Sister Francine patted her arm and spoke to the boy with a firm lift of her chin. She swallowed hard to fight a heave, but it was no use, it broke from her lips in a shuddering rasp. Marcy blinked, the boy’s face watering into a blur. “You don’t have to pick her, understand, just let her read and sing ‘cause she’s real good at both, you know, and Ma just thought that alone would be enough to make her happy.” “Well, she hoped you’d consider letting Holly audition because of her name and all, seeing it has to do with Christmas and that’s her birthday too.” He leaned in, a glimmer of moisture in his eyes as he twisted his hat with his fingers, voice lowering all the more. “She’s only seven, but Ma asked me to bring her ‘cause, well you see, Holly doesn’t get to do too much on account of she’s crippled, you know, so Ma thought …” His Adam’s apple wobbled several times. “Sister, Miss Murphy, my name is Nate Phillips, and this here is my sister Holly.” He took another step forward, cap in hand and voice fading to a whisper.

With a scrub of shaggy brown hair, he approached with a solemn smile and a nod of respect. Kneading her temple, she glanced up to see a young boy who had auditioned for the cast pushing a small girl in a wheelchair to the front of the stage. Two hours later, Marcy had a headache from off-key singing, slaughtered diction, and Sister’s Francine’s whistle, giving her pause as to her sanity in agreeing to the job as fundraiser chair. In the following scene when she and Sister Francine are holding auditions, they witness a performance by a little girl that simply wrenches their hearts … and, I hope, yours too. In 1895 Boston, 18-year-old Marceline Murphy is overseeing a fundraiser for her parish’s soup kitchen, a Christmas play entitled A Light in the Window. Marceline Murphy is a gentle beauty with a well-founded aversion to rogues.īut when two of Boston’s most notorious pursue her,Īttraction, dreams and faith only muddle her mind.Ĭan the light in the window illuminate the path of true love? One stirs her pulse and the other her faith.

Julie is sharing a scene from her Christmas novella, A Light in the Window, and having contests to give away some of her novels. I’m thrilled to have my friend and bestselling author, Julie Lessman her today.

Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman