God Bless Us Every One. Eva Marie Everson
Praise for God Bless Us Every One
Praise for God Bless Us Every One
“God Bless Us Every One is a delightful holiday novella that is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit. Eva Marie Everson brings her characters to life and tugs at your heartstrings with a sweet romance and a message of family forgiveness. Quotes from Dickens’s Christmas Carol give added depth and meaning to the story. Grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy this story!”
—Carrie Turansky, author of A Refuge at Highland Hall and Shine Like the Dawn
“What combination is better than this? Eva Marie Everson and Christmas! God Bless Us Every One has all the qualities that make her so special as a writer: characters that connect with readers, a heart-touching storyline, and crisp dialogue . . . all of which keeps us turning the pages until the very end. Everson had me at Merry Christmas.”
—Sandra D. Bricker, author of Live-Out-Loud fiction, including the Another Emma Rae Creation series and the Jessie Stanton series for Abingdon Press
“Everson has penned a sweet holiday tale spiked with plenty of peppermint! What better framework for redemption than a community production of A Christmas Carol? Throw in a wayward father making amends and an old high-school crush and you have a surefire recipe for discovering the true meaning of Christmas. Everson delivers forgiveness, renewal, and pure joy as sweet and satisfying as a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows.”
—Sarah Loudin Thomas
Title Page
Copyright Page
God Bless Us Every One
Copyright © 2016 by Eva Marie Everson
All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P.O. Box 280988, Nashville, TN, 37228-0988 or e-mailed to [email protected].
The persons and events portrayed in this work of fiction are the creations of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Macro Editor: Ramona Richards
Published in association with Wheelhouse Literary Agency
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Everson, Eva Marie, author.
Title: God bless us every one : a contemporary Christmas carol / Eva Marie Everson.
Description: First edition. | Nashville, Tennessee : Abingdon Press, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016012082| ISBN 9781501822698 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501822704 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Christmas stories. | GSAFD: Christian fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3605.V47 G63 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016012082
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Epigraphs taken from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol in Prose Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (London: Chapman & Hall, 1843).
Dedication Page
In memory of Rachel LouAnn Richards,
who lived well and brought much joy,
who loved with her whole heart
outshining the stars in the sky.
Chapter 1
1
* * *
“Bah! Humbug! Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry . . . in such a world of fools as this? What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer?”
—Ebenezer Scrooge
She couldn’t believe it. She absolutely could not believe it.
Yet here she was, not a week before Thanksgiving. Five weeks before Christmas.
How would she tell Sis? Never mind how. What would she tell Sis?
Charlie Dixon—the newly unemployed Charlie Dixon—slid her iPhone across the top of her desk toward herself. Pushed it back. Picked it up, juggling it like one of those stress balls she wished she had right about now. Then, taking a deep breath, she pressed the Home button with her thumb and entered her passcode.
The screen displayed a photograph of her and Sis shivering in the New York City cold during their last visit there, grinning like girls, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lit up behind them. She smiled, then grimaced at the older woman’s face, surrounded by a faux-fur hood and pressed close to her own. Sixty-four with nary a wrinkle.
Okay. Maybe one or two. But few would guess that Sis wasn’t a sibling at all, but her grandmother. Most folks thought them to be mother and daughter.
“May as well be,” Charlie breathed out.
She entered the code for her grandmother’s number and waited.
Sis opened the conversation without so much as a greeting. “If you’re calling to tell me you can’t make it next week, don’t.”
Charlie forced a smile. “No, Sis. I’ll be there. I, uh . . .” She looked up at the ceiling, dotted with amber watermarks. Nothing unusual for Florida ceilings, especially in buildings as old as this one. “I, uh . . . was thinking . . . maybe I’d come a few days early.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Charlie coughed out a chuckle. “Why not? Can’t a granddaughter come see her grandmother without twenty questions?”
“Mm-hmm. I don’t remember asking twenty questions.”
Charlie’s shoulders dropped a good two inches. She picked up a lone paper clip and twirled it between her fingers. “Sis, I’ve got some time off.” A lot of time off to be exact. “I’ve got some time off and—”
“When will you be here?”
She released her pent-up emotions with a long sigh. “Saturday?”
That gave her the rest of the day to pack up her office, return to her apartment, and figure out what she’d do now that—
“I’ve got a meeting with the high school drama teacher on Saturday.”
Charlie smiled weakly. “You’re really taking on the Christmas play again this year?”
“I am,” Sis returned quickly, her words determined.
“Even after last year’s debacle?”
“Last year we didn’t have . . .” Sis’s voice trailed off as though something beyond the conversation had stolen her attention.
“Didn’t have what?”
“Uh, this year our proceeds are going to a homeless shelter. What do you say to that?”
“That’s . . . that’s nice, I guess.” Just like Sis to come up with something so heartfelt. “What inspired that?”
“Well, there’s something—someone . . .” Sis’s voice trailed. “How about if we talk about it when you get here?”
Charlie