She chuckled softly. You’re a wild little man. You’re a baby coyote.
Bird gently placed him in the large pocket of her winter coat, where he’d be safe and warm until they got home. Paul — Uncle Paul — would teach her how to feed him and keep him alive.
As she put her foot in the stirrup, she heard a transmission from far, far away.
Bird girl. A special present from me. To protect you.
Sundancer threw back his head and let out a long and hearty neigh.
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to Dr. David Goldbloom for making time to read this manuscript and for giving me guidance on the very sensitive issue of childhood sexual abuse. Dr. Goldbloom is a renowned psychiatrist and senior medical advisor at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and also a published author and Shakespeare scholar. He was my first choice as expert advisor, but I was reluctant to impose. I need not have worried. Immediately he wrote back with an open-hearted, generous offer of assistance, something he’s done countless times for countless people.
My first readers are always my family, and a crucial part of every book I write. Their thoughtful reactions and acute instincts are invaluable to me. To my husband, my mother, my sisters, my children: I love you more than you’ll ever know and I give you my thanks.
Marybeth Drake created the evocative and distinctive illustrations, and I am beholden to her once again. Thank you, dear friend.
I am grateful to the editors and publishers at Dundurn who launch my books into the world, and to my agent Amy Tompkins for her unfailing good advice.
Reference:
David S. Goldbloom, OC, MD, FRCPC
Senior Medical Advisor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (www.camh.ca)
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto (http://www.psychiatry.utoronto.ca)
The Saddle Creek Series
Copyright © Shelley Peterson 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover image: shutterstock.com/horsemen
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Peterson, Shelley, 1952-, author
Christmas at Saddle Creek / Shelley Peterson.
(The Saddle Creek series)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-4026-6 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-4027-3 (PDF).--
ISBN 978-1-4597-4028-0 (EPUB)
I. Title. II. Series: Peterson, Shelley, 1952- . Saddle Creek series
PS8581.E8417C47 2017 jC813’.54 C2017-904773-6
C2017-904774-4
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
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J. Kirk Howard, President
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