One More for Christmas Read online

  From the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Christmas Sisters comes this sparkling tale of Christmas redemption, brimming with Sarah Morgan’s trademark festive cheer!

  For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year—a time for togetherness, love and celebration. Most of all, it’s about making up for everything their childhood Christmases lacked. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all—their estranged mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mom calls out of the blue and promises that this Christmas will be different, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend it all together...

  Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price—her relationship with her daughters. She never seemed to say or do the right things. Her tough-love approach was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away...until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart...

  Praise for the novels of Sarah Morgan

  Family for Beginners

  “A perfect read for someone who feels lost when it comes to family [or] looking for a second chance at love.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Sarah Morgan’s writing always hits me right in the feels.”

  —Harlequin Junkie

  A Wedding in December

  “Morgan’s gently humorous aesthetic will leave readers feeling optimistic and satisfied.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Set around the Christmas holiday, it will make you cry, make you laugh, and it’s an unforgettable read.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  One Summer in Paris

  “A cheerful and heartwarming look at friendship, family, love, and new beginnings.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Packed full of love, loss, heartbreak, and hope, this may just be Morgan’s best book yet.”

  —Booklist

  The Christmas Sisters

  “The perfect gift for readers who relish heartwarming tales of sisters and love.”

  —Booklist

  “The Scottish Highland setting adds special moments in this tender family drama.”

  —Library Journal

  How to Keep a Secret

  “Fans of Karen White and Susan Wiggs will savor Morgan’s pairing of a second-chance romance with an intense family drama.”

  —Booklist, starred review

  “Her lovingly created characters come to life, the dialog rings true, and readers will fly through the pages and then wish for more.”

  —Library Journal, starred review

  Also by Sarah Morgan

  Family for Beginners

  A Wedding in December

  One Summer in Paris

  The Christmas Sisters

  How to Keep a Secret

  From Manhattan with Love

  Moonlight Over Manhattan

  Holiday in the Hamptons

  New York, Actually

  Miracle on 5th Avenue

  Sunset in Central Park

  Sleepless in Manhattan

  Puffin Island

  One Enchanted Moment

  Some Kind of Wonderful

  First Time in Forever

  The O’Neil Brothers

  Suddenly Last Summer

  Maybe This Christmas

  Sleigh Bells in the Snow

  Look for Sarah Morgan’s next novel

  The Summer Seekers

  available soon from HQN.

  For additional books by Sarah Morgan,

  visit her website, www.sarahmorgan.com.

  One More for Christmas

  Sarah Morgan

  For Ele and Si, with love

  Sarah Morgan is a USA TODAY and Sunday Times bestselling author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She has sold more than eighteen million copies of her books, and her trademark humor and warmth have gained her fans across the globe. Sarah lives with her family near London, England, where the rain frequently keeps her trapped in her office. Visit her at www.sarahmorgan.com.

  Contents

  Quote

  Gayle

  Samantha

  Ella

  Gayle

  Samantha

  Ella

  Gayle

  Samantha

  Kirstie

  Samantha

  Ella

  Gayle

  Samantha

  Ella

  Gayle

  Samantha

  Ella

  Gayle

  Kirstie

  Samantha

  Gayle

  Acknowledgments

  Excerpt from The Summer Seekers by Sarah Morgan

  “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

  —CHARLES DICKENS, A CHRISTMAS CAROL

  Gayle

  When Gayle Mitchell agreed to a live interview in her office, she hadn’t expected her life to fall apart in such a spectacular fashion in front of an audience of millions. She was used to giving interviews and had no reason to think that this one might end in disaster, so she sat relaxed, even a little bored, as the crew set up the room.

  As usual, the lights were blinding and kicked out enough heat to roast a haunch of beef. Despite the frigid air-conditioning, the fabric of Gayle’s fitted black dress stuck to her thighs.

  Beyond the soaring glass walls of her office lay what she truly believed to be the most exciting city on earth. Also one of the most expensive—but these days Gayle didn’t have to worry too much about that.

  Once, the place had almost killed her, but that had been a long time ago. That memory contributed to the degree of satisfaction she felt in being up here, on top of the world, gazing down from her domain on the fiftieth floor. Like planting a stiletto on the body of an adversary, it was symbolic of victory. I won. She was far removed from those people scurrying along the freezing, canyon-like streets of Manhattan, struggling to survive in a city that devoured the weak and the vulnerable. From her vantage point in her corner office she could see the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center and, in the distance, the broad splash of green that was Central Park.

  Gayle shifted in her chair as someone touched up her hair and makeup. The director was talking to the cameraman, discussing angles and light, while seated in the chair across from her the most junior female reporter on the morning show studied her notes with feverish attention.

  Rochelle Barnard. She was young. Early twenties? A few years older than Gayle had been when she’d hit the lowest point of her life.

