A Christmas Promise Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Dear Reader,

  My Forever Love

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Books by Wendy Lindstrom

  About the Author

  A CHRISTMAS PROMISE

  A Christmas Promise is the SWEET edition of

  Sleigh of Hope (Grayson Brothers series)

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

  Wendy Lindstrom

  www.wendylindstrom.com

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  Wendy on Goodreads

  Wendy on Amazon

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  Two Young Sweethearts Discover the True Meaning of Love

  When Adam Grayson and his sweetheart Rebecca discover two orphans hiding in his sister’s greenhouse, they promise to help the boys find a warm, loving home. Adam never suspects that home might be his own. Being an only son is not a position he wants to give up, but in trying to protect his place as an only son, will Adam lose what he wants most—to win Rebecca’s heart and become a man of integrity like his father and uncles?

  “Bound to be a classic.” ~Reads A lot

  “Another fabulous addition to the Grayson Brothers series. How I love these characters and their world. Such a beautiful Christmas story. Loved it!” ~Mmoore

  “A charming story of a boy learning lessons of family, friendship, community, and young love.” ~Patricia

  “Very sweet story of two young people falling in love, two orphans finding a home, and the spirit of giving.” ~Mike

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  Chapter One

  A Christmas Promise is the SWEET edition of

  Sleigh of Hope (Grayson Brothers series)

  Fredonia, New York

  December 1880

  After the annual family Christmas meeting, Adam and Rebecca bolted across the street to his sister’s greenhouse. Laughing, they stopped at the door and gazed at each other as snow fell around them.

  Fluffy flakes of snow speckled Rebecca’s dark hair and gray wool coat. “What do you want for Christmas?” she asked, the warmth in her brown eyes melting him.

  He shrugged. “Which family will receive your basket of delicious cookies for Christmas?” he asked, tugging the end of her pretty blue scarf.

  She laughed and danced away. “Probably the Cavneys.”

  The Grayson family gave to the community year round, but it was a family tradition to help a local family at Christmas. This year they would donate lumber and labor to repair the Cavneys’ home that had been partially burned from a cook stove fire the day before. The Grayson ladies would bring food and keep everyone fed during the restoration.

  A wave of excitement rolled through Adam. He had worked the family sawmill for a year and knew a lot about lumber and building materials. He was also becoming a good carpenter, thanks to his new dad, Duke Grayson. With a saw or hammer in his hand he would help repair the Cavneys’ home and be a smart, industrious Grayson man just like his dad and uncles. This year he was even making gifts for his family.

  “Want to see the bootjack I’m making for my dad?” he asked, remembering how he had nothing to give last year when he celebrated his first Christmas with the Grayson family. He had come to Fredonia with his sister Faith and their aunts seven months before that seeking a safe new life. Faith had opened a greenhouse in Colburn’s old grist mill, and married Duke Grayson two months later.

  “Sure, if it won’t take long. My father will be back shortly to walk me home.”

  “We’ll hurry.” He reached for the door latch eager to show her his handiwork, but the door was ajar. Someone was inside.

  Everyone at their family meeting had headed to their own homes afterward to escape the frigid, snowy evening. Rebecca’s father had gone to the harness shop in town. Whoever was inside was not family.

  Adam laid his fingers across his lips and warned her to be silent. “Wait here,” he whispered.

  Easing the door open, he slipped quietly into the greenhouse and ducked behind a tall cluster of lemongrass.

  His sister’s business was closed now, so whoever was trespassing could only mean trouble. He’d had more than his share of trouble in his life and he couldn’t allow anyone, including himself, to mess up his new, perfect family. Not now when he finally had Duke Grayson as a father.

  Snow pelted the huge greenhouse windows as he peered through the thin, fragrant reeds. His new dad would not want him to do something stupid like surprise whoever was rummaging in the parsley flat a few feet away. But the Sneak would be here and gone by the time Adam could get help. So he would handle this like the Grayson man he was trying to become. He would act with courage and protect those he loved. He would be fair but firm with the Sneak on his sister’s property. And he wouldn’t brag one word about his actions to anybody no matter how well he handled the situation. Secretly, though, he hoped Rebecca might spy in the window and watch him catch the bad guy.

  The hope of becoming a man like his dad and uncles straightened his spine and filled him with confidence. In one bold stride he stepped from behind the lemongrass and confronted the trespasser.

  A round-cheeked baby with his fingers stuck in his mouth stared up at him with curious blue eyes. Drool dangled from his fist onto his dirty, bare feet. A ragged blanket lay on the floor beside the baby.

  “Whoa!” Adam back-pedaled two steps and scanned the greenhouse to see if the boy’s mother or father was with him. He saw no one.

  The baby wobbled as if he might tip off his feet at any minute.

  “How did you get in here?” Adam asked, wondering why the baby had no shoes or at least a warmer blanket. It was freezing outside.

  The baby pulled his fingers from his mouth. “Gah!” He slapped his wet hand against the side of the pine cart. “Gah... da-dee-da-da.”

