- Tell us a little about yourself, Kara, and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense.
My real name is actually Nicole Redman, but after witnessing what looked like a man buying a baby while out for a jog in the park in my hometown of Boston, bad guys tried to kill me with a parcel bomb and the police sent me into witness protection. I was quietly biding my time as the rechristened Kara Grant, nighttime janitor, living across the continent in a small town outside of Seattle, until the bad guys found me and set fire to my new home. That’s how I met firefighter Jake Steele.
- Tell us about Jake. What was your first impression?
My very first impression, was not good, I’m afraid. When he spotted me running from the scene, he thought I’d set the fire and grabbed me none too gently. But once he realized his mistake, he was very gentle and protective and had the sweetest, lopsided smile, even if he was annoyingly insistent that I go to the hospital when it was the last place I wanted to go.
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
I guess my determination to do the right thing no matter the personal cost. My boyfriend in Boston warned me to not go to the police after I witnessed what I was sure had to be the sale of a kidnapped child, saying it would only lead to trouble, but I couldn’t not speak up. Thankfully, I’ve always been fairly self-reliant as well, which helped me a lot once I was placed in witness protection, although Jake would probably say that was my weakness, since I was so resistant to letting him help me.
- What’s your greatest fear?
At first it was that after everything I sacrificed, the child would still not be found and returned to his parents, but once Jake got involved in helping me, it became that my troubles would endanger him and his son.
- What do you think about your spiritual life?
When I was forced to take on a new identity, God was all I had. As much as it felt, with all these bad things happening, that God didn’t care, He kept me safe through each incident. And if all these things hadn’t happened, I probably never would have met Jake.
- You’ve got a scripture at the beginning of the story. Tell us why this scripture is significant.
When I learned I would have to move across the country and cut off all contact with my friends and family, I clung to this scripture with all my might: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
- What do you admire about the hero?
His persistence when I resisted his help. His protectiveness even when it put himself and his son in danger. And his faith. No one has ever prayed for me before like he did, asking God to show me what I should do and to show him how he could help me. He had to know that I wasn’t being completely honest with him, but he didn’t push me away.
- Why could you never see yourself ending up with the hero?
My life isn’t my own. Kara Grant is not who I really am. And I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone who I was. Being with me, puts Jake and his son in danger and I couldn’t live with myself if I brought them to harm or had to uproot them from their family here in Washington State, because the bad guys have found me and I have to be moved again.
- What do you hope people will learn from your experience?
To do what’s right even when it hurts and trust God to work it all out according to his plan and purpose.
Great to "see" you here today! I look forward to reading your comment.