Holly for Christmas Read online

  Whispers in Wyoming

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Holly for Christmas (Whispers in Wyoming, #26)

  Whispers in Wyoming

  Copyright Page

  Book Description

  Cover Design

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Whispers in Wyoming

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  About the Author

  Also by This Author

  Holly for Christmas

  ____________________

  Lisa M. Prysock

  When love comes running...

  Whispers in Wyoming

  Love, Letters & Home, Volume 1

  Danni Roan

  Heartstruck and Heavensent, Volume 2

  Kari Trumbo

  Dreams of Sweetwater River, Volume 3

  Lisa Prysock

  Counting Kadence, Volume 4

  Danni Roan

  Temptation and Tenderness, Volume 5

  Kari Trumbo

  Guardian of Her Heart, Volume 6

  Rachel Skatvold

  Marry Me Katie, Volume 7

  Lisa Prysock

  A Forgetful Heart, Volume 8

  Rachel Skatvold

  Mercy’s Light, Volume 9

  Danni Roan

  No Place Like Home, Volume 10

  Lisa Prysock

  Melodies of the Heart, Volume 11

  Rachel Skatvold

  Falling Forward, Volume 12

  Danni Roan

  Sensitive and Secure, Volume 13

  Kari Trumbo

  Tender Hearts, Volume 14

  Kit Morgan

  The Bonnets of Rescue Ranch, Volume 15

  Tina Dee

  All That Glitters, Volume 16

  Lisa Prysock

  Racing Destiny, Volume 17

  Danni Roan

  A Searching Heart, Volume 18

  Rachel Skatvold

  His Wish, Her Command, Volume 19

  Jo Grafford

  The Legend of Lollipop, Volume 20

  Lisa Prysock

  To Win Her Heart, Volume 21

  Tina Dee

  His Heart, Her Love, Volume 22

  Jo Grafford

  Baby Be Mine, Volume 23

  Danni Roan

  Lessons from the Heart, Volume 24

  Rachel Skatvold

  Falling for You, Volume 25

  Tina Dee

  Holly for Christmas, Volume 26

  Lisa Prysock

  Available at Amazon

  Copyright Page

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means- electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author.

  Holly for Christmas

  Copyright © 2019 by Lisa M. Prysock

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design formatting by Lisa M. Prysock; front cover image contributed by cover artist Erin Dameron-Hill. Clip art and illustrations used are public domain and illustrations by the author noted by initials LP or by Lisa Prysock, if any. Any internet links, addresses, or contact information in this book are not guaranteed for the life of the book.

  Interior text edited by Rachel Skatvold.

  Proofed by Tina Caudill Conder.

  Author Photo by Alaina Broyles.

  Cover Artist, Erin Dameron-Hill.

  For information or to contact the publisher or author: Lisa Prysock, 7318 Autumn Bent Way, Crestwood, Kentucky, 40014, USA.

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

  This work is cataloged in the Library of Congress.

  Unless paraphrased, otherwise noted or indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Holly for Christmas

  Copyright © 2019 by Lisa M. Prysock

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN: 9781704655055

  Imprint: Independently published

  Book Description

  Calvin, a workaholic billionaire from Montana, decides to slow down and take some time off before Thanksgiving and through Christmas. What better location than The Sweetwater River Ranch Resort where he’s also an investor? The Wyoming ranch even has a private air strip where his private jet can land. He can relax in a gorgeous log cabin, maybe take some time to ride horses, and spend time thinking about his future for a change. The last thing he expects is for someone to abandon a baby at his cabin door. He doesn’t know the first thing about babies.

  Holly is tired of family dysfunction and the town she comes from in Ohio. She loves her job as a newspaper reporter, but her best friend recently moved to Wyoming, and Holly is aching for a chance to try something new and different with her life, too. All she’s ever known is Ohio. Where exactly her best friend moved to in Wyoming is troubling her, but when she lands a job in central Wyoming as a newspaper columnist writing the small town column she’s always wanted to write, she takes a chance and packs her bags on a whim and a prayer. She’s convinced there’s a story not far away about that abandoned baby. If anyone can find the truth, she can—but where will the truth lead?

  Sometimes you have to get out of the boat and take a few steps to walk on water. Can these two hearts find a happily ever after by taking a new chance, or will a number of obstacles stand in their way?

  Get your copy of this stand-alone Contemporary Christian Western Romance today! Clean, sweet, and romantic, don’t miss this inspirational adventure.

