You could say that Juliana Mitchell is down on her luck and that would be a huge understatement. The Indian school where she taught has been shut down and the kids are being shuttled off to various institutions where they surely will not flourish as they had under her tutelage and love. In a last effort of defiance she takes four children with her hoping that she will receive the train fare from her brother to allow her to take them to their families or keep them with her until they can be adopted. Her brother's wire basically tells her that her worst fears have come true, she is homeless and moneyless. She truly needs someone to save her -- in short she needs a miracle. What better time of the year for miracles but Christmas. Then she meets Lincoln Creed, a widower who has been placing ads for a homemaker, a governess or if necessary a wife to help him with his six year old daughter. So far there have been no takers. So when he meets Juliana in the mercantile and realizes there would be few if any townspeople willing to take in the teacher and her Indian charges he bundles up the bunch of them in his wagon to take them home to his ranch. But once there he quickly realizes that she truly has nowhere to go and seemingly no one to turn to for help. And to make matters worse -- or at least more complicated -- his very precocious daughter Gracie is true to her nature stating clearly how happy she would be to have Juliana as her teacher but even better as her new mother. It becomes quite evident that Juliana and her charges aren't the only ones that need saving. Both Lincoln and Gracie need a special woman in their lives. Could Juliana be that special woman? Would she settle for what he is able to give her and give up her dream for a real marriage? Stillwater Springs Ranch could be the answer to her dreams and who knows what other Christmas miracles were still to come.

This is the prelude to Miller's stories about the Creed family. She brings us back to the early 1900's to the perhaps second generation of Creed's who have somewhat dispersed in the west and yet some have remained to run the family ranch. These are the ancestors of the characters in her Creed books and give us some insight into the characters we meet in the related stories. As in any Miller book the characters are human and as such quirky and of course likeable. Good choice for any Miller fan and for followers of the Creed's. Enjoy.

Book Summary

In the unforgiving wilderness of 1910, widowed rancher Lincoln Creed is up against more than rustlers, wolves and the coming winter storms. His young daughter has needs beyond the beans and bacon he can barely cook. Lincoln must find little Gracie a governess, a lady who can teach and cook-and yet won't set her sights on him.

Disowned for her refusal to marry, twenty-five-year-old Juliana Mitchell shares the love in her heart with her young students at the underfunded Indian school. When she meets Lincoln and Gracie, her response to the handsome rancher makes her realize she's not against marriage after all.

The season of miracles just might find a way for Juliana, the children, Lincoln and Gracie to help each other.