The Christmas Vow Read online

  “This will be Toby’s favorite gift. As you know, he absolutely loves boats.” Tia stood and took a seat on the sofa.

  Adam sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her. He maneuvered Tia around until her back rested against his broad chest. Together, they looked at the tree in the light from the fire.

  The flames on the candles they’d lit earlier on the tree had already been doused. After attending the Christmas Eve service at church, they’d illuminated the tree for Toby’s enjoyment then blew out the candles before tucking him into bed.

  Adam thought back to the sermon Chauncy delivered, leaving nary a dry eye in the congregation as he talked about the best gifts in life.

  The children performed in a program, reenacting the birth of the precious baby in a manager. Toby stood to the side with Erin, both dressed as shepherds, watching as Percy Bruner and Anna Jenkins revised their roles of Joseph and Mary.

  Now that Toby slept and evening settled over them, Adam planned to woo his wife.

  Slowly, he ran his hand along her arm and lifted her hand in his. The opal ring on her finger glittered in the firelight. Iridescent shards of light danced across the room like tiny fireflies.

  With unhurried movements, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the tip of each finger, hearing a satisfied hum from Tia as she relaxed against him.

  “Do you know what I was thinking the day I purchased this ring?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I have no idea,” Tia whispered, turning her face to look at him.

  “I was thinking…” He tipped his head down and kissed her forehead. “That you were the most beautiful…” A kiss to her nose. “Funny…” A kiss to her temple. “Smart…” A kiss to her cheek. “Perfect-for-me girl in the world.”

  “Really?” Tia asked, closing her eyes and inhaling Adam’s enthralling masculine scent.

  “Really. The reason I didn’t ask you before graduation, before you left town, is that I was afraid you’d tell me no.”

  Tia opened her eyes and started to sit up, but he splayed his hand across her mid-section holding her in place.

  “I loved you with my whole heart and soul, Tia, and I never stopped.” Adam trailed an index finger along her neck, gently traced the outline of her ear. “The moment I saw you at Carl’s funeral, all those feelings I’d buried, all the love I pretended never existed, nearly knocked me to my knees.”

  He picked up her hand again and studied the ring. “When I asked you to marry me, I tried to convince myself it was for Toby, to keep him safe. That wasn’t the real reason, Tia. I asked you to marry me because I can’t live without you. Every word I spoke to you, every vow I promised when I slipped that ring on your finger, I meant.”

  Tears filled her eyes, but he continued. “I’ve loved you for so long, Tia, and I always will. From the day you walked into church and sat in the pew behind me with those beautiful sad eyes, you’ve held my heart in your hands.”

  “Adam…” Tia started to speak, but he abruptly rose to his feet and pulled a box from beneath the tree.

  He handed it to her and she sat up, untying the red ribbon wrapped around it and removing the lid.

  She lifted out a wooden jewelry box, one of the finest she’d ever seen. “Did you make this, too?”

  “I did, with help from Blake.” Adam watched her face. “Open it, Queenie.”

  Carefully tipping back the lid, she reached inside the box and lifted out a silver necklace. Holding the chain up to catch the light of the fire, she admired a knot made of silver in the center of the chain.

  “What is this, Adam?” she asked, running her finger over the intricate design. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s called a True-Lover’s knot.” Adam dropped to one knee in front of her. “The knot is strong, nearly impossible to break once those two strands have been woven together into one.” He took the necklace from her hand, dropped it into the box, and set it aside. “You and I are like that knot, Tia. Our hearts are tightly tied together, bound by love, and they always will be.”

  The tears she’d held back spilled down her cheeks. Adam sighed and brushed them away with his thumb.

  “I love you Tiadora Elizabeth Guthry, I’ve loved you for so long. I’ll love you until and with my last breath. Would you do me the honor of being my wife? My true wife?”

  “Yes, Adam. Yes!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, thrilled as his lips tantalized hers in a fervent kiss full of hope and promises.

  Suddenly, Tia pulled back and gave him a panicked look. “Oh, Adam, you’re going to be so disappointed when you open your gifts tomorrow. Nothing I got you compares to this.” She pointed toward the jewelry box sitting on the table.

  Adam stood and lifted her to her feet. With a dimpled grin, he pulled the pins from her hair and watched it tumble in silky waves around her shoulders and down her back.

  “Ribbons and shiny paper don’t matter to me, Queenie. There’s not a single thing you could buy for me that’s any better than this.” Burrowing his hands into the thick tresses, he nuzzled her ear, pressing close against her. When she moaned, he lifted her in his arms and kissed her so tenderly, she lost the ability to think of anything beyond her love for Adam.

  He kissed her with a passion unlike anything she’d ever known, unlike anything she’d ever imagined.

  Finally, he pulled back and held her gaze, allowing the warmth in his eyes to envelop her. “Wrap me in your love, Tia. That’s all I want for Christmas — to take you in my arms and love you like you’ve never dreamed of being loved.”

  In response, she tugged his face down, capturing his mouth with hers as their hearts, at long last, connected.

  “I love you, Adam Guthry. Only and forever you.”

