Emma

by Peggy McKenzie

  “Well, I found something that suited you so well, I just couldn’t resist.” His cryptic answer made her curious.

  “But we agreed not to spend money on gifts for each other. Instead, we were going to donate the money to a worthy cause like helping those families of the men who lost their lives down in Tennessee.”

  “Yes, my love. And we are still doing that. I’ve arranged to find as many wives and children of those men as possible. And the money I received from my parent’s estate will go to help them rebuild their lives. Clothes. School. Even a home. Everyone needs a home, don’t you agree?”

  His loving gaze caressed her and she couldn’t deny him anything. “Yes, everyone needs a home.” She agreed.

  “Then you shall love your Christmas present.” The gleam in his eye told her he was up to something. Before she could question him further, the preacher invited everyone to stand.

  “In closing, please stand and let’s give thanks for our many blessings.”

  Emma stood, still holding Colin’s hand, and bowed her head to offer her own silent prayer to give thanks.

  Dear Lord,

  Thank you for bringing me here to Angel Creek. I was full of fear and doubt when I arrived, but you helped me to see my purpose and you have given me a very special man to be my partner in life.

  Thank you for your son, who was born on Christmas Day, and thank you for your grace and mercy. I will forever be grateful to you and I will do my best to do honor your name. Amen.

  The preacher concluded his prayer and addressed the congregation. “Mr. Colin Cassidy has invited everyone over to his house for refreshments. I trust I will see most of you there.”

  Emma turned a shocked look to her husband. “Colin, you can’t just invite all these people to Quinn and Sarah’s house without asking. That’s just not done.” She admonished her handsome husband,

  “But I didn’t. I invited everyone to our house for refreshments.”

  “But, we don’t have a house…do we?” Emma’s heart hiccuped in anticipation of his answer.

  “Yes, we do. I bought the house two streets over from Sarah and Quinn. The one at the edge of town with the blue shutters and the big porch,”

  “Oh, I love that house. It reminds me of home.” Emma couldn’t believe she had her very own home.

  “It’s our home now. Ours and our children.” He bent down so only she could hear his words. “And as soon as everyone has gone home this evening, we shall get started right away on the first of many babies, God willing.”

  Emma blushed at her husband’s words. “I pray that God is willing.”

  Hand-in-hand, she and Colin walked down the street leading the congregation to their new home. She glanced toward the heavens and found the brightest star—the Christmas star. “Who said there’s no such thing as Christmas miracles anymore.”

  About the Author

  Born and raised in Oklahoma, Peggy McKenzie has been in love with happy endings and second chances of the old west as far back as she can remember. Mesmerized by Miss Kitty and Marshal Dillion made her want to write her own romance stories.

  A move to southwest Colorado allows her to write the novels she has always dreamed of writing in the beautiful mountain home she shares with her husband, Jim, and their three fur babies, Augustus McCrae (Gus), Maddie, and Miki (Mickie).

  Join her newsletter and fan club @ peggymckenzie.com.

  Join her Facebook page - Peggy’s Posse

  Follow Peggy on social media to learn more about this author and new releases.

  More Books In This Series

  Angel Creek Christmas Brides

  2018

  Charity – Book One – Sylvia McDaniel

  Julia – Book Two - Lily Graison

  Ruby – Book Three – Hildie McQueen

  Sarah- Book Four – Peggy McKenzie

  Anna – Book Five – Everly West

  2019

  Caroline - Book One - Lily Graison

  Melody - Book Two - Caroline Clemmons

  Elizabeth - Book Three - Jo Grafford

  Emma - Book Four - Peggy McKenzie

  Viola - Book 5 - Cyndi Raye

  Ginger - Book 6 - Sylvia McDaniel

  MORE BOOKS BY PEGGY McKENZIE

  BRIDES OF THE RIO GRANDE

  Grace – Book One

  Faith – Book Two

  Hope – Book Three

  Charity – Book Four

  Mary – Book Five (Feb 2020)

  Aggie – Book Six (March 2020)

  Olivia’s Obligation

  LANGLEY’S LEGACY SERIES

  Finn’s Fortune – Book One – Kathleen Ball

  Patrick’s Proposal – Book Two – Hildie McQueen

  Donovan’s Deceit – Book Three – Kathy Shaw

  Aidan’s Arrangement – Book Four – Peggy McKenzie

  Heath’s Homecoming – Book Five – Merry Farmer

  Colin’s Challenge – Book Six – Sylvia McDaniel

  Want to Read More?

