A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
Sherryl Woods

Home, heart and family. Sherryl Woods knows what truly matters. After years apart, Mick and Megan O’Brien are finally ready to make it official…again. Most of their grown-up children couldn’t be happier about their rekindled love and impending marriage this Christmas. Only Connor is a holdout.Driven to become a divorce lawyer after what he views as his mother’s abandonment of their family, Connor’s not about to give his blessing to this reunion romance. The last thing Megan wants to do is hurt her family again.After all, is she really sure she and Mick can make it again? And when an unexpected delivery causes chaos, it might take a miracle to reunite this family. But it is the season for miracles. Healing families, healing hearts. In Chesapeake second chances happen in the most unexpected ways.‘Truly feel-good!’ New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

Acclaim for New York Times bestelling author

Sherryl Woods

‘Sherryl Woods always delights her readers— including me!’

—No.1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

‘Compulsively readable … Woods’s novel easily rises

above hot-button topics to tell a universal tale

of friendship’s redemptive power.’

—Publishers Weekly on Mending Fences

‘Sherryl Woods always delivers a fast, breezy … romance.’

—Jayne Ann Krentz

‘Sherryl Woods gives her characters depth, intensity,

and the right amount of humour.’

—RT Book Reviews

‘Sherryl Woods is a uniquely gifted writer whose deep

understanding of human nature is woven

into every page.’

—New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers

Other novels in the Chesapeake Shores series

THE INN AT EAGLE POINT

FLOWERS ON MAIN

A ChesapeakeShores Christmas

Sherryl Woods

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

1

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.

In fact, all along Main Street, Megan saw evidence of her family settling down in this town that had been the creation of her ex-husband, architect Mick O’Brien. Though all of their children except Jess had fled for careers and college, one by one they had drifted back home and made lives for themselves in Chesapeake Shores. They’d made peace with their father and, to some extent, with her. Only Connor, now an attorney in Baltimore, had kept his distance.

It should have been gratifying to see an O’Brien touch everywhere she looked, but instead it left Megan feeling oddly out of sorts. Just like Connor, she, too, had yet to find her way home. And though her relationship with Mick had been improving—she had, in fact, agreed to consider marrying him again—something continued to hold her back from making that final commitment.

Megan shivered as the wind off the Chesapeake Bay cut through her. Though it was nothing like the wind that whipped between New York’s skyscrapers this time of year, the bitter chill and gathering storm clouds seemed to accentuate her odd mood.

When she shivered again, strong arms slid around her waist from behind and she was drawn into all the protective warmth that was Mick O’Brien. He smelled of the crisp outdoors and the lingering aroma of a spicy aftershave, one as familiar to her as the scent of sea air.

“Why the sad expression, Meggie?” he asked. “Isn’t this the most wonderful time of the year? You used to love Christmas.”

“I still do,” she said, leaning against him. Despite all those sorrowful holidays she’d spent alone, it was impossible for her to resist the hopeful magic of the season. “New York is always so special during the holidays. I’d forgotten that Chesapeake Shores has its own charm at Christmas.”

She gestured toward the shop windows. “Bree and Shanna have a real knack for creating inviting displays, don’t they?”

“Best on the block,” he said proudly. There was nothing an O’Brien did that wasn’t the best, according to Mick—unless, of course, it was an accomplishment by one of his estranged brothers, Jeff or Thomas. “Why don’t we go to Sally’s and have some hot chocolate and one of her raspberry croissants?”

“I was planning to start on my Christmas shopping this morning,” she protested. “It’s practically my duty to support the local economy, don’t you think?”

“Why not warm up with the hot chocolate first?” he coaxed. “And then I’ll go with you.”