A Sweet Romance Charity Anthology Filled with Family, Friends & Faith
Sweet Romance
Date Published: October 19, 2021
Family Ever After
Longing hearts, loving homes, and lively holidays combine in this Romantique Treasury. This warm-hearted anthology combines friends, families, and faith as hope blossoms in the lives of orphaned children.
ADOPTED IN ARKANSAS
Socialite Emily Simpson feels out of place. So, when Emily consults her aunt, Lachele suggests she use Matchrimony to find a husband. For farmer Derrick Bobo, he hopes an arranged marriage will give him a better chance of gaining custody of his autistic nephew, Zach. Can Emily adjust to a farm wife’s lifestyle? And more importantly, how will she deal with a boy on the spectrum?
A HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
Madeline Collier finds solace in charity work and fundraising for a local children’s home. Peter Townsend moves west from Philadelphia to escape his past and begin a new life. When an idea is planted for an orphan’s possible future, Madeline realizes she needs help. Can Maddie persuade Peter to commit to a marriage of convenience and, in so doing, help her give a child a forever home?
A NEW FAMILY
Eliot Graveney fought his entire life to be seen as the equal of those around him, but a flash of fire enters his world in the shape of heiress Marianne Daltrey. And Eliot’s life will never be the same. Can Eliot outsmart a wealthy man to help Marianne get her inheritance? Will he lose his heart in the process?
FOREVER FAMILY
Susan Vuichard is committed to making sure no child is forgotten in the foster system, which means opening her family farm to three sisters that have nowhere else to go. Richard Petra still suffers from a tragic loss, but sparks fly when he finds his high school sweetheart. Can this group somehow become a forever family?
JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING
Anna Beckett has a soulless job at Gallagher Industries. When she becomes a volunteer cuddler, holding the sickest babies in the neonatal unit, Anna begins to realize there’s more to life than work. Thrust into a Santa Claus suit at the children’s hospital, Jack Gallagher is surprised to recognize the accountant from work. Can they overcome their misguided perceptions to form a lasting bond?
KANDIE KISSES
Frazzled by a hectic lifestyle, Rachel Boulton has no choice but to rearrange her priorities when a surprise gift is left for her at work. With the help of her secret crush, Mick Polenz, can Rachel meet the overwhelming needs of this special delivery, or will she lose the greatest joy she’s ever known to the demands of unfulfilled ambitions?
LONG TO BELONG
Mark Diamond has never had a family of his own, but being on the spectrum makes relationships extra complicated - until Katie Reed, owner of the Bountiful Blueberry Coffee Shop, stole his heart faster than an underpriced IPO offering. For Katie, her shy beau has been as yummy as a dandelion-cocoa latte, but can they handle each other’s situation, or will their dreams be thrown out like yesterday’s brew?
MACY’S GIFT
Macy Williams loves her career as a photojournalist, but when her brother and sister-in-law die, Macy is drawn back to her small hometown to handle their estate. Cord Adams is surprised by his deceased friend’s choice of guardian. He only met Macy once, and the meeting was anything but cordial. Can two strong-willed individuals set aside their differences for the good of two young girls?
NOT PART OF OUR EVENING PLANS
As one of the couples who found love at River’s End Ranch, Jace and Dinky Cunningham struggle with the loss of their dreams for a family; but, circumstances can shift in a split second. Dare they hope this change of plans will bring them everything their hearts desire?
Proceeds from this collection of inspiring stories will benefit special-needs adoption grants through Reece’s Rainbow.
Chapter 1
The packed
bar along the backshore of Lake Superior was stuffed to the gills and stifling
hot as Mick Polenz set up his Bose sound system. Despite the governor’s “half
capacity” orders, the Down Low Bar & Grill still hosted a
wall-to-wall crowd every weekend. And Mick certainly didn’t mind. The tips he
earned from the gig always put him in a better frame of mind.
Although
music was his first love, Mick’s job as a first responder for the township paid
the bills. The area that comprised Magellan was essentially Michigan’s last
outpost before the land gave way to Lake Superior, but the quaint village was a
welcome change from the hectic pace of Lansing.
The
atmosphere at the Down Low pulsed through the heavily timbered room and
spiked Mick’s enthusiasm for his upcoming show. Still, the nerves that lingered
before each performance set his foot to tapping as he waited for one of the
waitresses to deliver his water bottle. “Thanks, Chel,” he commented when the
harried woman handed off his beverage.
Rachel
Boulton paused for a moment and gave the shy man an equally bashful smile
before turning to hurry away. “Heaven’s above!” she whispered to herself,
wishing she had a hand free to fan her face. One simple brush of the burly
firefighter’s calloused fingertips made Rachel think of things a good girl would
never admit.
