Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial by Terri Reed

Hello, readers. We’re happy to share our gift to you, a short Christmas story that started December 12 through today, December 21.

To start from the beginning scroll down to the older posts. 

Dec 12--Lenora Worth
Dec 13--Barbara Phinney
Dec 14--Margaret Daley
Dec 15--Debby Giusti
Dec 16--Deb Kastner
Dec 17--Louise Gouge
Dec 18--Jolene Navarro 
Dec 19--Jean Gordon
Dec 20--Cate Nolan
Dec 21--Terri Reed

Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a BOOK BLAST! We will pick two random names and if you win, you’ll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!!

And now…

Chapter Ten by Terri Reed

So cold.

Grace shivered beneath the blanket Jericho wrapped around her. She burrowed closer to him, needing his warmth, his strength. She’d always needed him.

But she didn’t deserve him. Or anyone.

Not after…

A sob escaped. Guilt choked her, cutting off her breath.

Jericho’s strong arms lifted her off the bench.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked.

“Taking you away from here,” he said close to her ear.

She pulled back to look in his eyes. “It was my fault. They shouldn’t have died.”

         He tightened his hold, drawing closer until his lips touched hers in the softest, sweetest kiss of her life.

Then he carried her away from the place that tormented her nightmares. She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. When they made it to his car, he helped her into the passenger seat, buckled her up and shut the door. As he jogged around to the driver’s side, she lifted her mind and thoughts to God. How do I do this? He’s too good for me. Why didn’t you take me with my family?

         Jericho slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine and turned the heat to full blast. Soon the chilly air heated, cocooning them in an intimate barrier that protected them from the winter weather outside of the vehicle.

         Facing her, Jericho gathered her hands in his. “This isn’t the place I’d prefer to do this but we can’t go on like this.”
         Her stomach knotted. After the way she’d acted, she wouldn’t blame him for not wanting anything more to do with her. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I thought I’d buried it all. But seeing you again, being in Reunion at the cabin…”

         He touched a finger to her lips. “The accident wasn’t your fault. You have panic attacks from the undeserved guilt you carry. You have to accept the accident for what it was and let go. Let God heal you. Let me help Him.”
         She shook her head. “If I hadn’t thrown a French fry at my brother and hit my father instead, he wouldn’t have got angry and lost control of the car.”

         “You were a little girl,” Jericho reasoned. “From what Jeb has told me, your father had a temper. He was the grown up driving the car. He shouldn’t have taken this road to begin with. But none of that matters. It was an accident. Out of anyone’s control.”

         Her heart twisted. Words she’d hung onto for years slipped passed her lips. “God could have prevented it.”

         Jericho smoothed her hair from her cheek. “God isn’t a puppet master. He gives us free will. He mourned along with you. But your family is with Him now. They and God would want you to release the guilt and embrace your life.”

         Was it true? Jericho’s words bounced through her head and her heart, soothing the rough places. “Oh, Jericho. I’ve wasted so much time.” 

She had to tell him how she felt before she blew it again. She wanted a second chance.  Her words, so angrily spoken early about there being no second chances,  mocked her.  

         He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each knuckle. “The past is done. There’s only the future. A future for us. If you’re willing.”

         Her heart soared. “Really?”

         “I love you, Grace Holly.” He smiled, his eyes bright with emotion. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you’ll have me.”
          Infused with happiness, she threw her arms awkwardly around him and held him tight. “Yes. Oh, yes. I want that too.”
         He pulled back and dug the special ornament from the pocket of his coat. “Open it.”
         She blinked back tears of joy and took the bulb. Gingerly, she pried open the top and plucked the rolled note out. Her heart beat in her ears as she spread out the paper, she read the words written in Jericho’s bold scrawl.

         “One day you will be my wife. I want to love you forever.”

         Tears streamed down her cheeks. She lifted her stunned gaze to meet his. “All this time. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

         “Never.”

         “I love you, Jericho Walker with all my heart.”

         “Good.” He grinned. “Now that we have that settled, we should get back to the cabin and make sure Mary Noel and Jeb haven’t eloped while we were gone.”
         Grace giggled. “I can’t believe it. Grandfather has found a second chance at love.”
         Linking his fingers around hers, Jericho said, “So did we. We found our own Christmas miracle.”

         “Amen to that,” she said on a contented sigh.

The End.

Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial Chapter Nine by Cate Nolan

Hello, readers. We’re happy to share our gift to you, a short Christmas story that will run from December 12 through December 21. Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a BOOK BLAST! We will pick two names and if you win, you’ll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!! So come back often and enjoy our gift to you.

And now…
Chapter Nine

Cate Nolan

Jeb and Mary Noel running interference. That was definitely a ‘thanks but no thanks’ situation.  “I appreciate the offer, but don’t you two have some business of your own to resolve?” Jericho glanced from one to the other. Their contented grins confused him.

Jeb leaned against Mary Noel, and she patted his shoulder. “We’re good. We just want to help you to be happy.”

Jericho shook his head. The last thing he needed was these two running off into the snow. “No. This is my mess. I’ll fix it.”