  “Oh boy...” Adam’s heart lurched and he knew without being told that this baby had been purposely left here for his sister Faith or one of their aunts to find. For a parent to abandon their baby was a desperate act, but it happened, right here in his own town sometimes. Faith and Duke would want to help, but they already had him and Cora, and they would probably start having more children soon. Would they want another baby?

  The boy’s head of dark hair bobbed as he whacked the wooden flat. “Da-dee-da-da.”

  His gibberish was sweet and sad. Was he calling for his da-da? Adam’s heart wrenched. Many times he’d whispered to his own absent father to take him away from the brothel and give him a real home.

  He knelt and opened his arms. “Come on, buddy. I’ll help you find a warm home.”

  The baby grasped his outstretched fingers and tugged.

  Adam rocked forward on his toes and laughed. “You’ve got quite a grip, little man.”

  The baby lowered his head and gnawed on Adam’s fingers.

  With a laugh, he lifted the slobbery, dirty boy into his arms. “I’ll find you something better to gnaw on.”

  “Put him down!”

  Surprised by the angry male voice, Adam spun away and raised his arm to shield the baby. He found himself standing eye-to-chin with a bigger boy, who did not look friendly.

  “I was going to get him something to eat,” Adam said.

  “You’re not taking my brother anywhere.” The dark-haired boy slashed his arm through a cluster o
f lemongrass, breaking and uprooting several reeds. “Give ‘em back. Now!”

  Adam knew he couldn’t protect the baby and fight the big brother too. He considered setting the baby behind a flat of herbs to keep him safe from the beating he was likely to receive. But it was too dangerous to let the baby wander the greenhouse alone. There were too many poisonous plants and other dangers. Besides it would terrify the little guy to see them fight. Why couldn’t his stupid brother see that?

  “There’s no call to sneak in here and tear up our plants,” Adam said, glaring at the boy who appeared much stronger. “I’m just trying to help you.”

  Instead of punching him, the boy stuck out his arms. “Give me my brother. I’ll find another place.”

  Adam kept his hold on the boy and took a step away. “Another place for what?”

  “That’s not your business.”

  “This is my sister’s greenhouse, and you didn’t respect the closed sign on the door,” he said, stepping away yet again. “That makes you and your brother my business.”

  The boy’s eyes flared like blue flames and he moved toward Adam. “I’ll push your nose out the other side of your head if you don’t give Benny to me right now.”

  Adam wavered. He’d had enough beatings in his life to know how bad they hurt, but he also knew it was his duty to protect the baby from the older brother’s bad decision. Hiding out in a greenhouse in the middle of winter could only mean they had big trouble of their own. Fear and desperation mixed with anger in the older boy’s eyes. There was no doubt the boys were in trouble.

  What would Duke do? What would his uncles, the Grayson men, do?

  They definitely wouldn’t fight a person in trouble. They would help. Even if that meant getting their nose broken.

  “I can get you food,” Adam blurted, hoping he got the words out before the boy used his fist to cram them back in his mouth.

  The boy hesitated with eyes squinted as he sized up Adam. “When?”

  “Now, if you and your brother come home with me. My sister will gladly feed you.”

  The boy shook his head. Dirty strands of brown hair tangled in the threadbare collar of his gray jacket. “They will send us back to the orphanage. You get the food. I’ll wait here with my brother.”

  Adam didn’t know how they had come to be at the greenhouse, but they were obviously seeking refuge here. It would be easier if they would just cross the street with him and let Faith and Duke help, but the boy was afraid of being discovered.

  “All right then.” Adam headed toward the stone room at the back of the greenhouse where Faith kept her enormous tub of heated water. He held the baby and gestured with his chin for the older boy to follow them.

  “Give him to me,” the boy said, grabbing Adam’s shoulder from behind.

  Adam ignored the bite of pain. “I’ll hand him over as soon as I get him in a safer place. If anyone spots you in here, you could get in big trouble. But you’ll be in worse trouble if you or your brother touch the wrong plants in here. You could be dead.”

  The boy’s hand fell away and he followed Adam without another word.

  The instant they stepped into the small stone room, Adam handed over the baby. As the steamy warmth embraced them, he could see relief fill the older boy’s face.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, knowing this might be his only chance to question the boy as Duke would surely do.

  “Leo. Leo Sullivan.” He wiped drool off Benny’s face and nestled the tired baby against his shoulder. “Who are you?”

  “Adam Grayson.” Introducing himself as a Grayson still caused sparks of excitement in Adam’s chest even though he’d been a Grayson for almost a year now. He was no longer Adam Dearborn, who dressed in rags and new the same desperation that Leo knew. Adam belonged to a well-respected family and was best friends with Rebecca Grayson, who would someday become his wife. He couldn’t have imagined this kind of life even eighteen short months ago because he and his family had been as desperate and afraid as Leo was right now. “Where did you two come from?” he asked.

  Leo’s eyes narrowed. “A wretched place we’re never going back to.”

  Adam nodded. He had lived in a place like that.

  Suddenly the door swung open and Rebecca stepped inside. “Adam, what are you doing?” Her eyes went wide when she saw Leo.

