Birthday Wishes: A Smitten Novella

By Colleen Coble

Every second, several thousand people somewhere in the world are celebrating a birthday. What better way to celebrate that special day than with this charming little gift book. Chris Shea fans and newcomers alike will be pleased to add this treasure to their gift list on that wonderful holiday called The Birthday!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Jun 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781401688608

Colleen Coble

Colleen Coble is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than seventy-five books and is best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels. Connect with her online at colleencoble.com; Instagram: @colleencoble; Facebook: @colleencoblebooks; X: @colleencoble.

Book preview

© 2011 by Colleen Coble

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; and HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smitten / Colleen Coble.

     p. cm.

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8494-5 (trade paper)

1. Love stories, American. 2. Christian fiction, American. I. Coble, Colleen.

   PS648.L6S54 2011

   813’.08508--dc23

2011035671

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 QG 5 4 3 2 1

DEAR FRIENDS,

Have you ever noticed that life’s biggest blessings are often unexpected? That’s how it was with both our budding friendship and the origination of Smitten.

In the mid-1990s, God began linking us together, first Colleen and Kristin, and a year or so later, Denise. Bonded by our fledgling writing careers, we attended writing conferences, connected daily via e-mail, and eventually wrote a few romantic novella collections together. Our relationship deepened and became the kind of friendship we knew could only be a God thing.

Years later, our careers budding just as our friendship had, God brought us Diann. The lonely business of writing was lonely no more—it was a party for four! Diann frequently teased us about being left out of our previous novella collections, as if she were our group’s third wheel, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The fact was, we fit together like pieces of a heavenly puzzle.

Although our genres took us down slightly different paths, we were constantly connected by love and support—the kind that got us through bouts with cancer, family crises, and all the other storms that came our way.

When the opportunity arose to collaborate on a collection, we were ecstatic. Do what we loved with the people we loved? How could we turn that down? Besides, it was Diann’s dream, and we (including Thomas Nelson) couldn’t have been more eager to grant it.

Hours of brainstorming and hundreds of e-mails later, Smitten was born—a story that follows a fledgling town and four friends as each finds her true love. To make things simpler (not to mention more fun), we endowed our heroines with a healthy dose of our own personalities, so as you meet them you’ll also be meeting us. (We hope you’ll like us. 1 )

In many ways, this collection is a celebration of our friendship, a celebration of enduring love, and a celebration of God’s unexpected blessings, all wrapped in one simple book. It’s our greatest hope that you, our readers, will feel a part of it all as you join us on our journey to Smitten.

Love,

Colleen, Kristin,

Diann, and Denise

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

SMITTEN WITH FRIENDSHIP

RECIPES FROM NATALIE

AN EXCERPT FROM TIDEWATER INN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Never has a book been more of a labor of love than Smitten! The four of us have had the best time writing this book together.

But we couldn’t have done it without lots of help. We are so blessed to have been able to do this project with Thomas Nelson. They caught the vision right from the start and entered into a partnership with us with great enthusiasm. A big hug and thanks to publisher Allen Arnold who was quick to tell us he wanted this project. And a big thank-you to our editor, Ami McConnell, who knows each one of us intimately and was able to make suggestions to bring our characters to life. Our team has worked hard on the project all along so we will be showing our gratitude with hugs and DeBrand truffles to Marketing Director Eric Mullett, Publicity Manager Katie Bond, cover designer Kristen Vasgaard, Marketing Specialist Ashley Schneider, Publicist Ruthie Harper, and editors Becky Monds, Jodi Hughes, Natalie Hanemann, and Amanda Bostic. Our terrific sales team is already hard at work too and we couldn’t do much without them! Love you all! And our agents, Karen Solem and Lee Hough, have been a huge help as we put together this very different story. Thanks, friends!

A special thanks to Rick Acker for spending precious conference time sitting and brainstorming with us last year. He helped us flesh out our plot with some great suggestions. And our editor, L.B. Norton, was phenomenal on this project. She caught the inconsistencies that no one else could. And our families are always our backbones as we juggle life and career.

Our biggest thank-you goes to God who brought the four of us together in a bond of unbreakable friendship. We are all so different, and yet one, in our love for Christ and for one another.

CHAPTER ONE

Natalie Mansfield’s heart swelled as she stood on the perimeter of the town square and watched her niece and the other children decorate the town for Easter. A gigantic smile stretched across five-year-old Mia’s face as her Sunday school teacher lifted her to place the lavender wreath at the top of the clock.

Mia saw her and waved. Aunt Nat, look at me!

Natalie waved back, her smile broadening. She’s growing so fast, she told her great-aunt, Rose Garner. I love her so much.

Black threaded Rose’s silver hair, and her smooth skin made her look twenty years younger than her seventy-eight years. I still remember the first day I laid eyes on you.

How could you forget? I was a morose ten-year-old who snapped your head off every time you spoke to me.

Her aunt pressed her hand. You changed our lives, honey. Now here you are providing a home for your niece. A full circle, just like that wreath. I’m so proud of you.

Her aunt’s words made Natalie’s heart fill to bursting. Being part of their family, along with her four cousins, had healed her heart. You gave me the only stability I’d ever known. I want to do the same for Mia.

Aunt Rose wasn’t listening. A small frown creased her brow. Something’s wrong.

Natalie looked at the men standing a few feet away in front of the hardware store. Their heads were down and their shoulders slumped. The dejection in their stances sent her pulse racing.

She recognized one of her coffee shop patrons, Murphy Clinton, and grabbed his arm as he walked past. What’s happened, Murphy? she asked.

He stopped and stared down at her with a grave expression. The mill’s closing.

That’s not possible, she mumbled. Her thoughts raced. The mill was an institution and the main employer in Smitten. If it closed . . .

He finished her thought. This town is finished.

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The aroma of the freshly brewed coffee overpowered the less appetizing smell from the drum roaster in the back room. Natalie let her cousin Zoe handle the customers at the bar, as Natalie took the hot beverages to the seating area by the window where she and her friends could see white-topped Sugarcreek Mountain. Spring had come to their part of Vermont, and the sight of the wildflowers on the lower slopes would give her strength.

So what are we going to do? she asked, sinking onto the overstuffed leather sofa beside Reese Mackenzie.

"Do? What can w e do? R eese a sked. Her blond ponytail gleamed in the shaft of sunlight through the window. She was the practical one in the group. Reese was never afraid of hard work, but while Natalie saw only the end goal, Reese saw the pitfalls right on the path. We can’t make them keep the mill open."

While rumors about the mill had been floating for months, no one had really believed it would fold. The ramifications would be enormous. Natalie’s business had been struggling enough without this added blow.

She took a sip of her mocha java. A little bitter. She’d have to tweak the roast a bit next time. If the mill closes, the town will dry up and blow away. We can’t let that happen. If Mountain Perks closed, she didn’t know how