  Here’s the next book in the Angel Creek Christmas Brides

  Chapter 1

  “Come closer. I have something for you.”

  Viola shuffled her feet towards her uncle who was lying between the soft, fluffy covers of the big bed. He was the one relative she had adored. She offered up a sad smile, remembering how his long white beard had always brushed against her cheek when she gave him a hug and kiss whenever he snuck into Charleston to visit her. Today was no different, except the soft fluffy beard she remembered was gruff and stiff today.

  She perused his worn out, ragged face and skeletal body. Her uncle had been a huge man, a bulky pirate for many years, sneaking home on occasion to tell her tales of his shenanigans on the high seas. He avoided capture by the law, and when his own family had forbade his name spoken in Charleston society, he still made time to meet up with his favorite niece.

  Then came the war. After that, Viola hadn’t seen him for a few years until last September, when he announced he was giving up his pirating ways. He visited one more time before the sea called to him once again.

  Now, here he was with an uncontrollable cough that had him withering away, his physical body spent and the light in his eyes fading slowly. He told her he wanted to spend his last days with the only person that truly loved him for who he was.

  Viola.

  He had quietly checked into the Charleston Hotel under a fake name. The hotel was the finest in the city. Since the war, there wasn’t much left that was fancy, just a tattered bunch of buildings that were being salvaged from the ruins. Some folks tried hard to rebuild and eventually their homes were presentable, while others spent all that was left bringing life back into the city.

  Her uncle was determined not to wither away in a prison bed. He was always one to make a decision when it came to his life. He lived for fun, adventure and the high seas. She loved him, but everyone else in the family hated that he was a pirate. Even when the elimination of piracy was taking place in the Asian waters, her uncle had steered clear of the waters prone for capture and spent his time doing what he loved best. In all honesty, he was more of an adventurer these days than a pirate. His work involved the government and trade, but her family still accused him of treachery.

  After the war, the hotel kept its charm and Uncle Lemmy had the money to pay the extravagant fee to stay there. If her mother knew she was visiting the black sheep of the family, Viola would be locked in her room for good. Or, at least until her mother married her to the next fine gentleman who’d have her. Except to her mother’s disappointment, it didn’t look like there were any takers any time soon.

  “How is my sister?” His gravelly voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “Mother is as stiff and unrelenting as always.” She gave him a kiss on the forehead. “How are you feeling today?”

  “I’m dying, Viola. How do you think I feel?”

  His friend Tony, the man who had spent years by her uncle’s side, picked up a small bottle from the nights
tand next to the bed. “Lemmy, take some more laudanum.”

  “I don’t want that crap, Tony! Not right now. Let me visit with Viola. Help me sit up.”

  Uncle Lemmy knew he was too weak to do it alone. Viola thought he probably paid Tony to nurse him until the end since he was never shy about throwing money to those he felt deserved it.

  She made herself comfortable on the high-back wooden chair by the bedside. “What will happen to Stargazer now?” She spoke gently, not wanting to upset him.

  Uncle Lemmy turned to her where a sparkle of life appeared in his eyes at the mention of his ship. He loved The Stargazer. “Guess you’ll have to wait until I die to find out, girlie.”

  She laughed. “You know I have no cares about such things.”

  He reached out with a shaky hand and laid it over hers. “The ship goes to my first mate, Tom. He’s been loyal and loves the sea as much as I do. I do have something for you, Vi.”