Mary Noel stood, hands on hips, and stared up at him. “Spoken like a man.”

Jeb nodded. “One hopeless in love. Trust me son, I know the feeling.”

Jericho lost all his bravado and slumped against the counter. “Why can’t I ever seem to do the right thing when it concerns Grace?”

Mary Noel reached up to lay a hand on his chest. “Because you’re thinking with your head instead of your heart.”

“What does that mean?”

Mary Noel laughed as the men’s voices chimed together with the same question.

“It means that you’re thinking too hard about what the right thing is. Just listen to what your heart says.”

Listen to what his heart said, Jericho muttered an hour later as he drove down yet another snowy road looking for Grace. Follow his heart. Well his heart had said to follow Grace, so he had.

But neither his heart nor his brain could tell him how to find her.

Where could one woman get to in this amount of time?

An airport.

The thought chilled him more than the freezing temps.

No, she wouldn’t abandon Jeb before Christmas. Of that he was certain. He just wished he was as certain she wouldn’t leave him.

What had he done wrong? Why had she left?

Listen with your heart.

Hard to do when your teeth were chattering louder than your heart was speaking.

“Okay, heart. Speak up. Grace is upset. Where would she go?”

Suddenly the answer was right in front of him. His heart may not have been calling him a dumbkopf, but he certainly felt like one for not realizing sooner.

Apparently he needed to listen to Grace with his heart rather than his brain too. She’d been trying to tell him, and he could kick himself for not understanding. All the clues had been there. The reason she had no boyfriend, no husband. The reason she lived alone in a tiny apartment.

Suddenly it was all clear. And he knew exactly where to go.

  

Snow was falling in earnest as he negotiated the narrow mountain pass. Nerve-wracking in even the best weather, it was a positively terrifying trip in snow and ice.

He was coming up on the outcropping now, the narrowest part of the road where the rocks created an overhang. As conditions deteriorated, he wasn’t sure whether to hope Grace was here or that he had been mistaken.

Wind gusted, buffeting his car as he pulled into the shelter of the overhang. The memorial had been carved into the rock, the bench where Grace huddled looked out over the sheer drop. The drop that had claimed her family.

Grabbing the blankets Mary Noel had sent along, Jericho climbed from the car and eased his way along the icy path.

Grace sat shivering, and he was struck by fear. If he hadn’t found her…

No. He had found her. His heart had found her.

“Gracie, talk to me.” He wrapped the blanket around her, holding her close against his body’s warmth.

“Do you remember what I told you?” she murmured.

He leaned down so he wouldn’t miss a word. “You told me lots of things.” Including that you loved me.

She looked incredibly sad in that moment.

“It’s okay,” she reassured him.

“What is?”

“I know you left because I told you I caused the accident.”

Jericho felt like he was playing some game for which he didn’t know any of the rules. “I left because you told me to go.”

She was silent. Snow continued to fall and he pulled the blanket more securely around them.

“I didn't want you to go, you know. I wanted you to convince me it would all be fine. That it was okay for me to be happy.”

Suddenly Jericho understood his mistake.

He loved her. He knew her secrets, but until this moment he hadn’t understood the darkest one. He hadn’t realized how much the accident had driven her life. How it had paralyzed her emotions.

It didn’t matter if it wasn’t her fault, not if she believed it was.

He could feel her slipping away from him. He had to get her away from this place and its memories before her misplaced guilt ate her alive.

Staring at the hopeless look on her beloved face, Jericho felt more alone and frightened than he'd felt in even the fiercest battle.

If they hadn't been at the edge of a snowy cliff, he would have fallen to his knees. He turned his face heavenward instead and prayed with all his heart.

Help me, Lord. Please help me save her.

Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial: Chapter Seven by Jolene Navarro

Hello, readers. We’re happy to share our gifts to you, a short Christmas story that will run from December 12 through December 21. Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a BOOK BLAST! We will pick two names an if you will, you’ll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!! So comeback often and enjoy our gift to you.

And now…

Chapter Seven

Jolene Navarro

     Straightening her spine, Grace wiped the back of her hand across her face.  She was not going to cry. It was Christmas. Everyone loved Christmas.

     She hated it.

     If it wasn’t for her grandfather, she’d be in her little apartment ignoring all the memories of the past. Her parents, her little brother…and Christmas with Jericho.

     He had given her the one Christmas filled hope and joy after the accident. He was the only one she ever told …No. Don’t go there. He left. 

     She walked to the window. The peace of the mountains alluded her. She was tired of being strong.

    

     “Grace.” The deep voice vibrated through her blood and rattled her heart. He was back.

     She closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at him right now. The darkness started creeping into her vision. Not now. Counting, she took deep breaths. Held for five. And pushed the air out until her lungs burned. She couldn't have an attack now. It had been so long since the last one.

     “Grace.” He was closer. His breath caressed her ear.

     If she leaned back or half turned, she would be against him, in his arms. There would be no saving her. And when he left this time, she wouldn’t recover. “No, Jericho. Go.”

     “That’s what I did last time. You told me to go and I did.” His hands circled her waist. With tenderness that contrasted the roughness of his voice, he pulled her to him. 

