The Christmas Letter

By April Zyon

Will a Christmas letter be enough to restore his faith in love?

Dante had been serving his country faithfully as one of the elite SEALs when he got word of his baby sister's death. To say he had been devastated would have been an understatement. He was taken out of commission, away from the only job he ever knew, to take care of the niece he only saw when he was on leave. He toyed with the idea of allowing them to put her with a foster family—for about two minutes.

Noelle Henry spat out form letters for children who wrote to Santa Claus each holiday season. When she read a letter written in crayon from a six-year-old named Molly Davidson she knew that she couldn’t simply send the child the standard letter, especially since she had known the child's late mother. Instead, Noelle wrote a personalized letter for the little girl, something that would likely get her fired. She never anticipated what would develop between her and Molly's new guardian, Dante

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781773390970

April Zyon

Having been a lover of the written word all her life April has always wanted to expand her horizons and write something that could be shared with the world. Only one thing held April back, the fact that the letters and numbers mixed and jumbled more often than not. Diagnosed with Dyslexia when she was eight years old April had to work her butt off just to be able to keep up with the other kids in reading and writing, so her love for fictional writing was tossed to the wayside for the moment. Time marched on, as it always does, and she forgot her childhood dream of becoming an author and instead focused on what she had to – creating a career for herself. As the endless waves of time passed the shores became less rocky and more sandy, a place where she could find an even foot. That and Microsoft invented Word. Hallelujah. This is where April began her journey into the written world, the world that her imagination had been ceaselessly creating for her entire adult life. Now she has been given a chance to let her literary wings unfold and fly, thanks to the amazing publishers with Evernight Publishing and Secret Cravings Publishing. Now its time to let the dream take flight and watch it soar! What do I write? Fantastic question. I’m an author of erotic romance with flair. I love to create new worlds, love to make strong Alpha heroes and loving feminine characters that make these bad boy Alpha’s want to love them.

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2016 April Zyon

ISBN: 978-1-77339-097-0

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Audrey Bobak

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This one is for my readers, thank you all for everything. I love you all so much. You are the reason that I write and continue to put out books.

THE CHRISTMAS LETTER

Davidson Center, Colorado, 1

April Zyon

Copyright © 2016

Chapter One

Noelle Henry looked at another letter and giggled. This was one of the best jobs she had in a long time. Reading these letters from kids they sent to Santa and sending back form letters that were filled in and customized always made her day. Sure she wished she could write letters for these kids by hand, but she had already been warned more than once about it.

Opening another letter, she read it and then frowned as she realized she knew this kid. Re-reading the letter, her heart began to break. Poor kid. She traced the crayon that the letter had been written in and thought about the little girl’s mom and dad. She didn’t want to think about Molly’s uncle, Dante, because that brought forth too many painful memories.

Shit, she couldn’t help but wonder about him now that she had read Molly Davidson’s letter.

Dante Davidson was six years older than her, he was hotter than hell, and he had always been one of those men that all of the girls in school did everything that they could to get his attention. Noelle was no different, she couldn’t lie about that, even now. He was so out of her league, back then and especially now, it wasn’t funny. But reading Molly’s letter broke her heart.

Well hell. Noelle knew she couldn’t give this little girl a form letter. She was so going to get fired, but she knew this family, she lived in the same town they lived in and was surprised she hadn’t heard of the deaths of Molly’s mom and dad.

Dear Molly,

You are on my very good list. I’m so sorry about your mom and dad, but death isn’t something I can control. Just know that they are both together and love you very much and watch over you from where they are.

As to what you want. I’m certain your uncle is doing his best in trying to get along with you, give him time.

Noelle took a look around her, chewed her lip, and then glanced at her phone really quickly, checking her bank account. Making some quick calculations, she decided she could do it.

Continue to be good, be good for your uncle and give him a bit of a break. This is as hard for him as it is for you because he lost his baby sister, and while he’s gotten someone amazing in you, he’s trying to get over the loss of someone he spent twenty-five years protecting.

Look for something special on Christmas morning and keep being the special child that you are.

Santa

Before anyone could catch her, she printed the letter, sprinkled it with the multicolored glitter, and added a bold and script signature before stuffing it into an envelope and sending it down the line to be sent out.

The little girl wanted a new, talking real-life baby, and she didn’t know how to ask her uncle for it. She said in her heartbreaking letter that her uncle had to come home early from being a frog, which Noelle knew was SEAL, to take care of her. The little girl was scared that her uncle was going to try to give her away to one of the neighbors because of how much she looked like her mommy.

Noelle’s heart hurt for the child. She remembered Samantha, the woman had been a year older than Noelle, and they had been fast friends. Noelle hadn’t spent much time at Sammy’s house because sadly Sammy and Dante’s father was a drunk and he was a hitter as well. Sam escaped to Noelle’s home more often than not. They had drifted apart when they had both went off to college. When Sam came back married, it was on Noelle for not reaching out and making an attempt to get closer to her friend again.

Life had a way of getting in the way of friendships and of ensuring that one didn’t pick right back up where one left off. That’s what happened with Sammy and Noelle, but she wasn’t going to let this little girl go without the baby she wanted. It was an expensive purchase, but she would get