E.E. Burke's Best of the West featuring a heart-warming Christmas story from Linda Broday

This Rebel is about to learn the true meaning of Christmas... 

As a late November storm batters her sod house, Rebel Avery’s thoughts are on Travis Lassiter, the outlaw she loves and plans to marry. Eight months ago, he’d been captured, and she fears he’s dead. To occupy her worried mind, she tells two small orphans she’d taken in how she used to celebrate the Advent and gets an idea.

Rebel and the other women set about to make the entire town of Hope’s Crossing the Advent calendar. On their designated day, each home gives the children a treat and strikes a chord of hope and joy. Yet, for Rebel it becomes increasingly apparent that Travis will not return. Her heart breaking, she gives a lonely recluse the only thing of value that she possesses—swaths of red satin fabric she’d saved for a wedding dress.

As they move toward the holiday, sagging spirits are renewed, a makeshift family is formed, and Rebel finds that through troubled times, love endures and conquers all.

Here's an excerpt:

  Rebel Avery was preparing supper when four-year-old Jenny came running, her sobs cutting into her. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “My dolly’s broken. Everything’s broken.” She thrust her doll’s arm at Rebel and ran crying to her bed.

  First her son Ely fighting at school and coming home angry, then the howling storm breaking her window, and now this. Something had to be done to lift their spirits. To lose Travis Lassiter, the man she loved, so abruptly with scarcely a word since had plunged Rebel into heartbreak and despair. This not knowing if he was alive or dead gnawed at her. Christmas should be full of hope and optimism, not this thick cloud of fear.

  Memories of past Christmases gave Rebel an idea. She grabbed her coat and fought the wind all the way to the Bowdre house.

  Her friend, Nora, opened the door, wiping her hands on her apron. “Rebel, come inside before you freeze to death.”

  “Thank you. This storm’s something.” Rebel untied her scarf. “Everything is wrong.”

  “What do you mean—everything?” Nora led her into the small parlor.

  “Ely has all this anger inside. He fought with Billy Truman again today. Came home with a bloody nose.” Rebel sighed and took a seat. “And Jenny’s doll’s arm came off, and she sobbed that everything was broken. It does seem to be the case. The window was just one. Then the pan of cookies I was baking ended up on the floor. And I haven’t heard a word from Travis and fear he might be dead.” A sob strangled in her throat.

  “Oh honey.” The teakettle whistled, and Nora rose. “How about a nice cup of tea while we chat?”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  Nora left the room and soon returned with a tray laden with tea, cups, and little cookies.   They sat with steaming cups in front of the fire while baby Willow, a child the couple had found next to her dead mother and taken in, crawled around them. Rebel admired the curvy, blond-haired woman who had the kind of strength she wished for.

  Rebel took a sip of tea. “I have an idea and want to see what you think of it.”

  “If it’s a way to dispel this gloom and make everyone get along, I’m all for it.”

  “I want to have an Advent calendar—only the whole town will be the calendar.”

  “Oh, yes! I always loved the cheer Advent added to my holidays when I was a child.” Nora’s brown eyes twinkled. “Tell me more.”

  “We’ll have to somehow fashion a large calendar with a little door on each day.” Rebel’s mind was whirling.

  Nora bit into a cookie. “We’ll make it out of sturdy wood so the wind won’t blow it over.”

  Baby Willow tugged on Rebel’s skirt and she picked her up, inhaling the sweet scent. “Inside each little door will be the name of the person offering treats that day and the children will go to that house.”

  “Yes! Yes! And on each Sunday leading up to Christmas, we’ll light one of the four Advent candles.” Enthusiasm lined Nora’s face.

  “Great idea. I wonder if the blacksmith will make us a holder. When this storm passes, I’ll ask him. We can get candles from the mercantile.” Rebel carefully untangled black strands of her hair from Willow’s little hand. “We’ll get the children involved. I know, maybe we’ll have them draw for a chance to be the one to light the candle in church that Sunday.”

  “If they fight or misbehave, they’ll have their name removed.” Nora reached for the teapot. “More, Rebel?”

  Rebel moved her cup closer. “Unless I miss my guess, this will teach them to get along better, and I think it’ll fill the town with much needed Christmas spirit.” Her hand trembled when she lifted her tea. “I just wish I knew if Travis is alive.”

  

Meet Linda

I'm a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 27 full length western romance novels and short stories. Watching TV westerns during my youth fed my love of cowboys and the old West and they still inspire me. Here in the Texas Panhandle, I can often hear the voices of the American Indians and early cowboys whispering in the breeze. I love chocolate, research, and watching movies.

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Website: LindaBroday.com

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Q & A

E.E. What is your favorite Christmas memory?

Linda: I must’ve been around seven years old and my daddy had been burned really bad the month before and was in the hospital. I didn’t know if we’d even have a Christmas at all because Mom spent all her time with him. I hoped Santa would come but I prayed harder that Daddy would get well enough to come home. I woke to a silent house on Christmas morning, my heart heavy and went to the living room. There sat my Daddy, talking low to Mama. His face and arms were heavily bandaged, but he was home. Nothing else mattered, including the lack of gifts.

E.E.: What is your favorite Christmas song?

Linda: There are so many but the one I love most is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Elvis Presley and if you read my answer to the first question you’ll see why.

E.E.: What personality traits of yours helps you most as an author?

Linda: Discipline, determination, and persistence. I’m able to stay focused on my writing which enables me to meet my deadlines in addition to all the other hundreds of things required.

E.E.: Do you have a favorite quote?

Linda: “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” George Adair

It’s a reminder to face that fear and I’ll get the prize.

E.E.: Is your Christmas story The Christmas Wedding part of a series you’re writing?

Linda: Yes, Rebel Avery and Travis Lassiter are two characters from my Outlaw Mail Order Brides series. Rebel is a former saloon girl and rough around the edges, but she has a big heart. She’s taken in two orphans and given them a home. Travis is an outlaw and just prior to this story (in Saving the Mail Order Bride) he was captured by a bounty hunter. They’re so much in love.

E.E.: This outlaw series is interesting. Why did you want to write about a group of men who skirt the law?

Linda: If you think about it, outlaws were the original bad boys and what’s better than that? They fell into two classes—the good ones and the bad ones. The first are the men who found themselves in situations where they filled in for lawmen in areas where no law existed and found justice with a gun. They didn’t enjoy it, instead saw it as something that had to be done. The bad group were men who got a thrill out of killing and robbing and they deserved to die.

E.E.: What’s next?

Linda: THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE’S SECRET (Book #3 Outlaw Mail Order Brides) releases on January 28, 2020. This story is about outlaw Tait Trinity and Melanie Dunbar. Book 4 will release in the fall of next year and close the series. As yet I have no title for that one.

Check out the other stories in Longing for a Cowboy Christmas

Linda wants to know, do you have a favorite Christmas memory you can share?

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