Under the Mistletoe, page 6
part #1 of Home to Heritage || Book Five Series
When he didn’t comment, Sandy’s face neared the camera. “You’ve created these expectations in your readers, and now you have to meet them. Whether Bastian and Ellia get a happy ending or end in tragedy is up to you, but it needs an ending. So use the Countdown to Christmas serial to get a sense of the romantic beats of a story. Then perhaps you’ll know what you want to do with Bastian and Ellia.”
“So I’m supposed to make up a random story?” This sounded like a crash-and-burn idea to him.
Jane perked up at this. “I think your strongest building point would be the origin story of Anwar.”
“The life stone?”
“Yes, where did it come from? What was its power before they decided to split it? This gives you a lot of ways you could go with it. You just need to find two characters that interact with the life stone and make them fall in love. But other things could work, as long as it is romantic.”
Just the idea made Logan’s skin itch.
“We aren’t looking for Hallmark. Think more Arwen and Aragorn. Happy endings are up to you, but most of all, we need to see Victor Holt on the page.”
Mark fiddled with his pen, looking a little too satisfied. “So what do you say?”
What did he say? What he wanted to say was No thank you, I’m going back to my cabin. I’ll send you another draft of book four in a few months. But that wasn’t an option.
“Sounds great.” The words scraped against his throat. “I’ll start working on that story today.”
“Don’t be discouraged.” Sandy jotted something down on the paper in front of her. “All good authors hit a bump at some point. You’re not the first author to have a book rejected, and you won’t be the last, but I think we can find a good story in there. Let’s connect next week.”
With that, the call ended.
He shut the laptop and sank back into the chair. If he had to check in with Christina regularly, not to mention submit a chapter every day, it looked like he was stuck in Heritage till after Christmas. But if he were going to be here for the month, he should probably take a quick trip home tomorrow to turn down his heat, not to mention get more clothes and basics.
So much for getting back to his cabin and away from Heritage and all its attachments.
four
After seeing how much the kids had thrived at the derby two days ago, Devin was even more convinced that she needed to do whatever it took to save this program. She had the list of possible Christmas activities to present at the online meeting tomorrow but still no idea how she’d pull them all off at the last minute or how she was going to get people to them.
Devin shut the door to the Sunday school classroom where she’d been teaching the first through third graders, tugged on her coat, and walked toward the lobby of Grace Community Church. Nate had done a lot to modernize the place from when she’d visited Jess when she was younger.
The stained blue Berber carpet had been replaced with dark wood vinyl plank. And the long hallway that led to the classrooms had murals of different Bible stories. They were all signed by the name Kade. Whoever Kade was, he was good.
Tyce ran past her, giggling as he pushed out the side door.
“Mrs. Barlow said no running.” Easton hurried after him, a very stern look on his face, followed by Alani, who didn’t say a word.
Heather Barlow appeared around the corner a second later, dark circles under her eyes. “Sorry about them.”
Devin dismissed her words with a wave. “God loves joy in His house.”
“Tyce is full of joy, that’s for sure.” Heather drew a slow breath.
“Do you have time to set that coffee date?” Devin dropped into step with her.
“Soon.” Heather pulled down three coats from the coatrack. “Text me.”
The lobby was still quite full when Devin reached it. Or maybe it just felt full with two Christmas trees now taking up a large corner.
Devin was halfway to the double doors that led to the parking lot when her steps faltered. What was Logan doing here? She’d seen him headed north in his Bronco yesterday morning when she’d gone to do some Christmas shopping in Ludington. He was supposed to be gone from her life again so she could pretend he didn’t exist, while she focused on real problems like her job.
“Devin!” Roman came running at her full steam in a little blue sweater vest, his face in a dramatic pout. “It isn’t fair you teach Joseph’s class. I want you to teach my class.”
“Well, when you get to be six, I’ll teach you too.” She bopped him on the nose as Hannah wandered up with his coat in her hand, her hair tied back in an elegant high ponytail with a braid wrapped around the band.
“Great job on the race Friday. The kids haven’t stopped talking about it. Have I told you lately how thankful I am for you? Promise to never leave.”
That was it. The weight of what she needed to accomplish combined with everyone counting on her slammed into her afresh, and she blinked hard. But she didn’t seem to be able to keep back the threatening tears.
Hannah’s eyes widened. “What happened? I thought you’d be in an extra good mood today after the announcement that Victor Holt was releasing a novella.”
Devin smiled as she brushed away a tear that escaped. “I read that on a fan board. The first chapter’s supposed to drop Thursday. But unfortunately, my problem is bigger than fiction. The board at LIFE might shut down the program here on the west side of the state.”
All humor dropped from Hannah’s face. “Oh, that’s serious. But you said ‘might.’ So there is a chance they won’t?”
“They aren’t happy with the response we’re getting. But my boss thinks if I can show growth by their next board meeting, then it could help, but that would take more activities. I brainstormed a bunch, but how am I going to pull them all off before Christmas? I’m only one person. And more activities alone won’t solve the involvement problem, so they also want me to visit every family door-to-door to personally invite them.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“Exactly.” Devin sank into a lobby chair and covered her hands with her face. “I don’t know how I can pull this off, but if I don’t”—she glanced at Roman chasing Joseph around—“they’ll end the program and send my job back to Detroit.”
