Inside the Characters: Caitriona "Kitty" McKlean

No one calls her Caitriona. Well, to be precise, no one calls her Caitriona and lives to tell the tale. As long as she can remember, she has gone by the nickname, Kitty. By the time of my book, she has lost all of her family to illness, old age, or an accident. She grew up with her Gran and her Mom and Dad, but being horse breeders, her parents were traveling quite a lot. While sad, she enjoyed her parents trips because she got to spend a lot of time with her second family, the Petersons--more specifically with Collum, her best friend.

Kitty, along with Collum were mischievous children. Everyone always thought Collum was the brains behind the operation, but boy were they fooled. She's a daredevil, evidenced by the small scar that traces the right of her face along the jawline and another on her left eyelid. No one sees this side of her besides the Petersons. Other than mischief she loves to read, write and work in her garden. She's a puzzle solver, a sleuth, and a healer. Quite adept and knowledgable in the realm of herbs and plants, she's garnered quite the reputation amongst the locals as an alternative to expensive and distant medical personnel.

Kitty has an innate need to help others, but in order to do so, she is forced to keep so many secrets that eat away at her, bottling up her emotions so no one pries into her life unasked.

Physically, she's easily recognized from a distance by her long red hair that falls gracefully down her slim, shapely back to her bum. She prefers to remain unnoticed, but that doesn't happen very often. Her soft brown eyes reflect her tender and caring soul, but watch that temper. She has pretty good control of her temper now, around most people, some just have that talent of bringing out the worst in her. Other than her hair, when she speaks, her quirky and dated phrasing raises eyebrows and instigates quizzical glances from those who hear, unless they know her well enough not to bother asking.

She's afraid of being alone, even more so of being alone and in a cemetery. Well, if we're being honest she doesn't want to be in a cemetery period. How is she handling being alone now that Collum is gone?