All I Want for Christmas by Sandra D. Bricker

Author:Sandra D. Bricker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Pastor Tobin, it’s so good to see you,” Joanna heard Sarah say downstairs. “Let me make you a quick cup of coffee, and then I’ll go and see if Joanna is up and moving around yet.”

Joanna grinned. Not only was she up and moving, but she’d been dressed for hours. In fact, she’d already had her first two cups of coffee and gone for an extended walk down to the stable to spread some love in the guise of apples, sugar cubes, and carrots.

“I’m up here, Sarah.”

“Sweet Pea, can you come downstairs for a moment?”

“On my way.”

Joanna wound the cord around the button on the front of the leather journal in her hands and set it on the settee before standing.

Pastor Tobin. As she descended the stairs, she couldn’t help but wonder who this Pastor Tobin was, and more curiously, why he wanted to see Joanna. She thought perhaps she might recognize him, but as she emerged from the hall and entered the kitchen, the luminous smile of the man across the island from Sarah sparked no familiarity at all.

“Oh good,” Sarah said as she hurried over and took Joanna’s hand. Leading her to the other side of the island, she added, “Joanna, this is Reverend Lucas Tobin. Pastor, meet Joanna Tucker, the youngest of Tuck and Marlena’s daughters.”

“It’s a pleasure,” he said. “There’s no mistaking it. I see both of them in you right off.”

Joanna reached out to shake his hand. “You knew my parents?”

“Yes.” Then he corrected himself. “Well, I knew your father. But I’ve seen many a photograph of your mother. You have her countenance.”

That seemed like a high compliment. Joanna was just seventeen when her mother was killed by a drunk driver on the interstate, but the woman’s radiant glow had remained with her in all the years since then . . . and with everyone else who ever knew her, too.

“Thank you,” she told the reverend. “How did you know Tuck?”

“He was a member of my church for several years.”

Joanna had trouble concealing her astonishment, but the line of Scripture at the end of his note to her scrolled across her mind. “Tuck went to church?”

“Indeed. He was an active member, in fact.”

She glanced at Sarah for confirmation. “That’s . . . surprising. My mother had deep faith, but Tuck never really seemed to share it.”

“No. He came to faith in Christ after he returned from overseas and retired here in Bluegrass Crossing.”

“I didn’t know.” Joanna fought against the ridiculous urge to cry as her expression broke and both corners of her mouth turned down involuntarily. What was happening to her emotions?

“Tuck spoke of you girls often. In fact, we prayed together on more than one occasion that he would be able to reconnect and make amends.”

Her stomach soured at the words, and the threatening tears turned desert-dry in an instant. She couldn’t help wondering how a man might go about making amends with the daughters he abandoned, leaving them in the care of

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