Love, Me

By Jacquie Biggar

Will a Christmas wish bring two lonely hearts together and give a little girl the family she's always wanted?

 

Single parent, Grace Donovan arrives in the small town of Emerson with the hope a trial program at the local cancer clinic will be the answer to prolonging her young daughter's life. She doesn't expect to fall for her handsome boss.

As principal of Emerson Elementary, Kyle Roberts is aware of the students' medical issues and his heart goes out to little Cassie Donovan and her mother. When he learns Grace needs a job, he fabricates a childcare program and is pleasantly surprised by its success. Now, if only he could help Cassie's recovery and get Grace to give him a chance before she learns of his duplicity.

Cassie Donovan barely remembers the father who died when she was just a toddler, but she does know her mother is sad. Even though Cassie wants a puppy more than anything, she gives up her wish to ask for a daddy from Santa Claus, that way if she gets sick again, Mommy won't be alone.

This Christmas, two families are brought together by a Christmas wish and a child's need for a miracle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wavefront Publishing
• Release date: Nov 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223167495

Jacquie Biggar

From the time Jacquie was twelve years old, she knew she wanted to be a writer. That year she wrote a short story called Count Daffodil after spending countless hours searching for ideas. The story garnered Jacquie an A and was read aloud through the school's loudspeaker system. Needless to say, after that she was hooked. Jacquie grew up, got married, raised a family and left her writing urges to simmer in the background unattended.  She owned and operated a successful diner in her hometown for a number of wonderful years before deciding to live her dream of becoming an author. Jacquie's first book, Tidal Falls, a romantic suspense novel about second chances, released September of 2014. http://jacquiebiggar.com http://Facebook.com/jacqbiggar http://Twitter.com/jacqbiggar Join my newsletter to learn of upcoming books, enter contests, get great recipes, and more: eepurl.com/2MFvX  

Book preview

Introduction

Will a Christmas wish bring two lonely hearts together and give a little girl the family she's always wanted?

Single parent, Grace Donovan arrives in the small town of Emerson with the hope a trial program at the local cancer clinic will be the answer to prolonging her young daughter's life. She doesn't expect to fall for her handsome boss.

As principal of Emerson Elementary, Kyle Roberts is aware of the students' medical issues and his heart goes out to little Cassie Donovan and her mother. When he learns Grace needs a job, he fabricates a childcare program, and is pleasantly surprised by its success. Now, if only he could help Cassie's recovery and get Grace to give him a chance before she learns of his duplicity.

Cassie Donovan barely remembers the father who died when she was just a toddler, but she does know her mother is sad. Even though Cassie wants a puppy more than anything, she gives up her wish to ask for a daddy from Santa Claus, that way if she gets sick again, Mommy won't be alone.

This Christmas, two families are brought together by a Christmas wish and a child's need for a miracle.

Chapter

One

Cassie Donovan leaned over the notepaper her mom had given her and concentrated on getting her Christmas wish to Santa Claus just right. Mom warned her to take her time, because once it was in the mail and on the way to the North Pole there was no changing it.

And Cassie wanted to be sure.

Trouble was there were two things she really wanted, but she could only choose one. Momma said it was selfish to ask Santa to make extra gifts for every kid, he was busy enough, so she was supposed to choose the one thing she wanted the most. More than anything, Cassie dreamed of having her very own puppy. She almost got one a couple of years ago for her birthday, but then Daddy got sick…

She glanced up at her mom, but she was busy making their dinner, so she went back to carefully printing out her letter.

Dear Santa,

Mommy wants me to choose a special present for Christmas—it was going to be a puppy—but I was wondering if I could trade it for a gift for my mom?

She’s been sad for a really long time, and I was hoping you could bring us a new Daddy so she’s not alone anymore?

I promise to be a really good girl for the whole year!

Thank you, Santa

Cassie

Just about done, honey? Dinner is nearly ready. You need to wash your hands. Mom carried a steaming casserole dish to the table. Can I see what you’ve got so far?

Panicking, Cassie hurried to fold the note and stuff it into an envelope with the Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, address on the front. It’s bad luck if anyone but Santa sees it, she said, knowledgeably. Mrs. Samson told us to keep it a secret.

Mom slapped the potholders together and smiled. She did, did she? Well, I hope you practiced your very neatest spelling, then. Santa needs to be able to read it.

Cassie nodded. I did, Mommy. Are you going to write one?

