Praise for the novels of #1 New York Times bestselling author
DEBBIE MACOMBER
“Charming and funny, the latest installment of the Blossom Street series has many touching moments, too. Here’s to the adventures of Lydia and her friends continuing for a long, long time.”
—RT Book Reviews on Summer on Blossom Street
“Macomber’s assured storytelling and affirming narrative is as welcoming as your favorite easy chair.”
—Publishers Weekly on Twenty Wishes
“It’s easy to see why Macomber is a perennial favorite: she writes great books.”
—RomanceJunkies.com
“A keeper…44 Cranberry Point is a book to be read more than once and enjoyed a second or third time as much as the first. It’s like a visit home.”
—ReaderToReader.com
“Debbie Macomber has written a compelling book that is absolutely unputdownable….”
—The Best Reviews on Changing Habits
“Even the most hard-hearted readers will find themselves rooting for the women in this hopeful story while surreptitiously wiping away tears and making their own list of wishes.”
—Booklist on Twenty Wishes
“Debbie Macomber writes characters who are as warm and funny as your best friends.”
—New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs
“8 Sandpiper Way is another fabulous story from Debbie Macomber. She can weave a story that will keep you enthralled for hours.”
—RomanceJunkies.com
“Debbie Macomber is…a bona fide superstar.”
—Publishers Weekly
Also by Debbie Macomber
Blossom Street Books
THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET
A GOOD YARN
SUSANNAH’S GARDEN
BACK ON BLOSSOM STREET
TWENTY WISHES
SUMMER ON BLOSSOM STREET
Cedar Cove Books
16 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD
204 ROSEWOOD LANE
311 PELICAN COURT
44 CRANBERRY POINT
50 HARBOR STREET
6 RAINIER DRIVE
74 SEASIDE AVENUE
8 SANDPIPER WAY
92 PACIFIC BOULEVARD
A CEDAR COVE CHRISTMAS
The Manning Family
THE MANNING SISTERS
THE MANNING BRIDES
THE MANNING GROOMS
Dakota Series
DAKOTA BORN
DAKOTA HOME
ALWAYS DAKOTA
Heart of Texas Series
VOLUME 1
(Lonesome Cowboy and Texas Two-Step)
VOLUME 2
(Caroline’s Child and Dr. Texas)
VOLUME 3
(Nell’s Cowboy and Lone Star Baby)
PROMISE, TEXAS
RETURN TO PROMISE
Midnight Sons
VOLUME 1
(Brides for Brothers and The Marriage Risk)
VOLUME 2
(Daddy’s Little Helper and Because of the Baby)
Christmas Books
A GIFT TO LAST
ON A SNOWY NIGHT
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
GLAD TIDINGS
CHRISTMAS WISHES
SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS
WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS
CHRISTMAS LETTERS
WHERE ANGELS GO
THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS
ANGELS AT CHRISTMAS
(Those Christmas Angels and Where Angels Go)
THIS MATTER OF MARRIAGE
MONTANA
THURSDAYS AT EIGHT
BETWEEN FRIENDS
CHANGING HABITS
MARRIED IN SEATTLE
(First Comes Marriage and Wanted: Perfect Partner)
RIGHT NEXT DOOR
(Father’s Day and The Courtship of Carol Sommars)
WYOMING BRIDES
(Denim and Diamonds and The Wyoming Kid)
FAIRY TALE WEDDINGS
(Cindy and the Prince and Some Kind of Wonderful)
THE MAN YOU’LL MARRY
(The First Man You Meet and The Man You’ll Marry)
DEBBIE MACOMBER’S CEDAR COVE COOKBOOK
DEBBIE MACOMBER
Midnight Sons
VOLUME 3
For Bailey and Carter Macomber
Who both make their Grandma and
Grandpa Macomber so very proud
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Hard Luck, Alaska, and the last volume in the MIDNIGHT SONS series. If you read Volumes 1 and 2, you’ve become familiar with the families living in this rugged tundra town. These books were originally published in 1995 and 1996 and led me to write the six-book HEART OF TEXAS series and eventually its sequel, Promise, Texas—which was my very first title on the New York Times bestseller list.
My husband worked on the pipeline in Alaska back in 1982. In fact, Wayne was in Purdue Bay when I received word that my first book had sold. It was a phone call that changed our lives. Because Wayne had loved working in Alaska, we traveled north—many years later—in order to do the research for this series. If anyone from the IRS inquires, the entire trip was for research purposes! It was work, work, work!
I remember we were in Fairbanks for the summer solstice. When they say Alaska is the land of the midnight sun, that’s no exaggeration. We ended up propping a chair against the drapes to keep the light from shining into our hotel-room window. (See? It’s all research.)
