The Mistletoe Countess (Fredrick & Grace Mystery, #1)

by Pepper Basham

“Which is why I’m particularly glad my sister bears the burden of marrying for circumstance, so that I can engage myself to some insignificant farmer and live in obscurity with my garden, books, and passel of rambunctious children.”

“Oh, I devour books.” She tugged the novel against her chest. “It’s a disastrous habit for being productive, I’m afraid.”

She braced against the fear with a silent prayer and an inner visual of Lizzie Bennet for backbone.

“He shoulders the weight of generations. It is a heavy burden, so if you support him—love his world as freely and fully as you love so many other things—he will respond to you.”

“You hold to the same faith as I, but even more than that, your Creator holds to you. No matter where you go or what the expectations are, you are not alone. Remember who you are, and you will not only survive, but you will flourish.”

‘Kindness is your most valiant weapon. People may fight against many things, but against kindness, they fall unprepared.’”

Her smile grew wide, warming his shoulder. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” She yawned again. “And you, my dear Frederick, are certainly charming.”

“Imagination, fanciful ideas, joy in the beauty around us inspires creativity and productivity. Why can’t we have both the beautiful and the practical? The fantastical and the functional? Didn’t God create with both practicality and pleasure?”

God hadn’t created her for plastic smiles and shallow relationships.

Perhaps God was using these lonely moments to remind her that He was enough and that He’d made her just as she was, for His glory.

“Marriage is a difficult business, my dear. It’s life amplified.”

“I collect a great deal of strength from a very different world so that I can survive this one. What do you think heaven is all about?”