by Marta Perry
“Right.” It had been a year since he’d given Maggie the new angel—a year of changes beyond measure in all their lives. He put the angel carefully on one of the topmost branches and watched it reflect the tree lights.
“I could come up and help you.”
“Absolutely not.” He stepped down from the stool and put one arm around her, then gently stroked the smooth, round curve that was just beginning to show. “I don’t want little Jason or Emily to take any tumbles.”
Maggie leaned against him and put her hand over his. “The baby is fine. Leave it to a doctor to worry ten times as much as a normal father.”
Changes, he thought again. Beautiful, blessed changes for all of them.
“Aunt Maggie, can I pat the baby, please?” Tacey danced over to them, her small face flushed with the excitement that only Christmas could bring.
“Sure you can.” Maggie made room for the small hand.
Tacey wasn’t withdrawn any longer, and Robby no longer looked around in apprehension when he laughed. As for Joey—he’d zoomed to the top of his class in school, determined to become a doctor, just like the person he now called “Uncle Grant.”
With the completion of the new clinic, thanks to the Hardesty Foundation, the old building had been remodeled into two comfortable homes. Nella, proud of her position as the clinic office manager, lived with her children on one side, while he and Maggie would bring their new baby home to the other.
Maggie nestled her head against his shoulder as she looked at the nearly finished Christmas tree. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
He dropped a kiss on her cheek. “It’s beautiful. Just like everything else in my life now.”
“Really?” She smiled at him teasingly. “You mean you like taking care of the whole county practically single-handedly? Taking payment in jars of jelly and cuts of venison? Crawling out of your warm bed to deliver a baby in the middle of a cold winter’s night?”
He cradled her cheek in his palm, wondering at the love that seemed to grow stronger every day.
“I love every bit of it. Even the venison.” He bent his head, his words for her alone. “God gave me everything I ever wanted when He brought me to Button Gap. He brought me home.”
Dear Reader,
I’m so glad you decided to pick up this book, and I hope the story touched your heart. Writing about Grant and Maggie’s crusade to save the Bascom children made me smile and cry, and I hope you felt the same.
I know many wonderful children’s services workers, and I hope they’ll forgive me for making a social worker the villain in this particular story! My prayers are with all those who spend their lives protecting the Father’s smallest children.
Please write me at Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279, and I’ll be happy to send you a signed bookplate or bookmark. You can visit me on the Web at www.martaperry.com or e-mail me at [email protected].
Blessings,
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0734-9
THE DOCTOR’S CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2003 by Martha Johnson
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*Hometown Heroes