The Holly and the Ivy

A LADIES OF LEGEND CHRISTMAS NOVELLA



Christmas season, 1978



Jeannie Adams has a pain in her neck, and its name is Eli McClain. The school board is honoring him at a big community dinner, and Eli has done nothing to deserve all the fanfare. Nothing, that is, except leave their hometown of Legend, Tennessee right after high school, and become a nationally known singer. Why make a big deal over somebody who walked out on everything that's important?



For Eli, Christmas in Legend is a way to placate the family he left years ago, and impress the very impressionable people of Legend. As far as they'll know, Eli has everything. But at twenty-five years old, he's feeling burned out with fame and fortune, and doesn't understand why life is so hollow.



All through school, Eli and Jeannie were the bane of each other's existence. Yet the fleeting kiss he left her with right after graduation has never quite faded for either of them. Like a lost pair of warm winter gloves, their happiness will be in the last place they look for it. Back home in Legend.



And just in time for Christmas.