...Grace has longed for the day when Mica would love her. Mica only sees Grace as trying to unload the burden of his son on him. The rift between them is wider than the Atlantic Ocean that separates Europe from North America. The jolts and surprises they give each other will keep you guessing.
I hope you enjoy my story and that you fall in love with baby Jules as much as I did!
Happy reading!
— Catherine
"I thought that this was a sweet second chance story for these two characters. I also thought the secondary characters were enjoyable. I thought there was just the right amount of sweetness and just the right amount of humor. "
MICA HEARD IT from his sister-in-law, Maddie, who heard it from Mrs. Beabots, who got it straight from Louise Railton.
Grace Railton was back in town.
He didn’t know which emotion to pick first. Anger came to mind right off the bat, but it was quickly replaced with disappointment, hurt and curiosity.
“What’s she doing here?” Grace had made it pretty clear when she left town last year that Paris was the only universe she’d inhabit on a long-term basis. Indian Lake was too small for Grace, the beauty-pageant queen.
"A delightfully sweet story of never settling for less than “the one”! A surprise arrival leads to life altering news! Mica had been afloat trying to put the pieces of his life back together when a short-lived visit from his old friend Grace gave him a lot to think about before she returned to Paris. Now she’s suddenly back with a change that will knock him for a loop! The characters were easy to connect with, and the plot had me hoping she would be able to get it through his hard head that she could love him regardless of what he believed of himself! Always a joy to visit Catherine Lanigan’s fictional world of Indian Lake!"
Mrs. Beabots’s tree is decorated in a different theme every year. This year in HIS BABY DILEMMA, it’s decorated in aqua, pink and gold ornaments. You see these things in some of the catalogues this year. But back in the early 1960’s these were the colors on Jacqueline Kennedy’s White House Christmas Tree. I loved that tree.
During my research for this and many other books, I’ve read that blue and gold ribbons, ornaments and decorations are common in French homes. Blue candles.
"As Grace struggles with her unrequited love for Mica and he works through feelings of inadequacy (and a little jealousy), these two discover what they want most out of life looks different than it did before little Jules entered the picture. Tragedies happen and dreams change, but someone standing beside you makes life’s twists and turns worth the journey."
She dropped her forehead to the steering wheel. “I’m out of my mind.” She balled her fist on her thigh. She had to do this. Had to. Tears stung her eyes, but she pressed her fingertips to the corners. She couldn’t let anyone see her crying. Especially not Mica.
She had to pull it together. She’d felt brave over the past year, but that didn’t come close to how heartrendingly brave she was going to need to be once she came face-to-face with Mica.
I’m fascinated by Christmas traditions from just about every country, but having a bit of French heritage myself, and since Grace Railson in HIS BABY DILEMMA lives in Paris, I wanted to bring some French Christmas Traditions to you.
We all know our own Christmas shopping regimens, chores, duties and delights.
All French Christmas markets find their origins in Alsace. No doubt, the proximity of the region to Germany gives Alsatian and French Christmas markets a distinctly Germanic touch. (My ancestors were from Alsace Lorraine.)
THE WALLS OF Mica’s apartment were closing in on him. His heart was racing as if he’d just lifted the John Deere tractor off its tires with both hands. He couldn’t catch his breath.
A son?
When Grace had pulled up, he’d been caught between elation and shock. For a brief moment, he’d actually thought she’d come to back to see him. That she was back in town to stay. Back in his life.
He’d been a fool.
I’m amazed that a lot of our American traditions that we cling to so tightly and we think are original to us, are actually hybrids of traditions that have been around for centuries.
Take the Christmas Flower. Poinsettia? Right? It’s a tropical plant. The story must be from a warm country, you’d think.
Well, it’s from France.
Luckily, Mrs. Beabots hadn’t rented her upstairs apartment to anyone and she was delighted to have Grace and the baby staying with her.
Once Grace had unpacked and settled in, Mrs. Beabots invited her for afternoon tea. She’d already invited Louise, as well as Sarah, who lived next door. Sarah had given birth to a baby girl, Charlotte, only three days after Jules was born on July 1, and Grace was looking forward to having her friend so close by.
