by Amanda Tru
Published by
Olivia Kimbrell Press™
Copyright Notice
When Snowflakes Never Cease, Five Warm Winter Romances, Crossroads Collection 6, Copyright © 2019 by the authors. All rights reserved. This book is an anthology of collected works of fiction. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording—without express written permission by the authors and publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed or broadcasted articles and reviews.
Blizzard in the Bluegrass by Hallee Bridgeman, copyright © 2019.
Buried Secrets by Alana Terry, copyright © 2019.
Wrong About Mr. Wright by Chautona Havig, copyright © 2019.
More Than Enough by Jaycee Weaver, copyright © 2019.
When Snowflakes Never Cease by Amanda Tru, copyright © 2019.
PUBLISHED BY: Olivia Kimbrell Press™*, P.O. Box 470, Fort Knox, KY 40121-0470. The Olivia Kimbrell Press™ colophon and open book logo are trademarks of Olivia Kimbrell Press™. *Olivia Kimbrell Press™ is a publisher offering true to life, meaningful fiction from a Christian worldview intended to uplift the heart and engage the mind.
Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible are excerpts from many versions and are reproduced in strict accordance with the copyright of the owners.
Fonts: Crimson Pro, Dark Courier, Eras, Austina, Garamond, Arial
Edited by: Gregg Bridgeman
Cover Design and Title Graphics by: Chautona Havig
Library Cataloging Data
Names: Hallee Bridgeman, Alana Terry, Chautona Havig, Jaycee Weaver, Amanda Tru (Bridgeman, Hallee; Terry, Alana; Havig, Chautona; Weaver, Jaycee; Tru, Amanda)
Title: When Snowflakes Never Cease, Crossroads Collection 6
750 p. 6 in. × 9 in. (15.24 cm × 22.86 cm)
Description: digital eBook edition | Print on Demand edition | Trade paperback edition | Hardcover Case Laminate edition | Kentucky: Olivia Kimbrell Press™, 2019.
Summary: Some of today’s best-selling Christian Authors weave five all-new, unique, interconnected stories where a record-breaking blizzard warms cold hearts and lives change forever.
Identifiers: LCCN: 2019953287 | ISBN-13: 978-1-68190-265-4 (ebk.) | 978-1-68190-163-3 (trade) | 978-1-68190-164-0 (hardcover)
1. clean romance love story 2. male female relationship 3. holy matrimony marriage 4. women's inspirational 5. happily ever after ending 6. Christian fiction mystery 7. winter Christmas snow
Welcome to When Snowflakes Never Cease
Blizzard in the Bluegrass by Hallee Bridgeman
Buried Secrets by Alana Terry
Wrong About Mr. Wright by Chautona Havig
More Than Enough by Jaycee Weaver
When Snowflakes Never Cease by Amanda Tru
Goodbye for Now
Merry Christmas from Crossroads!
Whether this is your first Crossroads Collection or you sixth, let me assure you that you’re in the right place! Part of the appeal of the Crossroads Collection line is that they can be read in any order. Though you will find familiar characters in some of the authors’ stories, it isn’t necessary to start with the first one. Each collection is filled with brand new, never-before-published books by best-selling Christian authors, and they are all stand-alone stories. However, the most unique signature of a Crossroads collection is that, though the books are independent, they are all connected in some way to the final book in the set—the one that I get to write!
I never write or organize a Crossroads Collection that is the same. I like a challenge, and if it’s not different in some way, it’s really not worth doing! In the case of When Snowflakes Never Cease, I’m not telling exactly how the stories are connected. That is a surprise that is worth finding out yourself. All I will admit is that each story contains a storm at Christmas, but you’ll need to read to find out anything beyond that! Part of the message and beauty of this set is the way and why behind how the four other stories connect to the final book. If anything, this is the most connected set I have ever done, and you might find characters from the other books who make appearances in the final book and even alter the course of the story.
Fitting the puzzle pieces together was not easy. In fact, I think it would have been an impossible task to do a project like this if not for an amazing group of authors to work with. I am always humbled by the trust they show in me. They jump in with both feet on my wild ideas. They allow me to pull threads out of their stories to craft my own, and in this case, they trusted me to borrow characters they created and not screw them up!
The biggest credit on this project, however, definitely goes to God. This is one that could have definitely crashed and burned. On my end, it was a very difficult story and a complicated task to connect it meaningfully to the work of four other authors. Yet, God brought it all together in an amazing, if not miraculous, way that I wouldn’t have thought possible.
Now, I’m so excited for you to experience the finished product! One of the best things about this collection is that you get to adventure across the map in your reading!