  Nothing excited Gayle more than raw potential, and she saw plenty of it in Rochelle. You had to know what you were looking for, of course—and Gayle knew. It was there in the eyes, in the body language, in the attitude. And this woman had something else that Gayle always looked for. Hunger.

  Hunger was the biggest motivator of all, and no one knew that better than her.

  She hadn’t just been hungry—she’d been starving. Also desperate. But usually she managed to forget that part. She was a different woman now, and able to extend a hand to another woman who might need a boost.

  “Ten minutes, Miss Mitchell.”

  Gayle watched as the lighting guy adjusted the reflector. In a way, didn’t she do much the same thing? She shone a light on people who would otherwise have remained in the dark. She changed lives, and she was about to change this woman’s life.

  “Put the notes down,” she said. “You don’t need them.”

  Rochelle glanced up. “These are the questions they want me to ask. They only handed them to me five minutes ago.”

  Because they want you to stumble and fall, Gayle thought.

  “Are they the questions you would have chosen to ask?”

  The woman rustled through the papers and pulled a face. “Honestly? No. But this is what they want covered in the interview.”

  Gayle leaned forward. “Do you always do what other people tell you?”

  Rochelle shook her head. “Not always.”

  “Good to know. Because if you did, then you wouldn’t be the woman I thought you were when I saw you present that short segment from Central Park last week.”

  “You saw that?”

  “Yes. Your questions were excellent, and you refused to let that weasel of a man wriggle out of answering.”

  “That interview was the reason you asked for me today? I’ve been wondering.”

  “You struck me as a young woman with untapped potential.”

  “I’m grateful for the opportunity.” Rochelle sat straighter and smoothed her skirt. “I can’t believe I’m here. Howard usually does all the high-profile interviews.”

  Why were people so accepting of adverse circumstances? So slow to realize their own power? But power came with risk, of course, and most people were averse to risk.

  “Things are always the way they are until we change them,” Gayle said. “Be bold. Decide what you want and go after it. If that means upsetting a few people along the way, then do it.” She closed her eyes as someone s troked a strand of her hair into place and sprayed it. “This is your chance to ask me the questions Howard Banks wouldn’t think to ask.”

  Which shouldn’t be too hard, she thought, because the man had the imagination and appeal of stale bread.

  Howard had interviewed her a decade earlier and he’d been patronizing and paternalistic. It gave Gayle pleasure to know that by insisting on being interviewed by this junior reporter she’d annoyed him. With any luck he’d burst a blood vessel in the most valuable part of his anatomy—which, for him, was probably his ego.

  “If I don’t give them what they’re expecting, I could lose my job.”

  Gayle opened one eye. “Not if you give them something better than they’re expecting. They’re not going to fire you if the ratings go up. What’s on their list? Let me guess... My work-life balance and how I handle being a woman in a man’s world?”

  Boring, boring.

  The woman laughed. “You’re obviously a pro at this.”

  “Think of the people watching. Ask the questions they’d ask if they were in the room with me. If you were a woman eager to make a change in your life, what would you want to hear? If you were struggling to get ahead in the workplace—” which you are “—constantly blocked by those around you, what would you want to know?”

  Rochelle picked up the papers from her lap and folded them in a deliberate gesture. “I’d want to know your secrets—how you handle it all. How you handled it at the beginning, before you had everything you have now. You started with nothing. Put yourself through college while working three jobs. And you’ve become one of the most successful women in business. You’ve transformed companies and individuals. I’d want to know whether any of your experiences might be of use to me. Whether you could transform me. I’d want to come away feeling so inspired I’d call the show and thank them.”

  “And you think they’d fire you for that?”

  The woman stared at her. “No, I don’t.” She slapped the papers down on the desk. “What is wrong with me? I’ve read all your books several times, and yet I was about to ask the questions I’d been handed. One of my favorite sections in your last book was that bit about other people’s expectations being like reins, holding you back. You were our role model in college.” She pressed her palm to her chest. “Meeting you is the best Christmas gift.”

  “Christmas?”

  “It’s only a few weeks away. I love the holidays, don’t you?”

  Gayle did not love the holidays. She didn’t like the way everything closed down. She didn’t like the crowds on the streets or the tacky decorations. She didn’t like the uncomfortable memories that stuck to her like bits of parcel tape.

  “Aren’t you a little old to be excited about Christmas?” she asked.

  “Never!” Rochelle laughed. “I love a big family gathering. Massive tree. Gifts in front of the fire. You know the type of thing...”

  Gayle turned her attention to the makeup artist, who was brandishing lipstick. “Not that horrible brown. Red.”

  “But—”

  “Red. And not an insipid washed-out red. I want a look at me red. I have the perfect one in my purse.”

  There was much scrambling and an appropriate lipstick was produced.

