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Coming Home for Christmas: A Christmas in Paradise\O Christmas Tree\No Crib for a Bed, by Carla Kelly
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Three soldiers, three generations, finding love at Christmas
1812: A Christmas in Paradise
To save nurse Laura Ortiz from destitution, British naval surgeon Thomas Wilkie has made her an offer this Christmas—a marriage of convenience….
1855: O Christmas Tree
A generation later, it's Thomas and Laura's daughter, widowed lone mother Lilian, who's working as a nurse in the Crimea. Christmas seems a long way away—until Major Trey Wharton helps her bring back the festive sparkle.
1877: No Crib for a Bed
Lilian's son Captain Wilkie Wharton is finally on his way home from Fort Laramie. It's a long, arduous, life-changing train journey…which sees him discover his soul mate and the true meaning of Christmas!
- Sales Rank: #1374148 in Books
- Published on: 2011-11-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.62" h x .80" w x 4.21" l,
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 288 pages
About the Author
I started writing Regencies because of interest in the Napoleonic Wars. I like writing about warfare at sea and ordinary people of the British Isles, rather than lords and ladies. In my spare time I like to read British crime fiction and history, particularly the U.S. Indian Wars. I currently live in Utah. I'm a former park ranger, and double Rita Award and Spur Award winner. I have five interesting children and four grands. Favorite authors include Robert Crais and Richard Woodman.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Thomas Wilkie, ship's surgeon on the long-defunct Splendid, folded his father's three-year-old letter and slipped it underneath the velvet covering to his capital knives. He glanced out of the window and sighed. Although the view was splendid, he wished the fort of San Diego had been built closer to the magnificent harbor. The ocean never failed to soothe him and he could use a little soothing. How many Christmases had to pass before he saw his parents again?
Years had come and gone since he had received his father's letter. Thomas wasn't surprised that Cora had decided to marry; he only wished it hadn't been to his older brother, who would probably take every opportunity to rub it in, provided Thomas ever found his way back to Dumfries.
Odd that the matter should bother him more now than when he had received the letter. Or maybe it was not so odd, considering the chain of events that had happened in short order after his Majesty's frigate Amaryllis had handed off supplies and a mail sack to the frigate Splendid, which blundered into a typhoon a week later. Dismasted and in tatters, the Splendid had been easy pickings for a French man o' war, cruising off the coast of Alta California.
They had been towed into the beautiful harbor of San Diego de Alcalÿ, then left there as a prize with the Spanish, who had been allies of France at the time. Dumped in the dungeons of the fort, the issue of staying alive had trumped any woolgathering about Cora McClean. Others had griped and complained, but Thomas had a lively mind. The food was poor, true, but the possibilities of the place had quickly made themselves obvious to him, who knew he had a skill in demand.
The Splendid's captain and most of his officers—those who had survived the typhoon and the mauling by the French—preferred to maintain themselves as British to the core, making no effort to learn Spanish—it was beneath them—or engage in any way with their captors. This was war, after all, and war had rules dear to the heart of the English.
It wasn't so with Thomas. When he announced, in very poor Spanish, his medical skills, he became a man in demand. The garrison's only physician had died two years earlier. In the village, native healers practiced a level of quackery that would have made him laugh out loud—if the results of their medical practices hadn't left so many dead.
Although the medical well-being of Spaniards interested him not at all, Captain Walcott of the Splendid had been quick to understand his surgeon's value as a bargaining chip for better food, more bedding and such comfort as San Diego could afford his surviving crew.
Thomas was needed and he was busy, tending first to his seamen, second to the Spaniards of both fort and town, and third to the Indians in the nearby mission. Learning Spanish took his mind off any mooning about Cora McClean. He quickly discovered a facility for Spanish. It gave him some satisfaction now to dream in Spanish, as the language became second nature.
So it went. In 1810, when word came from distant Mexico City that Napoleon had invaded Spain in 1808 and they were no longer allies, the Spanish garrison had risen and killed the few French among them. This turn of events perked up the men of the Splendid for a brief moment, until it became obvious that nothing much had changed: they were still isolated on the far side of the world, with no rescue in sight.
So the matter had rested for several years. Captain Walcott had been kind enough to die of a fever that had defeated all of Thomas's efforts to keep him alive. Though they mourned him, the result was the unleashing of Lieutenant Ludlow, a man of ambition and innovation, unlike his late captain. Using Thomas's skill with Spanish, the lieutenant had coaxed a coasting vessel out of the fort's captain.
This would have been a foolish effort—no coasting vessel could cross the Pacific or survive a trip around Cape Horn—except for news of an American fort trading in furs that had recently been established north in Oregon country. The Americans were neutral. If a small ship could coast north, the Englishmen would eventually find a way home.
Thomas hitched himself into the window frame and dangled his long legs over the edge, breathing deeply of the perfume of the flowers that flourished in Alta California. Now he had become a bargaining chip again. In order to acquire the coasting vessel, tools and supplies needed to make it seaworthy, Lieutenant Ludlow had bargained him away to the Spanish.
