Karen Kingsbury - The Red Gloves Collection

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Compilation copyright Karen Kingsbury 2006

Gideons Gift copyright Karen Kingsbury 2002

Maggies Miracle copyright Karen Kingsbury 2003

Sarahs Song copyright Karen Kingsbury 2004

Hannahs Hope copyright Karen Kingsbury 2005

The words to Sarahs Song are copyrighted by Karen Kingsbury and are used by permission.

Scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved.

Warner Faith

Hachette Book Group

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New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com .

The Warner Faith name and the W logo are trademarks of Time Inc. Used under license.

First eBook Edition: October 2006

ISBN: 978-0-446-55324-7

Contents

Praise for THE RED GLOVES SERIES

On GIDEON:

This may be a small book, but there is nothing little about its message of hope and the miraculous. Give yourself a gift. Read GIDEONS GIFT.

Robin Lee Hatcher, author of Firstborn

GIDEONS GIFT is fabulous! Its a perfect book for the whole family.

June Cotner, author of Christmas Blessings

Heartrending and gentle This second chance for two souls will give you goose bumps. Karen Kingsbury delivers!

Deborah Bedford, author of A Morning Like This

On MAGGIE:

To call Karen Kingsbury an author is a disservice. She is an artist, and MAGGIES MIRACLE is yet another breathtaking masterpiece. When I finished the last page, I could only shake my head in wonder.

Mark Atteberry, author of The Samson Syndrome

I loved this book! Karen has a gift for writing an appealing, sweet story that captures the readers heart. It increased my faith and reminded me that God is in control!

Margaret Maxwell, wife of bestselling author John C. Maxwell

Karen Kingsbury is a great fiction writer and an even better person. Wait until you read MAGGIES MIRACLE! You will be deeply touched.

Pat Williams, Sr. Vice President, Orlando Magic

Karen never ceases to brilliantly move her readers with heartfelt storiesMAGGIES MIRACLE is no exception.

Dr. Gary Smalley, founder of Smalley Relationship Center

MAGGIES MIRACLE is a delightful Christmas story that warms the heart and brings the availability of miracles to happen in our own lives. It is an easy-reading book; in fact, I couldnt put it down until I had finished reading it.

Anna M. Hayford, wife of Dr. Jack Hayford, chancellor, Kings Seminary

On SARAH:

Carve one hour out of this busy holiday season and curl up by the fire with SARAHS SONG. Youll be deeply touched, even moved to tears, by this simple, gentle story of an older womans memories and a younger womans heartache. As they count the days until Christmas, both womens lives are changed forever. May your life be changed as well!

Liz Curtis Higgs, bestselling author of Thorn in My Heart

SARAHS SONG is sure to touch the heart of the reader. Karen Kingsbury has crafted another moving story of Gods hope and restoration. This isnt to be missed!

Tracie Peterson, bestselling author of Silent Star and Eyes of the Heart

Kingsbury can touch the heart like no other author. SARAHS SONG made me treasure the gifts of love in my own life. This tender story is sure to be a Christmas favorite year after year.

Colleen Coble, author of Without a Trace and Beyond a Doubt

On HANNAH:

The newest Red Gloves Christmas novella by Karen Kingsbury has become part of my Christmas tradition over the last three years, along with Gideons Gift, Maggies Miracle, and Sarahs Song. In HANNAHS HOPE, Kingsbury raises her own bar of excellence. Truly touching, a wonderful cast of characters, and a tribute to the members of the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks, Karen, for touching my heart and for once more making the true Spirit of Christmas come alive in me.

Tracey Bateman, author of The Claire Everett Series

To my parents, Anne and Ted Kingsbury, on the celebration of their fortieth wedding anniversary. Thank you for defining that elusive, forever kind of love the world needs so badly. You have been and continue to be an inspiration to each of us five kids, and to our families.

And a special thanks to Dad for creating a rich and poignant memory for me when I was a little girl, something I have never forgottensomething that inspired the writing of Gideons Gift. The memory goes something like this:

It is Thanksgiving and after the meal you heap leftovers on a sturdy paper plate. We pile into the van and drive around until you find one of the local street people. With tears in your eyes, you step out of the car and hand over the food. Happy Thanksgiving, you say, your voice choked.When you climb back behind the wheel, you look at Mom and shrug, your chin quivering. And then you say it, the thing you say still today:There, but for the grace of God, go I.

T he gift that changed them all had led to this: a Christmas wedding.

Nothing could have been more appropriate. Gideon was an angel, after all. Not the haloed, holy kind. But the type that once in a whilewhen the chance presented itselfmade you stare a little harder at her upper back. In case she was sprouting wings.

From his seat in the back of the church, Earl Bad-getts tired old eyes grew moist. A Christmas wedding was the only kind for Gideon. Because if ever angels shone it was in December. This was the season when Gideons gift had mattered most.

Gideons gift.

A million memories called to him. Had it been thirteen years? Earl stared at the vision she made, surrounded by white satin and lace. The greatest miracle was that Gideon had survived.

He brushed the back of his hand over his damp cheeks. She actually survived.

But that wasnt the only miracle.

Earl watched Gideon smile at her fatherthe glowing, unforgettable smile of a young woman on the brink of becoming. The two of them linked arms and began a graceful walk down the aisle. It was a simple wedding, really. A church full of family and friends, there to witness a most tender moment for a girl who deserved it more than any other. A girl whose love, whose very presence, lit the room and caused people to feel grateful for one reason alone: They had been given the privilege of knowing Gideon Mercer. God had lent her a little while longer to the mere mortals who made up her world. And in that they were all blessed.

Gideon and her father were halfway down the aisle when it happened. Gideon hesitated, glanced over her shoulder, and found Earl. Her eyes had that haunting look that spoke straight to his soul, the same as they always had. They shared the briefest smile, a smile that told him he wasnt the only one. She, too, was remembering the miracle of that Christmas.

The corners of Earls mouth worked their way up his worn face. You did it, angel. You got jour dream. His heart danced with joy. It was all he could do to stay seated, when everything in him wanted to stand and cheer.

Go get em, Gideon!

As they rarely did anymore, the memories came like long lost friends. Filling Earls mind, flooding his senses, linking hands with his heart and leading him back. Back thirteen years to that wondrous time when heaven orchestrated an event no less miraculous than Christmas itself. An event that changed both their lives.

An event that saved them.

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