A Holy Night to Last Forever (Preview)

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Chapter One

Mary tried not to let her eyes rest on the family in front of her, but it was unavoidable. The way the little girl was on her father’s broad shoulders and the little boy held his mother’s hand. Not only parents and children, but an elderly woman, cane in hand, following on at what was really a lively pace. If Mary had to guess, and it rather felt that she had to, she was the woman’s mother. The way the woman glanced back at the elder as she rushed forward, making sure she caught up, felt as if it had to be out of familial love. She reminded herself though, once again, that family could come from marriage. That’s what Mayellen would tell her. But nothing could replace siblings, parents. Sometimes you just needed those sorts of special people in your life: blood relatives. But Mary was left with none of them, like she had been since birth. She knew, logically, that she must have a father and mother. Mayellen, though she ran the orphanage Mary had grown up in, had no answers. She had been left there, and Mayellen had brought her in.
And it was Mayellen she went to see now. As Mayellen had gotten older, she had handed off the orphanage to someone else, a younger woman named Virginia, who could handle it. But Virginia would never replace Mayellen in the hearts of so many.
Mary knocked when she got to the door leading to the small one-room apartment, drab on the outside with dirty-looking wood and one stained window.
“You know you don’t need to knock,” Mayellen called out, and Mary was reminded that Mayellen’s memory was still as quick as a whistle despite her age.
Mary walked in and looked at the woman, grey hair falling over her shoulders and lips as pale as her skin. Mary was overcome with a rush of love and care, a rush she had rarely felt for another person.
“Mayellen, I have so looked forward to seeing you,” Mary said, walking over before Mayellen could make the move to stand. Mayellen grabbed Mary’s soft hand with her two pale, veiny ones, and shook it. Mary bent down and gave her a hug.
“As have I,” Mayellen said. “You know, not many of you all visit me anymore. And of course you know you were always one of my favorites.”
“I’m sure you tell all your orphans that,” Mary teased softly, and Mayellen laughed.
“Oh, I do, do I? Must be because I forgot about you for moments, being as old as I am.”
“You haven’t forgotten anything,” Mary said. “And I’m convinced that you are only getting younger.”
“Nonsense,” Mayellen said, with a wave of her hand. “How is work going?”
“Well, you know, a young woman only wants to work at a restaurant so long.”
“And why is that?” Mayellen asked.
“You got to work with children around the clock,” Mary answered. “I’m not so lucky,” she said. Then she looked at Mayellen’s wrinkled face and wondered if she had overstepped bounds. She had never, in all their years together, asked Mayellen if she wanted children of her own. When other people asked, which had happened once or twice, she said she had many children. But Mayellen never seemed to take it poorly, and she didn’t seem to be doing that now either.
“You know, if you’re lonely, you could have that,” Mayellen said. “And you always seem to be lonely.”
“It’s not that easy,” Mary said. She wasn’t quite sure why it wasn’t. She wasn’t particularly beautiful in her own eyes, but she didn’t think she was plain. She was slim and her wavy light brown hair complimented her green eyes well. Mayellen reached out for her hand once again, where Mary sat on the only other available space in the room: the corner of the bed.
“You could do it. A pretty girl like you. You could be a mail-ordered bride if you wanted, or you could fall desperately in love, since you seem to want the second one.”
“It will take time,” Mary said. “And I want it now.”
Mayellen’s pale face contorted, and Mary wasn’t sure what to think of it till the older woman fell into a coughing fit, her fists coming up to cover her mouth, then pulling away with a bit of blood.
“Mayellen,” Mary said, leaning towards her, trying to see if she needed some sort of help, and feeling completely powerless to do so. “Let me call the doctor. Would you like me to get one of your neighbors to stay with you as I do that?”
“Don’t get the doctor,” Mayellen said. “The doctor has done all he can.”
