The Most Wonderful Time Read online

  Books by Fern Michaels

  Fancy Dancer

  No Safe Secret

  Wishes for Christmas

  About Face

  Perfect Match

  A Family Affair

  Forget Me Not

  The Blossom Sisters

  Balancing Act

  Tuesday’s Child

  Betrayal

  Southern Comfort

  To Taste the Wine

  Sins of the Flesh

  Sins of Omission

  Return to Sender

  Mr. and Miss Anonymous

  Up Close and Personal

  Fool Me Once

  Picture Perfect

  The Future Scrolls

  Kentucky Sunrise

  Kentucky Heat

  Kentucky Rich

  Plain Jane

  Charming Lily

  What You Wish For

  The Guest List

  Listen to Your Heart

  Celebration

  Yesterday

  Finders Keepers

  Annie’s Rainbow

  Sara’s Song

  Vegas Sunrise

  Vegas Heat

  Vegas Rich

  Whitefire

  Wish List

  Dear Emily

  Christmas at Timberwoods

  The Sisterhood Novels

  Point Blank

  In Plain Sight

  Eyes Only

  Kiss and Tell

  Blindsided

  Gotcha!

  Home Free

  Déjà Vu

  Cross Roads

  Game Over

  Deadly Deals

  Vanishing Act

  Razor Sharp

  Under the Radar

  Final Justice

  Collateral Damage

  Fast Track

  Hokus Pokus

  Hide and Seek

  Free Fall

  Lethal Justice

  Sweet Revenge

  The Jury

  Vendetta

  Payback

  Weekend Warriors

  The Men of the Sisterhood

  Novels

  Double Down

  Fast and Loose

  The Godmothers Series

  Classified

  Breaking News

  Deadline

  Late Edition

  Exclusive

  The Scoop

  eBook Exclusives

  Desperate Measures

  Seasons of Her Life

  To Have and to Hold

  Serendipity

  Captive Innocence

  Captive Embraces

  Captive Passions

  Captive Secrets

  Captive Splendors

  Cinders to Satin

  For All Their Lives

  Texas Heat

  Texas Rich

  Texas Fury

  Texas Sunrise

  Anthologies

  When the Snow Falls

  Secret Santa

  A Winter Wonderland

  I’ll Be Home for Christmas

  Making Spirits Bright

  Holiday Magic

  Snow Angels

  Silver Bells

  Comfort and Joy

  Sugar and Spice

  Let It Snow

  A Gift of Joy

  Five Golden Rings

  Deck the Halls

  Jingle All the Way

  Books by Stacy Finz

  The Nugget Romance Series

  Going Home

  Finding Hope

  Second Chances

  Starting Over

  Getting Lucky

  Borrowing Trouble

  Heating Up

  Books by Sarah Title

  The Southern Comfort Series

  Kentucky Home

  Kentucky Christmas

  Home Sweet Home

  Snowed In

  Two Family Home

  Practice Makes Perfect

  Books by Shirlee McCoy

  The Apple Valley Series

  The House on Main Street

  The Cottage on the Corner

  The Orchard at the Edge of Town

  The Home Sweet Home Series

  Sweet Haven

  Sweet Surprises

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  The Most Wonderful Time

  FERN MICHAELS

  STACY FINZ

  SARAH TITLE

  SHIRLEE MCCOY

  ZEBRA BOOKS

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  ZEBRA BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Compilation copyright © 2016 by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  “Christmas Passed” copyright © 2016 by Fern Michaels

  “A Glory Junction Christmas” copyright © 2016 by Stacy Finz

  “Moonshine and Mistletoe” copyright © 2016 by Sarah Title

  “An Apple Valley Christmas” copyright © 2016 by Shirlee McCoy

  Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of KAP 5, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4201-3570-1

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3571-8

  eISBN-10: 1-4201-3571-6

  VD1_1

  Table of Contents

  Books by Fern Michaels

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Christmas Passed

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  A Glory Junction Christmas

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Moonshine and Mistletoe

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteenr />
  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  An Apple Valley Christmas

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Crash and Burn Teaser

  Christmas Passed

  Fern Michaels

  Prologue

  Brandy Heyers viewed the stacked boxes in her garage, dreading the thought of opening them. This would mark the third Christmas without Jeff, her husband of twenty years. The third Christmas that she had refused to allow her son, Matthew, and her daughter, Keira, to haul out the artificial Christmas tree and the boxes of decorations she and Jeff had collected during their marriage. It just hurt too much, and she didn’t really see the point.

