. They just came to live with us a few days ago. They rode up in this huge powder blue sedan with an older couple. I watched everything from the house’s front widow. The older lady, I believe one the girls called her Mrs. Cragmeyer, was not happy to be there, nor was she happy to leave the girls, who are barely teenagers, with their aunt. She did not believe that my Amelie knows how to care for the children. Who is she to speak to my Amelie that way? And what am I? Day old tuna? It’s not like Amelie has to raise these girls on her own. She has me.

However, even someone as capable as myself knows it won’t always be easy. They are teenagers after all. I suppose Andi technically is not, but she’s twelve and tweens have their share of challenges too. What makes it more difficult is these girls are hurting. You see, they came to live with Amelie and me because their parents died tragically not long ago. Amelie is their father’s sister, and she is hurting too from the loss of her brother. I know what I must do to help these girls, and I have appointed myself the position as chief comforter. When they need me, I sit on their laps and allow them to pet my pristine fur coat.

Even after just a few days, I can recognize the slight downturn in Andi’s mouth, the twitch of anger in Bethany’s jaw, and the worry in Amelie’s eyes to know that the girl needs me. Right then, right away, I drop what I am doing (usually grooming—a gentleman takes care of himself) and fulfill my duty. I stay with the girl who needs me until she is ready to let me go. It may be minutes, it may be hours, but I will do what I must for one of my girls.

Andi will be all right, I know. She is a curious young girl and has a lot to prove to her parents even if they are no longer here on Earth with the rest of us. It is Bethany, the older sister, who I worry about the most. She’s the artist with emotions close to the surface, quick to laughter and quicker to anger.

Maybe the mysterious trunk Andi found in the attic will distract the girls long enough to heal. If not, I will be here, right where they need me to be.

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It’s SUPER SEPTEMBER! Amanda Flower (also writing as Isabella Alan) has three novels releasing in September 2013. To celebrate, she is giving away an authentic Amish Quilt hand-stitched by Amish in Holmes County, Ohio.

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Twelve-year-old Andora 'Andi' Boggs and her fourteen-year-old sister Bethany move to rural Ohio to live with their eccentric twenty-something aunt after the sudden death of their parents. While dealing with her grief, Andi discovers proof of another Andora Boggs in the family tree whose existence was hidden in a Depression-era trunk in the attic. With help from her new friend and neighbor, Colin Carter, Andi is determined to find out who this first Andora was and what happened to her.