She hadn’t said anything? Mick wandered back into the parlor, still trying to reconcile reality with the certainty that by this time he was to have been utterly undone by Miss Rosalind Treadwell. Instead, she had married him. Married him?
He looked across the room at her, and his chest swelled with joy. She had married him! Her words before the minister came back to him in full force: “I forgive him.”
“Rosalind!” He crossed the room and swept her into his arms. “Rosalind, is it true?”
“Of course,” she said, laughing. “I love you, Mick! I shall love you always.”
As he swung her around, the remaining guests began to applaud. “Good show! Well done! Cheers!”
Mick took Rosalind’s hand and circled the room, pumping every one’s hand he could grasp. “Happy Christmas to you!” he cried out. “God bless you!”
Rosalind chuckled, dancing along beside him as they said their farewells to everyone. And then she was giving her papa a kiss and seeing him off in his carriage. William and Caroline dismissed the servants, and then they, too, were gone.
As the door shut on the last of the crowd, Rosalind pulled Mick by the hand back into the parlor. “Come on,” she said. “It’s not Christmas until tomorrow, but I cannot wait to give you your present.”
“Present?” Mick followed her across the room to the small table where the nativity scene stood. “Oh, Rosalind—”
“Look,” she said, slipping the tiny white lamb from her pocket and setting it beside the manger in which the Christ child lay. “Now it is home again . . . where it belongs.”
“Rosalind,” Mick said, taking her in his arms, “I thought you would . . . I expected this morning to be . . . Do you really wish to be my wife?”
She smiled and tapped him on the nose. “I believe that’s what I promised God in church just this morning, silly goose.”
“But I . . . the things I did to you. I destroyed your family. How can you ever forgive that?”
“When I was praying last night,” she said, turning her gaze downward, “I realized that you and I are no different. We are both sinners, both in need of the tender Shepherd’s blessing, guidance, and protection. I forgive you,” she said, looking into his eyes, “because I have been forgiven.”
“Oh, my love. My dearest love.” He took her in his arms and kissed her until all the uncertainty had fled from his heart.
“You and I,” Rosalind whispered as they gazed down on the baby in the manger, “are just two little lambs . . . forgiven and loved by the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
CURRANT CAKES
4 cups flour
½ lb butter
1½ cups sugar
4 eggs
½ lb currants, well washed and dredged with flour
½ tsp baking soda, dissolved in hot water
½ lemon, grated rind and juice
1 tsp cinnamon
Cream sugar, butter, eggs, and lemon until silky. Add the flour, cinnamon, and currants. Drop from a spoon onto a well-buttered, paper-lined baking pan.
Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catherine Palmer lives in Atlanta with her husband, Tim, where they serve as missionaries in a refugee community. They have two grown sons. Catherine is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and holds a master’s degree in English from Baylor University. Her first book was published in 1988. Since then she has published more than fifty novels, many of them national best sellers. Catherine has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Christy Award, the highest honor in Christian fiction. In 2004, she was given the Career Achievement Award for Inspirational Romance by Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine. More than 2 million copies of Catherine’s novels are currently in print.
With her compelling characters and strong message of Christian faith, Catherine is known for writing fiction that “touches the hearts and souls of readers.” Her many collections include A Town Called Hope, Treasures of the Heart, Finders Keepers, English Ivy, and the Miss Pickworth series. Catherine also recently coauthored the Four Seasons fiction series with Gary Chapman, the New York Times best-selling author of The Five Love Languages.
Visit catherinepalmer.com for more information on future releases. To learn more about her work as a missionary to refugees, visit palmermissions.blogspot.com.
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