“That’s a lot.” Hannah dropped into the chair next to her with a thud, her brow knit. “So you need events and help. You’re in luck. That’s my specialty. What events did you come up with so far?”
Devin pulled out the list she’d started on the back of an envelope and handed it to Hannah.
Hannah scanned the paper, then pointed to one of the items. “I bet you could do the ice skating at the Mathewses’ pond. They have people there all the time. It wouldn’t take a lot of planning, so you could do that first.” She glanced up at Olivia and Pastor Nate, who were walking by. “Olivia, is your parents’ pond frozen over yet?”
“Yup.” Nate brushed back his dark hair, then gathered his daughter Charis in his arms. The girl wore a Christmas dress and pigtails the same white-blonde as Olivia. “We were playing hockey on it yesterday.”
“What’s going on?” Olivia stepped closer with baby Talia in her arms. She wore a sweater and a maxi skirt that made her look even taller than her nearly six-foot height.
Hannah caught them both up to speed, then handed Olivia the list as Luke, Logan, and Libby’s family wandered over to join them. Logan wore a gray button-up today. He’d paired it with jeans, obviously committed to the no-dressing-up rule, but goodness if he didn’t look good. It took all her strength not to stare at him holding Sophie, who kept bouncing and saying, “Up.”
Olivia’s finger paused on the paper. “I bet Fallon James would host the stocking decorating event at the Sugar Shack at the tree farm.”
Devin’s head jerked back to the girls. “I couldn’t ask her to—”
“Nonsense, she’d love it.” Hannah leaned over Olivia’s shoulder and tapped at the paper.
“And Cole would probably even dress up like Santa.”
“That would be perfect.” Libby claimed the list and scanned it. “I bet you could have the gingerbread house event at the community center. And we could all come help, but how will you make it work for that many kids?”
Devin took in the ladies all crowded around. “I looked up ideas on Pinterest. If I have a preassembled house for each of the kids, then all they have to do is add the candy. It seemed pretty easy and fun.”
“That just leaves the live Nativity.” Devin reclaimed her list as she scanned the group, briefly stopping on Logan, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention. “But that might be a long shot. I’m not sure where the closest petting farm is.”
“Let me put you in touch with the Millers.” Austin stepped into the conversation. “Mrs. Miller buys a lot of flowers from my greenhouse every year for her porch. They have a farm not too far from here. They might be open to helping.”
“And you can add the Christmas Adam dance. It’s a town event but still fun, and kids love it.” Olivia pulled out her phone and started typing on it. “I’ll talk to my parents about the skating party.”
“Did you say Adam dance? Adam who?” Devin paused writing and looked up.
“Christmas Eve is December twenty-fourth,” Hannah began.
“And Adam comes before Eve,” Asher jumped in. “December twenty-third.”
Austin rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “As a transplant like yourself, I just chalk it up to a Heritage quirk, like the mysterious moving Otis. Don’t try and understand it—just go with it. You’ll learn to love it.”
“I think you mean Heritage perk.” Olivia wagged her finger at him.
“Of course.” He set his squirming daughter down.
“And I can reach out to Fallon.” Hannah pulled out her phone. “Her stepson, Zane, is friends with Jimmy.”
“That leaves me with the gingerbread event.” Libby made a note in her calendar.
When Hannah said she wasn’t alone in Heritage, she was right. It was amazing if not a bit overwhelming. “You all really want to help?”
“Why not?” Hannah’s hand landed on her shoulder. “We want you to stay. You are making a huge difference here, and even if we weren’t all benefiting from the program, we care about you, Devin. So, we care about what matters to you. Life together, remember.”
A tightness clogged her throat again. How could they all be willing to offer this much of their time? It was her job. Her problem.
“Now to figure out the visiting.” Hannah turned to Olivia. “Her boss wants her to visit all the families with a personal invitation, but that doesn’t sound—”
“Safe.” Logan joined the conversation, a bit of anger in his eyes. Maybe he had been paying attention. “She can’t expect you to do that.”
“She’s a city girl. I don’t think she realizes how remote some of the houses are. I could do it if someone went with me.” Devin shrugged as she dropped her gaze. She needed to look anywhere but at him. “But Piper and Jess are busy with school, and—”
“Hey, have you met the new children’s pastor, Greyson, yet?” Nate scanned the lobby. “I wonder if he left.”
She hadn’t been in the main service to see him introduced, but the way the girls had been going on about him in the bathroom between services, she suspected he was pretty good-looking.
“Perfect.” Olivia placed a hand on her husband’s arm before she shot a look at Devin. “He’s the best.”
“Yes, Greyson is perfect, and he’s single.” Hannah wiggled her eyebrows. Well, this was getting embarrassing. “Nate, can you call—”
“I’ll take you.” Logan’s voice silenced the whole group. Guess that was what happened when a man of few words spoke—people listened. “When do you need to go?”
“I thought you were anxious to get back to your cabin.” Luke tilted his head at Logan.
