From romance author Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
Somehow once Thanksgiving is behind us, the holiday season fills our conciousness with delight. We begin decorating, we start shopping, many of us put up our Christmas trees, and we listen to our favorite holiday music. I'll confess I loaded up the stereo with some of my favorite Christmas tunes yesterday and jammed to the sound as I cleaned the living room!
Since my upcoming short The Home Fires of Christmas won't be out until December 3 from Rebel Ink Press - and my just released Devlin's Grace is so much deeper than just a holiday read - I thought I'd hearken back and share the beginning of my 2011 Christmas release, a poignant love story about love and hope in the face of despair. The title is taken from one of my favorite Christmas carols and here's the cover, blurb, and a section of the first chapter. If you're in the mood for heartwarming, holiday, and hope, Sing We Now of Christmas is just the thing to load onto the e-reader this weekend!
Blurb:
When Jessica Martin met Johnny Devereaux that December,
holiday magic filled the air but their love was no enchantment….he was, without
doubt the love of her life and by summer, they were happy newlyweds with all
their life and holidays ahead.
But when he failed to return home from a fishing trip on the
Fourth of July, Jessica’s world is rocked to the foundation and when the
authorities tell her that her husband is missing, presumed dead, she refuses to
believe it.
As the months and seasons pass, no one else holds out hope
but Jessica believes.
She knows he’ll be home for Christmas no matter what. Her family calls her crazy, Johnny’s family
tries to help her find closure but Jessica’s heart refuses to surrender hope.
When Christmas comes, the truth will come out to shock them
all.
Excerpt:
She loved Christmas, every single
detail from the scent of fresh cut evergreens to the bright glowing beauty of
holiday lights to the quiet moments curled up listening to her vintage holiday
favorite music. Jessica could never
wait for Thanksgiving to end so that the Christmas season could start.
That year, the year that she fell
in love, really in love, for the first and what she felt sure would be the only
time in her life, the holiday season seemed perfect. Snow began the week after Thanksgiving and
continued so that the ground remained white through December. Even though most people griped and groused
about the weather, Jessica adored it because it made a winter wonderland for
her holiday romance.
The night that she first met him
was magical……
Chapter One
The Fourth of July
“Hey, are
you comin’ with me?”
Johnny’s
whisper sliced through layers of sleep and she stirred, uncertain whether or
not it was morning or midnight. She felt
the bed sink as he sat down beside her. “What?”
“I’m going fishin’, remember? It’s the Fourth
of July and everyone’s coming down to the cabin later. Are you comin’ with me now or going down
later?”
Jessica stirred, sat up and scrubbed her face
with both hands. “What time is it?”
“It’s
almost four.”
She moaned.
“It won’t be daylight for almost two hours.
I want to sleep.”
He laughed
with that rich, full sound that she adored. “You can. I just didn’t want to leave without telling
you and giving you once last chance to come with me.”
“Do you
have to go so early?” She loved going out on the lake with him but she hated
rising before the sun.
He grinned,
facing her from where he sat on the edge of their bed. “I do if I want to catch anything. I like to hit the lake before daylight. What time are you coming down?”
Jessica struggled to make her mind work
through the remnants of sleep fog. “I
guess noon or a little after. When’s
your mom going to be there?”
“I think she said by four. Amy’s coming too and so is Tad.”
His sister Amy had been a bridesmaid
in their May wedding and Tad served as Johnny’s best man. His girlfriend, Isobel, helped to cut the
cake at the reception. “Is Isobel going to
come too?”
“I think
so. Honey, I need to go if I’m going.”
“Okay,” she
said with a yawn. She sat all the way up
and circled his neck with her arms. He
kissed her, a full and potent kiss that promised more to come later. Jessica considered heating things up, knowing
that if she did, she could get him to stay later but she didn’t. He loved fishing and she wanted him to have
that solitary time out on the water that he wanted.
“I’ll see
you this afternoon,” he told her. “You
be careful driving down and watch the holiday traffic, okay?”
“I will,”
she promised. “Have fun and catch lots of fish.”
“I’ll do my best. See you, honey.”
“I’ll do my best. See you, honey.”
With
another quick kiss, he was off the bed and out the door before she could say
anything more. He never said good-bye –
it was their personal thing, something he taught her on the very first night
that they met. She remembered that
moment as she laid her head on the pillow.
“I’ll call you.”
“If you
don’t, I’ll call you.”
He grinned, “You won’t have to, Jessica. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Promise,”
she said and he traced a cross over his chest.
“Cross my
heart,” he said, “See you.”
“Good,” she
said, meaning to tell him good-bye but he put one finger across her lips.
