The Pastorâs Christmas Match
Pastor Connor Donnelly is done with romance. After proposing to his high school sweetheart, Natalie Delacroix, five years agoâand being turned downâheâs putting all his time and energy into his community. Heâs determined to make the Christmas pageant heâs directing a success. But family and friends are set on fixing up the good-looking bachelor in time for the holidays. And now that Natalie is back in Paradox Lakeâand helping with the pageantâthey might just succeed. Because working so closely with Natalie stirs up old feelingsâ¦and Connor starts to hope for a second chance with the one who got away.
âYou donât want to work on the pageant?â Connor asked her.
Natalie avoided his gaze. âItâs just⦠Isnât it awkward for you? Wouldnât you rather be working with someone else?â
âWeâre both adults. Anything between us ended a long time ago. I agree with your mother that youâre the best qualified person to step in for her.â
âYou didnât answer my question,â she reminded him.
He wasnât sure he could. âI want the best person we can get for the choir director. Youâre good.â
He lifted her chin with his forefinger. âWhat happened?â he asked suddenly. âWhy are you really back?â
Connor was uncertain whether he thought it would help to talk about the elephant in the room.
Her eyes clouded. âThis isnât easy to talk about.â
âYou donât have to. That was just counselor Connor kicking in. You know, all that listening and conflict resolution training I had at seminary.â
âNo, youâre right. Talking will help us start overâas friendsâso we can work together on the pageant.â
Something in him rebelled at the way she emphasized as friends.
JEAN C. GORDONâs writing is a natural extension of her love of reading. From that day in first grade when she realized t-h-e was the word the, sheâs been reading everything she can put her hands on. Jean and her college-sweetheart husband share a 175-year-old farmhouse in Upstate New York with their daughter and her family. Their son lives nearby. Contact Jean at facebook.com/jeancgordon.author or PO Box 113, Selkirk, NY 12158.
âFor surely I know the plans I have for you,â says the Lord, âplans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.â
âJeremiah 29:11
To my family for being the anchor of my life
and putting up with my love of celebrating holidays, any holiday.
Chapter One
If one more person tried to play matchmaker with him, Connor Donnelly didnât know what heâd do, but it might not be pastorlike.
Connor flipped his jacket collar up against the cold night air as he left the parsonage for the Christmas pageant practice he was supposed to be directing. Even his older brother, Jaredâthe man least likely to marryâhad gotten into the matchmaker act since his wedding last summer. Connor shuddered at the memory of last weekendâs blind double date.
Jared and his wife, Becca, had set him up with the younger sister of her college friend, who was in Ticonderoga on business. Becca had failed to tell the woman he was a minister. When it came up at dinner, sheâd clammed up and made her exit as quickly as she could without being blatantly rude. It wasnât that Connor would mind being married. Heâd just rather do the choosing and hadnât found a woman he cared strongly enough about, except...
Pushing that thought from his head, he drove the short distance from Hazardtown Community Church to the Sonrise Camp and Conference Center, where the practice was being held. He had more immediate things to occupy his time than his lame love life, like finding a replacement for Terry Delacroix, his church organist and the music director for the Paradox Lake churchesâ annual Christmas Eve pageant and ecumenical service. His church was sponsoring the service this year, making him the production director. Acing the production would help to solidify his standing with the small faction of his congregation who still werenât convinced Jerry Donnellyâs son was the right pastor for Hazardtown Community.
As he opened the door to the newly built camp auditorium, he caught the end of a conversation between the twelve-year-old Bissette twins, who were standing in the hallway off the entry.
âShe deserves a nice Christmas present, especially since Mom says sheâs getting her act together now. I think Pastor Connor would be perfect.â
âYe-e-es!â The second twin fist-bumped her sister.
Terrific, now the kids were getting in on it. He wasnât even going to speculate who the girls thought heâd make a perfect gift for.
Piano strains of âWhat Child Is This?â drifted from the auditorium, lifting Connorâs spirits. It sounded like Drew Stacey, Sonriseâs director, had gotten him a replacement. He owed his friend big-time. Connor strode into the auditorium anxious to see whom Drew had found.