Regency Glad Tidings by Carla Kelly

The best-selling author Carla Kelly is the author of forty-six novels and three non-fiction works, and numerous short stories.

“Holly and Ivy”- The Napoleonic Wars are over. Troops are returning home to a joyous Christmas, except for Surgeon Jake Frost, who must escort a hypochondriac captain, barely wounded at Waterloo. Jake prepares to hate every minute of the ordeal, until he meets the hypochondriac’s fiancé.

“Yours Sincerely” – Madeline and her widowed mother live in genteel poverty, at the mercy of overbearing in-laws. Despite this, they have managed well. Years earlier, they befriended an older gentleman who has since passed away. To their surprise, an American sea captain arrives, summoned for a reading of the will of that quiet gentleman. Kindness triumphs in ways unimaginable, except, perhaps, during the season of glad tidings.

“Picture a Christmas” – To avoid the poorhouse, Mary Cooper finds employment in a notions shop belonging to a grouchy old dame. Coming into her life to upend this pleasant arrangement is Luke Wainwright, nephew of Mary’s employer. He’s a widower and shipbuilder with no time for anything except business. To Luke, Mary is an interloper in his aunt’s affairs, until he sees someone else: a person as determined as he is to improve the hand dealt them. Together, perhaps?