There was a stretch of my childhood when nothing — not schoolwork, not chores, not swimming or playing — got in the way of watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with my family. Weeknight episodes were a whole event at our house. Everybody had a spot on the couch. Nobody was allowed to talk during the good parts. And there were a lot of good parts.
It was shows like this (along with a lot of books from the library) that inspired how I write. Including book 6 in my Wagon Train Matches series, LOVE’S HEALING PATH.
What if Sully was a doctor instead?
If you watched the show, you remember exactly what I mean when I say Sully “loved with his hands before he ever loved with his words.” He didn’t announce his feelings. He showed up. He built things, fixed things, stood guard outside the door without being asked. You knew how he felt about Dr. Mike long before he did, because the show let you watch him fall while she was still too busy running a medical practice and a household to notice.
My hero Doc Jason Goodwin is a lot like Sully. Jason has grief in his past, like Sully. He puts up a lot more walls than Sully. And he’s protective like Sully. Wildfire, bear attack, explosion… he’s there to protect Maddie even before he realizes why he can’t stay away from her.
A trio of orphans shows up.
Dr. Mike takes in the three Cooper children — Colleen, Matthew, and Brian — after their mother dies. It’s a major part of the show: a woman who didn’t plan on becoming a mother, doing it anyway, imperfectly, because nobody else would.
In Love’s Healing Path, Maddie makes a deathbed promise to a dying woman on the wagon train and ends up raising three — two boys and a baby girl. Maddie has good instincts, but with two ornery boys around, of course things go wrong. It takes her awhile to find her feet, but she gets there by the end of the book.
There are some other parallels in my book, there’s the caregiver who has to earn the right to be taken seriously (Dr. Mike fighting a town that didn’t believe a woman could doctor, Maddie fighting a physician who didn’t believe an untrained healer’s knowledge was worth anything). There’s real frontier danger. And there’s that particular feeling the show always gave me: safe. Good. The kind of story you could watch with your whole family and not worry about what came next.
That last part matters most to me, honestly. Because a few years ago, I introduced my own kids to Dr. Quinn. I wasn’t sure it would hold up — but they love it. They ask for “one more episode” the same way I used to beg my parents.
If you loved that show, I think you’ll feel right at home in Love’s Healing Path. And if you’ve never seen it — well, maybe start there too. I promise the couch spot is worth fighting for.
Maddie Fairfax may be young, but on this Oregon-bound wagon train, the pioneers welcome help from the self-trained nurse. Until Dr. Jason Goodwin joins up with their company. The doctor portrays a frosty exterior, but Maddie may be the only one who sees the profound loneliness that haunts him.
After losing his wife and children in a terrible accident, Jason has vowed not to open his heart again. But when Maddie takes on the care of three young orphans, Jason finds himself entangled in the lives of the makeshift family. And as their journey west continues, Maddie’s radiant compassion begins to light up the darkest corners of his heart.
Until the unthinkable happens. Will Jason’s guarded heart and Maddie’s untamed spirit pull them apart?
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About the Author
With multiple hits on the USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestseller lists and more than 1 million copies sold, Lacy Williams has won the hearts of readers worldwide with her heartwarming romances set in the rugged beauty of the American West. A proud Oklahoman, she balances writing with the joyful chaos of raising four children and snuggling her fur babies. Find bonus content at https://www.lacywilliams.net.
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Today I’m giving away a paperback copy of Love’s Healing Path and a $25 Amazon gift card to one winner. Leave a comment to be entered. Tell me if you had a favorite show from your childhood and what you loved about it. Thanks for chatting with me today!
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My new series starts with A TRAIL SO LONESOME. What it’s about: