“Selling out has been on my mind for a while now, only I hadn’t realized until Jack voiced it. I’m giving it serious consideration.”
She was about to say more when Rose burst into the living room like an avenging angel, followed close behind by Lily.
Hands on her hips, glaring at Asher, Rose said, with her eyes full of fire, “You don’t deserve my sister.”
Asher grinned down at Everly. “Can’t say I have much of an argument there.”
“Rose, please,” Everly said, waving her arms at her sister.
“You broke Daisy’s heart,” Lily said, equally irate. She, too, braced her hands against her hips and then looked to Daisy and lowered her voice. “Rose told me, but only because I made her.”
Almost immediately, her brothers Jeff and John stormed into the room.
“Is this the guy?” Jeff asked Rose, nodding in Asher’s direction.
It seemed it wasn’t only Lily she’d told, but both her brothers as well.
“Will all of you hold your horses. Asher is here because he…because he wants us to come to an understanding.” He hadn’t declared his feelings other than to say he wanted to be wherever she was.
“I’ll make him understand,” John threatened, growling out the words.
“We both will.”
“Get a rope,” Jeff said.
Everly burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. Looping her arms around Asher’s neck, she kissed him so that her siblings would never doubt her feelings. Asher grabbed hold of her head, weaving his fingers into her hair and angling her mouth over his. When they broke apart, the room had gone quiet.
“You’ll have to forgive my family,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “They’re a little overprotective.”
“Are you willing to take him back?” Jeff asked.
Everly smiled up at Asher. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Don’t think too long,” Asher said. “Your brothers look like they’d welcome the opportunity to take me down.”
“The things a woman has to do for her man,” Everly said, her eyes smiling.
“He’s not taking you back to Brazil.” This was a firm statement by Rose.
“Not on the agenda,” Asher assured them.
“Good thing,” Jeff and John said in stereo.
“A very good thing,” Everly added, her arm around Asher and his around her.
“Seems our work here is done,” Rose said, and ushered her siblings out of the room.
* * *
—
The days leading up to Christmas were everything Everly hoped they would be. Asher stayed with her family for two days. Everly made sure they made the most of their brief time together. He agreed to go Christmas shopping with her for her nieces and nephews. He advised her and she advised him about gifts for his own family.
After they had made their purchases, they had pizza for lunch. Everly was ready to head back to the farm, but Asher had one last stop he wanted to make.
A jewelry store.
“I saw this earlier,” he said, pointing out an intricate gold necklace. “It reminded me of you. Delicate yet strong. Beautiful and bright.”
It was the most stunning piece of goldwork Everly had ever seen. “Asher, it’s too much.”
“Not for you and the way I feel about you. I won’t be here for Christmas, so let me give it to you now.”
Everly thought her heart would burst. She’d never owned anything of this quality. After he made the purchase, Asher stood behind her and placed it around her neck.
“Thank you,” she whispered nearly choking on the emotion as she fingered it.
* * *
—
Both evenings they played cards with her parents and whoever else showed, usually one of her brothers. Asher proved to be a good player, although she was convinced he cheated. He ate every piece of fudge and candy she put before him, raving about her Grandma Ruth’s recipes.
They were family favorites and had never failed to garner praise.
All too soon it was time for Asher to head back to Chicago. His flight back to Brazil was booked for Christmas Eve.
Everly walked him to the car and stood next to the driver’s-side door. Parting was as hard now as it had been on the dock in Manaus.
“I’ll be back in three months,” he promised, holding her, his hands knotted at the small of her back. “And not a day longer.”
“It’ll feel like an eternity.”
He nodded, agreeing with her. “If they’re able to hire another naturalist before, then I’ll return sooner.” He looked regretful.
“Are you sure about leaving the cruise line, Asher?” She hated the thought of him giving up what he loved most.
“It’s no sacrifice when it means I’ll be with you.” He kissed her then, and they clung to each other.
Stepping back from the car so Asher could drive away took all her resolve. As she stood in the gently falling snow, watching his car disappear down the driveway, her hand automatically went to the gold chain he’d given her. All at once, the answer, the one that had plagued her for days, came to her.
She made her decision about Easy Home and knew it was the right one.
EPILOGUE
Three Years Later
Everly looked at the computer screen and a huge smile broke out. “Hot dog!” she said aloud, and clapped her hands. After leaving Easy Home, Everly, along with her two sisters, had created their own company using Grandma Ruth’s candy recipes. It had been a lot of work, sweat equity, and an investment in time, resources, and family history.
They rented space in the bakery kitchen in town where Lily worked until they could afford to build one of their own. They started small, selling the candy to local businesses to avoid the mistake of expanding too soon.
Everly’s voice must have caught the attention of her sister Lily, because she stepped into the office. “What’s got you this excited?”
