Patty misses her husband dearly and dreams of him coming home for Christmas. When she shares her dream with her children, they become increasingly worried as Patty goes between present day and her cherished memories.
Her
children gather to decide how to help her handle the disappointment and comfort
her when he doesn't show up. After all, it was only a dream.
Convinced
she was losing her grip on reality and shouldn't live alone any longer, they
decide to wait until after the holidays before making any major changes in her
life.
But
Christmas Day brings a shocking surprise—to everyone but Patty. This is a heartwarming,
funny, and touching story that will have you believing in miracles.
They
were married in the front yard of that house on a beautiful day in May,
surrounded by friends and family. Patty
recalled the music from the bagpipes and Michael’s mother, Helen, giving her a
penny to put in her shoe for good luck.
It
wasn’t until the year after Jesse was born that Patty planted a garden. In fact, it was her first garden of any size
and she was quite proud of it. When
Michael arrived home early, he stepped carefully between the neat little rows
marked with a stick holding the empty seed packet, and drew her into his arms
for a kiss.
“Looks
like you’ve been busy,” he said. “What
did you plant?”
“All
sorts of things,” Patty replied as she began to point out each row and tell him
what it held. When she got to the last
two rows and announced that it was corn, he broke out laughing.
“You
planted two rows of corn, each one a hundred foot long?” His smile covered his face all the way up to
his eyes.
“Sure,
why not?”
“Darlin’...I’m
not trying to be critical...,” he was still grinning as he pushed his Stetson
back and took her hand.
“What?”
“You
don’t plant just two long rows of corn.”
“Why
not?”
“Because
it’s easier to pollinate when it’s planted in a square or a rectangle with the
plants close together. Eventually, the
stalks will grow tall, tassels will form on the top—that’s where the pollen is,
and the wind will cause the stalks to move against each other. It’s easier done when they’re closer, so I’m
not sure how much corn we’ll actually get.”
“Oh.” A contemplative look took up residence on her
face as she considered digging up the seeds, but that would mean reconfiguring
the entire garden. It was the second
time that day she had the idea and dismissed it without further thought.
Michael
helped his wife pick up her gardening tools and carried the bucket before
heading toward the house where dinner was on the stove.
“Come
on,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist and starting toward the
house. “I’m sure it’ll be
delicious. We can share an ear or two
with the kids.”
He
laughed again and kissed her cheek. His
humor was always priceless and Patty laughed at herself right along with
him. What he didn’t know was she’d had
the same conversation with a neighbor who stopped by that afternoon right after
she’d covered the last corn seed with dirt.
The neighbor’s wife had made the same mistake. She went out and bought a feather duster and
hand pollinated the corn in her first garden.
Patty
flashed Michael a smile. You’ll have
more corn than you can eat, she thought, keeping her secret to herself and
planning to buy her very own feather duster next time she was in town.
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Born
and raised in a small community in Upstate New York, Keriann gradually ventured
west where she settled in the Seattle area for a number of years. She has been
content to live in the foothills of the beautiful Rocky Mountains since 1983
with her family.
Where to find Keriann:
Where to find Keriann:
Heather, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing my book with your readers. You're awesome!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Keriann