  She was feeling uncomfortable. Viola wasn’t here to get anything from him. She didn’t want him to die. “Are you going to tell me you are not ill?”

  He gave a slight shake of his head. “I’m afraid not. Tom, reach in the top drawer and hand me my stargazer.”

  A soft intake of breath came from her throat. She gasped. “Uncle Lemmy, no.”

  Tom placed the item in his hands. He ran a finger down the leather sheath, a bittersweet expression on his face. “I bought this one night - a long time ago - in England, from a man who was forced to sell it to buy food for his children. He had a whole passel of kids and feeding them was hard for a poor farmer.”

  “You don’t have to speak of this if it upsets you, Uncle.”

  He made a small sound in his throat. “It’s a good story, Vi. His grandfather was a pirate who went pillaging and plundering for many years. The truth of it was that he worked for the government, stealing from ships that would fight against Britain back then. The telescope was passed to his son and this man, whose father recently died, had given it to him. He told the man to use it for good.

  He didn’t want to give it up, but he wanted to feed his family more. I gave him plenty of gold coin so they would get through the winter months.”

  She squeezed his hand. “That’s sweet of you, Uncle Lemmy. Not many people know there is plenty of good in your heart. I’ve always known.”

  He barely heard her. He was off somewhere else, thinking of the past. “I went back every single year and left a bag of money on the man’s porch. Maybe I should’ve given his telescope back but I grew fond of this pile of brass over the years.” He looked at her then and smiled.

  Vi tried to hold back the tears. She didn’t want to see him like this, in such a weakened state. He had always been such a strong character, filled with life and now there was barely anything left of him. Viola prepared herself to respond to his generous gift for she knew he was going to give the stargazer to her. She saw it in his eyes. By passing the honor of keeping the instrument in her care meant he would not be on this earth much longer. That was one reality she didn’t want to face.

  He held it out. She touched the brass and leather casing. “It’s beautiful. There were plenty of times over the years you let me see through this wonderful telescope, Uncle Lemmy.”

  He gave a nod, giving her a genuine smile she knew was hard for him to muster. “You haven’t seen anything until you are out on the seas looking at the stars from the deck of a ship. I’ve heard it’s the same out west - in the Rocky Mountains - and from the Dakota Territory to Oregon - where the sky and earth seem to meet.” His words came out sporadically as he sucked in deep breaths between words.

  She let out her own breath. “I know I’ll never set foot on a ship, but my friends have all gone west where they speak of such beauty.”

  “Why are you still here?” he asked, concern etched on his weathered face.

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  “Go, Vi. Don’t stay in Charleston where you will be matched with someone not worthy of you. The choice of a mate is slim since the war. Do you really want to marry some stuffy southerner who will never let you live life the way it was meant to live? Your mother is strict. She will not allow you to explore, to even use this telescope that is now under your care. Be free, Vi. Do it not for me, but for yourself.”

  She trembled at the thought of leaving her hometown. When the first of her friends left to travel to Angel Creek last year, she had a hidden desire to go, too. The thought of marrying a man she didn’t know kept her from speaking up. Besides, she was afraid her uncle would never be able to find her again.

  Now, her uncle was trying to teach her that she needed to explore what life offered up. “I don’t know how to go, Uncle.”

  “Fear, girly, is the root of all evil. Don’t fear what you don’t know. You are sassy and strong-minded. Even though there is trepidation at leaving what you’ve always known as home - I promise, you will be fine. When you take that first forbidden step into the darkness, you will find a smile so wide on your face and a giggle rise up from inside your throat so loud, it will exhilarate you. Don’t become a wallflower, you’ve got too much of me in you. Explore this vast world. Look at what it offers you. Please, I beg you, don’t settle for anything less.”

  His words began to stir a longing inside of her. The desire to explore the stars and beyond had tugged at her for so long. His assurance that it wasn’t a bad thing to want to explore beyond what she knew gave her hope.