“Something at work needs special attention and regular internet.” Logan’s inflection seemed to indicate that Luke should already know that. “So, turns out that I’m at Mom and Dad’s until at least Christmas.”
Wait, new project? The novella that was just announced. If she wasn’t convinced that Logan was one of Victor Holt’s editors before, she was now. But if Logan was staying in town, she would see a lot of him between now and Christmas.
He finally locked eyes with Devin. “That is, if you want my help.”
Did she want to spend hours with Logan in a car? Yes. No. And every emotion in between.
But Hannah didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Of course she does. And it’s probably less awkward than spending all that time with a stranger.”
Less awkward?
Devin doubted it could get any more awkward than hours alone with Logan in the car. But it was for the kids. It was about the program. And she needed to do whatever it took to save it.
She drew a deep breath and met Logan’s eyes. “Can you start tomorrow after dinner?”
The Stone of Anwar: Chapter 1 by Victor Holt
In one month’s time, Astryn would finally fulfill her purpose. Marriage. She swallowed back the bitter taste in her mouth. She had been born and raised with one purpose: marrying King Orin of Anathia and aligning the two kingdoms.
“King Orin is in sight now, milady. Come look.” Her lady’s maid, Enid, motioned toward the window. Although the betrothal wasn’t official yet, all of Cambria knew King Orin had been invited because her father needed to finalize the agreement. “They say he is a good king. And kind to his subjects.”
Her mother would never approve of her watching such activities, but her father believed that a future queen needed to be made of stronger stuff than needlepoint and entertaining. After all, some of their neighboring kingdoms weren’t so friendly and would go to great lengths to keep her marriage from happening.
The princess set the book in her hand aside and walked to the window that overlooked the training fields. About forty men filled the field, half in Anathian blue and the other half wearing Cambrian red. One of the men in blue must be her betrothed, only she didn’t know which one because introductions were being saved for tonight’s feast. It wasn’t her first choice, but nothing about the situation was her first choice. However, she wasn’t about to admit any of that to Enid.
In one corner, two of the men wearing blue clashed swords as they each strove for the upper hand, but their boots were too worn for a king. In another corner, two boys a couple years her junior shot arrows at a target—but the king was a man, was he not? Please let him not be a boy. A dark-haired man attempting one of the more difficult jumps with his horse became unseated as the horse cleared the obstacle but he did not. The man crashed down with a sickening thud. She winced but didn’t look away. The men that stood around broke into laughter as a few jokes seemed to be made at his expense. Definitely not the king.
She scanned the field once more, then paused. A man with wavy blond hair maneuvered his horse through the obstacles. He didn’t wear blue, but neither did he wear red. He wore brown leathers and rode like a man who didn’t take orders.
He clearly commanded the attention of the field with his tall stature and wide shoulders. Even the lords and knights seemed to be tracking his movements. Not to mention the white steed that he rode was finer than any in their kingdom.
As if he sensed her watching him, the man tilted his head up and his gaze flashed to hers.
It was him. The rider from last night at the creek.
She’d been sneaking out of the castle through the southern escape tunnels since she’d first discovered them at age ten. Her father seemed content to look the other way as long as she took at least one guard with her. Only over the past year, she had begun breaking even that promise. There was just something about knowing her future wasn’t her own to choose that made her want to run, to fight, to rebel. And Craghaven—as she called it—had become her place of refuge.
Astryn stumbled upon the emerald glade her first time venturing out alone, the river’s soft murmur calling to her as its crystal waters wove through the mossy stones. There, surrounded by steep walls of stone, she could breathe deeply, the scent of damp earth and blooming ferns wrapping her in a quiet. It was the one place she could be just Astryn.
And when her father had sent word that he’d arrive with her betrothed at first light, the walls of the castle had seemed too high, too thick, too suffocating. She’d needed to think—to breathe. So, she’d run to the one place she always found peace.
Her shoulders had loosened the moment she’d stepped into the space. But the peace had been cut off as a soft whinny caught her attention.
Astryn spun toward the sound. A strong white stallion stood before her. Saddled but no rider in sight. She took a step closer and ran her fingers over his nose. “Aren’t you beautiful? What is your name?”
“Calavar.” A deep voice came from behind her.
She released a small cry as she spun toward the man. He was tall with striking golden eyes and blond hair that rested just above his shoulders and was dripping wet. He wore tan britches and a white shirt that hung loose. But no socks or shoes. She took a step back.
“Forgive me.” He held up a hand. There was a hint of a northern accent to his words, but he was no peasant. “I mean you no harm. I was just stopping for a bath before going to the castle.”
A bath? His shirt did cling to his shoulders in an unnatural way. And what a nice set of wide shoulders they were. She blinked at him, then turned away and ran her hand over the war horse’s neck. “He’s beautiful.”
“The sentiment is mutual.” Her gaze snapped toward him again, but he was looking at the horse. “Calavar seems to like you.” He shifted his weight before stepping closer. “You were running when you arrived. Is everything all right?”
“I just needed…space. You are bathing in my thinking spot.” The sun dipping below the jagged rocks testified to the late hour. “I should go.”
