It Really IS a Wonderful Life: The Snowflake Falls but Hearts in Love Keep a Home Warm All Year Long (23 page)

Dorie nudged him again. “So who signs my paychecks now?”

“That’s up to you. Jamey reached in his pocket and pulled out a little black box. Dorie’s heart raced.

“Junior wants to keep you on. He said he’d give you another raise if you stay. It’s a nice offer. I wouldn’t blame you if you kept working for him.”

Jamey held the ring for Dorie to view, then slid to one knee. “We haven’t known each other long, and we’ve been dating for only a few weeks. But when it’s right, a man knows it. And we’re right together. Dorie Fitzgerald, will you marry me?”

“Jamey Sullivan. Not so fast.”

He closed the box, his confusion priceless. “Hey, you. Open that back up. Of course I’ll marry you, as long as Josh gives his permission. And as for Branson Harwood’s offer, I’d rather have fresh flowers every day on that old desk at Bargains Galore. That is, if you don’t mind your wife working for you.”

“I love you, Dorie.” He slipped the ring on her finger. They stood to seal the engagement in what should have been a long, passionate kiss, a kiss to be recorded along with the other events of the day and seared in her heart as indescribable.

But as their lips touched, Boomer charged in and knocked Jamey to the couch. He scrambled back to his feet, handed Dorie her cup, and lifted his in the air. “Here’s to us.”

They giggled as they clinked their cups together, their laughter bringing curious Josh downstairs. “What’s funny, Mom?”

Squatting to meet Josh’s inquisitive stare, Jamey coughed and masked a serious face. “I have an important question to ask you. I’d like to marry your mother if it’s okay with you. I know I can’t replace the father you lost, but I’ll always be your friend. What do you think?”

Josh gave Jamey a high five. “Cool, man. Hey, Emma, guess what?”

As Josh ran upstairs, Jamey pulled Dorie into a hug and gazed into her eyes. “I’m afraid that kiss will have to wait a few hours, huh?”

Dorie smiled through joyful tears. “Yeppers.”

The End

Quote from John Greenleaf Whittier
Maud Muller
(1856)

More Candle Light Reading from LPC

Death of the Couch Potato's Wife

Welcome to Boring, Indiana, home to patio cookouts, homeowner dues, carpeted lawns, and neighbors so welcoming they’re dying to meet you — literally.

City slicker turned suburbanite housewife Laura Berry isn’t taking well to life in her new neighborhood. She moved to follow her husband’s dream, and now she can’t tell if she’s clinically depressed or just bored half to death. But Boring becomes anything but when Laura discovers her neighbor Candace Flynn face up on a sofa with her hand buried in a snack bag. With a healthy dose of neighborly suspicion and street smarts, Laura sets out to find Flynn’s killer, but her curiosity becomes desperation when the killer targets Laura.

Someone is determined to stop her from digging deeper into the murder, but Laura is just as determined to figure out who’s behind the death-by-poisoned-pork-rinds.

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Couch-Potatos-Wife-ebook/dp/B0083DHGGM/

The Gathering Storm:
The truth can set you free.
It can also kill you.

Stephanie Walker lives a peaceful life until her undependable and dishonest father, Marty Walker, suddenly arrives at her home pleading with Stephanie to come with him to his Harrington Lodge in the beautiful Ozarks. Stephanie, suspicious of her father’s motives declines her father’s invitation.

After his departure, Stephanie discovers the diamond necklace she borrowed from her aunt is missing. Racing through a raging thunderstorm, Stephanie drives to the lodge to reclaim the stolen item.

But when she arrives, Stephanie finds her father dead, her aunt’s diamond necklace gone and a pair of handcuffs fitted just for her. Stephanie’s claims of innocence fail to sway the local sheriff, who produces several pieces of evidence linking her to the murder. With a shaky alibi and a vindictive stepmother, Stephanie turns to a lodge employee for help. But will Brad Wilson’s assistance lead Stephanie to the real killer or prove to be her undoing? Like a gathering storm on a warm summer evening, Stephanie’s world darkens until she’s forced to turn to the one true source of knowledge. But what she learns about her father, family and her own inner demons is more horrifying than the lies she’s come to believe. The truth can set you free. It can also kill you.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Gathering-Storm-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0064FJVTG/

When You Come Home
The True Love Story Of A Soldier's Heroism,
His Wife's Sacrifice and the Resilience of
America's Greatest Generation

(Historical Romance)

The war claimed Daphne Kelley’s young husband’s life, but it couldn’t keep Raymond – and his abiding love – from being with her when she needed him most.

First glimpsed in Tom Brokaw’s landmark bestseller, The Greatest Generation, the true-life love story of Daphne and Raymond Kelley went far deeper than Brokaw’s feature could reveal. Now When You Come Home provides the complete account of what New York Times book reviewer Michael Lind cited as “perhaps the most compelling” love story in Brokaw’s book.

Taking its title from a poem newlywed Daphne sent her soldier husband during World War II, When You Come Home tells of their young love in the heartland at the brink of war, and of the crushing uncertainty and fear as they find themselves a world apart. And when the poem comes back to Daphne – blood-stained by Raymond’s mortal wounds – When You Come Home shares the extraordinary event that restores the grieving young widow’s faith in the transcendent power of love.

http://www.amazon.com/When-You-Come-Home-ebook/dp/B005R41792/