The day I turned in His Christmas Miracle, my career as a published author turned thirty books old. I'm celebrating the milestone by offering a taste of each of my books in a series of blog posts I'm calling Bites Of Books. This is a sweet, slow burn, but still sexy Christmas story. Enjoy!
In His Christmas Miracle, Quincy discovers he has a four-year-old son when he is handed custody of Atlas. He's out of his depth and hires Nicki as temporary nanny. Here they are ice skating at Miracle Lake. They've just stopped for cocoa.
~ * ~
They sat on the bench to sip it, watching the skaters. Petra and Flynn were goofing around, hugging and spinning together, laughing and nearly falling, very obviously in love.
Would that have been her if she had stayed in Glacier Creek? She hadn’t loved Corbin like that. That was the problem. He’d been sweet and kind, but she had thought herself destined for something greater. Not just fame, but something more epic on the love scale. She had known, way deep down, that what she had with him wasn’t the kind of bond that would withstand everything her idealistic self had thought she could achieve.
“Momma skated good,” Atlas said, gaze on the crowd.
“Did she?” Her arm went around him before she thought about it, sliding him tight into her side. “You must have skated with her a lot, since you’re so good at it.”
He looked up with his watery blue eyes and nodded. The corners of his mouth trembled.
“You know what I think, Atlas?” Her throat filled with sand. Her heart grew weighed with it. “I think you had a really good mom. It’s okay that you miss her.”
He nodded, chin crinkling, and turned his face into her jacket.
Nicki swallowed and set aside her cup, taking his to set it away too. Then wrapped both her arms around the boy and held him tight.
Quincy sat on the other side of the bench, leaning his elbows on his thighs, his cardboard cup dangling loosely between his hands. His profile was drawn and tight, anguished if you looked closely enough.
You have a really good dad, too, Atlas. She rubbed the boy’s back, tilting her head over his woolen hat, not saying it aloud because it wasn’t the time, but she wished on the miracle waters below them for Atlas to see the potential in his relationship with his father.
She wished for Quincy to find it easier to show his son how he felt.
“Oh, Atlas,” Petra said, skating up and crouching before the boy. “What happened? Did you fall?”
Atlas hiccupped and peeked at her, shaking his head.
“He’s just sad,” Nicki said, still running a soothing hand up and down the boy’s back. “That happens sometimes.”
Petra made a sympathetic noise. “Do you want to skate with me? Would that cheer you up?” She offered her hand, trying to coax him off the bench.
Atlas shook his head, rubbing his hat askew against Nicki’s jacket. “I wanna skate wiff my dad.” He pushed his hat out of the way and looked over at Quincy.
Surprise blanked Quincy’s face. He quickly recovered and said, “Sure. Now?”
Atlas nodded and accepted Quincy’s hand to help him slide off the bench, then let go, determined to be independent while his blades were on the ice. Before he took off, though, he looked way up at Quincy and said, “You skate good too.”
Nicki had to clutch her heart back into her chest and blink back tears.
“Everything okay?” Petra asked, concern wrinkling her brow as she looked from the departing Atlas and Quincy to what must be a very emotive expression on Nicki’s face.
“It will be. I think.” Pretty sure. Thank you Miracle Lake.
~ * ~
Bonus: His Christmas Miracle contains a Stocking Stuffer!
Stocking Stuffer!
His Christmas Miracle is built around an Advent calendar of activities. I had a designer create one you can download, print, colour and assemble with your little elves as you countdown to Christmas. The link is in the back of the book.
Bonus:
All of my books can be read as stand-alones, but His Christmas Miracle is Book Five in my Love In Montana series.
Book One: Hometown Hero
Book Two: Blame The Mistletoe
Book Three: The Bachelor's Baby
Book Four: His Blushing Bride
Book Four and a half: Scorch*
Book Five: His Christmas Miracle (releases Oct 27, 2016)
Book Two: Blame The Mistletoe
Book Three: The Bachelor's Baby
Book Four: His Blushing Bride
Book Four and a half: Scorch*
Book Five: His Christmas Miracle (releases Oct 27, 2016)
*Scorch takes place in Glacier Creek. Jacqui is friends with Nicki from His Christmas Miracle. It's a full length book.
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