A WEDDING IN DECEMBER
Author: Sarah Morgan
ISBN: 9781335147271
Publication Date: 9/24/2019
Publisher: HQN Books
Book Summary:
This funny, charming and heartwarming new Christmas novel
is USA TODAY bestselling
author Sarah Morgan at her festive best!
In the snowy perfection of Aspen, the White family gathers for
youngest daughter Rosie’s whirlwind Christmas wedding. First to arrive are the
bride’s parents, Maggie and Nick. Their daughter’s marriage is a milestone they
are determined to celebrate wholeheartedly, but they are hiding a huge secret
of their own: they are on the brink of divorce. After living apart for the last
six months, the last thing they need is to be trapped together in an
irresistibly romantic winter wonderland.
Rosie’s older sister, Katie, is also dreading
the wedding. Worried that impulsive, sweet-hearted Rosie is making a mistake,
Katie is determined to save her sister from herself! If only the irritatingly
good-looking best man, Jordan, would stop interfering with her plans…
Bride-to-be Rosie loves her fiancé but is
having serious second thoughts. Except everyone has arrived—how can she tell
them she’s not sure? As the big day gets closer, and emotions run even higher,
this is one White family Christmas none of them will ever forget!
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Author Bio: USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan writes hot,
happy, contemporary romance and women’s fiction, and her trademark humor and
sensuality have gained her fans across the globe. Described as “a magician with
words” by RT Book Reviews, she has sold more than eleven million copies of her
books. She was nominated three years in succession for the prestigious RITA®
Award from the Romance Writers of America and won the award three times: once
in 2012 for Doukakis’s Apprentice, in 2013 for A Night of No Return and in 2017
for Miracle on 5th Avenue. She also won the RT Reviewers’ Choice
Award in 2012 and has made numerous appearances in their Top Pick slot. As a
child, Sarah dreamed of being a writer, and although she took a few interesting
detours along the way, she is now living that dream. Sarah lives near London,
England, with her husband and children, and when she isn’t reading or writing,
she loves being outdoors, preferably on vacation so she can forget the house
needs tidying.
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From Chapter One
Maggie
When
her phone rang at three in the morning, ripping her from a desperately needed
sleep, Maggie’s first thought was bad news.
Her
mind raced through the possibilities, starting with the worst-case scenario.
Death, or at least life-changing injury. Police. Ambulances.
Heart
pounding, brain foggy, she grabbed her phone from the summit of her teetering
pile of books. The name on the screen offered no reassurance.
Trouble
stalked her youngest daughter.
“Rosie?”
She fumbled for the light and sat up. The book she’d fallen asleep reading
thudded to the floor, scattering the pile of Christmas cards she’d started to
write the night before. She’d chosen a winter scene of snow-laden trees. They
hadn’t had a flake of snow in the village on Christmas Day for close to a decade.
They often joked that it was a good thing their last name was White because it
was the only way they were ever going to have a White Christmas.
She
snuggled under the blanket with the phone. “Has something happened?” The
physical distance between her and Rosie made her feel frustrated and helpless.
Everyone
said global travel made the world smaller, but it didn’t seem smaller to
Maggie. Why couldn’t her daughter have continued her studies closer to home?
Oxford, with its famous spires and ancient colleges, was only a few miles away.
Rosie had done her undergraduate degree there, followed by a master’s. Maggie
had loved having her close by. They’d taken sunlit strolls along cobbled
streets, past ancient honey-colored buildings and through Christchurch Meadows,
golden with daffodils. They’d followed the slow meander of the river and
cheered on the rowing crews. Maggie had hoped, privately, that her daughter
might stay close by, but after Rosie had graduated she’d been offered a place
in a US doctoral program, complete with full funding.
Can
you believe it, Mum? The day she’d had the news she’d danced across the living room,
hair flying around her face, twirling until she was dizzy and Maggie was dizzy
watching her. Are you proud of me?
Maggie
had been proud and dismayed in equal measure, although she’d hidden the
dismayed part of course. That was what you did when you were a parent.
Even
she could see it was too good an opportunity to turn down, but still a small
part of her had wished Rosie had turned it down. That transatlantic
flight from the nest left Maggie with email, Skype and social media, none of
which felt entirely satisfactory. Even less so in the middle of the night. Had
Rosie only been gone for four months? It felt like a lifetime since they’d
delivered her to the airport on that sweltering summer’s day.
“Is
it your asthma? Are you in hospital?” What could she do if Rosie was in
the hospital? Nothing. Anxiety was a constant companion, never more so than
now.
If
it had been her eldest daughter, Katie, who had moved to a different country
she might have felt more relaxed. Katie was reliable and sensible, but Rosie?
Rosie had always been impulsive and adventurous.
“I’m
not in hospital. Don’t fuss!”
Only
now did Maggie hear the noise in the background. Cheering, whooping.
“Do
you have your inhaler with you? You sound breathless.” The sound woke the
memories. Rosie, eyes bulging, lips stained blue. The whistling sound as air
struggled to squeeze through narrowed airways. Maggie making emergency calls
with hands that shook almost too hard to hold the phone, the terror raw and
brutal although she kept that hidden from her child. Calm, she’d learned, was
important even if it was faked.
Even
when Rosie had moved from child to adult there had been no reprieve.
Some
children grew out of asthma. Not Rosie.
There
had been a couple of occasions when Rosie was in college when she’d gone to
parties without her inhaler. A few hours of dancing later and she’d been rushed
to the emergency department. That had been a 3:00 a.m. phone call, too, and
Maggie had raced through the night to be by her side. Those were the episodes
Maggie knew about. She was sure there were plenty more that Rosie had kept to
herself.
“I’m
breathless because I’m excited. I’m twenty-two, Mum. When are you going to stop
worrying?”
