After thirty years, and fifty books from historicals to mainstream women’s fiction, I got a call on the first day of 2019.
Two friends called and asked me to write an anthology about an early hotel in Dallas called the St. Nicholas. I jumped, loving the idea. What fun, early Texas, a hotel that’s name would fit perfect in a Christmas anthology and my tale takes place in one night.
So, I sat down on a cold January night a week later and began my story. In a small room out back that we call the bunkhouse, I began with my boards that line the room. Notes about Dallas in 1859. The history of the St. Nicholas Hotel.
The words began to fly. As snow fell outside on a frozen fountain, I stepped back into 1859 to a Dallas far different than today.
The story opens with two people hiding out upstairs in a luggage room as a grand ball began downstairs. The man is running for his life. Accused of something he didn’t do. Knowing he’ll hang if he’s caught.
The woman is being forced to pick a husband at the Christmas Ball or she’ll lose everything.
Two people who would never have found each other if they both hadn’t been hiding out from life. In the darkness they share an honesty that draws them together.
As another couple whirls around the dance floor below, their lives influence the future of the couple hiding. A chance encounter that affects both couples and sets them each on the road to love at the St. Nicholas. A man running for his life and a rancher who has given up on love both fall hard.
So, as holidays near pick up a copy of A TEXAS KIND OF CHRISTMAS and step back in time. Three writers, one hotel and lots of Christmas cheer.
Merriest Christmas,
Jodi Thomas