  Cover Design

  Dedication

  This story is for my husband, Rob. We took a chance on love and I do not regret it for one moment. It hasn’t always been easy and we’ve had our share of obstacles. However, they’ve only made our love for each other grow deeper. The Lord has been with us every step of the way. I’m so glad He brought us together. He answered my prayers by giving me a wonderful man of God in my life. You’re definitely my everyday hero and a tower of strength for our family, a true gift from the Lord above.

  With all of my love,

  Lisa

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my editor, Rachel. She’s absolutely the best!

  I just love the authors in this Wyoming series, each and every one of you. Tina and Rachel, I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with both of you for this book. So much fun...

  Thank you to my amazing proofer, Tina! Thank you for all you do.

  A very special thank you goes out to my beta-readers who help with feedback on each of my books and show me support in so many ways.

  Erin, your book covers for our series are outstanding.

  Thank you to my family and church family for being so patient with me when I’m writing.

  Thank you to many other writing friends and reading friends. It’s so nice to have such a network of support around me as a writer. It makes a daunting writing project much easier.

  A huge thank you goes to my husband for being the fixer of plot holes and a sounding board.

  Whispers in Wyoming

  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.<
br />
  Matthew 19:26, KJV

  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

  Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

  Matthew 14:30, 31, NIV

  Whispers in Wyoming

  Holly for Christmas

  One

  ***

  “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”—C. S. Lewis.

  Three weeks before Thanksgiving, Applegrove Street, Canton, Ohio...

  Holly Renee Williams spread the atlas currently open to a map of Wyoming out on her lap as she jumped onto her bed. She glanced at the map, but didn’t study it too closely. She knew almost nothing about Wyoming except for one thing. Wasn’t Yellowstone National Park located there? She flipped some of her dark brown hair over one shoulder and sighed. It was time to make her decision. She’d had enough of her present situation to choke a horse.

  At least in her bedroom with the door locked, she could drown out the argument between her brother Chad, and her inebriated father. He would likely be lecturing him until he could get their father to go to bed, or until he gave up, whichever came first. It’d been this way since her mom, Shiloh Anne Jacobs Williams, had passed on to glory.

  She heard Chad outside in the hallway, urging their father to go lie down and sleep off his stupor. “Dad, it’s time to go to bed now.” Then she heard stumbling and imagined her dad had probably run into another wall. Maybe he’d have a bruise to deal with the next morning.

  “C’mon, Dad, this way...” Her brother’s voice continued to urge him, but then Dad responded with a shout that he wasn’t tired yet. Now the whole scene would start over again. There might even be a fist fight in the hallway right outside her bedroom door.

  Her father, Alfred Hezekiah Williams, spent most of his retired days and nights wallowing in self-pity with a bottle of Scotch Whiskey since the loss of Mom. Their loss, heaven’s gain. Mom had always been the glue holding them together. She’d tried to help him in hundreds of little and big ways. They’d held a family intervention at one point, taken him to counseling, even outings to get him out and about. Nothing seemed to work for long. He always returned to the bottle. Then he either passed out, or became argumentative and obnoxious. One never knew which might be the case.

  Holly had endured more than enough. Gone were the pleasant evenings spent as a family playing a game of Monopoly or catching a movie together. Gone were the picnics, dinners on the patio, family dinners Mom had labored on all day. They used to spend a lot more time around the dining room table, sometimes with Aunt Myra, too. Now they spent more time trying to clean up the things Dad broke when he bumped into stuff around the house, or dealing with the bills he forgot to pay, or coming home from work finding him passed out in odd locations or wound up making a lot of noise.

  While she and Chad did their best to hold down the family pew at church, her father slipped further away into a nearly unreachable state, spending more and more of his time in oblivion. They’d tried everything for more than two years, and his condition continued with ups and downs. There’d be a good week or two and then he’d be back at it again. Maybe if she left, he’d realize what he was missing with his family and snap out of it. In any case, this was only part of what drove her toward change.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed silently with all her might, believing the Lord would direct her path. First she prayed for her dad, then for her brother, Chad. Then she prayed for her best friend, Lexie. Lexie was short for Alexandra Donoghue, who’d disappeared in September. Sweet, kind, red-headed, stable Lexie who wouldn’t hurt a fly! It was unusual to say the least, and even more that no one else knew where she was, either. Since they normally talked everyday either by text or phone calls, this had driven Holly up a tree. Her dearest friend in all the world had completely vanished.

  They’d been friends since kindergarten, through middle school, and even after attending all four years at McKinley High School. They’d seen each other through good times and bad. Something was up, but what? This had to have something to do with that fiancé of hers, Cole. She hadn’t liked him from the start, but love could be so blind, at least in Lexie’s case.

