Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,129
love you, Penny Meadows, I always have. Will you marry me?’
Penny plucked the ring from the pie and sucked the mince off the bottom. It tasted disgusting, like burnt treacle. She slid the ring onto her finger.
‘I love you with everything I have, of course the answer is yes.’
She leaned forward to kiss him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. Inside her belly, a little foot kicked out and she laughed against his lips. ‘I think your son approves too.’
Henry laughed and knelt forward to kiss her oversized belly. ‘She said yes,’ he whispered.
‘He’s probably wondering what took you so long too,’ Daisy said from the sofa as she took a big bite of the pie with a huge smile on her face. The smile quickly fell off though as she shuddered with disgust. ‘Dad, this is gross.’
‘My work here is done.’
Daisy stood up and came over to hug them both. ‘Congratulations. I’m really happy for you both.’
Henry sat on the chair and pulled Penny onto his lap, stroking her large belly and admiring the ring.
Daisy sat on the arm of the chair stroking her belly fondly too. Penny watched her wonderful little family as she played with the wooden star necklace that Henry had made for her. She remembered the wish she had made on the shooting star the year before and smiled knowing that every wish she’d ever made had finally come true.
The End
Letter from Holly
Thank you so much for reading Christmas at Lilac Cottage, I had so much fun creating this story and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
One of the best parts of writing comes from seeing the reaction from readers. Did it make you smile or laugh, did it make you cry, hopefully happy tears? Did you fall in love with Henry and Penny? Did you like the gorgeous town of White Cliff Bay? If you enjoyed the story, I would absolutely love it if you could leave a short review. Getting feedback from readers is amazing and it also helps to persuade other readers to pick up one of my books for the first time.
To keep up to date with the latest news on my new releases, just click on the link below to sign up for a newsletter. I promise to only contact you when I have a new book out and I’ll never share your email with anyone else.
Holly Martin New Releases Email
I have two books out this Christmas set in the town of White Cliff Bay, so if you enjoyed this book I hope you will love Snowflakes on Silver Cove too.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful cosy Christmas.
Love Holly x
@hollymartin00
hollymartinauthor
hollymartinwriter.wordpress.com
Also by Holly Martin
The Guestbook
One Hundred Proposals
One Hundred Christmas Proposals
Fairytale Beginnings
WHITE CLIFF BAY SERIES
Christmas at Lilac Cottage (White Cliff Bay Book 1)
Snowflakes on Silver Cove (White Cliff Bay Book 2)
HOLLY WRITING AS AMELIA THORNE
Tied Up with Love
Beneath the Moon and the Stars
FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Sentinel
The Prophecies
Acknowledgments
To my family, my mom, my biggest fan, who reads every word I have written a hundred times over and loves it every single time, my dad, my brother Lee and my sister-in-law Julie, for your support, love, encouragement and endless excitement for my stories.
For my twinnie, the gorgeous Aven Ellis for just being my wonderful friend, for your endless support, for cheering me on and for keeping me entertained with wonderful stories and pictures of hot men. Although we have never met, you are my best friend and I love you dearly.
Huge thank you to my wonderful, incredible friends Kirsty Maclennan, Megan Milliken and Victoria Stone for the endless support and love. You are amazing.
To my friends Gareth and Mandie, for your support, patience and enthusiasm. My lovely friends Jac, Verity and Jodie who listen to me talk about my books endlessly and get excited about it every single time.
For Sharon Sant for just being there always and your wonderful friendship.
To my wonderful agent Madeleine Milburn for just been amazing and fighting my corner and for your unending patience with my constant questions.
To my editor Claire for helping to make this book so much better, for putting up with all my crazy throughout the whole process, for replying to every single email and for listening to me freak out with complete and utter patience. Thank you to Kim Nash for the tireless promoting, tweeting and general cheerleading. Thank you to all the other wonderful people at Bookouture; Oliver Rhodes, the editing team and the wonderful designers who created this absolutely gorgeous cover.
To Oliver Mallinson and the RNLI for helping me with the details of the lifeboat rescue.
To Clair at Global Ice Sculptures & Ice Styling for answering all my questions about ice carving, it was the most fascinating morning listening to you explain the process and watching the carvings being done.
To the CASG, the best writing group in the world, you wonderful talented supportive bunch of authors, I feel very blessed to know you all, you guys are the very best.
To the wonderful Bookouture authors for all your encouragement and support.
And some other gorgeous people who have encouraged, supported, promoted, got excited or just listened; Rebecca Pugh, Lisa Dickenson, Sharon Wilden, Kelly Rufus, Simona Elena, Erin McEwan, Katey Beeden, Maryline, Jo Hughes, Dawn Crooks, Laura Delve, Jill Stratton, Tay Pickering, Emma Poulloura, Aga Klar, Catriona Merryweather, Lynsey James, Lindsay Hill, Ana, Alba Forcadell, Dawn Brierley, Sophie Hedley, Cesca Major, Rachael Lucas, Kat Black, Helen Redfern, Katy Gough, Emily Kerr, Jaimie Admans, Kate Gordon, Pernille Hughes, Louise Wykes, Paris Baker, Silke Auwers, The Blossom Twins, Daniel Riding, Pat Elliott, Shaun, Mark Rumsey, James Brown, Arron Davenport.
To all those involved in the blog tour. To anyone who has read my book and taken the time to tell me you’ve enjoyed it or wrote a review, thank you so much.