Your first stop is with best-selling author, Hallee Bridgeman, in Blizzard in the Bluegrass. In this book, you will get to visit Hallee’s fictional town of Charula, Kentucky. This is a place that I got to “visit” myself, and I know you’ll find it as charming as I did. Next, you’ll visit Alaska with Alana Terry. Alana lives in Alaska herself, and I dream of one day going to visit her! Until then, I have to be content with a great story and find out what Buried Secrets might await! Chautona Havig is your hostess for the next stop in Wrong About Mr. Wright. Here you’ll befriend a successful, L.A. real estate agent whose holiday plans don’t go as she anticipated. Jaycee Weaver is our rookie Crossroads author. She has been amazing to work with, and I’m so glad you’ll get to experience a New Mexico Christmas in her story, More Than Enough. Finally, you’ll head over to Crossroads and discover how all the stories are connected, laugh, cry, and hopefully come away touched by what happens When Snowflakes Never Cease.
I wish you happy reading in the pages that follow. While you’ll find a great variety of styles in the individual stories, the connections between them are meant to illustrate a deeper meaning. Have fun reading these holiday romances, but be open to a subtle message that will last much longer. After you turn the final page, hopefully you’ll appreciate this Christmas season all the more and remember us for much longer. We hope you’ll be glad you visited Crossroads at Christmas!
Sincerely,
Amanda Tru author of When Snowflakes Never Cease
Hello Crossroads Reader and welcome!
Every time we create one of these collections, all of the authors and the editor get together and pray. We video conference across multiple time zones, get to know a little bit about each other, and we each individually pray for each other and for the collection. We pray that every word ends up praising God and blessing our readers.
All of us imagine what it must be like to be you, right now, as you read this letter you are right on the very edge of beginning an amazing journey where you will travel to different locales and meet some really interesting characters along the way. When you finish, I hope you leave a review to let us know how you enjoyed the journey.
For now, it is my immense privilege and my honor to introduce you to the first story in the collection, Blizzard in the Bluegrass by one of the most brilliant, loving, talented, and prolific authors in Christian fiction
today, Hallee Bridgeman.
I have known and worked with Hallee for several years, now. Though I don’t recall our first interaction, I think I first met her in an online group for Christian writers. It seems like meeting someone who is such a blessing in your life should be more dramatic, but with Hallee, it felt almost like we’ve always known each other.
I so appreciate the times we have prayed together and the support, both personally and professionally, that I can always count on from her. When Hallee tells me she’s praying for me, I know she really is. On a personal level, I love when Hallee is in a Crossroads Collection because she is a wonderful friend. On a professional level, I love working with Hallee because she is an amazing writer and best-selling Christian author. I recently came across someone who mentioned that she had named her son after a character in a Hallee Bridgeman book. Yes, Hallee is that good!
In so many ways, Hallee is someone I greatly admire and feel blessed to know, work with, and call a dear friend. With Hallee in the lead off position for a Crossroads Collection, I know it will be a good one!
In Blizzard in the Bluegrass, divorcee and single mother Gloria Sutton has just started to make room in her life for Doctor Jeff Brock, but feels very protective of her eight-year-old autistic son, Noah. An unseasonable once in a century winter storm hits Charula, Kentucky taking the small town completely by surprise. When the blizzard shuts everything down, they cannot imagine how events will change their lives forever.
Please enjoy this story of healing, visions, and finding strength through faith.
Amanda Tru author of When Snowflakes Never Cease
A Novella By
Published by
Olivia Kimbrell Press™
Copyright Notice
Blizzard in the Bluegrass by Hallee Bridgeman, Copyright © 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording—without express written permission by the author and publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed or broadcasted articles and reviews.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or intended to be used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, places, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental and beyond the intention of either the author or the publisher. The characters are products of the authors’ imaginations and used fictitiously.
PUBLISHED BY: Olivia Kimbrell Press™*, P.O. Box 470, Fort Knox, KY 40121-0470. The Olivia Kimbrell Press™ colophon and open book logo are trademarks of Olivia Kimbrell Press™.
*Olivia Kimbrell Press™ is a publisher offering true to life, meaningful fiction from a Christian worldview intended to uplift the heart and engage the mind.
Some scripture quotations courtesy of the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Some scripture quotations courtesy of the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas-Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Original Cover Art by Amanda Gail Smith (amandagailstudio.com).
Library Cataloging Data
Names: Bridgeman, Hallee (Bridgeman Hallee) 1972-
Title: Blizzard in the Bluegrass; Red Blood & Bluegrass book 2 / Hallee Bridgeman
200 p. 5 in. × 8 in. (12.70 cm × 20.32 cm)
Description: Olivia Kimbrell Press™ digital eBook edition | Olivia Kimbrell Press™ Trade paperback edition | Kentucky: Olivia Kimbrell Press™, 1900.
Summary: Gloria's son is lost in the Christmas blizzard. Will she and Jeff find him in time? Or will the season of joy turn into a tragedy?