Jules was still napping when Grace headed downstairs at four, but because he was used to being transported from her Paris apartment to her studio, where designers shouted at each other over the cutting tables and sewing machines whirred, he could just about sleep through anything.
"I kept wandering how it was going to end up with her job being in Paris but you will have to read the book to see. Love his family and her aunt and the ice cream shop. I definitely will have to read more of this series."
"If you love babies, second chance romances, and challenges this book is for you! Catherine Lanigan sure knows how to throw that secret baby on us and the father for that matter. . . . I adored this read. I can't help it a baby gets me every time."
"I really like this story. It is interesting to watch the changes in the characters and to see how they dealt with the different life circumstances that they were faced with.
I think Catherine did a fabulous job again with this story."
When the Cathedral bells toll and the choirs within Notre Dame sing, the vibration of those reverent echoes drift straight to heaven.
Sacred and solemn, joyous and hope-filled, Christmas Eve night in Paris will waft through one’s memory like no other Christmas.
"There is a long road towards redemption and the grace of second chances - where each party has to come to terms with their own baggage before they can move forward. At the centre of it all is this beautiful baby boy who gives their parents a run for their money. And rightly so! He is just the 'unexpected' bundle to bridge a family back together whilst finding a way to heal two hearts who never realised how fractured they had become when they stopped themselves feel love and embracing the blessings which come from being loved."
MICA WAS SPEECHLESS as Grace rose from her chair, clearly bent on escorting him from her apartment. He couldn’t possibly have heard her right. She was turning him down? Was she out of her mind? What kind of game was she playing?
He bolted to his feet and grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute.”
“No, you wait a minute. I came to Indian Lake to get your help with our son. Granted, I didn’t go about any of this the right way. I should have told you about him when I discovered I was pregnant. I didn’t want to burden you because you were going through all kinds of—of…personal things. I thought I was sparing you from more trauma. I screwed up. I made a mistake. I see that now. But I’m not going to marry you. I only need your help for a while.”
"Okay, I’m just going to say it. This is Ms. Lanigan’s best book. Yes, best book. If you can get past the awesome cuteness on the cover, the inside is pretty spectacular also. Don’t get me wrong, all of her books are good but this one stands out; especially for the line that it is written for. "
When it comes to nostalgia, no one does it better than Americans. We can weep at the sight of a wreath on our mother’s front door, despite the fact that the wreath is plastic and a decade or more older. It is the love within that house that brings us home, time and again, holiday after holiday. It is love that shoves us out the door to buy more gifts, bake our bread for the kids, sew another stocking, weave a scarf for Uncle Jerry and take poinsettia’s to the nursing home. Americans are known throughout the world for their generosity. Show me a natural disaster and I’ll show you Americans who band together, help each other and literally give the shirts off our backs. We donate food, clothing and money, lots of money to the needy and helpless and homeless.
And at Christmas, we do more.
Mica glanced in the rearview mirror as a truck passed him.
He checked his speed. Ordinarily, this was about the spot where he’d hit the gas and tear up some asphalt.
Not anymore. He had precious cargo on board.
He had his son.
Mica inhaled deeply. “I’m a father."
“And fathers have serious obligations and responsibilities to their children. Grace was right about what she wants for you, buddy. She’s got it all together. Smart.”
Catherine Lanigan
Paperback & ebook, 384 pages
December 1st 2017 by Harlequin Heartwarming
Must they always be continents apart?
Nobody expects Paris fashion designer Grace Railton to settle down in her Indiana town, least of all Mica Barzonni. Fifteen months ago, he turned to her for comfort and compassion following a farming accident that left him permanently injured. Then she returned to France and went silent on him.
Until, suddenly, Grace shows up on his doorstep with life-altering news. Mica, a father? He’s barely learned to navigate his postaccident life. But this could be his chance to become the man he’s always wanted to be—the husband and father Grace and their baby son need. Now Mica just has to convince her to stay.