     “When you  left you didn't say a word. You never wrote or called." Now she sounded like a child.
     "You told me if I went to not bother contacting you. I didn't. I respected your wishes."
     "Then respect them now.” A very thin string held her together and if she gave in all the years of being strong wasted.

     “No. I think that was a mistake. I should have stayed and fought for you. Even if it was you I was fighting.” His pressed his cheek against the side of her head. “There has not been a day I haven’t replayed that moment in my head. When your grandfather told me you never married or even dated, well, I thought this Christmas could be a redo. A second chance to get it right.”

     One step and she would be out of his arms. Apparently her feet and heart were not in agreement so she stayed a prisoner of her own weakness. The silence pounded in her ears.
    "I have a better understanding of your condition. I haven't said anything to your grandfather, but with my training I can help you. It's not your fault."
    “I don't know what your talking about. All I know is there are no second chances. You don’t think I haven’t replayed the night my family was killed over and over. If I had done one little thing different in just a few seconds. If I hadn’t…” She choked back the words. She fisted the image in her head and tossed it as far as possible. She couldn't deal with that guilt right now.  “There are no second chances.”

     A deep breath, she broke the chains that kept her in his arms and stepped away. A cold draft swirled around her. His warmth gone. She pulled some old homemade ornaments out of the box and put them on the tree without looking and thinking. Instead she kept glanced at him.

     He widened the chasm between them. He was going to leave just like last time.
     Looking down, his strong shoulders lifted and fell with each breath he took. He looked up at her and grinned. The smile that melted her back in the early days caused her heart to skip one beat. He would have broken it if she had any left. The soft felt decoration slipped from her hand landing with a soft thud at her feet.

     "Hi.” He held out his hand. “I’m Jericho.”

     Picking up the red hearts her mother had stitched button on, she focused on the tree. When she turned back to him he still stood there with his hand hanging in the air.
     She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing?”

     “If you don’t believe in second chances then I want to start over. Here and now, with nothing in the past to get in the way. My name is Jericho. I’m your grandfather’s medical assistant. He talks about you a great deal. It’s a pleasure to finally met you.”

Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial Chapter Five by Deb Kastner

Hello, readers. We're happy to share our gift to you, a short Christmas story that will run from today through December 21st. Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a Book Blast. We will pick two names and if you win, you'll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!! So come back often and enjoy our gift to you!

And now....

“Grandpa Jeb!”

“Jeb!”

“Jeb!”

Everyone spoke over each other as Jericho launched himself toward Jeb, reaching his side just in time to steady him and keep him from taking a nosedive.

Jeb straightened his shoulders, widened his stance and elbowed Jericho away.

“I’m perfectly capable of standing on my own two feet,” he growled, looking from one person to the next and daring any one of them to say otherwise.

Jericho’s gaze flashed to Grace. They both knew that wasn’t exactly true. Grace’s grandfather had been confined to a wheelchair for years. But the stubborn old geezer wasn’t going to back down—not with Mary Noel in the room. For some reason, he wanted to impress her.

But--welcome home?

Jericho raised a questioning eyebrow to Grace but she only shrugged and briefly shook her head. Apparently, Jeb’s words were as much a mystery to her as they were to him. Just as clearly, there was something happening beneath the surface between the two older people. The air was as thick as the scent of a houseful of poinsettias.

Or maybe the smell was from real poinsettias. Only now did Jericho notice that Mary’s arms were laden—flowers in one arm and plastic containers of goodies in the other.

As Grace reached for the poinsettia and placed it on the edge of the kitchen counter, Mary bustled around the kitchen, finding bowls and platters for her cookies and candies almost as if she owned the place.

As if it were her home.

“The poinsettia’s beautiful, Mary,” Grace exclaimed.

“It was Martha’s favorite,” Jeb said, and for once his voice softened and lost its usual gruff quality. Grace’s grandmother Martha had been partial to flowers of every kind. Christmas had always been her favorite time of the year, so it didn’t surprise Jericho that she had also been partial to the holiday flower.

Mary was at Jeb’s side in an instant, tucking her arm into his and planting an affectionate kiss on his cheek.

“I remember,” Mary said gently. “Why else would I have brought it? Christmas wouldn’t be the same here at our cabin in Reunion without her presence, now would it?”

Jeb appeared to relax and, with Mary and Jericho at his side, he gently slumped back into the chair.

Mary turned her attention to Jericho and Grace. “Now, your grandfather and I have some unfinished business, and from the looks on your faces, I’m guessing you two have a bit to say to each other, as well. Come on, Jeb. Let’s go into the kitchen and see what we can find to help me cheat on my diet. Don’t mind us, kids. You won’t be disturbed. The family room is all yours.”

Jericho cleared his throat, wondering how to start the long road toward reconciliation with Grace.

Or even where to start.

Mary popped her head back into the family room. “I know I promised we wouldn’t bother you. And we won’t. But--and I speak from many years of experience here--there is no better way to begin any conversation, no matter where you’re coming from or where you’re heading, than right there.”

With an old lady’s cackle, she grinned and pointed toward the rafter.

Jericho cringed. 

Of course.

Mistletoe.