Our trip was quite an adventurous one. Wayne and I were able to fly over the Arctic Circle on a “mail run” and visit a town called Bettles (which bears an astonishing resemblance to Hard Luck). In the name of research I interviewed bush pilots, panned for gold, dined on moose meat and talked with anyone and everyone willing to share their experiences. It ended up being a trip Wayne and I would long remember. Although it was strictly work! (In case that IRS agent is lurking over your shoulder reading this.)
I like to think of myself as a “value-added” author, and my publisher shares my desire to give readers a bonus whenever possible. Included in this volume is the novella titled Midnight Sons and Daughters, originally published in 2000 in a Harlequin Superromance book celebrating the line’s twentieth anniversary. It’s a follow-up story many readers had asked me to write. This is a great opportunity to find out how some of the children you met in these books turned out.
I hope you enjoy Falling for Him and Ending in Marriage, plus the bonus novella.
Warmest regards,
CONTENTS
FALLING FOR HIM
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
ENDING IN MARRIAGE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
MIDNIGHT SONS AND DAUGHTERS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
The History of Hard Luck, Alaska
Hard Luck, situated fifty miles north of the Arctic Circle, near the Brooks Range, was founded by Adam O’Halloran and his wife, Anna, in 1931. Adam came to Alaska to make his fortune but never found the gold strike he sought. Nevertheless, the O’Hallorans and their two young sons, Ch
arles and David, stayed on—in part because of a tragedy that befell the family a few years later.
Other prospectors and adventurers began to move to Hard Luck, some of them bringing wives and children. The town became a stopping-off place for mail, equipment and supplies. The Fletcher family arrived in 1938 to open a dry goods store.
When World War II began, Hard Luck’s population was fifty or sixty people, all told. Some of the young men, including the O’Halloran sons, joined the armed services; Charles left for Europe in 1942, David in 1944 at the age of eighteen. Charles died during the fighting. Only David came home—with a young English war bride, Ellen Sawyer (despite the fact that he’d become engaged to Catherine Fletcher shortly before going overseas).
After the war, David qualified as a bush pilot. He then built some small cabins to attract the sport fishermen and hunters who were starting to come to Alaska; he also worked as a guide. Eventually he built a lodge to replace the cabins—a lodge that was later damaged by fire.
David and Ellen had three sons, born fairly late in their marriage—Charles (named after David’s brother) was born in 1960, Sawyer in 1963 and Christian in 1965.
Hard Luck had been growing slowly all this time and by 1970 it was home to just over a hundred people. These were the years of the oil boom, when the school and community center were built by the state. After Vietnam, ex-serviceman Ben Hamilton joined the community and opened the Hard Luck Café, which became the social focus for the town.
In the late 1980s the three O’Halloran brothers formed a partnership, creating Midnight Sons, a bush-pilot operation. They were awarded the mail contract, and also delivered fuel and other necessities to the interior. In addition, they served as a small commuter airline, flying passengers to and from Fairbanks and within the northern Arctic.
In 1995, at the time these stories start, there were approximately 150 people living in Hard Luck—the majority of them male….
Now, almost fifteen years later, join the people here in looking back at their history—particularly the changes that occurred when Midnight Sons invited women to town. Women who transformed Hard Luck, Alaska, forever!
FALLING FOR HIM
Chapter
1
Late July 1996
THE WOMAN DROVE him crazy. Christian O’Halloran had given a lot of thought to Mariah Douglas lately and had compiled a long list of reasons to fire her. Good reasons. Unfortunately he had to get his stubborn brother to agree. According to Sawyer, Mariah could do no wrong.
According to him, she could do no right.
It astonished Christian that his brother was so blind about this. As a rule, Christian valued Sawyer’s opinion. In fact, he considered both his older brothers—Charles, too—excellent judges of character. Christian couldn’t understand it, but they’d been hoodwinked by Mariah. Not only that, they’d accused him of being arbitrary, unfair, unkind.
Mariah gave the impression of being sweet and gentle. Unassuming. Efficient. But he knew otherwise. Mariah Douglas was not to be trusted. She was, to put it simply, a klutz. Whenever he was around, she lost messages, misfiled documents, dropped things. None of that ever seemed to happen when Sawyer was in the office, so Christian had to conclude that she had it in for him, and him alone. Now, he didn’t believe she’d ever intentionally do anything to undermine their business. If she managed to sabotage Midnight Sons, he was convinced it would be purely accidental. That, however, didn’t make her any less dangerous. There was definitely a negative chemistry between them. He nodded to himself, pleased with the term.
Sitting at his desk in the mobile office for Midnight Sons, the flight service the three O’Halloran brothers owned and operated in Hard Luck, Alaska, Christian wondered exactly what it was about Mariah he found so objectionable—aside from her clumsiness, of course. He’d never really figured that out.
It wasn’t her looks. The woman was attractive enough—medium height, medium build with medium-length red hair and brown eyes. Some might even think she was pretty, and Christian wouldn’t disagree. She was pretty. Sort of. Nothing that would stop traffic, mind you, but reasonably pleasing to the eye.
