A Tylerville Christmas, Book #1

• Sweet and Wholesome
• Secret Baby
• Miracles and Mayhem
• Christmas Romance

The home you always wanted with the town family you always needed, where miracles happen and happily ever after is guaranteed.

How much do you love your spouse?

Will is determined to do whatever it takes to save his wife, Faith, and heal her heartache, even if it means pulling off the biggest deception of his life. With the help of his magical hometown, Tylerville, a surprise baby on the doorstep, three orphaned children, and a soul-deep love, Will and Faith discover that Christmas truly is the time for miracles.

Note to Readers: A Tylerville Christmas is a contemporary romance written by USA Today and eleven-time RITA© (Romance Writers of America) finalist, bestselling author, Day Leclaire and her writing partner Dre Leclaire, this tale of love and redemption is sure to get you in the holiday spirit.

“She’s going to leave me. I can see the writing on the wall as clear as if she’d spray painted it. I’m losing her.”

Will cradled his drink and stared across the desk at Dr. Talbot, the man who’d brought him into the world thirty-nine years ago. He was tempted to slam back the high shelf tumbler of whiskey but thought better of it. He loosened his tie and slouched back in the wooden chair, the sharp edges biting at the back of his thighs.

The job interview had decidedly taken a left turn.

“A change of scenery is exactly what you need if you’re going to weather this.”

Tal, as everyone in town called the doctor, matched Will’s casual demeanor, leaning back heavily in his own office chair, gently swirling the ice cubes in his glass. Though he was approaching his eighties, his eyes maintained their sharp clarity and his hands were rock-steady. A hint of grey whiskers covered his chin in concession to the lateness of the day.

Will’s loosened tie still strangled him. He pulled it off and undid his first button. He’d already shed his suit jacket the moment he’d met Tal at the front door of the clinic, the older man dressed in a worn pair of slightly wrinkled khaki’s, a button up plaid shirt, and a white lab coat. Will had forgotten how much walking into the Tylerville family practice seemed like coming home, even afterhours when all the patients were gone.

“If I do this, Faith might leave me,” he finally admitted.

“She might leave you anyway. What have you got to lose?”

Tal spoke with a candor often heard within the four walls of his practice. He was a straight-shooter, married to the job and a little rough around the edges. He’d spent a lifetime caring for others, and he’d made a point of staying out of the relationships of those around him, especially his colleagues. But the confirmed bachelor had been paying attention. Close attention.

“I might lose everything.” Painful doubt bubbled up in his stomach. Maybe it was the whiskey having its anticipated effect. He should have stopped for a sandwich after his five-hour drive.

“You remember back when you did a rotation under me, and we had that patient that came in with a rash all over his backside that we couldn’t solve?” Tal leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk, hands clasped under his chin.

“John Peters, seventeen year old, right?” The kid had been a medical mystery. They couldn’t pin down where terrible lesions were coming from all over his back, buttocks, and legs.

“Right. We tried everything we could think of to treat him. Creams, steroids, changing his soaps, antibiotics. We drew enough blood from that kid to start our own blood bank. It took us being willing to send him on to a specialist to find out he was actually showing signs of Hutchinson Prurigo.” Tal recounted the treatment plan as though he’d just been with the boy. His ability to recall such fine details about his patients, even years after the fact, was one of his personal superpowers.

“Rashing up from sun exposure, but not on skin that typically sees the sun.” Will remembered the boy. It had been one of his first major challenges outside of his hospital internships. “How’s he doing?”

“He stopped skinny dipping and his butt cleared up.” Tal’s mouth quirked in a wry smile.

The discovery that the boy had been skinny dipping came to light when he showed up with poison ivy in a most precarious location. The revelation had been the tipping point that guided the doctor and his intern to get the boy referred to a dermatologist with a specialty in genetic disorders affecting the skin.

Tal paused to take a long sip of his drink. “You’ve been in practice now for almost a decade. You and I both have learned the best doctors are the ones who stay on their toes and keep their eyes open. They know when to stuff their own arrogance in their back pocket to refer patients out to specialists when needed.”

“What do you recommend, Doc?” The whites of Will’s knuckles glowed under the fluorescent beam of the overhead, the stress radiating outwardly from his tense body. His head was starting to hurt.

“You either go all in, do everything you can to save this marriage and her, or you pull the plug now and let it come to a peaceful end. Let that girl walk away and pray she finds someone else who can heal her heart. What do you want to do?”

“Fight with everything I have and save her. Save us.” He spoke without pause, hesitation, or thought. There was no doubt he loved his wife beyond measure.

“Then do it here, your home ground, with your people. Get her away from all the reminders of the things that tore your marriage apart. Let this town support you, lift you both up, help you rebuild.” The old doctor spoke with uncharacteristic firmness.

“And you’re sure about the terms?” Will desperately wanted to save his marriage, but what the Doctor expected from him filled him with bone-deep fear. It was madness, unadulterated madness.

“You know my condition for transferring this clinic to you. I want to retire soon, but I can’t in good conscious step down until I know everyone, and everything, is settled.” The stubborn set to Tal’s jaw told Will all he needed to know.

“What if it backfires? What if I can’t meet your condition?” It was a simple question loaded with serious consequences. The doctor wanted Will to take on a responsibility that went above and beyond his medical practice. And he expected his wife to do the same.

“And what if it’s exactly the risk you need to take?” The Doctor locked eyes with Will and extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

“I hope your relationship advice is as sound as your doctoring. We have a deal.” Will reached across the old, scarred desk covered in charts and shook Doctor Talbot’s hand, praying he hadn’t just shaken on his own divorce decree.