A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

Other novels in the Chesapeake Shores series

THE INN AT EAGLE POINT

FLOWERS ON MAIN

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends,

Here is your chance to see Mick and Megan O’Brien’s long-awaited reconciliation. Watching these two stubborn people—arguably the most stubborn in a family of mule-headed folks—reunite after so many years apart sets up the perfect situation in need of a holiday miracle or two.

It’s especially tricky with Connor, their younger son, determined to stand in their way. Connor, as you may know, has a few issues of his own to worry about, though, which may give Mick just the manoeuvring room he needs to get Megan to the altar.

I hope the reconciliation is worth the wait. I also hope you’ll be looking for the next instalment in the Chesapeake Shores series, Driftwood Cottage, in stores in June 2013.

In the meantime, I wish you the happiest of holidays and all the blessings of the season!

It was only the second time in the more than twelve years since her divorce that Megan O’Brien had been home in Chesapeake Shores during the holiday season.

Newly divorced and separated from her children, Megan had found the memories had been too bittersweet to leave New York and come back for Christmas. She’d tried to make up for her absence by sending a mountain of presents, each one carefully chosen to suit the interests of each child. She’d called on Christmas Day, but the conversations with the older children had been grudging and too brief. Her youngest, Jess, had refused to take her call at all.

The following year Megan had ventured back to town, hoping to spend time with the children on Christmas morning. Her ex-husband, Mick O’Brien, had agreed to the visit. She’d anticipated seeing their eyes light up over the presents she’d chosen. She’d even arranged for a special breakfast at Brady’s, a family favorite, but the atmosphere had been so strained, the reaction to her gifts so dismissive, that she’d driven everyone back home an hour later. She’d managed to hide her tears and disappointment until she was once again alone in her hotel room.

After that, she’d made countless attempts to convince the children to come to New York for the holidays, but they’d stubbornly refused, and Mick had backed them up. She could have fought harder, but she’d realized that to do so would only ruin Christmas for all of them. Teenagers who were where they didn’t want to be could make everyone’s life miserable.

Now she parked her car at the end of Main and walked slowly along the block, taking it all in. Even though it was only days after Halloween, the town was all decked out. Every storefront along Main Street had been transformed with twinkling white lights and filled with enticing displays. The yellow chrysanthemums outside the doorways during the fall had given way to an abundance of bright red poinsettias.

Workers were stringing lights along the downtown streets and readying a towering fir on the town green for a tree-lighting ceremony that would be held in a few weeks. The only thing missing was snow, and since Chesapeake Shores hadn’t had a white Christmas in years, no one was counting on that to set the scene. The town created its own festive atmosphere to charm residents and lure tourists to the seaside community.

As she strolled, Megan recalled the sweet simplicity of going Christmas shopping with the kids when they were small, pausing as they stared in wonder at the window displays. There were a few new shops now, but many remained exactly the same, the windows gaily decorated in a suitable theme. Now it was her grandchildren who would be enchanted by the displays.

Ethel’s Emporium, for instance, still had the same animated figures of Santa and Mrs. Claus in the window along with giant jars filled with the colorful penny candy that was so popular with the children in town. Once again, Seaside Gifts had draped fishing nets in the window, woven lights through them and added an exceptional assortment of glittering nautical ornaments, some delicate, some delightfully gaudy and outrageous.

At her daughter Bree’s shop, Flowers on Main, lights sparkled amid a sea of red and white poinsettias. Next door, in her daughter-in-law Shanna’s bookstore, the window featured seasonal children’s books, along with a selection of holiday cookie recipe books and a plate filled with samples to entice a jolly life-size stuffed Santa. Inside, she knew, there would be more of the delectable cookies for the customers. The chef at her daughter Jess’s inn was sending them over daily during the season, some packaged for resale as enticing gifts.