A (kinda) Country Christmas: A Christian Holiday Romance Read online

  She tossed her head back and laughed. “Hold on a second. You did not love that.”

  He cupped his hand to her cheek and pulled her back. “Wanna make a bet? You are cute when you scowl.”

  “Liar.”

  “See? Right there. Most adorable scowl in the world. And remember, I’m experienced in such things. Although, I have to admit your smile is just as beautiful and a little less terrifying.”

  That bought him a soft punch in the stomach.

  “The bottom line is, I love you, Sadie.” He reached into his pocket and brought out the gift he’d been wanting to give her all day, been praying about the wisdom in giving it to her. He’d thought after last night that God was telling him no.

  But then today happened.

  A true Christmas miracle.

  Dropping to one knee, he held out the little black box wrapped in a simple red bow. “Would you, Sadie Claudia Jenkins, do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

  He held tight to her trembling hand as she wiped a tear from her eye with her other. “I—I love you too, Nate. Yes. Yes I’ll marry you.”

  Not even caring that she hadn’t seen the ring, he tossed the box onto the couch and stood, capturing her into his arms. Before he could make a move, she brought her lips to his and entwined her arms around his neck, her body flush with his.

  Suddenly the empty house seemed very—tempting. It took all his strength to gentle the kiss and put a few inches between them. His voice sounded raspy, even to his own ears. “When?”

  Her eyes danced with a heady passion that was getting harder to resist. “When what?” She swayed toward him and kissed him again.

  Against every desire coursing through his body, he pecked her lips and rested his forehead against hers. “New Years Eve.”

  Sadie snapped her head up, Nate’s words registering. “What?”

  “You heard me. Marry me. On New Year’s Eve.”

  He couldn’t be serious. “Like, next week or next year, New Year’s Eve?”

  His eyes bored into her with a pleading look. "Please don’t make me wait a year, Sadie. I’ll be moving to Nashville for my job and setting up a home, a real home, and there is nothing that would thrill me more than to have you by my side. You said yourself, a long distance relationship would be difficult.”

  She had said that. And the thought was oh-so-tempting. But there were a lot of things to consider. “What about me? I know you have your job and—you know I love you, Nate, but I would make a horrible professional homemaker. I’ve worked all my life.”

  “Then we’ll hire someone to come in and clean. You can go to college and work on that teaching degree you talked about. Or—” he wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “We can always discuss that other idea.”

  Kids. She had never contemplated the idea of having more children. But with Nate—he’d make one handsome daddy, that’s for sure. “I’ll have to think on that.”

  He tilted her chin up gently with his fingers and pressed his lips against hers with the most gentle of kisses. “So what do you say? Can you plan a wedding in a week?”

  She had no clue how she’d pull it off. There were so many things to consider. They’d have to keep it small—but then again, small fit her just fine.

  Fly, Sadie.

  Was getting married immediately really flying though, or just tethering her string to another person?

  She closed her eyes and pictured her and Nate, flying through the air, hand-in-hand.

  Maybe it didn’t have to be either-or. They could just fly together.

  “Can I see my ring first?”

  He laughed as he reached down and grabbed the little black box from the couch and loosened the ribbon. “Of course.”

  She gasped as he opened it to reveal the most beautiful diamond solitaire she’d ever seen, a perfect round shape, just as she would have picked. “It’s breathtaking.”

  Taking her hand in his, he slid it on her left ring finger. “So what will it be, future Mrs. Meyers?”

  “I think a New Year’s Eve country wedding sounds fabulous.”

  “We could always rent out a barn and have a good ol’ fashioned hoedown for the reception.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Okay, maybe only kinda country. I was born in Indiana, remember. I wouldn’t know how to two-step to save my life.”

  "So Indiana with all its corn is the hub of bustling city life now?"

  "Shut up. You know what I mean."

  He chuckled and drew her closer, then slid a finger down her cheek, ending with a tap on her chin. “Okay. Scratch the barn idea then. As long as you, me, Mari, Kendra and the Pastor are there, I’ll be a happy man.”