Tamping down
her runaway hormones, Chel pressed through the rabble rousers to greet the next
group of diners. “How many?” she called above raucous laughter and the opening
song of Mick’s first set.
After
leading the trio of suggestively clad women toward the last table, Rachel
scanned the crowded bar room adjacent to the dining area. Intrigued, the busy
waitress caught a glimpse of her favorite musician on the low-slung stage.
Alone under the
weak spotlight, Mick’s rich baritone belted out Waylon Jennings’ “Good ‘ole
Boys” then quickly segued into Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” Always a fan
favorite, wooden train whistles “tooted” in all the appropriate places while he
played.
At the end
of the song, he turned a lopsided, boyish grin to the boisterous group hamming
it up at the front table. Self-named “Mick’s Clique,” the rowdy bunch cheered
and hollered out song suggestions as the evening wore on, but the affable
musician was always glad to have their support. Their energy fed his, and Mick
played his heart and soul out.
When the
dining room closed down several hours later, Rachel rushed through the evening
clean-up, so she could get home and begin her preparations for the following
morning. Run ragged between her job at the Down Low and the supplemental
work she picked up by baking sweet treats for the Merry Hollow Tree Farm;
the weary woman wondered how long she’d be able to keep pace.
As Chel
exited the back door off the prep kitchen, she gave a perplexed glance at her
vehicle. The hatch of her older SUV was aloft. “Well, what the heck?” she mused
in consternation as she approached the mismatched Santa Fe. After a recent
fender bender, the predominantly black car now sported a red front quarter
panel and driver’s side door. “Must have
hit the button,” the buxom brunette mumbled as she pulled the key fob from the
front pocket of her faded jeans.
Exhausted by
long hours on her feet, Rachel climbed into the cold vehicle and got the
defrost going. Despite the warmth of the day, as soon as the sun set, the
September winds turned cold. And it seemed like the U.P. was in for an early
winter if the blazing colors of the hardwoods were any indication.
Sipping from
a travel mug of hot chocolate while the Santa Fe warmed up, Rachel stilled and
listened. The noise of the bar crowd, still in full swing, along with the sound
of wind and waves coming from the shoreline, carried a strange whine. The
worried woman growled at the car, “Oh no, you don’t! I just had you in the shop
for a tune-up, you overpriced lemon! So, just settle down and idle right!”
Banging on the steering wheel in frustration, Rachel jolted in shock as the
back hatch smoothly slid open. “Is this dang car possessed?” she wondered
before hopping out and rounding the back.
As she
lifted her arm to slam the bedeviled door, tiny eyes opened and glowed against
the blackness of Chel’s cargo area. Frigid little fingers curled around the gray
nylon netting that kept things from sliding about, and Rachel’s heart
constricted.
* * * * *
Mick stepped
out onto the back patio for a break and a bit of fresh air. The heavy scent of
bodies, perfumes, and frying food inside the bar gave him a pounding headache.
So, he dropped onto a wooden bench away from the hubbub and took several deep,
cleansing breaths of the chilly night air.
When he
heard a startled cry, his body instantly went rigid, and instinct kicked in. Bolting
across the dark parking lot toward a line of parked vehicles, Mick yelled, “You
alright?” to the curvy waitress who turned bashful gazes on him whenever he
played at the Down Low.
Bending low
to untangle the toddler’s fingers, Rachel lifted the frightened little girl and
hugged the child to her chest. Whimpers from an infant tucked further into the
recesses of the cargo hold drew the anxious woman’s attention. So, when her
handsome crush leaned in close to reach for the baby, Chel sucked in the heady
scent of him and forcefully resisted the urge to press closer to his warmth.
Scowling at
the fresh-faced woman, Mick ominously rumbled, “Why do you have KIDS in your
trunk?” The first responder examined the little one before tucking the blanket
tightly around the baby boy.
Injured by
the brusque tone and awful assumption that she left small children unattended
in the cold, Rachel stammered, “There is one more.”
Furious,
Mick freed a hand and reached back under the tonneau cover that concealed the
cargo area. Locating another infant, he gently pulled the child forward. “What
is going on here?” he angrily questioned, blue eyes snapping with fury.
Chagrined
and confused, Rachel tried to console the itty bitty toddler in her arms.
Although she wanted to shout right back at the presumptive dolt, Chel whispered,
“I don’t know.”
“You . . .
don’t know?!” Mick retorted, eyebrows raised in disbelief. Watching the
waitress struggle to soothe the tiny girl, he released a cleansing breath and
flatly acknowledged. “You don’t know.”
Gently rocking
back and forth, the overwhelmed woman chattered, “I thought my lift gate was
malfunctioning. It kept opening on its own. But, I guess this little one was
pushing the button.”
Pivoting,
Rachel looked around the parking lot. The outdoor crowd had thinned
considerably as the hour edged toward midnight. And the over-packed, boat-sized
sedan she was looking for was gone. “I think they’ve been . . . abandoned.”
