Karen O'Leary wasn't a war widow ringing the Salvation Army bells on the streets of Manhattan in 1947. She was an unwed mother. A young mother the Army helped in her time of need. Now she's returning the favor. The Army helped her through her pregnancy and delivery and offered support as she navigated nursing school with a child. Now a registered nurse, working at the Salvation Army's home/hospital for unwed mothers, Karen doesn't openly lie about her circumstances. She simply allows others to believe the easy story because so many men never came back from war.
The war changed everything for NYPD Officer Mike Wolzak. He lost his father in the war because the older Wolzak wouldn't let his son go into a war alone. The Wolzak men have bled NYPD blue for three generations and Mike slipped back into his role of protector naturally. But his mother's cancer and death created a new chasm and when Mike's teenage sister-- now his ward-- reveals that she's expecting a late spring baby, Mike is pretty sure he's a major failure in the caretaker department.
He's a law and order guy. Always has been. But when he meets a beautiful bellringer on a wet, cold Thanksgiving Day, glimmers of light begin to chase the shadows of loss and grief.
She's different. Special. A mix of old-fashioned attire and post-war feminism. The kind of woman who carries her strength quietly. And her little daughter is an endearing child. But as Mike tries to figure out the best way to handle Mary Lynn's delicate situation, Karen realizes that a law and order man might never understand her past choices and circumstances. Despite the beauty of the Christmas season in post-war New York, old sins might seem unforgivable to some and she can't risk her daughter's joy for anything.... not even the romance she's thought out of reach for years.
But when Mike rescues an abandoned baby, reality opens the big man's eyes to a truth he hadn't noticed upon coming home. That joy can follow hardship-- eventually-- and that a baby does, indeed, change everything.
Genre: Romance
The war changed everything for NYPD Officer Mike Wolzak. He lost his father in the war because the older Wolzak wouldn't let his son go into a war alone. The Wolzak men have bled NYPD blue for three generations and Mike slipped back into his role of protector naturally. But his mother's cancer and death created a new chasm and when Mike's teenage sister-- now his ward-- reveals that she's expecting a late spring baby, Mike is pretty sure he's a major failure in the caretaker department.
He's a law and order guy. Always has been. But when he meets a beautiful bellringer on a wet, cold Thanksgiving Day, glimmers of light begin to chase the shadows of loss and grief.
She's different. Special. A mix of old-fashioned attire and post-war feminism. The kind of woman who carries her strength quietly. And her little daughter is an endearing child. But as Mike tries to figure out the best way to handle Mary Lynn's delicate situation, Karen realizes that a law and order man might never understand her past choices and circumstances. Despite the beauty of the Christmas season in post-war New York, old sins might seem unforgivable to some and she can't risk her daughter's joy for anything.... not even the romance she's thought out of reach for years.
But when Mike rescues an abandoned baby, reality opens the big man's eyes to a truth he hadn't noticed upon coming home. That joy can follow hardship-- eventually-- and that a baby does, indeed, change everything.
Genre: Romance
Used availability for Ruth Logan Herne's Red Kettle Christmas