love to guide them.
Ethel watched from her chair as children petted the reindeer. Cindy made a fetching maiden, and her stable boy fiancé never seemed to stop gazing at her from across the yard, his renewed hope for the future anchored firmly in the new life created by the love between them.
Ruthie was busy in the kitchen, working with two new members of her staff, assembling the sop, soup and stews and other “rustic,” but delicious meals that were fast becoming the talk of the town.
Even the competitive Sally Clemens came and stood with none other than Lucille Dubois. The two women chatted in a corner of the yard, and Lauren wasn’t quite as surprised as she might once have been.
The Sunshine Lodge had a way of bringing people together. She and Max, Patrick and Cindy, and Max and his father had all experienced its magic.
The place had a kind of power, as if it had a loving influence all its own and had a will to join hearts and people. Somehow, she thought it was the presence of her parents. Not their ghosts per se, but the love they left behind that would live forever in the land, the walls, and the people. The joyful and loving memories they helped create would offer respite and welcome to others for years to come.
Lauren pulled Max close as she watched a joyful scene of community and sharing that could not have even been imagined just days earlier. New hearts were replacing old grudges and petty differences. Hope and faith and love would restore what they had lost.
Eaton looked resplendent—and even generous in the big throne they’d built for Father Christmas, wearing the colorful folkloric Nordic robe and long white beard. Jane stood next to him, dressed as an older woman. Her true zeal to be of service shone in a gray wig and glasses, she ushered the children up to Father Christmas and then back again.
A little tickle touched Lauren’s nose, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. A second tiny touch hit her cheek, and she looked at Max. He seemed just as surprised, and both looked up to see a sprinkle of snowflakes falling over the lodge. Snow fell from the clear blue sky above them.
It stunned everyone, and one by one, their hopeful faces looked up to see what couldn’t be, but certainly was—snow.
It was a miracle without a doubt.
Max’s mouth dropped open, looking to Lauren for some explanation, but he also seemed to know what she already knew in her heart. It was a blessing, a gift from her parents; their reassurance that Lauren and Max had not failed them, and that the two had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. It was a glistening and gorgeous offering from above.
Around them, children frolicked in the thickening snow as it gathered. The Sunshine Lodge was bathed in heavenly white powder.
Max and Lauren broke out in laughter. The years of dry heat and unseasonal winters in Moss Creek had at last ended.
“Silent night,” a child sang, capturing the crowd’s attention. Lauren and Max turned, all eyes falling on the little girl whose lone voice rang through the air.
“Holy night,” Max and Lauren sang, “all is calm, all is bright.”
She glanced over at Eaton and Jane and Ethel, who sang along.
“Round yon virgin …”
Patrick and Cindy looked on, smiling at Lauren as they nuzzled, Patrick’s hand falling lovingly to Cindy’s belly.
“Sleep in heavenly peace…”
They were no longer minions of a strong and powerful man, but instead, a part of his family.
The residents of Moss Creek joined in the true spirit of the holidays and gave the lodge that Christmas feeling.
“Sleep in heavenly peace…”
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Need Some Holiday Happiness?
Holiday Novels
The Trouble with Tinsel
Wrapped around My Heart
Cole for Christmas
Christmas Inn Love
Mistletoe and Millionaires (Boxset of Three)
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About the Author
International bestselling author of more than thirty novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.
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