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There’s a stranger at the door on Christmas Day…
Single mother Paige Summerville wants to give her seven-year-old son the Christmas of his dreams. Jason needs surgery to beat the illness that’s plagued his young life, leaving Paige desperate to make ends meet. So she turns to a charity that grants the wishes of sick children…
Then a stranger arrives bearing gifts for Jason—and for her. He’s Daniel Kinsley, a lawyer who’s grown cynical about family. But his kindness in making Jason’s wishes come true offers him more than he ever imagined. Is there room in Paige’s heart for a man who could fulfill all their dreams? And not just at Christmas!
He started to rise with his Christmas mug in hand.
“I should go and let you get some sleep.”
Paige placed a hand lightly on his forearm. “No. Please stay. Finish your coffee.”
Daniel watched her for a moment, as if having a silent debate with himself, then nodded and sat back down. He took a sip from his mug. “Thank you again for a wonderful dinner.”
“I’m glad you could be here. It meant a lot to Jason.” She glanced at the train set on the coffee table. “I don’t think we could have figured out how to put it all together, at least not in the time it took the two of you.” She set her mug aside, linked her fingers and looked down at her hands. “Thank you for all the gifts. The ones for me were totally unexpected, unnecessary, but very much appreciated. I…I like to take care of things myself, but without your generosity, I frankly don’t know what I would have done.”
He started to say something, but she shook her head.
“I don’t have the words to adequately thank you for what you’ve given Jason, and I don’t just mean in a material sense.” She raised her eyes to his. “You’ve made Jason very happy and taken his mind off…everything, other than the sheer joy of Christmas.”
Christmas is magical. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. As Christmas approaches, I still feel a bit of that giddy excitement I did as a child. My parents always made Christmas special for me. There were times when they couldn’t afford much, but every gathering and every gift was thoughtful and filled with love.
Sadly, I lost my father just before Christmas while I was in university. I chose not to celebrate Christmas the following year, and the holiday had a very different quality for me for a number of years.
But the magic of Christmas prevailed. Although I still have some bittersweet moments, I truly love Christmas. The passage of time helped, of course, but what made the biggest difference was being able to see the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a child.
If Christmas is a special time of year for you, as it is for me, I hope A Child’s Christmas enriches your joy. If you find that Christmas has lost a bit of its sparkle, I hope this story will help you recapture its magic.
Thank you for reading A Child’s Christmas. I would love to hear from you. You can contact me by email at [email protected], through my website at www.kate-james.com or by mail at P.O. Box 446, Schomberg, ON, L7B 0H7, Canada.
Merry Christmas, and much love and happiness to you and yours!
Kate
A Child’s Christmas
Kate James
KATE JAMES
spent much of her childhood abroad before attending university in Canada. She built a successful business career, but her passion has always been fiction, both reading and writing it. As a result, she turned her energy to her love of the written word. Kate’s goal is to entertain her readers with engaging stories featuring strong, likable characters. She’s been honored with numerous awards for her writing. She and her husband, Ken, enjoy traveling and the outdoors with their beloved Labrador retrievers.
To my husband, Ken, who believed in my writing even before there was anything to believe in, for starting me down the path by giving me my first laptop to use solely for writing, for supporting me unfailingly when I was on the precipice of leaping from a rewarding business career into uncharted territory with my writing, and for being by my side every step of the way. Ken…I still choose you!
To our friend Carl Compton. Carl…you know why.
To my editor, the amazing Paula Eykelhof, for believing in me and taking me—a fledgling author—under her wing, for her generosity with her much-in-demand time, limitless knowledge and incredible expertise, and for already having taught me so much.
And to Victoria Curran, for giving me the opportunity to write for Mills & Boon Heartwarming, and for appealing to my competitive nature to see if I can adopt as many dogs as she can cats!
Contents
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
EPILOGUE
IT WAS HER worst nightmare.