SNOW KISSED CHRISTMAS: Sweet Historical Romance Novella--Short Read Read Online Free Page B

miracle, not just the job and the money, but William’s change of heart. She sent up a silent, fervent thank you. William’s large hand seemed to quiet the baby in her womb, and sleep stole over her, deep and peaceful.
    “Mommy, mommy, wake up.” Sophie’s voice filtered into the lovely dream Anna was having. She was sitting on a wooden bench in a beautiful garden filled with yellow flowers, talking with Maria. “Mommy, you have to come and see, Santa found us, you have to come and see.” Sophie patted Anna’s cheek, all but vibrating with excitement. “Please, Mommy, wake up and come and see. I brought you my shawl to put on, you have to come now.”
    “Where’s your da?” Anna’s voice was thick, her mind still half in the dream. She swung her legs out of the lovely warm goose down nest, and went over to the window. Fairy frost covered the inside, and she had to use her nail to scratch a tiny peephole.
    It was early, the sun only a pale rose promise over the white capped mountains. The world was covered in a snow kissed blanket, perfectly still and faintly blue. Icicles hung like foot long, upside down silver candles.
    “Dada’s up already, he said to let you sleep. Him and Papa are outside shoveling, the storm’s over, he says we can go home after breakfast. Please, mommy, come now.”
    Wrapped in the shawl, tugged along by her impatient daughter, Anna staggered down the hall and into the living room.
    The Christmas tree was ablaze with a thousand tiny candles. Peter still snored on the sofa, brown hair wild on the white pillow, covered to the eyeballs with a thick quilt.
    Thomas, in his long underwear, knelt on the carpet beside the tree, his arms clamped around a pair of slightly battered bright red skis. Beside him were the poles. His eyes were huge, and his voice quivered with delight. “See, Mommy, I said he’d find us, and Santa did. He even brought me ski’s, and poles, and even a real hat that train driver’s wear.” He clapped a striped, billed engineer’s hat, emblazoned with CPR, on his head. It fell down over his eyes, and he shoved it back up again, so excited his entire body quivered.
    “And I got this,” Sophie said, her voice worshipful, her changeable eyes like stars. She lifted the lid of a purple silk jewelry box. On a bed of white satin, a string of small cultured pearls glowed in the candlelight. “Mama says I have to wear them all the time, that they’ll lose their color if I don’t.”
    Anna’s gaze went to the corner, where Lilya sat in a rocking chair. She was fully dressed, even to her apron—which Anna recognized as one of the two she’d placed under the tree.
    Lilya beckoned to Sophie. “Come, Sophia, Mama will fasten for you.” Her fingers were adept with the clasp. “Now, Zaychik, go and look in the mirror in Mama’s bedroom, see how beautiful are you.”
    Sophie skipped away, and Anna knelt beside Lilya. She took the older woman’s work worn hands in both of hers and held them to her cheeks. “How can I ever thank you?” she whispered.
    Lilya’s lips trembled. “Nyet, nyet, it is I thank you.” She smiled, and the candles reflected the happiness in her faded blue eyes. For the first time ever, Anna saw that Lilya’s eyes were sparkling with joy, no sign of tears.
    “Sit, sit here,” she ordered, leaping up. “Schastlivogo Rozhdestva,” she added in a loud, cheerful voice. “Means Happy Christmas. Now you sit, my Annushka, you and dorogya, and Mama will bring hot milk for all of us. Is good for you, hot milk.”
     
     
    —The End—
     
     
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    Another Holiday Novella:
     
    CAROL’S CHRISTMAS
     

     
    1914, Christmas in a coal mining town in the Canadian Rockies. Carol has two adorable babies and a husband she adores—but meeting her neighbor, Julia, makes her think maybe she’s missing out on