Grace

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, our story being featured is Grace.
Family during the winter holidays are supposed to be warm and loving during the winter holidays. That, however, is usually far from the truth. All Grace wants is a future and the assurance her aging parents will have one of her siblings close to be with them.

Blurb
Grace Winston yearns for one last family Christmas, but she has to convince her brothers and sisters it's worth their while to come home. Her reason for this is that her parents, while happy that she's been accepted at Oxford University in England, are pining away for their family to gather together. She manages to force her older brothers and sister to help out, to come home, but it's up to them to bring the other – a brother who attacked their father to get money to feed his drug habit, and a sister who recently gave up alcohol and is raising four children under the age of five without their daddies. The family does return home, and they surprise their parents, but Grace is soon wondering if this was really worth all the trouble she's gone through, when no one acknowledges her efforts to make this a Christmas to remember … until she receives an early gift that leaves her certain things will turn out all right.








Amazon eBook


Excerpt

Grace Winston had celebrated her eighteenth birthday a mere three weeks ago, the same day as Thanksgiving. There were no thanks in her house, no special foods prepared to celebrate her becoming an adult, nothing to mark the day as unique.
Her parents hadn't said "Happy Birthday" until it was time to go to bed. Even then, the acknowledgement had sounded more like "goodnight."
It's not Mama and Papa's fault. They can't help how sad they are. My brothers and sisters should have come like they said they would. They're not even making false promises anymore. All of them claim that they have other plans for Christmas, and we need to get over our selfish desire to have the family together.
For as far back as she could remember, that day has been one where her whole family showed up, until her oldest brother, Adam, decided that he had too much work to spend a week at his childhood home. Mark begged off the next year, claiming his wife's job required him to appear at the White House. The others never bothered to make an excuse the year after that.
Grace blamed herself for her parents depression this year, after they sighed and accepted the inevitable. She was so excited to have been accepted at Oxford and to receive a full scholarship, so they didn't have to pay for her education. Mama and Papa stared at her with eyes full of loss and resignation, but they never congratulated her for her accomplishment after she showed them the letter last week.
I don't blame them. My brothers and sisters are at fault for how our parents feel, but I can't go to England with things the way they are.
Her heart lay heavy in her chest as she realized that Christmas would be the same lifeless day as Thanksgiving, unless something drastic happened. Her parents had been in a blue funk for the last year, due to the fact that their other children had turned their backs on the simple lifestyle in which they'd been raised, but Grace had a solution.









About K.C. Sprayberry
Living a dream she’s had since she first discovered the magic of books. K.C. Sprayberry traveled the U.S. and Europe before finally settling in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. She’s been married to her soulmate for nearly a quarter of a century and they enjoy spoiling their grandchildren along with many other activities.
A multi-genre author, K.C. Sprayberry is always on the hunt for new stories. Inspiration strikes at the weirdest times and drives her to grab notebook and pen to jot down her ideas. Those close to her swear nothing or no one is safe if she’s smiling gently in a corner and watching those in the same room interact. Her observations have often given her ideas for her next story, set not only in the South but wherever the characters demand they settle.

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