“Say again.”
“Abandoned,
Mick,” she sighed. “Their mother came to the back door around closing time
looking for any leftovers we were going to throw away. But now, her car is
gone.”
* * * * *
Arranging
the twin boys in his arms, Mick waited while the reluctant woman gathered a
worn quilted handbag and slipped it over her shoulder. “I’ll have to call the
Sheriff,” he thought out loud.
“What? No!
Their mother might come back! Let’s …well, let’s just give her a few minutes.
Please?”
Huffing, the
man looked down at the tiny bits of humanity. “We need to get them warm,” he
replied, tempering the agitation in his voice.
Grasping the
musician’s muscled forearm, Rachel walked backward toward the passenger side of
the vehicle. She juggled the toddler to one side and wrestled with the ratty
diaper bag before she managed to get the car door open.
Rolling his
eyes in exasperation, Mick awkwardly slid across the seat, carefully balancing
his precious cargo. As soon as he was safely shut inside, the first responder
gently laid the infants in his lap.
The dome
light went out when his unexpected partner in crime shut the back hatch, and
Mick waited for the bashful lady to slip into the car beside him. “Now what?”
he grumbled as Rachel settled the whimpering girl in her lap.
Reaching up
to flick the button that would restore light to the interior, Chel jostled the
lumpy bag that had been left behind. “Let’s see if there’s anything in here
that might give us a clue,” she sheepishly suggested.
“You met the
person who left them here?”
“Like I
said, she came to the back door looking for food.”
While the
worried woman shuffled through the contents of the oversize purse, Mick
unwrapped the first boy and gave him a quick exam before swaddling him more
tightly. Sliding a large hand over the downy softness of the baby’s dark hair,
he considered the newborn carefully before moving on to his brother.
“Found
something,” he mumbled as the second blanket fell away to reveal a green and
white dining check. “I saw what you did,” had been written in tiny letters
under the meal total.
Looking up,
Rachel pushed the hair out of her eyes and glanced at Mick. “What is it?”
Lifting the
order stub closer to the light, the musician read the message out loud for her
benefit: “I saw what you did when you took the money from your apron pocket and
put it in the cash drawer for our meal. And I know you gave Kandie an extra big
glass of milk with her mac & cheese. I also heard you say that someone in
the bar worked for the local fire department. I couldn’t find the station, so I
am asking you to please let the police know I tried to follow the Safe Haven
law. Miss, I’m counting on your kindness and generosity to take care of them
for me. My babies mean the world to me, but I just can’t do it anymore. Tell
them I love them. Always.”
Rachel gazed
down at the blonde girl in her lap, then closed her eyes. Bowing her head, she
touched her forehead to the child’s and whispered, “I’m so sorry, little one.”
Pudgy
fingers awkwardly brushed her cheek, and Rachel leaned into the featherlight
touch. But her eyes blinked open when a very wet, sloppy kiss landed on the
underside of her chin. “Oh! Oh my,” she giggled. “That left quite a spit spot.”
Scrunching
up his face, Mick wrinkled his nose and expelled a disgruntled “ewwww” as Chel
turned her head and wiped her chin against the shoulder of her t-shirt. “Guess
I don’t mind my damp lap quite as much anymore,” he mumbled.
Rachel
snorted in laughter and snuggled the little girl closer. “Hey, a kiss is a
kiss,” she teased before sobering. “So, what do we do, Mick? How would you
handle it if they’d been dropped off at the fire station?”
“I know you
don’t want to hear it, but we have to call the Sheriff. The babies are probably
only a week old, so their relinquishment could fall under the Safe Haven laws.
But your little ‘puppy’ there? She doesn’t. So, there will be a criminal case
opened against, ah, Sally…crud. I can’t read the last name.”
Mick tipped
the ticket toward the light and then to its side, trying to make out the last
few squiggles. “Still can’t read the last name. But there is a ‘P.S.’ here. Um,
let’s see… I can’t bear. Ah, I can’t bear … the thought! The thought of what,
um, what… well crap. This writing is too small. I just can’t read it,” he huffed.
Reaching for
the piece of paper she’d torn from her order pad a few hours earlier, Rachel
tried to make out the words that wrapped up the long edge. When she finally
figured out the message, she glanced down at the little girl one more time.
Unable to hold back her roiling emotions any longer, a tear slipped free. She
whispered, “P.S. I can’t bear the thought of what they will do with Kandie.
Please don’t let them send her to an institution.”
Purchase Links
a Rafflecopter giveaway
My holiday plans just get better because I will be reading this great sounding holiday collection of stories by some splendid authors! Thanks for sharing the collection with me and have a great day!
ReplyDeleteNice excerpt! This sounds like a wonderful holiday read!
ReplyDelete