Shannon here: Anne Greene shares a romantic excerpt from her Historical Romance novel, A Williamsburg Christmas. Comment or answer the question on any post dated Oct 9 – 12 to enter the drawing. Two winners will each get autographed copies. Deadline Oct 20th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Anne:
Excerpt from A Williamsburg Christmas by Anne Greene:
1955, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Holly and Shirley trudged down Duke of Gloucester Street toward the buildings where each of them rented an apartment.
“What’s buzzin, cuzzin? Saw a ghost? You looked like something the cat dragged in this evening at work.”
Holly nodded. She needed to talk to help clarify this new situation in her mind. “It’s a long story. And not very pretty.”
“Those are the best kinds. Hit me with it.”
Holly drew a belly-up breath. Tonight, even the Christmas lights failed to cheer her. “You noticed the quartet that played this evening?”
“Sure. Their name’s Radioactive. Bunch of cool-looking cats with their pegged jeans, their black-striped shirts, and their ducktails. Played good too.” Shirley gave a thumbs-up, then winked. “Did you see that dreamy one who played that big brass horn? I could go for him in a big way.”
“Feel free. His name’s Trent Conway. We went steady during our senior year of high school.”
“Cool beans!” Shirley gazed at Holly’s face. “But no way I’d go out with one of your old flames.” She tugged at Holly’s red wool coat sleeve. “You saw a ghost from the past. I’m all ears.”
Holly walked a short distance. Why not? They had time before they reached their apartments. “Okay, you asked for it.” She forced a smile. “Start with two years after high school. My broken heart had almost healed when I met Vince. Haven’t thought about these high school memories in years.”
“That horn player broke your heart?”
“He did. I’d been expecting a proposal and a ring the summer I got a job and before Trent left our small town to attend Ohio State. He promised to write.” Holly tried to sound light-hearted. “But he didn’t. At all. I tried to contact him, but he’d left no address. After a year of mourning and moping, I left my job in West Liberty and found work in Columbus. I rented a room at the YWCA near Ohio State.” Holly gave a rueful grin. “Since we lived in the same city now, I started each day expecting to run into or hear from Trent.” She shook her head. “Neither happened. Like he’d fallen off the face of the earth.”
“Why would Trent do that?” Shirley’s blue eyes sparkled tears.
“I don’t know.” Holly smiled. “Then Vince exploded into my life like a superhero with a whirlwind romance and marriage. I almost forgot Trent.”
“Way to go!”
“I thought I’d forgotten Trent, right? Does a girl ever forget her first love?”
“You never saw Trent again—until now?”
“Right. The last time I saw him was the day he climbed into his 1941 Ford and left for college. He kissed me and said, ‘I’ll always love you, Christmas Girl.’”
Shirley’s blue eyes opened so wide she resembled an astonished child. “He called you that? How romantic!” She
took several steps then stopped. “I wish a boy would call me something sweet.”
“Trent had several nicknames for me, but that’s the one he used the last time we saw each other.”
“Oh, Holly, you’re so lucky a boyfriend cared so much for you.”
The pain certainly hadn’t felt lucky. Or the years of wondering. Or the shock of running into him again with him looking even more attractive than he had in high school. “Nowheresville! I never want to see Trent again. Not now. Not ever.”
“Well, you’re lucky. Dream Boat Trent is not the one I set you up with.”
“Yuck!” Holly stopped dead and grabbed Shirley’s arm. “No!”
Shirley’s face sported a huge grin. “Yep. Mr. Clarinet Player…and all the guys…are used to girls asking them for dates after their gigs. Groupies they call us. Anyway,” Shirley’s bright smile dimmed for a second, “he turned me down at first…until I pointed you out. Then he asked, ‘When and where?’”
“You didn’t, please say you didn’t.”
“Honey, you need to get out of that apartment and see some nightlife. Santa’s bringing Mr. Clarinet Player to pick you up at seven. I’m babysitting.” Shirley flashed a genuine this-will-be-so-good-for-you smile. “His name’s Bob Robinson.”
About Anne: Anne lives in the quaint antiquing town of McKinney, Texas, a few miles north of Dallas. Her husband is a retired Colonel, Army Special Forces. Her little brown and white Shih Tzu, Lily Valentine, shares her writing space, curled at her feet.
Besides her first love, writing, Anne enjoys family, friends, travel, reading, and way too many other things to mention. Life is good. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”
Anne’s an award-winning author of twenty books. She loves writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. She hopes her stories transport you to awesome new worlds and touch your heart.