  “Sounds like an excellent plan to me.”

  He leaned down to kiss her again, but she drew back when another thought popped into her head. “Hold on a minute. A little bit ago, you called me by my whole name. Who told you that?”

  A guilty grin tipped his mouth upward. “A little bird.”

  She groaned. “Mari is in so much trouble.”

  “It actually answered a lot of questions I’d had.”

  “Oh really?”

  “I’d wondered why, since your parents were the ones all about Christmas, they hadn’t named you a more Christmasy name like you did Mari.”

  Her embarrassment was complete. “Well, now you know. Sadie Claudia was the only girl name they could think of that came anywhere close to Santa Claus. And don’t you dare tell Maribelle this, but her name was out of pure spite. I figured since she was going to be born in the south and be the granddaughter of Santa and Mrs. Claus, she should have a Christmas and southern belle name. Maribelle did the trick.”

  “I think it’s cute.”

  “I think so too. Sadie Claudia, however, not so much.”

  “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that.” And with that, he broke off any rebuttal she might have had with a kiss that sent shivers of pleasure clear to her toes.

  A New Year’s Eve wedding was sounding better and better by the minute.

  TheEnd

  Thank you for reading A (kinda) Country Christmas! I hope you enjoyed getting to know Sadie, Nate, Maribelle, and Kendra! Look for more (kinda) stories in 2016!

  Please consider posting a review on Amazon or Goodreads with your thoughts on this novella to aid other readers in their book selections! I would greatly appreciate it!

  And while you’re there, I’d LOVE for you to check out my other books!

  Blessings to you, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

  Love,

  Krista

  Acknowledgments

  HUGE thanks to –

  My hubby and kids – you deal with way too much macaroni and cheese for dinner and fishing clean clothes out of laundry baskets as I follow this writing journey—THANK YOU for loving me anyway!

  Jessica E – YOU ROCK! Thanks for being such a GREAT reader and giving me feedback in a pinch!

  All the Love's Gift authors – It was an honor to have my little book alongside your brilliant stories!

  The Alley Cats – I couldn't walk this journey without you girls, sisters of my heart!

  Sarah Forgrave – If this book stinks, I blame you (not really...but you get my drift!) I can't believe I'm publishing a book without you reading it first! *sniffle* But you're gonna whip all our booties in shape so I'll muddle through!

  The Town of Gatlinburg – I know this is just a small little book, and I couldn't highlight the awesomeness of your little town as much as it deserves, but our family loves visiting and I enjoyed visiting in my fictional little land too! Any errors I made—we'll chalk it up to my imagination!

  And to Jesus, God's gift to the world. We don't deserve you, but you came anyway. We mocked you, and you loved still. There was no "kinda" about it.

  Sandwich, With a Side of Romance : A Novel

  She moved to Sandwich, Illinois,

  in search of a new life, but

  ended up in a giant pickle.

 
Available in paperback, ebook, and audio!

  A Side of Faith: A Novella

  He was everything she never wanted.

  Available in paperback and ebook!

  A Side of Hope: A Novella

  Sometimes presents come in husband-shaped packages...

  Available in paperback and ebook!

  About Krista Phillips

  Krista Phillips writes inspirational romantic comedy. She believes a sprinkle of laughter (and a wee bit of chocolate) makes everything a little better! She blogs regularly about life as a wife, mother, follower of Jesus, and mother of a child with a rare congenital heart defect at www.kristaphillips.com.

  You can also find Krista at:

  www.facebook.com/authorkristaphillips

  www.twitter.com/kristaphillips

  www.thewritersalleyblog.com

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Acknowledgments

  About Krista Phillips

  A (kinda) Country Christmas

  Copyright © 2015 by Krista Phillips

  Published by -

  One Woman's Dream Publishing

  www.kristaphillips.com

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, posted on any website, or transmitted in any form or by any means—digital, electronic, scanning, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in printed reviews and articles.

  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.