  In late September, she’d finally received a reply to one of her many texts asking Lexie where she was and if she was okay. All the text had said was that she was okay. Then, in early October, she’d heard from her friend again. Lexie called in response to another of her many texts explaining she’d left her fiancé Cole behind, and was in an undisclosed, safe location in Wyoming to start a new life without him. Most importantly, Lexie had asked her not to discuss anything with Cole.

  Good for Lexie! Holly had known for a while that something wasn’t quite right about her and Cole. She was cheering her friend on, and in so doing, she’d decided her own life had to change, too.

  Holly had made up her mind. It was time to get away from her dad and the little town of Canton, Ohio. With her eyes still squeezed shut as tightly as possible, she whispered up a final prayer with all her might. Please, Lord, show me where I can have a fresh start, the perfect place for me. She circled her hand around over the map a few times until she pointed to an unseen location on it. Then she opened her eyes to see where her index finger had landed.

  She figured if the Israelites could draw straws for their inheritance, she could do the same in her own way and trust the Lord for the outcome. Her finger was aimed at a little town on the map called Lander, Wyoming. She might not recommend her method to the average person in the average circumstance, but she was neither of those. She was Holly, survivor of much, in a desperate circumstance.

  She’d survived working her way through college as a waitress to become a newspaper journalist and holding down a position somewhat different than she’d imagined it would be. Covering the weekly music and books beat had been fun for a while, but it wasn’t what she’d envisioned. She’d survived not having a man in her life other than her dad and brother. She’d survived the loss of her mother. She’d survived her father’s breakdown on top of everything else.

  Holly had outgrown her job at the newspaper in downtown Canton years ago, and she didn’t so much as have a boyfriend at the age of thirty. In fact, she hadn’t had a date in a few years and wasn’t getting any younger. A change in location would do her a world of good. There wasn’t anything to hold her to the little house on Applegrove Street anymore. Chad had assured her he could handle their dad and would remain there for many years to come since he’d be getting married next year to his local girlfriend, Michelle.

  Aunt Myra Jacobs, her mom’s older sister, had given her blessing as well. She was excited about her idea to move to Wyoming. Holly had briefly mentioned about her friend moving there, and her aunt even offered to visit once she was settled.

  Lander, huh? Holly reached for her cell and began doing some quick research. Population ten thousand, a pioneer museum, and small town bliss were the facts jumping out at her. She imagined they had a newspaper and would fall in love with her at first glance.

  Maybe someone would finally offer her a shot at running her own column, something her current boss had denied her since she’d started working there as an intern during her junior year in college. She’d occasionally been able to cover an interesting story as a reporter, but only for stories they assigned her, much to her lament. The rest of the time she had to find the latest bands, concerts, book releases, musicians, or writers to write about. She’d much rather be digging up her own stories of interest to report and putting the facts into an engaging column. She already had it planned out. She’d call it “Holly’s Happenings.” She’d had the title in the back of her mind for years now.

  Moving to Wyoming was nearly a whim to follow her best frien
d, but she had been thinking about it since Lexie’s reply. She had no idea exactly where Lexie might be in Wyoming, but one thing was clear. A fresh start for both her and Lexie, far away from boring Ohio, sounded exhilarating indeed.

  Before losing her gumption, Holly jumped up from the bed. She reached for her Oscar de la Renta luggage set inside the closet and started packing while Chad continued to try to talk Dad into going to sleep and quiet him down so his yelling wouldn’t alarm the neighborhood as dusk settled on the town. If she remembered correctly, there were a few cardboard boxes in the basement she could use to pack up a few other items. Once Chad had her father safely tucked into bed, she’d go and get them. Everything else, she could purchase new when she arrived. After all, she’d been banking a chunk of her paychecks for years.

  “Ready or not, Wyoming, here I come!” Holly tossed a stack of her favorite jeans inside the suitcase first. She wasn’t leaving her best jeans behind. Now, where were those red cowgirl boots she’d purchased last summer?

  Two

  ***

  “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald.

  Two & a half Weeks before Thanksgiving, The Sweetwater River Ranch Resort, Lander, Wyoming...

  Calvin Davis stepped away from his private jet on the airstrip as the engine still hummed and shook hands with Logan Haven, the owner of The Sweetwater River Ranch Resort. Logan looked much the same as he remembered from a previous investor meeting a little more than a year before. Only this time, his jaunt from Billings, Montana to the sprawling Sweetwater was strictly for pleasure.

  “Welcome back to The Sweetwater, Calvin.” Logan led the way to his pick-up truck while someone Calvin heard him refer to as Joey, a guy from the hangar wearing a mechanic’s jumper and a baseball cap, helped load his luggage. “How’s your dad, Carter, doing?”