  He clutched Benny to his chest as if he would fight to his death to keep the boy.

  Adam had protected his five-year-old sister Cora with the same animal-like ferocity.

  “What’s going on?” Rebecca asked, her gaze shifting between them.

  “They need our help,” Adam answered, not liking the way she and Leo were staring at each other. Even though Leo needed a good scrubbing he would turn a girl’s head, and he would probably end up as tall and handsome as Adam’s father and uncles. The Grayson men were always catching the ladies eyes, but they all had beautiful wives and were happily married.

  Leo pushed his hair back, revealing a smudge of dirt or a bruise on his forehead. “Can you get a warmer blanket for Benny when you get him some food?” he asked, but his gaze was riveted on Rebecca, who was staring open-mouthed at Benny’s bare feet.

  “Oh, sweetie, where did you leave your stockings and shoes?” she asked, tweaking Benny’s bare toes. “My little brothers lose their shoes all the time. Then their toes get cold like yours because it takes me all day to hunt them down.” She directed a horrified look at Adam before baby-talking with Benny.

  Adam felt bad for the little boy, too, but in his own experience cold feet were more tolerable than an empty stomach. That tough decision was something Rebecca, whose father had always provided for her, had never had to make.

  “Let’s get some blankets and food for them,” he said, guiding Rebecca to the door. “Leo, stay in this room and make sure Benny doesn’t get near that tub. It’s warm in here because the burner under the tub is blistering hot, and the water is really deep. If he fell in, he could drown.”

  “I know how to take care of my brother,” Leo said, his voice laced with irritation and exhaustion.

  Adam suspected Leo had been taking care of Benny for a while now and wasn’t doing so well. Both boys looked cold, hungry, and exhausted.

  Rebecca looked sick with worry for them.

  “We’ll be right back.” He took Rebecca’s arm and guided her out the door. He closed it behind them, knowing the two he left behind deserved a warm, safe home like he and Rebecca both had.

  Outside, she pulled him to a stop. “Who are they and why are they alone without proper clothing on?”

  “It seems they were in an orphanage, but Leo apparently didn’t like it. I reckon they’re homeless and have nowhere to go.” Flakes of snow sprinkled his nose and cheeks, making him shiver. He knew firsthand how miserable the boys felt in their threadbare clothes.

  “We have to help them.”

  “I know.” He looked across the street at his new home. Behind the frosted windows, gas light glowed warm and welcoming. Inside, the wood stove in their parlor was radiating heat from a crackling fire. Little Benny could be tucked beneath a thick blanket on the davenport right now while Faith fixed him and Leo a steaming bowl of the venison stew she had made for their dinner. Adam had eaten three bowlfuls without once thinking about boys like Leo and Benny who were going hungry and didn’t even have a blanket to keep them warm. Knowing there were others like them made him feel awful.

  “I guess we should let my dad know about the boys,” he said, feeling bad that he would have to break his word to Leo. “It’s not safe for them to stay in the greenhouse.”

  Rebecca nodded her agreement, making her long wavy hair bounce against her chest and shoulders. He could look at her every day for the rest of his life and never tire of the expressions that crossed her beautiful face.

  Suddenly, her eyes lit up and a smile broke across her beautiful face. “Adam, do you realize you could get two brothers? If your dad keeps the boys, he might be able to adopt th
em like he did you and Cora.”

  A giant claw gripped his gut.

  The excitement in her eyes told him she thought it would be a wonderful idea. But to him it was the worst idea in the world. If Leo was older he would become the eldest son. Benny would be the youngest son. Adam would become a middle son of no value or importance in a growing family.

  A sick feeling settled in his belly. He should be thinking about the boys who needed help instead of selfishly worrying about himself, but he just couldn’t share his new home with them. He had waited too long to get a dad and real home. He wasn’t giving that up for anyone.

  He brushed a melting snowflake off Rebecca’s nose. “I know someone who can help them. Come on.”

  He grasped her gloved hand and they jogged to Water Street, cut cross lots and came out on Main Street at the bottom of West Hill. Breathing hard, they ran uphill to The Hermitage House and rang the bell. He released her hand just as Anna Levens opened the door to the place that offered shelter to women in need.

  Her face registered surprise then delight as she recognized them. “This is the second time this week you’ve come calling, Adam. What a pleasure to see you again. And look who you brought with you! Come in. I’ll make you some hot cocoa.”

  They stomped snow off their boots, stepped inside and wiped their feet on the thick rug beside the door.

  “Give me a minute to put some milk on to heat.” She started toward a small kitchen in the back that the Grayson men had added when renovating the place for her and the work she was committed to.

  “Thank you, but we can’t stay,” Adam said, wishing he could accept her offer and visit with her for a while. He had a soft spot for Anna. A year ago her husband had tracked her down and brutally beaten her. No person should ever be treated so badly, especially someone as sweet as Anna. She was kind and pretty and could marry again if she wanted to, but she spent all her time helping other women who had no other place to go. Anna had nothing for herself, not even her own home. She lived in one small room upstairs and opened the rest of the house to strangers in need.