Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.
Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a nine-pound Morkie dog who thinks he’s a German shepherd, and her husband of forty-six years, brand new retiree and aspiring author, David.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ONE THANKSGIVING IN
LUSTY, TEXAS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
ONE THANKSGIVING IN
LUSTY, TEXAS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
CARA COVINGTON
Copyright © 2018
Prologue
Thanksgiving Day, 2018
Pamela Jessop sat back from the Thanksgiving feast they’d all just done their level best to completely devour. How wonderful that she could wallow in the company of her entire family—her children, their spouses, and her grandchildren, all sitting down at her dining table to a meal she’d prepared!
Their family had increased slowly, first with her oldest two, Robert and David, who’d become doctors like her beloved husbands, marrying Jillian Gillespie. That daughter-in-law had a son from her first marriage, a wonderful young man named Brandon Gillespie, whom Pam had immediately considered her grandson.
Brandon, a member of the United States Marine Corps, was home from serving overseas. Now stationed at Fort Bliss, he’d been able to make it to Lusty—to home—for the holiday. Pam still smiled fondly whenever she thought about the party to welcome him back from his latest deployment. At that party, they’d all discovered he’d met and served with Brittany Phillips Kendall. Pam’s niece by marriage, Brit had been wounded in service to their country and was a below-the-knee amputee. But that amazing young woman never let that injury define her or stop her from doing anything—including saving the lives of many of their nieces and nephews last June in the aftermath of a tornado strike. Brittany had pretty much decided to resign her officer’s commission. It was only a matter of time before she moved on to the next phase of her life—being an advocate for women veterans.
Robbie, Davey, and Jillian had given her a granddaughter, as well. Colleen Cassandra, who’d be four next month, was a little sweetheart—half princess, half imp. Time goes by way too fast!
Pam’s gaze took in her next eldest sons, Grant and Andrew. They’d become firefighters, which had been no surprise to her at all. She’d been so relieved when they’d come home from that smoke-jumper training—a little the worse for wear—and decided to settle down here in Lusty, where they came to be in charge of the town’s fire department. Of course, their wife, her daughter-in-law Chloe, had something to do with not only their having settled down but the contentment she could see on them both.
Oh, how Chloe and Grant had fought that attraction in the beginning! But her son was a Jessop, and she’d had no concern about the eventual outcome of that particular battle. They were expecting their first child in February—just three months from now!
Her daughter Rebecca was so happy with her husbands, Greg and Cody. Their first born, Kyle, was just five months old—and currently asleep on Cody’s shoulder. She knew that when Kyle became older, they’d all travel again. Greg was in charge of the world-renowned charity, Maria’s Quest. Begun by Kate Benedict and her husbands, the charity had been named for the daughter they had lost in a plane crash several years before.
She thought she might tolerate her youngest traveling, because now she was grounded and happy.
Pamela’s gaze turned to her youngest son, Marcus—Marc, as he preferred to be called now—and she wasn’t the least surprised that, when she looked at him, it was his gaze she met. Even as a child he’d been particularly tuned in to her, and vice versa. Looking at him now, she knew he was a man at peace.
This was the first major holiday he’d shared with them in ten years. He’d left Lusty to be a medical researcher, first in Waco and then later, with the CDC in Atlanta. While there, he’d been recruited to serve his country working for another government agency—one that operated in the shadows. His presence today, and the presence at her table and in their family of his husband and wife—Jeremy Bishop and April Bixby—meant that her children had all found their forever mates. They were each of them thriving, and a new generation had begun.
That reality, new and pending grandchildren, gave Pamela Jessop a great deal to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.
Of course, she couldn’t think about this holiday without recalling her very first Thanksgiving in Lusty—and the early months of her marriage, leading up to it. Pamela could still hear her dear mother-in-law, Maria Sanchez Jessop, counsel her to take her time before she forgave her “cabezón, idiota, exasperante” sons, and Grandmother Chelsea—Chelsea Benedict Jessop-Kendall. Grandmother had been the one, and it had been seconded by Maria, who’d suggested Thanksgiving as the day to choose to hold their commitment ceremony. Maria had explained that way, Adam and James would always remember what they had to be thankful for.
I miss those good women so much. How lucky Pam had been to arrive in Lusty, motherless, and find another loving mother in Maria Jessop, and a grandmother in Chelsea.
“I know that smile,” Adam said. “You’re savoring having all your chicks together.” He reached over and covered her right hand with his left.
“I am indeed. And I’m feeling very thankful—and remembering our first Thanksgiving together.”
“That you forgave us, all those years ago, is something I’m thankful for every day, not just on Thanksgiving.” James covered her left hand with his right. All her men had to do was look at her a certain way or touch her