“That
would be never. Your child is always your child, no matter how many candles are
on the birthday cake. Where are you?”
“I’m
with Dan’s family in Aspen for Thanksgiving, and I have news.” She broke off
and Maggie heard the clink of glasses and Rosie’s infectious laugh. It was
impossible to hear that laugh and not want to smile, too. The sound contrasted
with the silence of Maggie’s bedroom.
A waft of cold air chilled her
skin and she stood up and grabbed her robe from the back of the chair.
Honeysuckle Cottage looked idyllic from the outside, but it was impossibly
drafty. The ventilation was a relief in August but froze you to the bone in
November. She really needed to do something about the insulation before she
even thought about selling the place. Historic charm, climbing roses and a view
of the village green couldn’t compensate for frostbite.
Or
maybe it wasn’t the house that was cold. Maybe it was her.
Knocked
flat by a wave of sadness and she struggled to right herself.
“What’s
happening? What news? It sounds like you’re having a party.”
“Dan
proposed. Literally out of the blue. We were taking it in turns to say
what we’re thankful for and when it was his turn he gave me a funny look and
then he got down on one knee and—Mum, we’re getting married.”
Maggie
sat down hard on the edge of the bed, the freezing air forgotten. “Married? But
you and Dan have only been together for a few weeks—”
“Eleven
weeks, four days, six hours and fifteen minutes—oh wait, now it’s sixteen, I
mean seventeen—” She was laughing, and Maggie tried to laugh with her.
How
should she handle this? “That’s not very long, sweetheart.” But completely in
character for Rosie, who bounced from one impulse to another, powered by
enthusiasm.
“It
feels so right, I can’t even tell you. And you’ll understand because it was
like that for you and Dad.”
Maggie
stared at the damp patch on the wall.
Tell
her the truth.
Her
mouth moved but she couldn’t push the words out. This was the wrong time. She
should have done it months ago, but she’d been too much of a coward.
And
now it was too late. She didn’t want to be the slayer of happy moments.
She couldn’t even say you’re
too young, because she’d been the same age when she’d had Katie. Which
basically made her a hypocrite. Or did it make her someone with experience?
“You
just started your postgrad—”
“I’m
not giving it up. I can be married and study. Plenty do it.”
Maggie
couldn’t argue with that. “I’m happy for you.” Did she sound happy? She tried
harder. “Woohoo!”
She’d
thought she’d white-knuckled her way through all the toughest parts of
parenting, but it turned out there were still some surprises waiting for her.
Rosie wasn’t a child anymore. She had to be allowed to make her own decisions.
And her own mistakes.
Rosie
was talking again. “I know it’s all a bit fast, but you’re going to love Dan as
much as I do. You said you thought he was great when you spoke to him.”
But
speaking to someone on a video call wasn’t the same as meeting them in person,
was it?
Maggie
swallowed down all the words of warning that rose up inside her. She was not
going to turn into her own mother and send clouds to darken every bright
moment. “He seemed charming, and I’m thrilled for you. If I don’t sound it,
it’s because it’s the middle of the night here, and you know what I’m like
when I’ve just woken up. When I saw your name pop up on the screen, I was
worried it was your asthma.”
“Haven’t
had an attack in ages. I’m sorry I woke you, but I wanted to share my news.”
“I’m
glad you woke me. Tell me everything.” She closed her eyes and tried to pretend
her daughter was in the room with her, and not thousands of miles away.
There
was no reason to panic. It was an engagement, that was all. There was plenty of
time for them to decide if this was the right thing for them. “We’ll have a big
celebration when you and your sister are here for Christmas. Would Dan like to
join us? I can’t wait to meet him. Maybe we’ll throw a party. Invite the
Baxters, and all your friends from college and school.” Planning lifted
Maggie’s mood. Christmas was her favorite time of year, the one occasion the
whole family gathered together. Even Katie, with her busy life as a doctor,
usually managed to beg and barter a few days at Christmas in exchange for covering
the busy New Year shift. Maggie was looking forward to spending time with her.
She had a niggling suspicion her eldest daughter was avoiding her. Every time
Maggie suggested meeting up, Katie made an excuse, which was unlike her
because she rarely refused a free lunch.
Christmas
would give her a chance to dig a little deeper.
In
her opinion, Oxford was the perfect place to spend the festive season. True,
there was unlikely to be snow, but what was better than a postlunch walk
listening to the peal of bells on a crisp, cold winter’s day?
It
promised to be perfect, apart from one complication.
Nick.
Maggie
still hadn’t figured out how she was going to handle that side of things.
Maybe
an engagement was exactly what they needed to shift the focus of attention.
“Christmas
is one of the things I need to talk to you about.” Rosie sounded hesitant. “I
planned to come home, but since Dan proposed—well, we don’t see the point in
waiting. We’ve chosen the day. We’re getting married on Christmas Eve.”
Maggie
frowned. “You mean next year?”
“No,
this year.”
She
counted the days and her brain almost exploded. “You want to get married in
less than four weeks? To a man you barely know?” Rosie had always been
impulsive, but this wasn’t a soft toy that would be abandoned after a few days,
or a dress that would turn out to be not quite the right color. Marriage wasn’t
something that could be rectified with a refund. There was no reason for haste,
unless—“Sweetie—”
“I
know what you’re thinking, and it isn’t that. I’m not pregnant! We’re getting
married because we’re in love. I adore him. I’ve never felt this way about
anyone before.”
You
barely know him.
Maggie
shifted, uncomfortably aware that knowing someone well didn’t inoculate you
against problems.
“I’m
excited for you!” Turned out she could fake excitement as convincingly as she
could fake calm.
Excerpted from A Wedding
in December by Sarah Morgan. Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Morgan. Published by HQN
Books.