  Gayle sat still while the makeup artist finished her work. “This is your opportunity, Rochelle. Take it and ride it all the way home. If you make an impression on the public, your bosses won’t be able to hold you back.”

  There.

  Done.

  Gayle had the power to give her a boost and she’d used it. She liked to give people the kind of chance she’d never been given. The rest was up to them.

  “Five minutes, Ms. Mitchell.” The director scanned her shelves. “When we’ve finished the interview we might take a few stills for promotional purposes.”

  “Whatever you need.” If her story inspired people, then she was happy. She wanted women to understand their own strength and power.

  Rochelle leaned forward. “In case I don’t have a chance to thank you properly after, I just want to say how grateful I am for your support. Do you have any idea how inspiring it is to know that you live the life you talk about in your books? You’re the real deal. You’re right at the top of your game, but still you take the time to reach out and give others a helping hand.”

  Her eyes glistened and Gayle felt a flash of alarm.

  The helping hand didn’t come with tissues. Emotion had no place in designing a life. It clouded decision-making and influenced those around you. Gayle’s staff knew better than to bring emotion to a conversation.

  Give me facts, give me solutions—don’t give me sobbing.

  Rochelle didn’t know that. “At college we had a mantra—what would GM do?” She blushed. “I hope you don’t mind that we called you that.”

  Some said that GM stood for Great Mind, others Guru of Management. A few of her own staff thought it stood for Genetically Modified, but no one had the courage to tell her that.

  Rochelle’s admiration continued to flow across the desk. “You’re afraid of nothing and no one. You’ve been an inspiration to so many of us. The way you’ve shaped your career, your life. You never apologize for the choices you make.”

  Why should she apologize? Who would she apologize to?

  “Use this opportunity, Rochelle. Did my assistant give you a copy of my next book?”

  “Yes. Signed.” Rochelle appeared to have reined in her inner fangirl. “And I think it’s so cool that you have a male assistant.”

  “I employ the best person for the job. In this case it’s Cole.”

  Out of the corner of her eye she checked the desks of her top executives. She and Bill Keen were the only members of the company to have their own offices. The others worked in the bright open space that stretched the width of the building. Occasionally Gayle would survey her domain from the protection of her glass-fronted oasis and think, I built this myself, with nothing more than guts and a grim determination to survive.

  The shiny globe of Simon Belton’s bald head was just visible above the top of his cubicle. He’d arrived before her that morning, which had boosted her mood. He was a hard worker, if a little lacking in truly innovative ideas. Next to him sat Marion Lake. Gayle had hired her the year before as head of marketing, but she was starting to think the appointment might have been a mistake. Just that morning Gayle had noticed her jacket slung casually over the back of her chair, its presence indicating that Marion was somewhere in the building.

  Gayle’s mouth thinned. When she gave people a chance, she expected them to take it.

  Even now, after all these years, people constantly underestimated her. Did they really think she’d see a jacket draped over the back of a chair and assume the owner was somewhere in the office? There had been no coffee on the desk, and Gayle knew that Marion couldn’t operate without coffee. And the place had the atmosphere of a cemetery. Marion had a loud voice and an irritating compulsion to use it frequently—a flaw possibly related to the volume of coffee she drank. If she had been anywhere in the vicinity, Gayle would have heard her.

  She often thought she would have made an excellent detective.

  “Going live in three minutes,” one of the film crew told her, and Gayle settled herself more comfortably, composing her features.

  She’d done hundreds of interviews, both live and recorded. They held no fear for her. There wouldn’t be a single question she hadn’t already been asked a hundred times. And if she didn’t like a question, she simply answered a different one. Like everything else, it was a matter of choice. They weren’t in control—she was.

  In her head she hummed a few bars of the Puccini opera she’d seen the week before. Glorious. Dramatic and tragic, of course... But that was life, wasn’t it?

  Rochelle smoothed her hair and cleared her throat.

  “Live in five, four, three...”

  The man held up two fingers, then one, and Gayle looked at the young reporter, hoping her questions would be good. She didn’t want to have misjudged her.

  Rochelle spoke directly to the camera, her voice clear and confident. “Hi, I’m Rochelle Barnard and I’m here at the offices of Mitchell and Associates in downtown Manhattan to interview Gayle Mitchell—more commonly known as GM to her staff and her legions of fans—one of the most powerful and celebrated women in business. Her last book, Choice Not Chance, spent twelve months at the top of the bestseller lists and her latest book, Brave New You, is out next week. She’s one of the leading authorities on organizational change, and is also known for her philanthropic work. Most of all she’s celebrated as a supporter of women, and just this week was presented with the coveted Star Award for most inspirational woman in business at a glitzy event right here in Manhattan. Congratulations, Ms. Mitchell. How does it feel to have your contribution recognized?”