Robin Lee Hatcher | Hearts Evergreen

Hearts Evergreen

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A Cloud Mountain Christmas: Take one lonely divorcée at Christmastime. Send her on business to the romantic Cloud Mountain Lodge. Add a complication: handsome innkeeper Tony Anderson. And mix!

Note to Readers:
Oops! Have I ever got egg on my face! Or maybe I should say "eggnog" since this is a Christmas book. Anyway, an error (related to something in the Bible) made it into my story that I should have caught when proofing or the copy editor should have caught when she went through the manuscript. But alas, we didn't look closely enough. So I decided to make a contest out of it, and I offered a free autographed older novel to the first 15 readers who emailed me with the error and how it should have read. The contest is now closed, but thanks everyone for playing.

"Two holiday novellas by a Christy Award winner (Hatcher) and a rising author in the inspirational romance genre (Springer) offer romantic fare perfect for curling up in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate." — The Library Journal

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Maddie Scott’s heart stopped in mid-beat: SUPER BOWL MVP CRAIG HOUSTON WEDS ACTRESS SHARI WARD. COUPLE’S FIRST CHILD EXPECTED IN FEBRUARY.

“Miss? Are you ready?”

She looked toward the convenience store clerk, trying to ignore the humming in her ears.

The girl frowned. “Are you ready to pay for those things?”

“Yes.” Maddie grabbed the magazine and dropped it, a bag of chips, and a soda onto the counter. “I’m ready.”

The clerk looked at the magazine cover. “That guy’s a hottie, huh?”

Please be quiet. Biting her tongue, Maddie pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet and held it toward the girl, hoping that would hurry her along.

It worked. Two minutes later, Maddie pushed through the glass swinging door of the convenience store and hurried toward her rental car. She unlocked the driver side door of the black SUV with the remote, longing to get inside, away from anyone’s view.

As soon as the car door was open, she tossed her purchases onto the passenger seat, then slid behind the wheel.

It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter. Craig Houston hadn’t been a part of her life for over four years. Their five-year marriage had crumbled beneath the weight of his bad habits and extramarital affairs. Her love for him was killed slowly but surely long before the signatures were dry on the divorce papers that had ended both her marriage and her dreams for the future.

“I don’t want kids, Maddie. I’m not cut out to be a dad.”

Tears pooled in her eyes as the memory echoed in her mind.

The truth was, Craig hadn’t wanted kids with her. He looked happy enough on the cover of that magazine with his pregnant bride.

She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. Silly to get upset over this. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know Craig and that actress were an item. She’d have to be a nun in a French Alps monastery to be unaware. Their faces had been plastered in various magazines, week after week, the handsome NFL jock and the gorgeous Hollywood star.

It was the injustice of it all that stuck in Maddie’s craw. Here she was, four years after the divorce, swimming in a sea of debt—the debt Craig left her, no less—and her ex-husband was living the high life.

She drew a deep breath. “God, don’t let me give in to self-pity. I know that what Craig does and who he marries has nothing to do with me. Help me to quit looking back. Help me to trust You with my future.” She turned the key in the ignition and backed the SUV out of its parking place.

By force of will, Maddie turned her thoughts to the reason for her trip into the snowy Idaho mountains. If she did her job, the resulting commission could wipe out her debt. Wouldn’t that make this her best Christmas in years?

The two-lane highway wove its way through the foothills, climbing steadily into the majestic mountains. Frequent switchbacks and blind corners kept her speed from topping forty miles per hour, and the white snowscape made her eyes tired, despite her sunglasses. After nine years in Southern California, she was more used to sand and surf than this winter wonderland.

Today was Maddie’s first time on this particular stretch of road. Although she grew up in Idaho and had skied on occasion, her idea of the perfect winter holiday was a comfortable chair near a blazing fire, a mug of hot tea in one hand and a good book in the other. Cloud Mountain, her destination, had a year-round population of about six hundred and fifty. Decades ago, it had been a popular ski area, but today it was mostly forgotten, overshadowed as it was by its more famous Idaho cousins such as Sun Valley, McCall, and Tamarack.

Why would anyone invest money in a lodge that—according to all reports—had fallen into serious disrepair, a lodge located on a mountain most skiers didn’t know existed? Without a wealthy conglomerate behind them, who could hope to compete against the better-known resorts? She had to wonder about Anthony Anderson, the new owner of Cloud Mountain Lodge. Was he reckless or simply not bright?

Well, at least she was getting a long weekend out of the trip. And tucked away in the mountains of Idaho, she needn’t worry about running into Craig and his new bride on the streets of LA.