  Christmas was just another day now. She’d been telling herself this since the beginning of November, when all the Christmas hoopla began. Same as last year and the year before that. Matthew was twelve when Jeff died, and Keira fifteen. Now at fifteen and eighteen, they weren’t so easily convinced to back off where the holidays were concerned.

  Yesterday, Keira reminded her that Christmas had been Dad’s favorite time of year. She’d reminded her how much he enjoyed taking each ornament out of the boxes and how each one had a special story. She also reminded her just how much her dad enjoyed putting up the lights, dragging the old, faded, plastic Santa and his reindeer out of the attic. Every year, he’d tell them it was time to retire the old guy and his crew, but every year he would find the perfect place for the plastic decorations to hang out until after the New Year.

  Three years. It seemed like a lifetime to Brandy. Taking the ornaments out would hurt. All of them. Maybe they would take a trip to Disney World, another thing she’d avoided as it was plagued with memories of Jeff. Maybe they could take a ski trip instead. Or possibly go to New York City, see the Rockettes. Something that had no memories of her life with Jeff. For the past two years, they’d stayed home, and Christmas was just another day to her, and she’d tried to convince the kids it was, too, but they weren’t buying it this year.

  A little voice whispered in her ear, “Maybe it’s time to move on.”

  Her mother had been telling her this starting three months after Jeff died. Brandy hadn’t had much of a relationship with her since. While it saddened her, they’d never been close. Her father had died when she was ten, and she was an only child.

  How could she possibly move on? Her life ended the day Jeff died. He’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and within three months, he succumbed to the horrid disease. There was no time to prepare, as if one could ever prepare for such a devastating loss. Shock, extreme sadness, a loss like no other; Brandy lived in a fog those first few months. She’d been a stay-at-home mom, so there was no career outside the house to focus on. Jeff had been a music teacher at Lee County High School. There were a few benefits remaining, and his life insurance paid the bills, but that wasn’t going to last forever. In fact, she had enough money to get them through the next few months. After it ran out, she was in trouble. She and Jeff never discussed what would happen to her and the kids if he didn’t survive. They never discussed how she would support them when he passed. Brandy had no formal training in any profession other than raising her family. She would have to find a job, a way to support herself and the kids. Like most young, married couples, they hadn’t given much thought to their financial future, telling themselves there would be time for that later. When the kids were in high school, they would start a college fund, maybe try their hand at online investing, anything to secure their financial future. And like most young couples, Brandy and Jeff thought they were invincible and had never gotten around to investing for their future.

  When Jeff was diagnosed, they’d both gone into a state of semi-shock for a few weeks. They’d decided to wait and tell the kids when the doctor gave them a chemo schedule, and what they should expect over the next few months. Sadly, Jeff hadn’t made it through his first round of chemotherapy. Both Keira and Matthew were stunned when she’d explained the reality of their father’s health just weeks before he died. Keira, a daddy’s girl from day one, rebelled when he died. Her normally shiny blond hair was now a deep reddish burgundy with one side shaved. She’d pierced her nose, and one eyebrow, and wore thick, black kohl eyeliner on her eyes. She looked scary, but Brandy knew this was her way of coping with her loss. Not long after Jeff ’s death, she’d started hanging with a new group of kids, who dressed in black clothes and had so many piercings on their bodies that they resembled pincushions. Matthew, on the other hand, had become withdrawn and no longer bothered attending his music classes. He was as musically gifted as his father had been. He played guitar, piano, and the trumpet. His dream was to attend Juilliard. Since Jeff’s death, he hadn’t touched an instrument. Brandy constantly worried about him, feared what would become of him and his talent if she couldn’t pull him out of his grief.