  Epilogue

  “And you promise you’ll come to visit?” Erin Dodd asked as Toby pulled her on his new sled while their parents said goodbye.

  “I promise, Erin,” Toby said, glancing back at her with sparkling eyes and a charming grin. “I’m a Guthry now and we always keep our promises.”

  Suddenly, Erin jumped off the sled and wrapped her little arms around Toby, giving him a hug. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “I know.” Toby hugged her back, and then took her hand as they walked together to where Tia and Adam waited with Chauncy, Abby, Arlan and Alex.

  Arlan had borrowed Luke’s big sleigh and team to take Adam and his little family to Heppner to catch the train.

  Before they left, they’d taken Toby to say his farewells to Erin.

  “You’ll come visit us in the spring, won’t you?” Tia asked Abby as they stood with arms linked together.

  “Yes. Chauncy needs a little time off from work. It will do us good to get out of town, and it will be fun to visit you.”

  “Maybe we can work in a little shopping,” Tia said, causing the men to groan.

  “Mama likes to shop,” Toby whispered to Erin so loudly, everyone could hear.

  “Come on, son, time to go.” Adam place a hand on Toby’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  Toby handed Erin the rope tied to his sled. “You take care of my sled for me, Erin. Daddy said there’s no snow in Portland, so I can’t use it there, but we can play with it when we come next year for Christmas.”

  “I’ll keep it safe,” Erin said, her little lip puckering.

  Toby turned away then spun around and gave Erin a kiss on her mouth. Before she could blink, he ran over to the sleigh and climbed into the back seat. He stood up and shook a finger Erin’s direction. “And don’t you go marrying anybody while I’m gone.”

  Erin waved at him then buried her face against her mother’s skirts.

  “We’ll miss you all so much,” Tia said, hugging Abby one last time before allowing Adam to help her into the back of the sleigh. Arlan assisted Alex in climbing beside her then he took a seat in the front, lifting the reins in his hands.

  A loud snarling sound emanated from the crate beneath the back seat where Crabb
y awaited a release from his confines. After all the cat had done to protect Toby, Adam agreed they wouldn’t leave him behind when they returned to Portland.

  Adam shook hands with Chauncy and waggled his eyebrow at him. “Never imagined myself having a preacher in the family, but if Toby and Erin carry through with their plans, it looks like we’ll be in-laws someday.”

  Chauncy chuckled and slapped his back. “She couldn’t pick a finer family to belong to than all of you.” He waved at Toby and grinned. “You take good care of my future son-in-law and his beautiful mother.”

  Adam kissed Tia’s cheek, settling a blanket over her and Toby’s laps before taking a seat beside Arlan. “I vow to do that very thing, Chauncy.”

  Gingerbread Cake

  Adapted from an old recipe, this spicy, moist cake is a flavorful blast from the past. Serve with ice cream or cinnamon-laced whipped cream for an extra-special treat.

  Gingerbread Cake

  1 stick butter, softened

  ½ cup brown sugar, packed

  1 egg

  ¾ cup molasses

  ½ cup applesauce

  2 ½ cups flour

  1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

  2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

  2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

  1 teaspoon ground cloves

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 cup hot water

  Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a large loaf pan.

  In a large bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. Beat in egg, molasses, and applesauce. The molasses will easily pour out of a measuring cup if you swirl a little oil around the inside or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

  In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, and salt.

  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients one cup at a time, stirring gently between additions until all of the dry mixture is blended into the wet mixture. At this point, add the cup of hot water and stir to incorporate.

  Bake for 50-60 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf should come out with a few moist crumbs attached.

  Author’s Note

  I won’t ramble on about the ghost town of Hardman and how it came to be the center of this series, but I thought I would share a few little fun details with you.

  When I was researching board games popular in the Victorian era, I kept coming back to one in particular: Bulls and Bears — The Great Game of Wall Street.

  The financial panic of 1873, the worst before 1929, inspired the board game. The Bulls and the Bears (the speculators) are depicted fleecing the sheep (the public). The images used on the game board were derived from cartoons by Joseph Keppler and Frederick Burr Opper, meant to point fingers at “robber barons” Jay Gould, W.H. Vanderbilt, and Russell Sage. Their cartoons appeared in the illustrated weekly magazine "Puck." Apparently, today this is ranked as one of the rarest of all nineteenth century American board games. If you find one lurking in the back of Great-Aunt Myrtle’s closet, you might have a small gold mine on your hands.

  As I’ve looked into events and happenings for my historical romances, one thing that has fascinated me is old zoos. For this story, I discovered the Portland Zoo began in 1888 with a donation of a grizzly bear from a Portlander’s private menagerie to the city. From those humble beginnings, the zoo grew to house more than 300 animals in 1894, mostly from North America. One of the most famous residents of the zoo was Packy, the first elephant born in the United States in forty-four years when it arrived in 1962. The elephant drew more than a million visitors to the zoo.

  As a sailor, Adam had to know how to tie knots, which meant I needed to read up on them. My dad taught me a few knots when I was a young girl, but I’ve forgotten most of them except the square knot and a half hitch. Realknots.com has some easy to understand knots.

