Love's Silver Lining
Page 40
Maggie vaulted into Blaze’s lap with a squeal, arms pasted tightly to his neck while everyone’s laughter ricocheted off the walls. Chuckling, he deposited a kiss to her head as he gave Shaylee a wink. “Much as I prefer this seating for Thanksgiving dinner, darlin’, I’m a little worried I may drop gravy on your dress.”
Libby shot Maggie a grin as she reached to swipe a piece of turkey of her own. “Goodness, Maggie, I haven’t seen you jump that high since Annabelle had babies in the house! But I think you can take your seat now because Shay doesn’t really have Annabelle in her pocket, do you, Shay?”
“Naw,” the little stinker said with a grin, “I just like to watch Maggie jump.” Scooting her chair back, she made a great show of peering under the table. “Annabelle prefers the floor.”
It was Libby’s turn to squeal as she sprang out of her chair like a horseshoe gone off course, hand to her chest while she scoured beneath the table.
“Ahem.” Arching a brow at his youngest niece, Finn reached for Libby’s hand with a patient smile. “Libs, Annabelle’s been left at home, in a cage in the barn, I might add, where she’s banned since your mother found her in the piano two weeks ago and fainted dead out.”
A shudder rippled through Maeve as she grabbed Aiden’s hand. “Goodness, it was enough to ruin music forever.”
“And up our move-in date by a full week,” Aiden said with a chuckle while he sawed off a drumstick.
Finn’s smile took a slant as he tugged Libby back into her chair. “Although I have to admit, darlin’, that I am somewhat offended you chose to bolt away rather than jumping in my lap like Maggie did with Blaze.”
Scrambling from Blaze’s lap to return to her chair, Maggie gave Shaylee a playful pinch of her neck while she huffed out a sigh of relief. “Although I am utterly and completely grateful for all bans on spiders,” she began with a wink at Shaylee, “what I’m most grateful for”—she slid Blaze a shy smile that put a swell in his chest—“is a dear friend named Rachel.”
“I’ll second that,” Dash said, leaning in to raise his drink with a grateful smile at Maggie, “and to the nurse who changed her life, for whom I am most grateful.”
Blaze skimmed a gentle thumb along the curve of Maggie’s jaw. “I’d say that’s one of the givens around this table tonight,” he said softly. “But”—he hoisted his glass of sarsaparilla with a wayward gleam in his eyes—“I also am grateful for butterscotch kisses.” He laughed when Maggie turned eight shades of red.
“Blaze, you’re embarrassing me,” she whispered as she batted him away.
Sheridan expelled a sigh of longing while she lifted her lemonade. “Goodness, he’s inspiring me, Maggie, which is why the one thing I’m most grateful for is”—her teeth tugged at the edge of her smile—“I turn eighteen next month, so I’ll finally be all grown up.”
“Sorry, Half-Pint,” Jake said from across the table, his patient smile dusting Sheridan’s cheeks with a pretty blush, “but it takes more than a birthday to do that.”
“I know.” Sheridan’s chin edged up with the rare hint of the rebel. “Like a man who’s willing to notice.”
Finn gave a loud clear of his throat as he leaned in to peer at Angus and Gert at the end of the table. “I’m guessing you two might be toasting to having your kitchens back?”
“Oh, you betcha,” Angus said, sliding Gert a humorous wink. “That and winnin’ at poker.”
“Ha!” Gert stuck her nose in the air while she hoisted her drink, a flicker of a smile twitching on her lips. “Gotta win more than once in a blue moon to be grateful, old-timer, so I’m grateful you don’t.”
Everyone laughed as Finn began loading Aiden’s turkey on plates and passing them around. “Jake my boy, you’re next, so give it your best shot, son.”
Jake fisted his mug of sarsaparilla up high, flashing a grin at Angus at the end of the table. “Right now, I’d have to say I’m grateful ol’ Angus is back bunkin’ in the house instead of the cot beside me. Because take my word for it, ladies and gentlemen, his food smells a whole lot better than his feet.”
Whoops and chuckles sounded as all eyes focused on Finn. He slapped Jake on the back, resting one arm over Jake’s shoulder while he scooped Libby close with the other. “I’d like to say that the one thing I am most grateful for tonight is the strength and joy of family. Be it nieces and nephews, cooks, adopted hands, or in-laws, or even two sassy suffragists who have only served to make us better.”