Duke Porter, one of his pilots, apparently thought so.
Christian’s mouth thinned at the memory of walking in on them recently and finding Mariah and Duke locked in each other’s arms. It irritated him no end that they hadn’t kept their romance out of the office. If they wanted to smooch and carry on, they could do it on their own time. Not his.
This sort of behavior wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he convinced Sawyer that they should bring women to Hard Luck. In his view, the plan had a practical business purpose. Midnight Sons had been losing pilots. And he’d hoped that persuading women to move to Alaska would solve their problems.
Instead, it had created more—Mariah Douglas being one of them.
Abbey Sutherland was the first woman to arrive. From the moment his levelheaded brother laid eyes on her, Sawyer hadn’t been the same. In less than a month, he and Abbey were engaged.
In Christian’s opinion, Sawyer lost more than his heart when he met Abbey; since then, his brain hadn’t functioned properly, either. Charles wasn’t much better once Lanni Caldwell showed up. The two of them were engaged by the end of the summer. They’d set up house this past April, and all the common sense Charles used to have had flown right out the proverbial window.
Christian appeared to be the last of the three in full possession of his wits.
Shortly after he’d found Mariah and Duke embracing, Christian had approached Charles. He’d hoped his oldest brother would help him convince Sawyer that the time had come to replace Mariah. She’d been their secretary for a full year now, and there was only so much a man should have to take. They’d signed a one-year agreement, and as far as he was concerned their responsibilities toward her had been met.
Charles had proved to be a major disappointment. It wasn’t that his brother had sided with Sawyer over the secretary issue; however, he hadn’t said what Christian had been hoping to hear. Charles seemed to feel that Sawyer and Christian should settle this matter between themselves.
That would never work, because Sawyer didn’t have the same problems with Mariah that Christian did. His brother was in favor of keeping her as long as she was willing to stay on.
Every time Christian brought up the subject, Sawyer reminded him that he’d been the one to hire her. What his brother failed to remember was that Christian had never wanted Mariah as their secretary in the first place. He’d wanted Allison Reynolds.
Even now, the image of the tall, beautiful blonde stirred his blood. He’d met her in Seattle and been immediately captivated. It had taken a lot of fancy footwork to get her to give Hard Luck a try.
Allison had come to Alaska, but after viewing the town and seeing the living quarters allotted her, she’d experienced a sudden change of heart. Unfortunately Christian hadn’t been in Hard Luck at the time, and once she’d decided to return to Seattle, he didn’t have the opportunity to talk her into giving the town another chance.
Disheartened after her departure, he’d pulled out the next job application in the pile.
Mariah Douglas.
Christian had rued that day ever since. He’d wanted Allison Reynolds. She’d affected him the way Abbey had affected Sawyer, the way Lanni affected Charles. If he hadn’t been so dismayed with Allison’s decision to go back home, he’d have done a better job of choosing her replacement.
“Christian, could I speak to you for a moment?” Mariah approached his desk in her usual timid manner, as though she expected him to leap up and bite her.
He raised his eyes. It had taken her six months to call him by his first name, instead of Mr. O’Halloran. Didn’t she realize he and Sawyer had the same surname? He sighed. And Sawyer wasn’t even in today to help with damage control; he’d gone to Fairbanks with Abbey and the kids.
“Yes,” he muttered, barely hiding his impatience.
“Before he left, S
awyer said I should talk to you….” She bit her lower lip. From her expression, you’d think he was some kind of ogre. Christian saw himself as considerate and intelligent and hoped he behaved that way. Obviously Mariah didn’t agree. He sighed again.
“Talk to me about what?” he asked, more kindly this time.
“I’ve been with Midnight Sons for a whole year now.”
No one was more aware of that than Christian. “Yes, I know.”
“I’d like to take a week of the vacation I’m allowed according to my employment contract.”
Christian straightened. A week without Mariah. A week of freedom. A week of peace.
“I’m meeting a friend in Anchorage,” she explained, not that he needed to know or particularly cared.
“When?” The sooner she left the better, in Christian’s opinion. This would be his chance to prove to Sawyer once and for all that they didn’t need a secretary. Or—and this was his own preference—that they should hire someone else. Someone more like Allison and a lot less like Mariah.
“If it’s possible, I’d like to take next week,” she said, her eyes hopeful. “Early August is the perfect time to see Alaska.”
“Next week’ll be fine.” Christian was so excited it was all he could do not to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her on both cheeks.
She hesitated, lingering at his desk.
“Is there something else?” he asked.
“Yes, there is.” Her eyes flashed briefly, but with what he couldn’t quite guess. Anxiety? Resentment? “I wanted to thank you for giving me this time off on such short notice. I realize it puts you in a bind, but I didn’t decide to go until last night after I got Tracy’s letter and—”