  When his weak fingers let go of the brass scope, she held it in both hands, staring down at it for a moment.

  “Go on, pull it from its sheath.”

  She did, slowly, until she held the brass and enamel scope in her hand. She lifted the slide from the eyepiece and held it to her eye. It was state of the art, a fine piece her uncle had taken excellent care of over the years. A lone tear fell from her eye. “I can’t believe you are entrusting me with this, Uncle.”

  He didn’t speak a word, but she felt him so close to her. When she looked up, a tightness clutched around her heart. She knew right then he was gone.

  “He waited until you arrived to give it to you. He wanted to see it in your hands,” Tom admitted. He laid his long-time friend back against the pillows. Tom pulled the sheet up and covered his shoulders. “Until we meet again, mate,” he choked.

  Viola held back her tears, knowing Uncle Lemmy would not like her to sob over him. She took his hand until it turned so cold she wasn’t able to bear the thought that he was truly gone.

  The telescope was clutched in her hand when she left the hotel. It was all she had left of the man who had been more like a father to her over the years. Uncle Lemmy’s memory would carry on every time she pulled the telescope from its leather case. The long leather strap afforded enough room to sling it over her shoulder, just like a pirate would do.

  She didn’t care how how it looked, either. Taking the long way home, she walked and walked, not wanting to go back to the townhouse they called home. The ravages of war had taken the family mansion from them.

  Viola walked for a long time, thinking of her uncle and how his adventures had enabled him to live his life as he pleased, no matter what. He never let Charleston Society meld him into something he wasn’t.

  She had a hard decision to make. The closer she got to home, the more she dreaded walking into the place that never felt like home.

  She began to smile.

  It was time to take her destiny into her own hands.

  *****

  “Where have you been?” The sun was quickly fading from the sky by the time Viola returned home. She had just walked into the parlor when her mother came out of nowhere her tiny fists clenched tight and sitting on her hips.

  Taking a deep breath, Viola stared at the woman who had been tough enough to get them through the ravages of war. She didn’t blame her mother for her demanding ways. They had lost everything. Her mother had lost a husband and she lost a father. Both her brothers had been lost to the war.

 
Viola and her sister were all she had left. Now, Viola had to tell her that Lemmy was gone. It wasn’t going to be easy, even though her mother claimed to despise Lemmy and would not acknowledge him in public.

  Viola pressed the leather sheath tighter against her side. It hung from its strap around her shoulder. She hadn’t cared what anyone thought if they saw it, but now her mother was staring at it. Hard. “Where did you get that?” she whispered.

  When she looked into her mother’s eyes, Viola knew right then she knew the truth. A flash of hurt and sadness fell over her facial features before the older woman closed herself to any emotion. At times, Viola wished she was like that.

  But, Viola was a terrible southern belle. Every emotion that ever existed stood out on her face like a statue in a park for everyone to witness. Heaven knows they all tried to teach her the ways of a lady. It just never sat well with Viola.

  She said the words out loud she never wanted to say. “Uncle Lemmy is gone.”

  Her mother stared. Viola waited and watched, noticing how her mother’s bottom lip quivered slightly.

  “Where is he?”

  “Charleston Hotel.”

  Charlotte Destine nodded. “Thank you.” Her words came out in a soft whisper and yet so ladylike no one would know how devastated her mother truly was. Viola knew. She also knew her mother would never show the emotions she was feeling.

  With a curt nod to her housekeeper, the matriarch pulled a cloak over her shoulders and left the house. The housekeeper fell in behind her. It was almost dark and Viola didn’t like the idea of her mother being on the streets of Charleston at night, but knew it was fruitless to say so. Viola surmised that even though her mother claimed being independent was not a virtue but a curse, her mother was quite adept at making rash decisions as well. At least, her mother would be able to visit with her brother one last time. It was a shame her mother had waited until it was too late.