"You'll stay here, Thomas, in return for their help," Ludlow had informed him. "I give you my word we will extricate you. Some time. Do it for King George."
I am the wrong person for your appeal, Thomas had thought at the time. I am a Scot before I am British. Georgie's your king.
But he had a greater reason for staying behind. "Mr Ludlow, I couldn't leave anyway. Two of our crew are too sick to be put to the mercy of the ocean. The pharmacist's mate will sail with you. Duty, honor, Hippocrates and his oath compel me to remain behind."
So there, he had thought sourly. Take your old tub and sail north. No sense in divulging to anyone how desperately he wanted to loose the cables himself and sail north in the hope of leaning on the goodwill of Americans. He was as homesick as the next crew member.
Thomas's reverie was interrupted by a small tap on the door. He smiled, his self-pity forgotten for a moment. It must be Laura; no one else in his man's world had such a light touch.
Laura Maria Ortiz de la Garza had the run of the presidio because her father was San Diego's royal accountant. Laura had tried to explain his full title to Thomas once, but she had given up in disgust at his poor Spanish.
That had been three years ago. His Spanish was far better now, but Laura Ortiz didn't seem to be a person to suffer fools gladly. More likely, she had been advised by her father, a man of minor nobility, that a mere surgeon wasn't worth her time or lineage. No matter—Laura Ortiz's black-colored hair, dark eyes and olive skin hadn't held a candle to Cora McClean's blue-eyed, red-haired Scottish buxomness.
He had known Laura for four years now, from her awkward, all-elbows phase to her most recent blossoming into a young woman of some dignity, with a face perhaps more earnest than beautiful. She had an almost disconcerting gaze that someone with a guilty conscience would find unnerving. Because Thomas had no designs on Laura Maria Ortiz beyond admiring the graceful way she had matured, his heart was pure.
"Well, senorita, to what do I owe this visit?" he asked in his most polite Spanish, happy to think of something besides having been abandoned on the far side of the globe.
She put her hands to her throat. "Tumores glandu-losos del cuello," she said. She enunciated loudly and distinctly, as though he were an idiot.
Aha, I know that one, Miss Smarty, he thought. "Mumps, eh? That's what we call them in English. And where is this victim of the mumps?"
She extended one finger and motioned to the door. "Follow me."
He did as she said, after taking up his worn remedy bag, thinking to himself that no British Isles lass would ever have used such an imperious gesture. The Spanish were different, especially those a little high in the instep. He wondered, as he had on numerous other occasions, if Father Hilario had told Laura that the navy surgeon was the son of a mere surgeon, who had begun his career as a barber.
It was a beautiful day in November, one of many beautiful days he had become accustomed to in Alta California. As he walked along, a few sedate paces behind Miss High and Mighty, Thomas Wilkie reminded himself that he might miss this climate, if he ever got home to Scotland.
With Laura's imperious nod and Thomas's smile to the guard, a man whose son he had saved from diphtheria, they left the presidio and walked down the hill to San Diego's pueblo, a small town of some two hundred souls. He began his usual tease with Laura, striding at her side, which was no difficulty considering his long legs. She usually tried to walk in front, as a lady would. To his surprise, she let him walk beside her.
Wonders never cease, he thought in amusement. Maybe I am more charming than I thought.
But no. She was slowing down because they had already reached their destination, a hovel that was home to a soldier and his ragtag family: a gaggle of children and a woman not many generations removed from Kumeyaay Indian. Thomas ducked inside the doorway, stood a moment to accustom his eyes to the smoky din and saw his little patient.
"Poor thing," he murmured in Spanish, as he knelt by the large-eyed girl; he saw tears gathering on her bottom lids while her hands grasped her throat. Gently he tugged away her hands and expertly touched her parotid glands. "Mumps, it is," he said in English.
"Mumps," Laura Maria repeated. "Mumps. Parodi- tis."
The poor wife of a soldior, the little girl's Kumeyaay mother hovered like all mothers. Thomas figured she must be illiterate, so he knew she would listen carefully to his simple directions involving a paste made of ginger root, which he produced from his satchel, because he knew she could not afford to buy it. Whistling softly to himself, he ground the root, added water and flour, and scraped it onto a narrow bandage, which he wrapped loosely around the girl's throat. When she whimpered, he kissed her forehead.
For no particular reason, Thomas glanced at Laura, a little surprised that she had remained in the hovel with him. The royal accountant's daughter stood with her hands clasped in front of her, her intense gaze fixed on the child, much as his had been. She seemed to be assessing what he was doing, so he explained it, much as he would have explained to ...
Most helpful customer reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Stayed up late reading it in one sitting!
