Tanya Writes About "His Christmas Angel"

I hope you enjoy my short story, His Christmas Angel, available now from The Wild Rose Press. It's a free online read of 2,500 words. (Make that 2,497. I actually got under the requirement!) The link here takes you right to it.

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=180


Hey, what could be better than something quick and FREE during these hectic, economically-challenged times?

When my wonderful editor asked me if I wanted to write a Christmas story, I couldn't possibly resist. Even though I'm behinder than usual this year, it truly is my favorite season. I can barely count up all the Hallmark Christmas movies I've already DVR'd and watched since Thanksgiving!

So...I eagerly agreed. And I decided to take a character from Marrying Minda, my June 2009 release, and give him a love story of his own! After all, school teacher Caldwell Hackett broke his heart when Minda chose hot cowboy Brixton Haynes over him. I figured he deserves some good lovin.'

In the story, he and Minda's sister, Mattie Carter, meet in Paradise, Nebraska, in 1879, on a cold winter's day that's sure to steam up. But of course, the course of love never runs smooth.

So I am spinning off their love story in what I hope is the second of three Paradise-set "Marrying..." books. Marrying Mattie will explore the couple's angst and heartbreak when a wedding guest interrupts their vows in protest just as the preacher asks the routine "If anyone knows any reason these two should not wed, let him speak now or forever after hold his peace...."

Here's a sneak preview:

He checked his pocket watch. Noon. The Saturday stage was set to arrive about now, and his package was due. He needed a new pulley badly since discovering the winch at the blacksmith was nothing but a hunk of rusted junk.

As he shrugged into his overcoat, he couldn't help noticing the angel wings balanced against the wall, and his mood lightened. At least his Christmas Eve pageant was proceeding well. Although, he groused, he ought to demote Charlie Tuttle from his exalted position as a Wise Man. The town's womenfolk had shaped wire into wings for their little daughters, covered the frames with muslin and painstakingly glued on goose feathers one by one.

All he needed now was the pulley....and a grown-up female brave enough to suspend over the altarpiece as a flying angel at the climax of the nativity tableau. So far everybody was too cautious to volunteer.

Cold air covered him as the stage pulled into town. Through the misty condensation on the coach's window, two passengers stared out at him. A man, and a woman so dreamlike, so angelic, she took Caldwell’s breath away despite that broken heart.

Before the driver could jump down, Caldwell impulsively opened the door and offered her his arm. Even through thick wool and chill air, the warmth of her fingertips heated him all the way to his skin. Then she stuck her hand back into a thick fur muff.

He felt its absence like a stab.

The floral scent of her rose on the wind, straight into his senses. His heart hammered. Likely the male passenger was her husband. But when the man stayed put on his seat, Caldwell’s hope mounted.

I'll be getting a trivia contest about the story on my website momentarily so check it out at www.tanyahanson.com

Best of all, merry Christmas to all of you and the angels in your lives.