“Look at this.” Everly pointed to the computer screen.
Lily let out a low whistle. “Is that a typo?”
“Don’t think so,” Everly said. The order was enough to launch them nationwide. After nearly three years of hard work, they were finally getting the recognition they needed.
“What’s all the commotion in here?” Rose asked, entering the room.
“We got another order from a Candyland distributor,” Lily said, “and it’s huge. Look at all those zeros.”
This was exactly what they’d been waiting for. This meant they were going to need to hire extra help to manage this fulfillment.
Jack had purchased her half of Easy Home. He wasn’t happy to see her go and blamed himself for insisting she take a vacation. Those funds had financed the start-up for the candy company, which they named Flower Girls.
Using her business contacts, Everly mailed out free samples. It didn’t take long for the orders to start pouring in. Their top seller was Grandma Ruth’s Christmas Fudge.
Everly hurried home to tell Asher the great news. They lived a mile down the road from the farm where Everly had been born and raised. Asher taught at the local community college and loved his job. He’d been offered a much-higher-paying position with the University of Chicago but turned it down. He didn’t even consider taking the hour-long train ride into the city, preferring to spend that commuting time with Everly instead.
Especially now that she was pregnant.
“From the smile you’re wearing, I suspect you had a good day,” her husband said, kissing her softly.
“I had an excellent day,” she assured him.
“How about you, Button?” he asked, pressing his hand against the large round shape protruding from her front. “Little Hyacinth.”
“We are not naming our daughter Hyacinth,” Everly protested. Ashe
r had gone through an entire list of flower names for their yet-to-be-born daughter.
“How about Clover?”
“No!”
“Zinnia?”
“Asher!” she cried in frustration.
“What’s wrong with Amaryllis? A nice alliteration with Adams. Amaryllis Adams.”
“That’s even worse.”
“Daisy, we’re due in a month. We need a name.”
“What’s wrong with Ashley?” That was the name she liked best, naming their daughter after her husband. Asher was the one who insisted on following tradition with a flower name.
“Holly?” he tried again. “That’s a perfect name for a December baby.”
“Holly,” she repeated testing the name on her tongue. “Holly Ashley Adams…That’s a name I can live with,” she said.
Looking extremely proud of himself, Asher led her into the family room and helped her into a chair. Their Christmas tree was up and two big knit stockings hung from the fireplace mantel, along with one tiny bootie.
“Now tell me about this big order.”
“It’s for Grandma Ruth’s Christmas Fudge. Lily has already got two girls from the bakery working on fulfilling it. We’ll ship out in two days, which for us is a quick turnaround.”
Asher kissed her brow. “If anyone can do it, it’s the three of you.”
She relished his praise. Everly would have thought it’d be impossible for her to work with her sisters. Surprisingly, they balanced one another out. Everly did the marketing and accounting, Rose handled the supply chain and quality control, while Lily did the hands-on cooking. They worked together as if they’d been a team their entire lives, and in some ways they had.
“How was your day?” she asked Asher as he sat on the side of the chair, one arm stretched out across the back and cupping Everly’s shoulder.
Asher pressed his cheek to the top of her head. “I love this, Daisy. Seeing my students’ eyes light up with excitement as they learn about nature and our mission to preserve and care for our world. I couldn’t be happier to have made this career switch. And to think, it might never have happened if I hadn’t fallen in love with you.”
Finding Asher was all due to Annette and her act of revenge. When Everly arrived in the Amazon, she was convinced this was the worst thing that could happen to her. This was supposed to be a vacation? Despite everything, it had turned into the best thing to ever happen to her. She’d met Asher, fallen in love, reunited with her family, and begun the greatest adventure of her life.
All she could think now was how grateful she was to Annette.
To Nancy Jacuzzi,
a woman of extraordinary shopping skills,
a connoisseur of fine wines,
a culinary expert,
a jigsaw puzzle master,
and
a treasured friend
BALLANTINE BOOKS FROM DEBBIE MACOMBER
A Walk Along the Beach
Window on the Bay
Cottage by the Sea
Any Dream Will Do
If Not for You
A Girl’s Guide to Moving On
Last One Home
ROSE HARBOR INN
Sweet Tomorrows
Silver Linings
Love Letters
Rose Harbor in Bloom
The Inn at Rose Harbor
BLOSSOM STREET
Blossom Street Brides
Starting Now
CHRISTMAS NOVELS
Jingle All the Way
A Mrs. Miracle Christmas
Alaskan Holiday
Merry and Bright
Twelve Days of Christmas
Dashing Through the Snow
Mr. Miracle
Starry Night
Angels at the Table
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBBIE MACOMBER, the author of A Walk Along the Beach, Window on the Bay, Cottage by the Sea, Any Dream Will Do, If Not for You, and the Rose Harbor Inn series, is a leading voice in women’s fiction. Thirteen of her novels have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller lists, and five of her beloved Christmas novels have been hit movies on the Hallmark Channel, including Mrs. Miracle and Mr. Miracle. The Hallmark Channel also produced the original series Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, based on Macomber’s Cedar Cove books. She is as well the author of the cookbook Debbie Macomber’s Table. There are more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide.
debbiemacomber.com
Facebook.com/debbiemacomberworld
Twitter: @debbiemacomber
Instagram: @debbiemacomber
Pinterest.com/macomberbooks
Mrs. Miracle shows an ordinary family how blessed they are in this uplifting holiday tale from Debbie Macomber.