“What?”
“He’s making me comfortable. And I am.”
“What?” Mary said, still not able to wrap her hand around what Mayellen seemed to be saying.
“Comfortable, I mean. I am comfortable.”
Mary sat back in her chair and didn’t know what she was meant to do. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so completely and totally out of her depth. There were a few specks of blood on Mayellen’s long, simple dress. Mary considered asking Mayellen if she needed it laundered, but what did that matter if she was… Well, Mary just wasn’t ready to think of it. That was all there was to it. Mayellen wasn’t going to have anything of the sort happen to her.
“Let me get the doctor.”
“Mary, neither of us can afford a doctor that isn’t going to help.”
Mary felt her eyes well up and looked away, blinking back what definitely wasn’t tears. For a moment, everything was blurry.
“Oh Mary,” Mayellen said, leaning forward and setting a hand on her knee. “I’ve had such a good life.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“I’m serious. You all have made me so happy.”
“I said not to do that,” Mary snapped, wall still all a blur. As if to punctuate how mean she was being, Mayellen fell in another coughing fit, pulling back her lightly bloodied hand to cover her mouth. Mary turned back towards her, her face all mist.
“Oh Mayellen,” Mary said, leaning towards her. “Please, let me do something.” She watched Mayellen cough and cough, unsure of what she was meant to do. It seemed like nothing she could do would be good enough. She just needed to do something, anything.
“I think I need to rest up a bit, dear,” Mayellen said, patting her leg once again. “It was so nice seeing you. Come see me again next week.”
Mary wondered if Mayellen requesting next week, rather than in two or three weeks’ time, meant something. They saw each other at least twice a month, and Mayellen had seen her only last week. She had known at least since then that she was sick, and hadn’t told Mary.
Mary looked away, telling herself she couldn’t get so upset when her old guardian was dying. “Let me help you into bed.”
“I may be dying, but I can get myself into bed, thank you,” Mayellen said. “It’s not as if I’m already dead and trying to get into my final resting place.”
Mary didn’t have anything angry to snap back, but she wished she had something. Normally she did, at least for Mayellen; their relationship was based on poking fun. But today, she was too shocked to have much of anything to say.
“That’s mean,” she settled on without really thinking about it.
“I don’t intend to be mean,” Mayellen said. “But I really am tired.”
“Right,” Mary said. She wanted to storm out, but she remembered that they may not have much longer with one another. She stood, then leaned in and brushed a kiss over Mayellen’s head. “Sleep well. And if you need me, even if I am at work, have someone come find me. I can leave work for you.”
“You certainly cannot,” Mayellen said. “But I appreciate the gesture.”
“Just send someone my way if you need anything,” Mary said. “Even if it is at work.”
“Well, let me see what I think,” Mayellen said. Something, pain possibly, passed over Mayellen’s face once more. “I think I might call you, if I really need you.” Mary didn’t like the way she talked about it, but she leaned down and, this time, pressed a kiss to Mayellen’s thin cheek and stood. She couldn’t imagine leaving her with everything happening, and yet she stood and walked out.
The family she saw as she came out—an old woman in a flowing skirt and a little girl that held tight to her hand—reminded Mary that a family could look all sorts of ways. And she had possibly ruined her last time with the family she had made, simply by complaining that her family wasn’t good enough. She wondered if she made Mayellen feel as if she wasn’t enough for her.
Mary wandered through the streets, unaware of where she was going until she was in her own living quarters. She knelt down by the bed, something she hadn’t done in a while. She was devout in childhood, but some of that had slowed down without Mayellen to watch her pray every night. How Mary could feel like she didn’t have a mother, she didn’t know. Mayellen was the best mother she could have asked for.
God, she breathed, I won’t complain to you about the family I don’t have if you just let me keep the family I’ve got.

