The Spirit of Christmas Past
by
Anna Everett
Blurb:
When the holiday of a lifetime turns to tragedy, Caragh
fears her life will never be the same again. Her beloved James is missing, she
has to learn to live all over again. With the help of her nurse Elspeth, and
her new friend Callum, slowly she begins to rebuild. However, not everyone is
who they seem, and she fears she will be alone forever....until Christmas
brings with it some unexpected magic.
Excerpt:
Caragh picked up the printed plane tickets for about the
15th time that hour and as she read the details typed neatly on them she
grinned again. A large cheshire cat type grin that lit up her whole face and
made her blue eyes sparkle and shine. She looked over at James who was, as
usual on his evenings off, playing World of Warcraft on the X-Box. His ginger
curls bouncing around as he animately hit the buttons on the controller, the
concentration on his face was intense, she often laughed at the range of faces
he pulled as he took his game a little too seriously.
“I can’t believe it’s tomorrow” she exclaimed excitedly. “I
can’t believe we are really going to New York for Christmas”
“Umm” he replied distractedly “Just get a takeaway then”
“James!!” she exclaimed in frustration, picking up the red
velvet cushion from the sofa beside her, and launching it at his head. “This is
the holiday of a life time, the honeymoon we couldn’t have last year....for
goodness sake pay attention and be excited”
Snapping out of the gaudy, loud, violent graphics based
world of his game back to the cosy deep red themed lounge of their three bed
semi, James turned to her with a broad grin to match hers.
“Ok, ok” he replied with a laugh “Of course I’m excited, it
will be amazing,”.
Knowing he was beaten and his game playing was over for the
evening, he reached over and pressed the off button on the console, and turned
to face his wife.
“Just think” she said, grabbing the cushion he had thrown
back at her, and hugging it to her small frame, those blue eyes now dancing
with excitement, “We can go to Bloomingdales, Macy’s, ice skating, and the
tree, I cannot believe I am going to be in the Rockefeller Centre standing next
to that tree”
Her enthusiasm was contagious and his own excitement was
starting to bubble, he smiled as he happily listened to her rave about their
destination, in the wonderful soft Irish lilt that had first caught his
attention 4 years ago when they met at a surgical resident summer school.
He got up from the black corduroy armchair and crossed to
the matching sofa to join her, wrapping her up in the arms of his much larger
frame as he sat down.
“It will be perfect” he said smiling as she snuggled herself
into him “perfect because we are going together...I cannot wait either” he
kissed the top of her blonde head and squeezed her closer.
Their first morning in New York dawned crisp and clear.
Caragh smiled and stretched in the warmth of the bed and turned to cuddle up to
James.
“Our first day of sightseeing, how exciting” she said
squeezing him tighter. “Sounds good to me, but first breakfast, I am starving!”
he replied.
“You always think with your stomach” she laughed “just as
well we arranged for room service then, should be here anytime now”
It wasn’t long indeed before the trolley arrived and they
sat in the window seat once more enjoying the views below, eating warm pancakes
and delicious scrambled eggs, the fresh white china hosting the tasty combination,
whilst two large mugs of steaming hot freshly brewed coffee sat on the table
cooling slightly.
Once the plates were emptied and the mugs drained, Caragh
was itching to get going.
“Right!” she said determinedly, “time for the adventure to
begin”
Within minutes she returned casually dressed in jeans,
knee-high boots and a sweater. James smiled at her, thinking once more, as he
did most days, what a stunning beauty she was and how lucky he was to have
married her.
Grabbing her ski jacket, woolly hat and gloves she chastised
him along “Come on slow coach, I have shopping to do!”
“Ok, ok” he replied, grabbing his wallet and slipping it
into his back pocket “guess I will need this then”
“You bet you will” she laughed and grabbing his hand,
dragged him towards the door.
The morning passed in a riot of colour and noise as, in her
element, Caragh dragged him from one department store to another. Gaudy
christmas decoration overflowed from baskets and displays and cheesy seasonal
tunes blared out of the public address systems.
It was heaving with tourists and New Yorkers alike but the
hustle and bustle only seemed to add to the seasonal flurry and buzz that
surrounded them. It was like nothing they had experienced before but Caragh was
in her shopping heaven and clearly loving the chaos.
Around 1pm they decided to have a break from the shopping
and to head over to Manhattan for some lunch. The adrenaline of the enjoyment
was feeding their energy and they were like giddy school children and they
skipped hand in hand to the nearest subway station.
Bio and social media:
Anna is an establish author with 4 books published across 2
genres. From a background in holistic
therapy and freelance writing it is little wonder Anna has an eclectic range of
interests and talents to appeal to her readers.
First published as a child, Anna moved from poetry writing to self
help. Her commitment to her clients led
her to create two books on meditation.
However as an avid reading in all genres, Anna was drawn to create a
series of paranormal romance novellas that offer the reader characters to
identify with and root for as they battle adversity in a quest for
happiness. Always looking to learn, Anna
has over 20 holistic therapy qualifications to her name and when not writing is
often found with her head in a text book.
Aside from writing and therapy her biggest passion are her six tiny
dogs, who have inspired a new series of detective novellas due for release in
2016.
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Anna-Everett-Author-Motivational-Speaker-436343089879954/?ref=hl
Twitter - @annaeauthor
Instagram - Annaewriter
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© 2000-2016 Muffy Wilson [Muffy@MuffyWilson.com] All rights reserved. Content may not be copied or used in whole or part without written permission from the author.
© 2000-2016 Muffy Wilson [Muffy@MuffyWilson.com] All rights reserved. Content may not be copied or used in whole or part without written permission from the author.
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I was born when we kissed; I died when we parted. I lived in your embrace while we loved..........