Tarnished Saints' Christmas: Bad Boys of Sweetwater

By Elizabeth Rose

★Prequel to the Bad Boys of Sweetwater: Tarnished Saints Series ★

 

The Taylor Twelve: Sons of a preacher but far from saints. These boys are nothing but trouble!

 

Take a look back into the lives of the 12 Taylor brothers when they were children. Told by the eldest brother, Thomas, you will be swept up into one memorable Christmas to discover how they earned the titles of Bad Boys of Sweetwater and Tarnished Saints.

 

Each chapter focuses on one of the brothers, showing the trouble they cause with their wild ways. Pay close attention, because each boy's main event is the catalyst that is the basis of their individual stories when they are grown men.

 

You'll also be introduced to their meddlesome Aunt Cappy who plays a big role as matchmaker in the boys' lives later on.

 

The prequel is followed by excerpts from each of the 12 books to give you a sample of what is to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oliver-Heber Books
• Release date: Jan 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215967409

Book preview

Tarnished Saints’ Christmas

TARNISHED SAINTS’ CHRISTMAS

TARNISHED SAINTS SERIES PREQUEL

ELIZABETH ROSE

Oliver Heber Books

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be sold, copied, distributed, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or digital, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of both the publisher, Oliver Heber Books and the author, Elizabeth Rose, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Rose Krejcik

Published by Oliver-Heber Books

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CONTENTS

To my readers

1. Thomas

2. Levi

3. Judas

4. Zeb

5. Thad & Nate

6. James

7. Philip

8. Simon

9. Andrew

10. John

11. Pete

12. Tarnished Saints

From the author

Excerpt from Doubting Thomas - Book 1

Excerpt from Luring Levi – Book 2

Excerpt from Judging Judas - Book 3

Excerpt from Seducing Zeb – Book 4

Excerpt from Saving Simon – Book 5

Excerpt from Wrangling James – Book 6

Excerpt from Praising Pete – Book 7

Excerpt from Teaching Philip – Book 8

Excerpt from Loving John – Book 9

Excerpt from Playing Nate – Book 10

Excerpt from Igniting Andrew – Book 11

Excerpt from Taming Thad – Book 12

About Elizabeth

Also by Elizabeth Rose

TO MY READERS

This is the prequel to my Bad Boys of Sweetwater: Tarnished Saints Series.

This a twelve-book series about the Taylor brothers who are the sons of a preacher, but far from saints. These men are nothing but trouble! This will give you a glimpse into their lives as young boys, foreshadowing what’s to come for each of them later in life. You will also find out how they received their title of Tarnished Saints. At the end of the story, there are excerpts from each of the twelve books.

Each book can stand alone, but it is best to read them in order if possible, so that no surprises will be ruined.

The Taylor Brothers:

Thomas – (Doubting Thomas)

Matthew Levi – (Luring Levi)

Judas – (Judging Judas)

James Zebedee (Twin) – (Seducing Zeb)

Simon – (Saving Simon)

James Alphaeus (Twin) – (Wrangling James)

Peter – (Praising Pete)

Philip – (Teaching Philip)

John – (Loving John)

Nathanael – (Playing Nate)

Andrew – (Igniting Andrew)

Thaddaeus – (Taming Thad)

Enjoy,

Elizabeth Rose

THOMAS

Growing up being the eldest of twelve brothers all named after apostles wasn’t easy. My pa, Webster Thomas Taylor, was a preacher in the little town of Sweetwater, Michigan. And my ma, Albina, was a saint to put up with him.

When I was nineteen, something happened one Christmas that I’ll never forget. No one in my family will ever forget it. Things happened then that seemed as though they were omens – foreshadowing what was going to happen to us nearly twenty years later.

Put it this way – my pa expected me to watch after my brothers and set a good example. However, being nineteen years old with a girlfriend, no job, and no car, I had my mind on other things.

It was Christmastime – actually 12 days before Christmas, and each day it seemed one of us did something to make my pa more and more upset.

When I think back on it now, I’m surprised our antics didn’t cause him to die of a heart attack that Christmas, as we’d all given him a good reason.

I suppose I started all the trouble when I brought home my first car. Little did I know, for all of us, it was only the beginning of trying times. I’ll never forget that day for as long as I live.

Thomas Didymus Taylor, you’ve just bought yourself a car, said Gus Kramer, the resident mechanic of the little town of Sweetwater, Michigan. It just needs a little work, that’s all, but you just keep hanging around my garage like you’ve been doin’ and I’ll teach you everythin’ you need to know.

The town was five miles from Thunder Lake where we lived in a log cabin on the edge of the water. The roads weren’t plowed half the time and very dangerous in the winter when they became icy.

Here’s the money, I said, anxiously handing him the fifty dollars Levi had scammed off the church collection plate while wearing his altar server’s robe. I had every intention of giving it back to the church as soon as I found a job. I needed this car. Without it, I would never find a job – especially in the middle of winter. Besides that, I wanted to drive Brianne to the Sweetwater Holiday Snowman Festival coming up. I didn’t think she’d care to ride on the back of a horse or in a hay wagon as I pulled her with the family tractor. A car was a necessity to me, no doubt about it.

Fifty? I thought we said a hundred. Gus looked down at the wadded-up bills I plopped in his hands.

My heart almost stopped beating right there, thinking I’d heard him wrong when he’d told me the initial price of the car. I didn’t have another fifty bucks, nor was there any more money in Levi’s hiding place under the loose floorboard in the barn. I’d watched Levi scamming the collection basket every Sunday for the last month, stashing money away and thinking no one saw him. Hell, it’d be another month before he could steal fifty more dollars! I couldn’t wait that long. I needed a car now.

Gus, you said fifty and this is all I have, I told him, straightening a ten dollar bill against my jacket. I’d heard my pa mention to my ma one day, when he thought we were all asleep, that Gus was a swindler. I was banking on the fact that I’d heard him right and Gus was just trying to pull one over on me. I had to stand my ground.

Gus fixed cars out of his garage since he didn’t have a real shop. He was probably a good ten years older than me. He’d gotten married recently, and he and his wife now had their first baby. That’s why he couldn’t afford a gas station right now with a garage attached, like he’d always wanted. Gus recently bought a tow truck, too, so he said he wasn’t going to be making any drastic moves unless something just fell into his lap.

I knew what he meant since this money I was using just kind of fell into my lap as well. Gus told me maybe we could work together some day since he’d been teaching me how to fix cars and I’d picked up on it so quickly. I liked that idea.

Where’d you get the money, anyway? Gus squinted one eye to look at me over the top of his glasses. Does your father know about this?

Everyone in town was afraid of my pa, so I knew that was why he was asking.

Sure, it was his idea, I lied, hoping Gus wasn’t going to go back and tell my father. If so, I’d have to confess this to Pa, and he wasn’t going to like it. None of us ever fessed-up unless we were caught. I shudder to think what would have happened if he knew half the things my brothers and I did through the years.

Well, then I guess since you’re the preacher’s son and all, I’ll let you have the car for only fifty bucks.

Thanks, I