  For those of you unfamiliar with the Columbia River, it is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then changes direction into Washington State. Meandering south, it turns west to form most of the border between Washington and Oregon in a river route known as the Columbia Gorge before the river empties into the Pacific Ocean.

  The gorge is a canyon ranging up to 4,000 feet deep and stretches for more than 80 miles as the river winds through the Cascade mountain range toward the Pacific Ocean. It provides the only navigable water route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia River Plateau and the Pacific Ocean. It holds a protected status as a national scenic area and is a popular recreational destination.

  Ships coming inland from the ocean and those traveling down the river to reach the ocean face a treacherous area known as the Columbia Bar. The jaws of the mighty Columbia River empty into the ocean at the bar where gushing water combined with hurricane-force winds can create twenty- to forty-foot swells roaring off the Pacific. Eerily nicknamed the "Graveyard of the Pacific," this stretch of the coast lives up to the moniker.

  Since 1792, there have been approximately 2,000 ships sunk in the area and more than 700 deaths. Water, weather, and geography combine to make the bar deadly. In 1846, after numerous shipwrecks, the Columbia River Bar Pilots organization formed to ensure the safety of ships, crews, and cargoes crossing the bar. The men and women who belong to this organization must hold an unlimited master’s license (meaning they are licensed to pilot vessels without limits on size, power, or geographic location) and have served a minimum of two years as master of oceangoing vessels.

  All vessels engaged in foreign trade are required to employ a Columbia River Bar Pilot licensed by the State of Oregon when crossing the Columbia River Bar. The standard of licensing for the bar pilots is one of the highest in the nation.

  The pilots board the vessels and assume navigational control, using their experience and knowledge to safely navigate the restricted channels of the Columbia River and over the bar both coming and going from the sea.

  Another organization, the Columbia River Pilots, provide maritime pilotage services to all ports on the lower Columbia and Willamette Rivers once ships have crossed the bar. These pilots are charged with safely and efficiently piloting vessels in all weather conditions, at all hours of the day and night, 365 days a year. Headquartered in Portland, the group has a station located in Astoria where pilots await inbound ship assignments.

  This organization gave me the idea for Adam’s line of work in the story.

  And there really is a fun children’s book by Frances Browne called Granny’s Wonderful Chair.

  I hope you enjoyed another visit to Hardman and meeting a few new characters along the way.

  What characters would you like to see in future Hardman Holidays stories?

  Thank you for reading The Christmas Vow.

  If you liked this story and are willing to write a review, I’d be very appreciative. Reviews are so important to authors, and as you know, they are important to readers too. Thank you for considering it!

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  Hardman Holidays Series

  set in the historic Eastern Oregon town of Hardman

  The Christmas Bargain (Hardman Holidays, Book 1) — As owner and manager of the Hardman bank, Luke Granger is a man of responsibility and integrity in the small 1890s Eastern Oregon town. Calling in a long overdue loan, Luke finds himself reluctantly accepting a bargain in lieu of payment from the shiftless farmer who barters his daughter to settle his debt.

  Philamena Booth is both mortified and relieved when her father sends her off with the banker as payment of his debt. Held captive on the farm by her father since the death of her mother more than a decade earlier, Philamena is grateful to leave. If only it had been someone other than the handsome and charismatic Luke Granger riding in to rescue her. Ready
to hold up her end of the bargain as Luke’s cook and housekeeper, Philamena is prepared for the hard work ahead. What she isn’t prepared for is being forced to marry Luke as part of this crazy Christmas bargain.

  The Christmas Token (Hardman Holidays, Book 2) — Desperate to escape an unwelcome suitor, Ginny Granger flees to her brother’s home in Eastern Oregon for the holiday season. Returning to the community where she spent her childhood years, she plans to relax and enjoy a peaceful visit. Not expecting to encounter the boy she once loved, her exile is proving to be anything but restful.

  A talented carpenter, Blake Stratton enjoys a simple existence in the small western town of Hardman. With honest work and good friends, his life is nearly perfect, at least until the day Ginny Granger arrives, setting him on his ear and turning his world upside down. Infuriated by her meddling presence, he’s further exasperated to discover she kept a Christmas token he gave her along with his heart the day she left town many years ago.

  The Christmas Calamity (Hardman Holidays Book 3) — Dependable and solid, Arlan Guthry relishes his orderly life as a banker’s assistant in Hardman, Oregon.

  His uncluttered world spins off kilter when the beautiful and enigmatic prestidigitator Alexandra Janowski arrives in town, spinning magic and trouble in her wake as the holiday season approaches.

  The Christmas Vow (Hardman Holidays Book 4) — Columbia River Pilot Adam Guthry reluctantly returns to his hometown of Hardman, Oregon, to pay his last respects after the sudden death of his life-long best friend. Emotions he can’t contain bubble to the surface the moment he sees the girl who shattered his heart eleven years ago.

  Widow Tia Devereux escapes her restrictive life in Portland, returning to the home she knew and loved as a girl in Hardman. She and her four-year-old son, Toby, settle into the small Eastern Oregon community, eager for the holiday season. Unfortunately, the only man she’s ever loved shows up, stirring the embers of a long-dead romance into a blazing flame.