About the book – A Williamsburg Christmas:
Christmas 1955 – Trent jilted Holly. Should she give him a second chance? Has too much time elapsed and is too much fire quenched for this romance to rekindle?
Holly falls in love with the sights, sounds, and scents of Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg during her first months living there. She’s a widowed mother raising 8-year-old twin boys by working as a waitress in a famous Colonial Williamsburg Inn.
Trent disappeared from Holly’s life ten years ago. Now he’s back and wants to marry her. Santa’s matchmakers complicate Holly’s decisions by bringing new men into her life. Will the competition prove too much for Trent?
Can’t wait for the drawing? Get your copy now! A Williamsburg Christmas – Amazon
Question for Readers: What is your favorite thing to do at Christmas, maybe even a tradition?
Come back Oct 16th for Paula Moldenhauer!
caroling , decorating, baking for the holidays
I love those things as well. Also singing in the choir Christmas Concert. Good to hear from you, Shelia!
It’s been 40 years since I visited Williamsburg but I loved it and have always wanted to go back!
You will love my book then. Lots of places in Williamsburg named. Good to hear from you friend, Joan.
One of my favorite things is to get out old photos and look through them with family. Thanks for the chance!
What a lovely idea. I will have to add that to my traditions as well. Thank you, Candace.
My favorite Holiday is Christmas! I Love spending the day with my family, my husband plays christmas music on his saxophone, clarinet and flute, and now our oldest granddaughter plays the saxophone, so that will be awesome to listen to, I love it especially when my grandchildren come over and we all open our christmas gifts, i just love watching their faces light up! We usually have Christmas dinner here together. Your book sure sounds Awesome. I also wanted to Thank you for my autographed book of Masquerade Marriage! Thank you so Very Much, i had messaged you on FB, I don’t know if you have read the message on FB messenger i sent you. Have a Great Day!
Good to see you here, Alicia. Sorry, I missed your FB messenger message. I also love being with the children on Christmas Day. I’m fortunate they are free to come spend the day with me and enjoy our family traditions, one of which is to read the Christmas Story from Luke to everyone. Yes, Christmas is my favorite holiday as well.
I loved that my family always opened our presents on Christmas Eve and tgen Christmas morning we would have Santa presents. We also always have homemade noodles with our meal (didn’t realize this was not normal until I was in college)–both sides of the family did it too.
Homemade noodles?? Sounds luscious, but where did that tradition start? Are you an Italian family? Nice to hear from you Jennifer. We used to always have turkey for Thanksgiving and then Christmas as well, but the family decided one turkey a year was sufficient. So I have to come up with an alternate entrée and it must be something exotic. I like to serve a lamb roast of some sort because Jesus is the Lamb of God.
My favorite thing to do at Christmas is decorating the tree and the house with the family, and then relaxing together enjoying the beauty of it all while listening to Christmas music . We also have a Christmas Advent calendar we have read together with our two daughters since they were toddlers. They are now 20 and 23. Lots of memories and a treasure to still do together.
Sounds wonderful, Alison. Enjoying family traditions together and reliving the memories, maybe with a fire in the fireplace, and spiced cider and cookies in hand. We also like to play games after dinner. We get quite passionate in competing to win.
Christmas at our house starts early. If I was off work tje night nefore I get up at around 5 am and cook everyone a breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage pancakes, buscuits, the whole nine yards. I wake everyone up and we sit in our jammies and eat breakfast while we take turns reading the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we load the dishwasher. Then we all go to the living room and one at a time we open our gifts showing off what we got and thanking who ever it is from. Then we get our christmas outfits on and start cooking lunch for the extended familu. It is a busy day, but I wouldnt trade it for anything. I enjoy ebery second.
Hi Gayla! You sound like you’re still in charge of your household. I love the order of your day. When my children were smaller we had to open presents first, then proceed with our day. Now, whichever child or grandchild is dominant for the time being seems to call the shots. Of course, my dh has the final say, but sometimes he had to speak pretty loud to be heard. Lots of fun!!!
Christmas get togethers with my family and my in-laws are a given but I dearly love our Christmas program at church. It is usually the first weekend in December and it is my true start of the Christmas holiday. I never tire of seeing the Nativity scene, watching the children say their poems or perform their skit and oh yes, the music! This is a tradition that I truly love and look forward to.
Thanks for a chance to win this book. It sounds lovely.
Love to Christmas carol. Also visit nursing homes or homeless. Make cookies make blankets to give out. Family time is always wonderful.
joeym11atfrontierdotcom
I have winners! Diana Lynn Montgomery and Alison Boss won the drawing. I appreciate Anne for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.
Thank you so much. Look forward to reading.
Blessings
Diana