Chapter Two

She was at work when a boy she had never met came up to her, with the type of rushing she had nightmares about, and set a hand on her shoulder.
“Are you Mary?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, looking over his dirty overcoat and scuffed shoes. Probably one of the newer orphans, the ones Mayellen still came and visited from time to time. She had heard that at times it had even caused minor scuffles because some of the older children talked about times when Mayellen ran the orphanage as a sort of golden age. The younger kids felt like they were missing out on something or other.
“Miss Mayellen would like you to come now,” he said, and he didn’t wait till she was gone to dart out the door. Mary had the short thought that maybe she wasn’t the only one who would miss Mayellen, but pushed the jealousy that thought brought about down. After all, Mayellen had asked to meet her. Why she wanted to meet her, Mary didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. But she needed to see her.
They darted fast through the streets of Houston, the boy not seeming to want to let her go despite her knowing the way. It didn’t strike Mary as a good sign. There were plenty of people bustling about. It was not the biggest city in Texas, but certainly not the smallest either. She walked past store after store and felt her eyes going misty. Now was not the time to lose her composure, however; she needed to keep her eyes on the boy in front of her. She felt as if she might get lost even while knowing the way.
They were back to her apartment, and she could tell other people were there. A horse, with packs strapped to her side, stood out front. She had the feeling that it was the doctor’s, and on bursting inside, without knocking for once, it was confirmed. The man was standing to the back as Mayellen laid in bed, breath labored, pale skin even paler, thinner.
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” Mary snapped at the man, but she knew she was reacting in anger.
“He can’t do anything,” Mayellen half-whispered.
“Right, sorry,” Mary said, feeling awkward after the yelling, but more sad, her eyes leaving the doctor and looking back at Mayellen.
“Come here,” Mayellen said, a hand barely patting the bed.
Mary walked forward and Mayellen closed her eyes for a moment, as if needing to focus completely on breathing in order to get the breath in. She opened her eyes then, and they were watery. Mary wasn’t sure if it was the sickness or the tears.
“Just you,” Mayellen whispered.
“What?”
“I want just you here.”
Mary turned back to the doctor, and saw the boy was waiting there too, just inside the doorway. She knew he may be feeling a loss, too, and she felt for him, but she needed to know what Mayellen was saying. It was up to Mayellen to decide who she wanted there.
“Can you give us some time?” Mary asked.
“Of course,” the doctor said, and stepped out, but the little boy, in the holey shoes, stared, wide eyed. Mary found herself wondering if this was a new experience for him, his first touch of death, or if he had seen parents or siblings die before. People didn’t become orphans for no reason.
“It’ll be okay,” she said softly to the boy, with a nod. The boy looked them over, then turned and bolted, running out the door in a way Mary figured had to be fright. She wished she had known the proper way to comfort him, but she didn’t even know the proper way to comfort herself. She looked back at Mayellen.
“Come close,” Mayellen whispered, and Mary stepped closer, letting herself look deep into the old woman’s foggy blue eyes.
“I’m right here, Mayellen,” she said, whispering back, as if to protect the sacredness of such a moment.
“I have a secret for you, and I don’t know if I should—” She paused for a coughing fit.
Mary rubbed Mayellen’s arm, hoping the motion was comforting. “You can tell me anything,” Mary said, but she knew that Mayellen had always been a very moral person. Had she done something so horrendous that she was scared to admit? Mary was sure she hadn’t, but perhaps some misunderstanding had left Mayellen feeling guilty.
“I think you need to hear it.”
“Then tell me,” Mary said. “Nothing you say will make me care for you any less.”
“I signed a contract. I am not open about certain adoptions.”
Mary’s mind went immediately to her own history; had her parents not given her up in the way she had always been told?
“You can tell me,” Mary said. “I’m not going to tell anyone.” She wasn’t sure that was actually true, however. If she had parents, wasn’t she meant to find them?
“If anyone has a complaint about me being open, they can take that to Heaven,” Mayellen said. “I think it is time for me to be open and let you know—you have a brother.”
“What?”
“A brother. He was adopted and is in Austin, Texas.”
“Where is he? What’s his name?”
“I don’t know, but he has your necklace, too,” she said, and just like that, her eyes closed.
“Doctor,” Mary called, running out to the door. “Doctor, we need you.”
He came inside, looking her over, but like Mayellen said, there was nothing he could do.

“A Holy Night to Last Forever” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

As an orphan, Mary Olsen never even dared to dream that she had a brother. Once she learns the incredible news though, she moves to Austin to look for him. Fortunately, along the way, she meets a band of friends and an especially friendly deputy, all set on helping with her quest. However, finding her brother in a bustling city is harder than she could ever imagine. Whether she succeeds or not, she is stuck in a dilemma… Should she start a new life there, or return back home?

Can the friendly, attractive deputy risk everything to help her make it worth staying?

Deputy Luke Callahan has already been hurt in the past, as his fiancée skipped town mere days before their wedding. The shock left him devastated and to get away from it all, he ran away to Austin, committing entirely to his work. He never thought that meeting a young woman looking for her long-lost brother would remind him of his own chase after his long-lost bride. He doesn’t let himself get carried away, though. And time proves him right, as the news of her leaving town hit his trauma like an arrow to the heart.

Will he still be willing to help her when finding her brother might mean he will never see her again?

Both of them run to Austin haunted by a hurtful past, and trying to live a future from scratch. Just when they find each other though, circumstances threaten to part them and force them to solitude again. Did they travel all this way just to get hurt and end up alone? Will their final quest of becoming one eventually be achieved?

“A Holy Night to Last Forever” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!

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OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!

Grab my new series, " Faith and Love on the Frontier", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!

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