Blurb:
They met during the
holiday season and married in May.
Jessica savored every moment of happiness with her beloved husband
Johnny but their newlywed bliss is shattered when he’s caught in a storm on the
lake on the Fourth of July. First
missing, then presumed dead, Johnny Devereaux appears to be gone and everyone
mourns him except his wife. Jessica
refuses to believe he could be dead and she steadfastly refuses to give up hope
that he is alive and will return.
As the months pass,
each holiday is another reminder of his absence and it becomes harder to
believe but she refuses to yield to despair.
As his family, especially his brother Tad, struggles to accept Johnny’s
death, only his great-grandmother and bride hang onto their hope. Jessica comes to believe he’ll return to her
at Christmas so the holiday takes on new significance as she waits for tidings
of comfort and joy.
Author:
Growing up in historic
St. Joseph, Missouri, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy scribbled her stories from an
early age. Her first publication – a
poem on the children’s page of the local newspaper – seems to have set her fate. As a full time author, she has more than
twenty full length novels published along with assorted novellas and short
fiction. A contributor to more than two
dozen anthologies, her credits include Chicken Soup For The Soul among many
collections of short fiction. She is a
member of Romance Writers of America, Missouri Writers Guild, and the Ozark
Writers League. Lee Ann earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Missouri Southern State University as well as an
Associate Degree from Crowder College.
She has worked in broadcasting, retail, and other fields including
education. She is currently a substitute
school teacher. As a wife and mother of
three, she spends her days penning stories, cooking, reading, and other daily
duties. She currently makes her home in
the Missouri Ozarks, living in what passes for suburbs in a small town.
Excerpt:
Prologue
Christmas one year
earlier
She loved Christmas.
Every detail from the scent of fresh-cut evergreens, to the bright, glowing
beauty of holiday lights, to the quiet moments curled up listening to her
favorite vintage holiday music. Jessica could never wait for Thanksgiving to
end so that the Christmas season could start.
That year, the year
she fell in love — really in love — for the first and what she felt sure would
be the only time in her life, the holiday season provided the perfect setting.
Snow began the week after Thanksgiving and continued so the ground remained
white through December. Even though most people griped and groused about the
weather, Jessica adored it because it made a winter wonderland for her holiday
romance. The songs, from her favorite Sing We Now of Christmas to the soulful,
lovely refrain from God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, echoed through her mind and
she trilled a few lines of the refrain in her alto voice, “Oh, tidings of
comfort and joy, comfort and joy…”
The night she first
met him was magical...
Chapter One
The Fourth of July
"Hey, are you
comin' with me?" Johnny's whisper sliced through layers of sleep, and
Jessica stirred, uncertain whether it was morning or midnight.
The bed sagged as he
sat down beside Jessica. "What?"
"I'm going
fishin', remember? It's the Fourth of July, and everyone's comin' down to the
cabin later. Are you comin' with me now or going down later?"
She stirred, sat up,
and scrubbed her face with both hands. "What time is it?"
"It's almost
four."
She moaned. "It
won't be daylight for almost two hours. I want to sleep."
Johnny laughed with
that rich, full sound she adored. "You can. I just didn't want to leave
without telling you and giving you one last chance to come with me."
"Do you have to
go so early?" She loved going out on the lake with him, but she hated
rising before the sun.
He grinned, facing her
from where he sat on the edge of their bed. "I do if I want to catch
anything. I like to hit the lake before daylight. What time are you comin'
down?"
Jessica struggled to
make her mind work through the remnants of sleep-fog. "I guess noon or a
little after. When's your mom going to be there?"
"I think she said
by four. Amy's comin', too, and so is Tad."
Johnny's sister Amy
had been a bridesmaid in their May wedding, and Tad served as Johnny's best
man. Tad's girlfriend Isobel helped to cut the cake at the reception. "Is
Isobel going to come, too?"
"I think so.
Honey, I need to go if I'm going."
"Okay," she
said with a yawn.
She sat all the way
up, circled his neck with her arms, and he delivered a potent kiss that promised
more to come later. Jessica considered heating things up, knowing if she did,
she could get him to stay later but she didn't. He loved fishing, and she
wanted him to have that solitary time he wanted out on the water.
"I'll see you
this afternoon," Johnny told her. "You be careful driving down, and
watch the holiday traffic, okay?"
"I will,"
she promised. "Have fun, and catch lots of fish."
"I'll do my best.
See you, honey."
With another quick
kiss, he was off the bed and out the door before she could say anything more.
He never said good-bye — it was their personal tradition something he taught
her on the very first night that they met. She remembered that moment as she
laid her head on the pillow.
"I'll call
you."
"If you don't,
I'll call you."
He grinned. "You
won't have to, Jessica. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Promise,"
she said, and he traced a cross over his chest.
"Cross my
heart," he said. "See you."
She opened her mouth
to tell him good-bye but he held up one hand.
"There are no
good-byes but one, and that one is final," Johnny said. "So don't
ever say it."
Jessica smiled and
touched his face with her hand. "Then I'll say' later.'"
"Later,
darlin'."
Then, she hadn’t
understood the reason. Later, when he explained how devastated his family had
been by his dad’s unexpected death and told her how one of his cousins said
‘good-bye’ before heading home to die in a house fire, Jessica understood his
reasons. And it became their custom, their habit.
