Christmas in Braverton: Two Holiday Short Stories

The short stories Christmas Cactus and Mistletoe Cactus were previously published individually. So, no need to pick up Christmas in Braverton if you've read those two already.

**Christmas Cactus and Mistletoe Cactus are best enjoyed if you have read String of Hearts, Calico Hearts, and Tangled Hearts beforehand. **

Christmas Cactus

Wedding bells are ringing in Old Town Braverton! Avery Wheeler, owner of the Pinwheel Plant Shop, and Ryan Tupper, host of the popular morning radio show, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, are getting married at the Braverton Botanical Garden.

Maybe. (I mean, probably. It is a Christmas wedding short story.)

An Arctic Blast has set upon the Pacific Northwest dropping more than a foot of snow. Traveling the eight miles between Ryan’s Portland, OR home and where Avery is in Braverton becomes insurmountable.

When Ryan promises Avery he’ll get to the garden by four o’clock by any means necessary, their family, friends, and the merchants of Old Town work together to pull off a Christmas miracle.

Mistletoe Cactus

After a rough few months between her former daughter-in-law, Avery, and herself, widow Tanesha Penn is attending Avery’s wedding at the Braverton Botanical Garden and trying to make her heart a judgment-free zone.

On the day of the wedding she meets a widower named Bert, who is the groom’s uncle, in the sitting room of the 3B (Braverton B&B) and the two hit it off immediately. Bert asks Tanesha if she’ll walk with him to the venue and they end up sitting next to one another.

Tanesha, overcome by the beautiful ceremony, finds herself crying on Bert’s shoulder. So, when he asks her to dance, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. That is, until they find themselves slow dancing under the mistletoe cactus, the wedding guests urging them to kiss.

Will they, or won’t they? Not even Tanesha and Bert know for sure.