Mom tapped Cassie’s nose. I don’t need to; I have everything I want right here. Now hurry and wash your hands, I’m starving.

Cassie set the letter aside and hopped down from her chair to scamper into the bathroom. Maybe next year she could wish for a puppy.

Grace waited until her daughter closed the bathroom door to reach for the envelope she’d left behind. She felt a twinge of guilt for snooping, but Cassie had been remarkably quiet about what she wanted for Christmas this year. They’d been through a tough time, the two of them, and now that they’d made the move to a new home in a new town, she wanted to bring back some joy into the holidays.

Curious whether Cassie had asked for the latest doll or maybe one of those bake sets like she’d received as a child, Grace unfolded the note and started to read. Her eyes teared up. David would be so proud of his girl.

She lifted her head and gazed at the ceiling, as though he could see her. She’s just like you, you know. Always thinking of others instead of herself. Her teacher tells me Cassie is shy and withdrawn, but kind and courteous. She never used to be shy. Remember when she ran up to that stranger who dropped her scarf? I had a mild heart attack, and you laughed and said, ‘That’s my girl.’

She blinked away the tears and carefully refolded the letter before replacing it in the envelope. Maybe some people thought her crazy for still talking to her husband, but she didn’t care. So far as she and Cassie were concerned, he was still with them, even if it was only in their hearts.

The moment Cassie left the washroom, her gaze searched the table until she spotted the letter and let out a gusty sigh. Can we post this tomorrow, Mom? I don’t want to take any chances. Santa has to see my message.

Great. How was she to explain without giving away the fact she’d snooped, that there were some wishes Santa Claus couldn’t fulfill?

They sat at the table and she ladled a spoon of the beef casserole onto each of their plates. Then she nodded to Cassie to say the prayers.

God is great, God is good…

The familiar words washed over her, feeding her soul as much as the food would their tummies. She’d never been big on religion growing up, but David’s family were devoted to their church and attended services every week. It had instilled a sense of community as well as faith in Grace’s heart and had been the support she needed after his death.

Listening to Cassie finish up and dig into her dinner made her realize they needed to look into joining a congregation here in Emerson. Another thing to add to her growing list. First though, she wanted to find a job. They’d been here two months and so far, nothing. If she didn’t get something soon, they’d have to move on, but she really didn’t want to uproot her daughter again.

What should we do this weekend? she asked, determined to worry later after Cassie was in bed.

Cassie looked up from the pea she’d been chasing around her plate, hope sparking in her pretty blue eyes. Mrs. Samson says there’s a pet fair happening in the school gym. They’re raising money for foster care. Can we go, Mom? Please?

Grace bit back a smile. Smart kid, hedging her bets between Santa and an irresistible puppy. She wasn’t even sure the landlord would accept a pet, never mind what they would do with it when she went to work—if she went to work. But she couldn’t resist those eyes either.

I suppose we could go, but only to look, she hastened to add. No pets until she knew they were staying in Emerson.

Cassie hopped down from her chair and danced around the room, clearly choosing to ignore the last part of her sentence. Yay! I know we’ll find the perfect puppy, just you wait and see.

Well, at least if they got a dog, Santa wouldn’t need to bring her a man. Small blessings.

Chapter

Two

Kyle rubbed his aching head. He had no idea how his daughter had managed to talk him into volunteering for this version of hell, but here he was and short of an apocalypse he was stuck for the next five hours.

The Emerson Elementary gymnasium was filled to overflowing with an eclectic mix of cats, dogs, goats, bunnies, laughing, yelling children, and harried parents—probably hoping to escape without a cumbersome, troublesome pet. He’d already warned Avery not to ask, the answer was no. Neither one of them had the time to give an animal the attention they deserved.

"Kyle, I wasn’t expecting to see you here." Tammy Bigalow, Jessica’s mother, sidled up next to him and placed her talons/fingers on his arm.

He winced and eased out of her grasp. Ms. Bigalow. Thank you for taking time out of your day to support the Foster a Pet program. Your donation will go towards helping these animals find a forever home.

She frowned but quickly turned it into a simper. Oh, now, you don’t need to feed me that hoop-la. As long as it makes my Jessica happy, I’m delighted to help. She leaned close and stage-whispered, The quicker they get fostered the less chance there is of one ending up in our home—if you know what I mean.

Privately, Kyle agreed, but he couldn’t admit that to her. He glanced around the crowded room and his gaze landed on the school’s newest student standing awkwardly in the doorway, her hand nestled in that of a pretty