By Cilla
I pre-orded this book several months ago because I am a Carla Kelly fan, knowing it was an anthology, but somehow missed the fact that Carla Kelly had written all the stories. So, it was was a treat to find out that I had three Carla Kelly stories to read! "Coming Home for Christmas" is an anthology about three generations of soldiers, beginning in 1812 with British naval surgeon Thomas Wilkie, who makes a marriage of convenience with Laura Ortiz who is abandoned in California due to family problems. This is my favorite story, partly because it takes place in the regency era, even though it isn't a British lord and lady story. Thomas and Laura are my favorite characters in the book. Their romance is given time to develop and that may be because their story is the longest one in the anthology. Working together to help victims in an earthquake brings this seemingly mis-matched couple to find out exactly how well-matched they are.
The next story is about Thomas and Laura's widowed daughter Lilian, who is working as a nurse in the Crimea in 1855. There are interesting glimpses into the Florence Nightengale era. The story of Laura and Major Trey Wharton was touching, and I think the only thing that would have made it better was to have it be longer because some issues were mentioned briefly but didn't have time to be fully developed. For example,I wanted to know a little more about her previous marriage, because it seems like she had mixed feelings about her deceased husband.
The final story,taking place in 1877 features Laura's son from her first marriage, Captain Wilkie Wharton. He finds his true love in Mary Francis Coughlin, someone he had known for a year at Fort Laramie, but saw in a new light as they made a difficult journey, dealing with an orphaned baby and a white former captive of the Cheyenne who is torn between her former life and her life as part of the tribe.
I inhaled this anthology, finishing it in one sitting. I enjoyed the Christmas theme interwoven through the stories, as well as the fact that the trilogy started with one special couple, and continued through the lives of their children and grandchildren. My complaints about not feeling that the last two stories were developed enough stems from the fact that I am spoiled by reading Carla Kelly trilogies made up of three complete books! She always leaves me wanting more. Overall, this book was a treat for this Carla Kelly fan. It has the gritty details of medical life and the harsh conditions of previous eras, so it isn't sugar-coated. The heroes and heroines were the warm and "real" people I have come to expect from Carla Kelly. This is another one for my "keeper shelf."
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
If You Don't Like Anthologies
By lovesbooks
you will like "Coming Home for Christmas." I hate anthologies. Either the novellas are too short to be fulfilling or if they are long enough, you want them to go on, not to end. Either way, anthologies are lousy, IMO.
Of course, Carla Kelly has to be the exception. Two of her three new, unpublished before entries in "Coming Home for Christmas" are like reading a full novel; the third is complete, but a little short. Fortunately, that was okay by me. Each entry is told from the point of view of either the hero or heroine. Although each novella has at least one Christmas detail, there really isn't much about Christmas, so although these entries give you things to think about Christmas, they will not leave you with the warm fuzzies of Christmas cheer. Instead, they will teach you and intrigue you about history.
The first, "A Christmas in Paradise" is from the POV of a Scottish doctor who is fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, but gets caught in California and its changing Spanish alliances. Somehow, I never think of the Napoleonic Wars affecting the US, although we bought the Louisiana Purchase thanks to those wars, and of course, they affected the War of 1812. Enough of the history lesson. Thomas Wilkie is a surgeon, stranded in Ca., having been traded away by his commanding officer for a ship to take the rest of the crew back to British forces. Wilkie is amused by Laura Ortiz, a young snob, the daughter of a Spanish official. Unfortunately, her father has a gambling problem and is disgraced, arrested and shipped down to Mexico for trial, leaving Laura literally destitute and hated by almost everyone. Out of sympathy, Wilkie marries her and the story is about her gradual acquiring resilience, competency, and love for her husband. I liked that she is realistic throughout the novel and immediately grateful to Wilkie for his intervention, yet does not fall immediately in love with him for his rescue. Wilkie is one of the many honorable (usually medical) heroes in Carla Kelly's books, so if you liked her past military heroes, you will like Wilkie. Nobody is as good as Carla Kelly in creating honorable and strong men.
The second "O Christmas Tree" is told by a nurse, the daughter of Wilkie and Laura, in the Crimean War who falls for an American observer. Lilian, a wealthy widow, escaped a meaningless life to nurse in the Crimea under Florence Nightingale, although she is not a character. Lilian is running a hospital in Turkey and wants a Christmas tree for the ward of recovering soldiers. Trey Wharton quietly intervenes to help her in a disaster and later steps in, when he thinks she may be in an awkward position with the local Turkish ruler. If you like a quiet, kind of reticent hero, you will like this novella.
The third, ans shortest entry, is about Lilian and Trey's son, who is coming home from the west to meet his fiancee, about whom he has reservations of marrying. He has promised to look after on the train a young woman he admires, who is the opposite of his fiancee in class and personality. On the way, he is put in charge of a tragic woman who was kidnapped by the Indians and lately torn away from her children and happy life and is now being sent "home" to be reunited with a family that may reject her. How the h&h cope with this grieving and angry woman reveals both their characters and push them into their decision.
So, if you like Carla Kelly's books, you will like this one too. I did.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
not my favorite carla kelly
By cbreader
I'm surprised I didn't like this more. Everyone sounded the same. It was three different stories, but you could have exchanged the characters into any one of them, they all sounded so similar. the first story was my least favorite. The second made me glad I kept reading, though. the third was fine, but not great.
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