  An extremely close family, Jeff had always taken the lead, always knew how to resolve whatever crisis the kids were going through. He was the perfect parent. It was thoughts like this that made her wonder if the kids would be suffering this much had she been the one to die. Hating herself for such thoughts, she turned her back on the neatly stacked boxes labeled CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS.

  Maybe next year.

  Chapter One

  “We’re not skipping Christmas again, Mom. If you want to, that’s your choice, but Matthew and I want to celebrate Christmas. It’s been almost three years,” Keira said, putting extra emphasis on the last two words. “Dad would be so pissed!” she added before racing away.

  Brandy took a deep breath and looked at the stack of boxes. Jeff would be pissed, but he wasn’t here. He’d left her with this . . . life, and she almost hated him for doing so. How could he? Hadn’t he felt sick? Had he taken all the vitamins she so carefully measured out for him day after day? What did it matter now, she thought as she closed the door leading to the garage. He was gone. She wasn’t. He had no life, and though she was here in the physical sense, she hadn’t had much of a life since he’d died. Tears filled her eyes just thinking the words he died. Still, after all this time, she wasn’t over the loss. She didn’t want to be. In an odd way, her grief was comforting. Like a child with a pacifier. It was horrible when it’s first taken away, but when they got used to another form of security, they forgot all about the pacifier. She was in limbo. She couldn’t forget and didn’t want to forget. Twenty of the best years of her life. It was wrong even to think about moving on. The kids were young. Their grief had diminished over time. That’s what the grief counselor explained to her a few months after Jeff’s death. The young were resilient. Their lives were focused on the here and now. Not the past. Their futures were ahead of them. They would grow old, and their father would be nothing more than a faded memory. The family she’d spent so much time caring for was gone, or at least the core no longer remained. Now they all simply existed, and Brandy knew this wasn’t good. She had to do something, but Christmas?

  She wasn’t sure what to do.

  She stepped inside the kitchen, where Keira was chatting on her cell phone with one of her friends. Matthew was in his bedroom, doing who knew what. Brooding, and most likely listening to rap music on his iPod. It was Saturday, and Brandy hated weekends. The atmosphere in the house was morose, miserable. She supposed she should ask the kids if they wanted to see a movie, then go out to dinner afterward, but again, that was lame. That’s really all they ever did together as a family, and she could count the times they’d done this on only one hand. Jeff would be spinning in his grave. But he wasn’t, and she was tired of worrying about the state of her life.

  The house phone rang, and she took a deep breath. She still received sympathy calls after all this time. She hated t
hem then, and even more now.

  “Mom, are you going to answer that?” Keira asked in a smart-alecky tone.

  “Yes,” she said curtly, and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Brandy, it’s me,” said Linda, her best friend since middle school. “Are you busy?”

  That was the joke of the century!

  “No, just moping around the house. What’s up?” She knew she sounded about as enthused as dirty laundry, of which she had three giant heaps waiting in the laundry room.

  “I just left the library. They’re looking for someone to work part-time, three days a week. Knowing how much you love books, I thought of you.”

  She paused a few seconds before answering. “Is this your way of saying it’s time to get off my rear end and look for a job?” She knew she needed to find something, but her heart just wasn’t in it. However, her dwindling bank account told her it was time.

  “You know me better than that. I just know how much you love books. I thought it would be perfect for you. If you’re interested, I can put in a good word for you.”

  Linda’s father-in-law was superintendent of the county libraries. If Linda put in a good word, she knew the job was hers.

  “I don’t know, Linda. The holidays are coming, I need to stay home with Matthew and Keira.”

  “Why? So the three of you can mope around the house together? You need to move on, Brandy. It’s time. It’s been almost three years. You’re young, and you have the rest of your life ahead of you. Why don’t you at least give it some thought? I’ll tell George you’re interested and to hold off hiring anyone.”

  Linda tried so hard, but she still had her husband, Dylan. Her nice little family, three girls and two dogs, plus one parakeet, which equaled the perfect family. She didn’t have to go to sleep at night worrying about the future, at least her children’s future. She really should look into this. “I’ll do it,” she said before she changed her mind.