“There are
no good-byes but one and that one is final,” Johnny said, “so don’t ever say
it.”
Jessica
smiled and touched his face with her hand.
“Then I’ll say, later.”
He liked
that and he touched his mouth to hers once more, brief and fleeting. “Later, darlin’.”
In the thin-walled apartment
building, one of six in the complex, she could hear his boots thump each stair
on his way down and the downstairs door slam when he exited. She imagined him going out through the soft
summer darkness, the still before dawn and putting his fishing gear behind the
seat of his old vintage Chevy truck. He would be pulling the boat and trailer
behind all the way to Grand Lake.
Without any warning she shivered, felt a cold breath of something she
could not define and she sat up straight.
Maybe I should go with him after
all, maybe if I go after him, he can wait for me. I know he will.
From that first night, she’d
been connected to him in a way she never had been before, not with anyone. She could sense his presence with her mind,
feel it in her soul. She almost always
knew when he headed home from work, timing his arrival almost to the
minute. If he got off early, she knew
that too and in the moments they spent apart she sometimes could hone in on his
location like radar. Johnny felt
something similar and because of it, their connection ran deeper than most
couples. She didn’t understand it but
whatever was there h ad been between them since the first moment he touched
her.
Jessica
swung her feet over the side of the bed and reached for her robe. Then the moment faded and she felt silly. They
could be apart for a few short hours; she wasn’t that insecure or needy. Besides,
she didn’t want to ride all the way down to the lake, half-asleep, and
go out over the still dark waters, not even with Johnny, not when she could
curl up and go back to sleep. She heard
him start the truck, the familiar growl of the engine unmistakable and
relaxed. He could go have his fun and
she’d be down later. With that thought
in mind, she drifted back to sleep.
The low
bass rumble of distant thunder awakened her hours later and by the time that
she was up to pour her first cup of coffee, jagged lightning sliced the sky
like an illuminated knife. As she peered
out the window at the ominous sky, heavy with dark clouds, she remembered that
Johnny was out on Grand Lake in the boat.
In the same motion she flipped open her cell phone to hit speed dial
with one hand and with the other turned on the television. Jessica listened to the phone ring but he
didn’t pick up which meant nothing.
Reception out on the lake could be spotty at best and if a storm was
overhead there might be none.
She didn’t
really worry until she watched one of the area weather forecasters highlight a
monster storm that approached the region.
The huge red blob covered a large area and Jessica listened with
increasing anxiety as he talked about the dangerous storm, the potential for
large hail, damaging winds, deadly lightning and heavy rain. When he ended with the suggestion that all
the viewers should sit tight and stay put until the weather passed, she dialed
Johnny’s cell again but all she reached was his voicemail, again.
When the
storm hit Neosho, it struck with full force.
Jessica sipped coffee, too nervous to eat any breakfast, and watched as
harsh winds bowed trees over to sweep the ground with branches. Thunder roared above, strong enough that she
could feel the vibration rattle the windows and lightning flared with such
brilliance that she shut her eyes, momentarily blinded. Rain streamed down and she could no long see
but she heard the hail embedded within it.
On television, the morning news passed along warning after warning with
dire hints about the severity of the storm.
“It’s a
mess out there this morning,” one news anchor said with a pasted on smile to
the other who nodded agreement. “It’s
best just to stay inside and away from windows until this moves east of the
area.”
“We’re
getting reports that the worst of the storm struck in northeast Oklahoma. Damage reports are coming in from law
enforcement agencies and we’re hearing about some major power outages.”
Jessica
moved away from her window post and turned off the television. She’d heard more than enough.
Too tense
to go back to sleep, she showered instead, drank more coffee, and began
gathering up things to take down to the lake cabin. When she tried, she could
sense him, faint but there so she made a conscious effort not to worry. Their
suitcases were packed to stay for a couple of nights but she gathered up all
the extras she thought would be necessary, sunscreen, her favorite frying pan,
a blanket, camera, and more. Last of
all she loaded up the chocolate cake she’d made the day before, the potato
salad, and hamburger buns. She tucked
the deli sandwiches she’d bought for their picnic lunch into a cooler and
checked her list.
His
Devereaux kin should bring everything else and if they didn’t, she and Johnny
could run into Grove for supplies. By the time she had it all packed into her
car, a Ford Escort, it was almost nine so she’d be hours early. That meant that she could shed the low level
worry that simmered somewhere at the back of her brain sooner so she headed
out, west on Highway 60 under a sunny sky.
All the storm clouds had blown eastward.