Lifting his glass of water in the air, Finn managed a smile despite the sheen of emotion Blaze saw in his eyes as he took time to scan every face in the room. “You,” he said with a hint of hoarseness, “are the real silver lining of my ranch and my life, enriching me with a true treasure like no other.”
“Oh, Finn!” Libby threw her arms around him while everyone shouted their agreement with applause and loud thumps on the table. “I couldn’t agree more, darling.” She kissed his cheek, then quickly reached for the bowl of potatoes to hand it over to her father. “And I’m most grateful Papa is finally done carving the turkey, because I’m pretty sure all of us are starving.”
“Hear, hear!” Aiden said in a boisterous tone, plopping an ample portion of potatoes on his plate before passing them on. “I’ll certainly agree to that.”
Blaze bumped his shoulder to Maggie’s, leaning close to whisper in her ear. “And you said love didn’t have a silver lining, Miss Mullaney, but it looks to me like you were dead wrong.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Maggie plucked a roll and handed the basket over to Blaze with a secret smile. “Because from where I’m sitting, Mr. Donovan,” she said with a sweet brush of her lips that shifted his appetite well beyond turkey, “it’s golden.”
A NOTE TO MY READERS
Thank you so very much for reading Maggie and Blaze’s story, along with the continuation of Libby and Finn’s—I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
I promise you that Finn and Libby will stay married this time, but no guarantees that Libby won’t give Finn the ride of his life as a suffragist wife. Nor that Jake will escape Sheridan’s attentions in the next book, Love’s Silver Bullet.
For those of you who love paperback books, I’m happy to say that both For Love of Liberty and Love’s Silver Lining will soon be in paperback form as well as e-book.
There’s no question that when it comes to silver linings, you, my beloved reader friends, are one of the brightest and most valuable in my life as an author. Thank you again, not only for reading my books, but for your precious friendship and support!
Hugs!
Julie
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion with a Purpose” underscores her intense passion for both God and romance. A lover of all things Irish, she enjoys writing close-knit Irish family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together.
Author of The Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, and Heart of San Francisco series, Julie Lessman was named American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and has garnered 18 Romance Writers of America and other awards. Voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards, Julie was also named on Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and Borders Best Fiction list.
Julie’s first contemporary novel, Isle of Hope, was voted on Family Fiction magazine’s “Top Fifteen Novels of 2015” list, and her historical novel, Surprised by Love, appeared on Family Fiction magazine’s list of “Top Ten Novels of 2014.” Her independent novel A Light in the Window is an International Digital Awards winner, a 2013 Readers’ Crown Award winner, and a 2013 Book Buyers Best Award winner. Julie has also written a self-help workbook for writers entitled Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Sweet and Inspirational Markets. You can contact Julie through her website and read excerpts from each of her books at www.julielessman.c
om.
OTHER BOOKS BY JULIE LESSMAN
Following are Julie’s novels, novellas, and a writer’s workbook. All are available in both
e-book and paperback except for the novellas, which are available in e-book only.
The Daughters of Boston Series
Book 1: A Passion Most Pure
Book 2: A Passion Redeemed
Book 3: A Passion Denied
The Winds of Change Series
Book 1: A Hope Undaunted
Book 2: A Heart Revealed
Book 3: A Love Surrendered
Prequel to The Daughters of Boston and Winds of Change Series
A Light in the Window: An Irish Love Story
O’Connor Christmas Novellas
A Whisper of Hope (formerly part of Hope for the Holidays anthology)
The Best Gift of All (formerly part of Home for Christmas anthology)
The Heart of San Francisco Series
Book 1: Love at Any Cost
Book 2: Dare to Love Again
Book 3: Surprised by Love
Blake McClare Novella: Grace Like Rain
(formerly part of With This Kiss anthology)
Isle of Hope Series
Prequel Novella (FREE DOWNLOAD!): A Glimmer of Hope
Book 1: Isle of Hope—Unfailing Love
Book 2: Love Everlasting
Book 3: His Steadfast Love
Silver Lining Ranch Series
Prequel Novel: For Love of Liberty
Book 1: Love’s Silver Lining
Book 2: Love’s Silver Bullet (coming in 2019)
The Gift of Grace (formerly novella in Cowboy Christmas Homecoming anthology)
Romance-ology 101 Writer’s Workbook
Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Inspirational and Sweet Markets
Published by Julie Lessman, LLC
Copyright © 2018 by Julie Lessman
Cover Design and Interior Format by The Killion Group, Inc.
ASIN: B071K6ZQJH
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author through her website at http://www.julielessman.com/contact-julie/.