The Christmas Stocking

De: Carol DeVaney

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Christmas at Apple Lake (Bk 1 Apple Lake Series) 2015 The Christmas Stocking (Bk 2 Apple Lake Series) 2017 The Trouble With Wishes (Bk 3 Apple Lake Series) 2018 Christmas Blessings (Bk 4 Apple Lake Series) 2019 While caring for an injured, recent widower and his two motherless children, Ellie discovers more than she bargained for. Does she dare dream of them becoming a family? Ellie had never wanted to settle for less than a happy home and the sound of pitter-patter dancing across her floors…but she had. Had she known Ryan had only married her to give him babies, she’d never have said yes. But she had. Now, her hopes and dreams were gone. Gone as quickly as her husband had taken the coward’s way out, and deserted her a week after the second miscarriage and two weeks before Thanksgiving. Alone, an ailing father, her mother in a nursing home, and with no way to support herself, Ellie had only her faith for comfort. Little did Ellie know, God was about to intervene. One week before Thanksgiving. Twenty-six-year-old Luke Conway has lost his wife in a car accident. Luke is still hospitalized and in critical condition. His two children have nowhere to go but the Children’s Home in Apple Lake, Georgia. Except the Children’s Home is full. And no one else in town has room, or is too old to care for the children. A social worker knocks on Ellie Newsome’s door late at night with Luke’s daughter, nine-year-old Danni Conway and six-month-old Brett Conway, by her side. At first Ellie refuses to care for someone else’s children, but finally gives in when the social worker promises to find the children another home within a week. It’s now two weeks before Christmas, and the children are still with Ellie. She’s determined the children won’t go without Christmas, even if the worker places them before Christmas. She discovers shopping for them and teaching Danni to bake cookies, gives her more joy than she thought possible. She’s had no contact with the children’s father, neither has the case worker informed her of his condition. One week before Christmas Luke Conway is about to be released from the hospital, but he can’t go home. He needs care. The case worker hinted at Ellie to take him in until he is better. She refuses. After he’s allowed to visit with his children at the hospital, Danni cries for an entire day and through the night, missing her father. Ellie calls her friend Gage Landon, who knows Luke. Gage assures Ellie that Luke is one of the most honest and above board men in town. Ellie relents and allows Luke to move into her home until he has recovered from his injuries from the accident, with one condition. The police must visit at least once a day to check on them, without any given time.