Pa's Christmas Wish
Susannah Calloway
(Independently published, Nov. 4, 2019)
Henry Watson’s young wife is killed in a tragic accident less than a month after their marriage, and Henry buries his heart with her. His parents pray Henry will find a new love. When his ailing father begs him to get married by Christmas, Henry can’t disappoint the old man, but he also can’t love another woman. He will settle on a marriage of convenience and send for a Mail Order Bride. Kitty Clarke’s husband and father of their twelve-year-old daughter Faith died two years ago at Christmas. When Kitty loses her factory job, she can’t support herself and Faith. She investigates a Mail Order Bride agency and hears that brides should be unencumbered by children. Kitty decides there is just one solution: claim Faith as her younger sister and not her daughter. After Kitty arrives in Montana, she falls in love with Henry and prays that someday, he’ll feel the same way toward her. As Christmas approaches, Kitty’s lie about her daughter is exposed. Now, there seems little hope of her ever gaining Henry’s affection or finding any kind of happy ending…