NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Mrs. Miracle shows an ordinary family that they are blessed beyond belief in this uplifting holiday tale from Debbie Macomber. As the holiday season begins, Laurel McCullough could use some good news. She and her husband, Zach, have been praying for a baby that seems more and more like an impossible dream, and they’ve had to move in with her beloved grandmother, Helen, who’s having trouble taking care of herself. But when Laurel contacts a local home-care organization for help, there are no caregivers available. Then Mrs. Miracle appears at the door. No stranger to lending a helping hand to a family in need, Mrs. Miracle reveals herself to be nothing short of a godsend. Helen’s even convinced she’s an angel! And Laurel can’t help but notice that with Mrs. Miracle’s companionship, Helen is noticeably happier and more engaged, decorating the family Christmas tree and setting up the nativity. In the meantime, Laurel and Zach encounter curious signs, all pointing toward the arrival of a special baby. As Christmas approaches, there appears to be even more to Mrs. Miracle than meets the eye. In a classic tale of Debbie Macomber’s signature seasonal magic, Laurel, Zach, and Helen experience a holiday of heavenly proportions.

Autorentext
Debbie Macomber, the author of It's Better This Way, A Walk Along the Beach, Window on the Bay, Cottage by the Sea, Any Dream Will Do, If Not for You, and the Rose Harbor Inn series, is a leading voice in women's fiction. Thirteen of her novels have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and five of her beloved Christmas novels have been hit movies on the Hallmark Channel, including Mrs. Miracle and Mr. Miracle. Hallmark Channel also produced the original series Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, based on Macomber’s Cedar Cove books. She is, as well, the author of the cookbook Debbie Macomber’s Table. There are more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide.

Zusammenfassung
**NOW A HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIE

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Mrs. Miracle shows an ordinary family that they are blessed beyond belief in this uplifting holiday tale from Debbie Macomber, the queen of Christmas stories.**

As the holiday season begins, Laurel McCullough could use some good news. She and her husband, Zach, have been praying for a baby that seems more and more like an impossible dream, and they’ve had to move in with her beloved grandmother, Helen, who’s having trouble taking care of herself. But when Laurel contacts a local home-care organization for help, there are no caregivers available.

Then Mrs. Miracle appears at the door. No stranger to lending a helping hand to a family in need, Mrs. Miracle reveals herself to be nothing short of a godsend. Helen’s even convinced she’s an angel! And Laurel can’t help but notice that with Mrs. Miracle’s companionship, Helen is noticeably happier and more engaged, decorating the family Christmas tree and setting up the nativity. In the meantime, Laurel and Zach encounter curious signs, all pointing toward the arrival of a special baby.

As Christmas approaches, there appears to be even more to Mrs. Miracle than meets the eye. In a classic tale of Debbie Macomber’s signature seasonal magic, Laurel, Zach, and Helen experience a holiday of heavenly proportions.

Leseprobe
Laurel McCullough arrived home to find two police cruisers parked in the driveway with their lights flashing. If that wasn’t enough to get her heart racing, it was seeing her grandmother on the front porch, clearly distressed, wringing her hands and looking around anxiously.

Laurel slammed her vehicle into park and leaped out of her car, nearly stumbling in her eagerness to find out what had happened.

“Nana,” she cried, rushing toward her grandmother.

The instant Laurel came into view, Helen covered her mouth with her hands, and her eyes, filled with dread, looked to the ground.

“Laurel, oh dear, oh dear,” she said, her shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry. I’ve made a terrible mistake.” 

Laurel wrapped her arms around her grandmother, hoping to comfort her.

“Officer, what’s going on here?” “Are you Laurel Lane? This is your grandmother?”

“Yes, but McCullough is my married name.”

“I’m so sorry,” Helen repeated, worry lines creasing her face. “When I woke from my nap, my mind was fuzzy. I was afraid because you weren’t home from school, so I called the police.”

“Your grandmother reported that her ten-year-old granddaughter hadn’t returned from school,” the kind officer explained to Laurel.

Laurel swallowed down her shock. Nana had been mentally slipping for a while now—little things she couldn’t remember, small details—and this was the second major incident within a short time period.

“As you can see, I’m a bit older than ten,” Laurel told the officer. “I’m sorry that we’ve troubled you. She’s a bit confused right now. I came to live with my grandmother when I was ten.”

“No trouble, Miss. We’re just happy we aren’t looking at an abduction.”

After answering a few more questions for the officers, Laurel gently led her grandmother back into the house and had her sit in her favorite chair. “I don’t know what came over me,” Helen said, and moaned, covering her cheeks with her hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”

Helen wrapped her arms about herself like she needed to hold on to the present and leave the past behind. “I . . . I looked at the time and you weren’t home and suddenly you were ten years old again. I was convinced something dreadful had happened to you. What’s wrong with me?” she cried. “How could I have done something so bizarre? Am I going crazy?”

Laurel went to her knees in front of her precious grandmother. “Of course you aren’t crazy, Nana. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Those officers came right away and were so kind. I feel terrible to have troubled them.” She looked up, seeming to be struck by inspiration. “I should bake them cookies to apologize for wasting their time.”

“It’s over. I’m home now, and everything is okay.”

Laurel brewed tea, thinking it would settle their nerves. She sat beside her grandmother, reassuring her several times.

Laurel’s brain raced with how best to deal with this latest situation. Last week, her grandmother had lost her way in the neighborhood, the very one she’d lived in for more than fifty years. Nana had gone out to collect the mail and noticed that the neighbor’s new puppy, Browser, had escaped his yard. She’d followed him to try to bring him back and hadn’t been able to find her way home. Eventually, the neighbor had found the puppy, along with Helen, and had brought Laurel’s visibly upset grandmother back home with her.

Nana looked pale and frightened. “The doctor said that would happen, didn’t he? Me getting more and more confused? Wasn’t it only last week when I got lost? This is all part of having dementia, isn’t it?”

Laurel nodded. The dementia had become significantly worse over the last several months. It was at the point that she didn’t feel comfortable leaving her grandmother alone. But what choice did she have? Their financial resources were tight. All she could do was pray that she and Zach, her husband, could come up with a way to manage these new issues that Nana was having.
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