LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Good.” Penny turned toward her car, and Lily walked with her into the frosty cold. “While you’re enjoying some mountain solitude, I’ll be with my daughter and grandson out east.” She gave a wry smile. “I wish I could invite you to join us, but my daughter and I have a shaky relationship. Say a prayer that we’ll all get along, will you?”

      “Of course.” Lily understood family problems all too well. She hugged the older woman. “I hope you have a wonderful time.”

      “I’ll try.” Penny got in her car, started it up and waved. Halfway down the short driveway, she stopped and lowered the window. “I forgot to tell you the name of that family you’re to photograph. It’s Carson Blair, one of our local pastors, and his twin six-year-olds. They’ll be staying up here for the week.” She raised the window and was off.

      Lily stared after her aunt’s car as the name she’d thrown out so casually whirled tornado-like through her head.

      Carson Blair? She was doing family photographs of Carson Blair?

      Pam’s husband and kids were staying up here at Redemption Ranch?

      The thought practically made her hyperventilate, but maybe it was a good thing. If they were staying here, it should be easy to do some quiet investigating.

      She owed it to Pam. Paying that debt might help Lily move on.

      She just had to make sure Carson didn’t discover the awful truth about Pam’s death.

      * * *

      Carson Blair whistled as he turned his truck into Redemption Ranch, a mere ten miles from his home in Esperanza Springs, but worlds away from his too-busy life. His last-minute plan to spend Christmas week up here was an opportunity to fill his daughters’ hearts while they were off from school, let them have plenty of Daddy time. He would preach the Christmas Eve service tomorrow night, but that was all. Canceling the few other events and closing down the building meant that everyone—the secretary, the janitor, the committee members and volunteers—could do as he was doing: focus on their families.

      Coming early to the ranch also let him escape the numerous invitations a single pastor got for Christmas parties and dinners. He loved his congregation, but spending time with their big, happy extended families was a painful reminder of the life he’d hoped his girls would have, but that he hadn’t been able to provide.

      He had to admit that he probably wouldn’t have made this Christmas getaway happen without his friend Penny’s urging. She knew he needed a break. But she’d also given him a small side job: watch out for another cabin resident here for the holidays, Penny’s niece, who’d been struggling with her readjustment to civilian life. Apparently she’d had formal counseling through the military, but Penny thought that Carson, as a pastor, could offer a different type of support.

      “It’s worth a try,” the older woman had said. “And she’s a beautiful woman. You might enjoy her company.”

      Carson had bitten back the uncharacteristically sharp retort that had formed in his mind: Yeah, but will she enjoy mine? Pam didn’t.

      He really needed a vacation from failed efforts at matchmaking.

      “Just don’t mention I asked you to talk to her,” Penny had gone on, oblivious to Carson’s inner dialogue. “She’s independent.”

      He didn’t like deception, but if it was the only way this woman, Lily, would open up, he supposed he could comply with Penny’s request.

      He pulled up to Cabin Two and turned to wake up the twins, both asleep in the back seat after a sugar-laden holiday party in their kindergarten class. Their identical faces were flushed, their long eyelashes resting on chubby cheeks. His chest tightened. Despite the sad ending of his wife’s life, the weaknesses of his marriage—the weaknesses he’d had as a husband—his daughters were the wonderful, God-given outcome.

      “Wake up, sleeping beauties,” he said quietly, giving a light pat to Skye’s arm, then to Sunny’s.

      “Is it Christmas?” Sunny jerked upright.

      “Presents?” Skye asked, yawning.

      Carson chuckled. His girls did know the true meaning of Christmas, but preachers’ kids were like anyone else’s when it came to gifts.

      “Christmas is in two days,” he reminded them. “We’re at the ranch now, though. We’re going to do some sledding, and play with the dogs, and do puzzles by the fire. Let’s get our stuff into the cabin.”

      “Yay!” Sunny cried, and both girls scrambled out of their booster seats.

      But as Carson opened the truck door, Long John McCabe, one of the gray-haired veterans who lived at the ranch, came toward him, his walker bumping over the dirt path at an alarming pace. “Change of plans,” he said. “Willie’s cabin had a plumbing leak, so you can’t stay there. We’re putting you up in Cabin Five.”

      Carson shrugged. “Sure, that’s fine. We’ll be a little farther away from you, but we can bundle up and come visit.”

      “Long John!” Both girls spilled out of the truck and ran to hug the older gentleman, carefully, as they’d been taught. “We have a present for you,” Skye added.

      “It’s a—” Just in time, Sunny slapped a hand over her own mouth.

      “I might have a little something for you two girls as well.” Long John reached a shaky hand down to pat Skye’s head, then Sunny’s.

      “I’m going to pull the truck down to Cabin Five so we can unload,” Carson said. “Girls, hop back in.”

      “But we want to go pet Rockette,” Skye complained.

      “And see Mr. Long John’s Christmas tree,” Sunny added, then looked up at the older man, her forehead wrinkling. “Do you have a Christmas tree?”

      “If you don’t,” Skye said, “you can come see ours, when we get it set up.”

      “Maybe you can come help!” Sunny suggested. “Daddy, can he?”

      “I’m fine. I’ve got a little Norfolk Island pine in a pot.” Long John chuckled at the girls’ enthusiasm and waved Carson toward the row of cabins. “Go ahead, get unpacked and settled. I’ll entertain these two for half an hour, maybe fix ’em some hot chocolate.”

      “Can we, Daddy?” Skye pleaded.

      Carson drew in a breath to say no, not wanting to put Long John to the trouble, but just in time, he caught the eagerness in the older man’s eyes. Long John didn’t have any kids or grandkids of his own, and his worsening Parkinson’s disease made it difficult for him to get out.

      He glanced over at Long John’s cabin and noticed an accessibility ramp in front, its raw, light-colored wood a contrast to the old cabin’s dark hue. That was new.

      “You girls can visit,” he said. “But behave and do what Mr. Long John says.”

      “Yay!” Sunny ran toward Long John’s cabin.

      “Wait!” Skye called sharply after her twin. She walked beside Long John at a sedate pace, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Carson had noticed her considerate behavior.

      He had, of course, and he gave her a thumbs-up. It was such a blessing, these older veterans becoming a part of his girls’ lives. The twins had no local grandparents, but these men filled the gap, just as the girls filled a gap in Long John’s life.

      He let the truck glide down the road to Cabin Five. Got out and opened the back hatch...and stopped.

      At the cabin next door, kneeling to catch a photo of the sun sinking over the Sangre de Cristos, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

      Well, the second-most beautiful. He could never forget his wife’s glossy golden hair, her sparkling eyes. He’d never stopped

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