A Mrs. Miracle Christmas
Continue reading for a preview.
CHAPTER ONE
Laurel McCullough arrived home to find two police cruisers parked in the driveway with their lights flashing. If that wasn’t enough to get her heart racing, it was seeing her grandmother on the front porch, clearly distressed, wringing her hands and looking around anxiously.
Laurel slammed her vehicle into park and leaped out of her car, nearly stumbling in her eagerness to find out what had happened.
“Nana,” she cried, rushing toward her grandmother.
The instant Laurel came into view, Helen covered her mouth with her hands, and her eyes, filled with dread, looked to the ground.
“Laurel, oh dear, oh dear,” she said, her shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry. I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
Laurel wrapped her arms around her grandmother, hoping to comfort her. “Officer, what’s going on here?”
“Are you Laurel Lane? This is your grandmother?”
“Yes, but McCullough is my married name.”
“I’m so sorry,” Helen repeated, worry lines creasing her face. “When I woke from my nap, my mind was fuzzy. I was afraid because you weren’t home from school, so I called the police.”
“Your grandmother reported that her ten-year-old granddaughter hadn’t returned from school,” the kind officer explained to Laurel.
Laurel swallowed down her shock. Nana had been mentally slipping for a while now—little things she couldn’t remember, small details—and this was the second major incident within a short time period.
“As you can see, I’m a bit older than ten,” Laurel told the officer. “I’m sorry that we’ve troubled you. She’s a bit confused right now. I came to live with my grandmother when I was ten.”
“No trouble, Miss. We’re just happy we aren’t looking at an abduction.”
After answering a few more questions for the officers, Laurel gently led her grandmother back into the house and had her sit in her favorite chair.
“I don’t know what came over me,” Helen said, and moaned, covering her cheeks with her hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”
Helen wrapped her arms about herself like she needed to hold on to the present and leave the past behind. “I…I looked at the time and you weren’t home and suddenly you were ten years old again. I was convinced something dreadful had happened to you. What’s wrong with me?” she cried. “How could I have done something so bizarre? Am I going crazy?”
Laurel went to her knees in front of her precious grandmother. “Of course you aren’t crazy, Nana. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Those officers came right away and were so kind. I feel terrible to have troubled them.” She looked up, seeming to be struck by inspiration. “I should bake them cookies to apologize for wasting their time.”
“It’s over. I’m home now, and everything is okay.”
Laurel brewed tea, thinking it would settle their nerves. She sat beside her grandmother, reassuring her several tim
es.
Laurel’s brain raced with how best to deal with this latest situation. Last week, her grandmother had lost her way in the neighborhood, the very one she’d lived in for more than fifty years. Nana had gone out to collect the mail and noticed that the neighbor’s new puppy, Browser, had escaped his yard. She’d followed him to try to bring him back and hadn’t been able to find her way home. Eventually, the neighbor had found the puppy, along with Helen, and had brought Laurel’s visibly upset grandmother back home with her.
Nana looked pale and frightened. “The doctor said that would happen, didn’t he? Me getting more and more confused? Wasn’t it only last week when I got lost? This is all part of having dementia, isn’t it?”
Laurel nodded. The dementia had become significantly worse over the last several months. It was at the point that she didn’t feel comfortable leaving her grandmother alone. But what choice did she have? Their financial resources were tight. All she could do was pray that she and Zach, her husband, could come up with a way to manage these new issues that Nana was having.
“I don’t want you to worry about me, Laurel,” Helen insisted. “I won’t be calling the police again, and I won’t be going outside on my own anymore, either.”
Laurel couldn’t bear the thought of her grandmother being stuck inside the house by herself for hours on end, afraid to leave for fear she’d be unable to find her way home.
“You have enough on your plate,” Helen continued. “I don’t ever want to be a burden.”
“You will never be, Nana.” Her grandmother had always put others ahead of herself. Laurel set aside her tea and knelt before her nana the way she had as a child. Resting her head in her grandmother’s lap, Laurel mulled over this latest development, uncertain what to do.
Helen gently brushed Laurel’s hair with her fingers. “You know, I’ve been praying for you.”
Jingle All the Way Page 17