A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (Taming of the Sheenans Book 5)
A Christmas Miracle for Daisy
A Taming of the Sheenans Romance
Book 5
Jane Porter
A Christmas Miracle for Daisy
©Copyright 2015 Jane Porter
Kindle Edition
The Tule Publishing Group, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-943963-60-7
Dedication
For CJ Carmichael.
So grateful you’re my friend.
This one is for you!
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Dear Reader
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
Taming of the Sheenans
About the Author
Happy Holidays!
A Christmas Miracle for Daisy is a deliberate play on one of my favorite Christmas movies, Miracle on 34th Street. It’s an ode to hope and love and a child’s innocence as well as our need as adults to still have faith and believe.
I hope you will enjoy this story, and how tough single dad, Cormac Sheenan discovers how to open his heart and let the Christmas spirit in.
As you probably know by now, I have a weakness for Christmas stories. Cormac’s brothers, Brock and Trey, each have their own Christmas romance. Read Brock’s story in Christmas at Copper Mountain and Trey’s story in The Kidnapped Christmas Bride.
Stay in touch with me. I’d love to hear from you. You can find me at JanePorter.com, on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up to get my newsletter to always know what I have coming out next.
May you carry the peace and joy of Christmas in your heart all year long!
Jane
Chapter One
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It was a parent’s worst nightmare, the kind of thing that kept one awake at night, worrying.
And then it happened, on the day before Halloween, on the day Daisy had gone to school as the Disney fairy Periwinkle, the frost fairy. Daisy had been so happy, so excited to wear her pretty sparkly tulle skirt and satin and sequin fairy wings.
He could see her as he’d left her in her classroom. Beaming, blowing him kisses, thrilled that there would be a Halloween class party and that the Pre-K class got to parade through the whole school, visiting all the classes, even the big kid classes in junior high.
He’d left her reluctantly, wishing he could be there to watch the parade but he had a meeting in Los Angeles, an important meeting that couldn’t be missed. And so he kissed the top of her head and watched her dance over to the other little girls clustered around the white board and walked out, heading for the parking lot.
Cormac had made it to his meeting and was still in it when the first text hit his phone.
School on emergency lockdown.
And then the next. Live shooter on campus.
Cormac left the meeting immediately, dashing to his car but it was slow getting out of Los Angeles, traffic thick, snarling the 405 South until he sat wedged between trucks and cars south of Huntington Beach, unable to move in any direction.
His worst fear had come true.
Daisy needed him and he couldn’t get to her.
He couldn’t help her. There was nothing he could do.
Nothing until it was all over, and while the situation lasted—two hours, forty-three minutes, and a handful of seconds—Cormac Sheenan suffered, struggling with the reality that his four-year-old was in danger while he sat trapped in his car on one of the biggest freeways in Southern California.
Cormac Sheenan hated being helpless.
He didn’t believe in helpless. Helpless was for the weak and those who couldn’t make decisions, and he was neither.
But during the San Clemente elementary school lockdown there was nothing he could do but wait for the next text to arrive. After the first messages from the school and sheriff’s department, the rest of the texts came from the frantic parents, parents like him who couldn’t get to the school, and then the parents who were there, but stuck behind yellow police tape and desperate for information.
The text exchanges were nauseating. Horrifying. Live shooter. School on lockdown. First responders on scene but unable to enter school until the police and sheriff had secured the premises. One or more hit. A dozen ambulances on scene.
Cormac didn’t know where the shots had been fired on the school grounds. He didn’t know if children had been hit. He didn’t know if Daisy’s Pre-K class was involved.
He didn’t know anything and the lack of information, and the inability to reach his daughter, pushed him to the edge.
He’d picked this school because it was small and set up on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The view from the school was stunning and he’d liked the tranquility of the setting and the warmth and efficiency of the staff.
Now he questioned everything.
His decision to enroll Daisy in a Pre-K class. His business interests, scattered all over the country. His ability to be a single parent.
And sitting there, so helpless, Cormac felt something in him crack.
He wasn’t a spiritual man. He didn’t talk to God. But inching along on the freeway, desperate to reach his daughter who had to be absolutely terrified, Cormac found himself praying.
Keep her safe.
Keep her safe.
She’s had enough grief and loss in her four years.
Keep her safe and I’ll change.
I’ll change. I’ll be a better man.
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