For the Love of Christmas

For the Love of Christmas
Kate Forster

Rebecca’s so called splendid life isn’t so wonderful. She is fresh out of rehab, her husband and children aren’t home for the holiday, and her Christmas tree has alopecia.Days from Christmas, Rebecca has to explore her grief about a loss so huge, it tipped her over the edge, and imagine a future that maybe spent alone.But she learns that, while Christmas for one is possible, it’s just a lot nicer when there’s family to share it with.Love, loss and forgiveness come together to make a Christmas that Rebecca will never forget, and one that will unwrap a joyous future, even it’s not at all like what she imagined was waiting for her under the Christmas tree.This festive season, it really will be a Wonderful Life with For the Love of Christmas by Kate Forster.

Rebecca’s so-called splendid life isn’t so wonderful. She is fresh out of rehab, her husband and children aren’t home for the holiday, and her Christmas tree has alopecia.

Days from Christmas, Rebecca has to explore her grief about a loss so huge it tipped her over the edge, and imagine a future that may be spent alone.

But, she learns, Christmas for one is possible. It’s just a lot nicer when there’s family to share it with.

Love, loss and forgiveness come together to make a Christmas that Rebecca will never forget, and one that will unwrap a joyous future, even if it’s not at all like what she imagined was waiting for her under the Christmas tree.

For the Love of Christmas

Kate Forster

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

KATE FORSTER

Kate lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, two children and two dogs, and can be found nursing a laptop, surrounded by magazines and watching trash TV or French films.

Contents

Cover (#u65ba8cec-6fc2-5946-8db6-077891dd6ab9)

Blurb (#u62aeae7f-5673-5ba3-ac46-1d9cd74b47b7)

Title Page (#u4ea46028-2b0b-56c5-808d-58e5094dda20)

Author Bio (#ua7df204f-f689-5235-9a53-3879626a7b27)

Story (#u98b34666-b4cb-51a0-bc53-e3dadcce6566)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Rebecca

Rebecca Swanson sat in the back of the taxi, taking one leather glove off her slender hand, then sliding it back on again. She liked the firmness of the quality leather that cocooned her fingers, as they nestled in the inner cashmere lining.

‘Home for Christmas?’ asked the cabbie cheerfully, glancing at her in the rear-view mirror.

‘Yes,’ Rebecca said, with the half smile usually reserved for people who asked too many questions. The business press saw it often but the cabbie didn’t seem to pick up on the nuance.

‘Staying with family?’

Was she?

She had no idea since no one was waiting for her at the airport.

She had hoped to see Jamie there, with Oscar and Sofie by his side, maybe with a bouquet of flowers in his arms. White lilies and a few red poinsettia branches interspersed, as an acknowledgement of her two favourite things: Christmas, and the colour red.

Instead there was a lonely arrival at busy Gatwick. Her fellow travellers from Denver all seemed to know someone, as they waved and hugged people who waited by the barriers.

It was only on this flight that she saw how far she had come, and not just geographically. Each round had been hard fought, each awakening like a punch to her heart, but what she was about to face would put everything she had learned to the ultimate test.

Sofie and Oscar’s faces came into her mind and her stomach clenched both mutual fear and nerves.

How could they ever forgive her?

‘They will forgive you when you forgive yourself,’ a voice in her head said calmly.

When will that happen?’

‘When you’re ready, you’ll know it,’ the voice stated ambiguously.

Stupid voices in her head, she thought. For years they had been saying other things, encouraging her instead of telling her to stop. Making allowances for her behaviour, and always lying to her.

‘Done your shopping yet?’ the cabbie asked.

She didn’t know which voice was more annoying.

Rebecca closed her eyes and leaned her head against the seat.

‘Not yet,’ she answered.

There hadn’t been any time to buy anything in Denver, and there certainly wasn’t anything in the gift shop of Arrow Lodge, where she’d stayed for the last eight weeks. She didn’t want any memories of the time spent there; it wasn’t a place to celebrate with a keepsake.

‘Better get to it,’ he said. ‘Only five days till Christmas.’

Please don’t sing, she thought, as he broke into song.

‘On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …’

She stared out of the window. Gifts were easy to come by, and as the CEO of the biggest online luxury store in Europe, she could have ordered anything, and had it delivered; wrapped with red grosgrain ribbon, and under the tree on the same day.

Except she couldn’t make phone calls to anyone who wasn’t on the list when she was away, and the last people she felt like talking to were people at work. Surely the gossip was running hot with the news their CEO was on leave for eight weeks.

‘Where did you travel from, love?’ The cabbie’s voice broke through her dark thoughts.

‘Colorado,’ she answered, too tired to think of a lie.

‘I read that the whacky baccy is legal there now,’ he said.

‘Sorry?’

‘The marijuana.’ He said the word slowly, stretching it into five syllables.