Identifiers: LCCN: 2019953454 | ISBN-13: 978-1-68190-162-6 (ebk.) | 978-1-68190-263-0 (trade) | | 978-1-68190-264-7 (hardcover)
1. clean romance love story 2. women's inspirational 3. man woman relationships 4. Christian living 5. Christmas romance 6. small town suspense 7. autistic child
Noah had disappeared. Gloria Sutton’s heart gave a painful twist in her chest. She had looked away for half a second, long enough to check an incoming text and make sure she could ignore it. When she looked back up—
“Noah!” She rushed through the mall play area. Where had he gone? She’d placed herself at the only entrance so she could block any kind of escape. No way he slipped by her. Yes, she’d let her attention go to her phone, but not long enough for him to get by her.
“Noah!”
As she searched the giant climbable structures, she caught the stares of the other mothers and wondered why, in situations like these, did no one ever step up to help right away? They clearly never lost a child. She, on the other hand, had to remain hyper-vigilant because Noah had a tendency to wander off without warning.
“Noah!” As she passed the corner bench inside the play area enclosure, she heard an intake of a shaky breath. She froze. Where had the sound come from?
There! Again!
Thankful that she wore jeans and boots, she dropped to her knees and looked under the bench. She found him, curled in a fetal position, hands over his ears. “Hey bud,” she greeted in a gentle voice, holding out her hand. “Is that little girl’s yelling too loud for you?” He looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with pain, and nodded. She reached into her bag and pulled out his noise-canceling headphones. “Look what I have.”
Immediately, his body relaxed. He let go of one ear to reach for the headphones and expertly slipped them on. Animation filled his body again. He rolled out from under the bench and hopped up. She brushed a strand of dirty-blond hair out of his face and kissed his forehead. “You good?”
“I am now.” He gave her a thumbs-up, then raced back into the play area.
Suddenly exhausted, Gloria walked back to the entrance and slid down to the floor, crossing her legs and watching Noah play. He didn’t know how to play with the other kids, but he never seemed to mind that. He just had his own game in his own head and maneuvered through the other kids playing as if they didn’t exist.
A woman on a bench next to her looked down at her sitting on the floor. “He okay?”
Gloria quickly glanced at her then looked back at Noah, not willing to risk taking her eyes off him again. “He’s fine. He has autism, and it got too loud for him in here. The headphones will help.”
“Bless his heart.”
Gloria smiled a tight-lipped smile but said nothing. She’d give Noah five more minutes of play, long enough to let the feelings that sent him under the bench fade. That way, the next time he thought about the play area, he’d remember he had a good time and not that he had crawled under the bench on the edge of a meltdown.
She wished, sometimes, that he looked less like his dad, Trevor, and more like her. At a glance, she could see her ex-husband in his dirty-blonde hair and slim athlete’s body, running through the obstacle course, plotting to save the world from the threats of enemies. Very little evidence of her mother’s Hispanic heritage and her own dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes showed up in Noah. By the end of summer, he’d tan nicely, and maybe he’d look a little like he belonged to her. Instead of model thinness, she had a short body, strong arms, a strong core, legs that could help her lift and shift as she worked as a large animal vet.
Even his voice reminded her of Trevor. Though he still had a little boy voice, she could hear Trevor’s southern accent, the way his tongue rolled around words and made almost anything sound interesting. Coming from northern California, one of the first things she noticed about Trevor their freshman year of high school was the way he spoke. She loved that Noah had picked that up. She had a feeling as his voice deepened in the years to come, she’d hear more of Trevor than ever.
The five-minute window passed, and she clapped her hands. “All right, kiddo, time to go.”
Noah climbed to the top of a giant set of blocks, raised his fists in the air, then jumped down, landing with both feet sprawled apart, hands still fisted. He straightened and pounded his chest with
his fists, then loosened his body and rushed to her.
“Where are we going now?”
“I have to swing by and check out the Johnson’s goat.”
Outside of the play area, she pulled a bottle of hand sanitizer out her purse. She didn’t even have to prompt him to hold his hands out. She smiled as he rubbed his hands together, making sure every inch of surface touched the gel. “Do I have to see the goat?”
“Nope. It won’t take a minute. You can stay in the truck.”
“Good.”
They walked out of the mall and into the perfect Kentucky spring day. The temperature hovered just under seventy degrees, and a pleasant breeze kissed the tops of the trees. At her truck, she opened the passenger door for him, and he climbed through to the back seat. She watched as he started to grab his tablet, but stopped reaching and put his seatbelt on first. As she subconsciously waited to hear the “click” to confirm he’d secured it properly, she secured the hanger of her new dress on the hook and turned the package to make sure it didn’t block her view while driving. Then she set the bag that contained the shoes on the floorboard.
As she walked around the truck to get into the driver’s seat, she wondered how she let her best friend Tanya convince her to speak at the upcoming women’s conference. Yes, she knew the subject of single parenting a special needs child. She lived it every day. However, she didn’t think she possessed the specific expertise to stand in front of a crowd of a few hundred women and talk about it. It was next weekend, though, and she had run out of excuses. No one accepted them anyway. Her last-ditch excuse was the lack of a proper outfit. “So, buy a new outfit,” Tanya said. Last excuse banished.