Traffic on
the two lane highway was heavy on the holiday since the road led to both
several area casinos and lakes. Despite
that, she zoomed along until everything slowed to a crawl just west of the
Seneca turn-off. Cars, pickups and big
tractor trailer rigs backed up for miles in either direction and she sat,
fuming, fingers drumming a nervous beat against the steering wheel, unable to
go anywhere. Somewhere down the road
there must have been an accident but she couldn’t see past all the waiting
vehicles. She tried Johnny’s cell again,
four or five times but voice mail.
Frustrated, more than a little anxious, Jessica fumed but she didn’t
believe anything would have happened to her husband. Some deep faith within supported her belief
that God wouldn’t lead her to the love of her life and then take him away,
especially not less than six weeks after their wedding, not quite seven months after they met. That was impossible. Besides, if she could get a sense of him –
which she did – Jessica could hang onto that anchor.
Afraid that
her car might overheat during the lengthy wait, she rolled down the window and
shut off the engine. After the storm
that passed, the air felt sticky and hot.
That heat made her almost sleepy and to stay awake, she reminisced about
the night last December that she first met Johnny, at Rusty’s Nail in Joplin.
She got up to leave, unhappy because her
friend, Susan, spent all her time with the lead singer of the band, and backed
into someone. In her haste she almost
lost her balance. Strong arms caught her
and held her upright as a voice said, audible above the music but not loud,
“Whoa, there honey, take it easy.”
Jessica whirled, embarrassed, to
mumble an apology. All her words faded
away when she gazed into his eyes, dark brown and richer than sweet
chocolate. He looked back with interest
and she felt a strong sense of attraction.
He wasn’t the kind of guy she would give a second glance under any other
circumstance but tonight she couldn’t look anywhere else. Everything about him was opposite of what
she liked in a man – she liked tailored, Brooks Brothers business charm and he
radiated country cowboy.
He fit into his faded Wranglers as if they’d
been made just for his long legs and his pearl snap button blue patterned
Western shirt suited him. He towered
above her, taller by several inches even without the worn cowboy boots he
wore. She inhaled his scent, a potent
mixture of musky cologne, tobacco smoke, and beneath it all, Irish Spring
soap. His hands, still holding her arms,
were warm against her bare skin and she was glad, now, that she’d worn the
black silk halter top despite the cold instead of the red sweater she’d worn to
school. Jessica made her voice work with effort, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he said and she
drank in his voice, strong and comforting with just enough Oklahoma twang to
make it interesting. “Would you care to dance?”
“I’d
love it,” Jessica said as he released his grip on her arms to grab her hand
instead. “My name’s Jessica Martin.”
“I’m Johnny,” he said and she committed the
name to memory, “Johnny Devereaux.”
He
led her onto the tiny dance floor just as Mark began to sing the softer,
sweeter vintage country song, Lookin’ For Love.
The old Johnny Lee song she remembered from that movie, Urban Cowboy,
now felt like a theme song. She recalled
watching it one late night in college, hating the boot scooting dance moves and
the mechanical bull riding but loving the scene where Debra Winger danced to
this same music with John Travolta. Such
a coincidence she mused, Johnny Lee, John Travolta, and Johnny Devereaux.
Johnny put his arms around her
and she cuddled close against him for the slow dance. They swayed together, their easy motions in
time with the music, and she felt safe.
Jessica’s head fell short of his shoulder and so as they danced, she
could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Above them, the stationary silver ball that must have once spun
reflected the colorful Christmas lights strung above the bar and Jessica felt
the strangest sense of coming home in his arms.
She wanted to stay there forever, wrapped in that magic cocoon of his
embrace, and hold this moment close to her heart.
Jessica
savored that memory, just as sweet now as it had been on that incredible
night. Sometimes she couldn’t believe it
had just been not quite seven months ago, that until that December evening her
world didn’t include Johnny Devereaux.
Until then, she never believed in love at first sight but after that
dance, they were together and in love.
They never doubted the reality of it and by the time they married, down
at the lake over Memorial Day weekend, neither did any of their family or
friends. They were meant to be together,
Jessica and Johnny like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo,
Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Beauty and her Beast, even Johnny and June
Cash.
Buy Links:
Book trailer:
Tv interview: http://fourstateshomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=239267
Lela may be the wife of a famous singer but on Christmas
Eve, she finds herself home alone. As she waits for Shane to come
home for the holidays, Lela wonders if fame has changed their lives too
much. Shane's out on the road almost all the time while she keeps the
home fires burning. Shane's failure to arrive sends her into a bout of self-pity
but when he finally makes it home, she learns things are much different than
they seem.
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