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Hannah took in their little group. “It looks as if they are out for a walk. We don’t want to interrupt them.”

“We can help you decorate,” Tyler said. “Can’t we, Uncle Wes?”

He glanced at Hannah and saw she had a pink tint to her skin. He thought about making an excuse that he had to get his mother home, but Susie looked animated and excited. She started singing “Jingle Bells” in her sweet voice. The children giggled and sang along with her.

“That’s so pretty, Susie,” Hannah said when the song was over. “You’ve been practicing!”

“I love to sing,” Susie said. “It’s fun.”

“It is.” Hannah smiled and hugged her. Susie stood motionless then lifted her arms to hug Hannah briefly in return.

“I really could use someone tall to help me for a minute, but I’m not sure that you should be stretching above your head, with your injury. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m tougher than I look,” he murmured. Even as he said the words, he had to wonder if they were true.

He wanted to think he was invincible but his recent injury had certainly reinforced his own mortality. Another half inch or so to the left and that knife would have punctured his liver, which would have had an entirely different outcome.

He also didn’t feel particularly tough when it came to this woman in front of him. “What do you need help with?” he asked.

“I wanted to decorate my pine tree out here.” She gestured to a flower bed and a small decorative evergreen that was probably eight feet tall. “I’m not certain how stable the ground is for a ladder but I don’t have another way to reach the top.”

He had a sudden grim vision of her toppling to the ground. “Just what you need, a broken arm from falling off a ladder. Then who will lead your music therapy classes all over town?”

“Good point. Are you sure you’re okay lifting your arms above your head?”

It would probably feel like he was being slashed all over again but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “I’ll be fine. Where are the lights?”

She pointed to several boxes of lights that looked new. “I hope that’s enough. I’ve never decorated a whole yard for Christmas. I have no idea how many lights it might take for a tree of that size.”

“That should be enough to get us started,” he said. “What do you think, Mom? Do you want to help?”

“Yes,” she said happily.

He wouldn’t have thought decorating a bushy pine tree in the cool November air could be enjoyable. He was wrong.

While she and the children finished stringing lights on her fence, he went to work winding the light strings around the top boughs of the tree. At some point, Hannah, of course, had to add music to the activity. She started singing “Jingle Bells” again in her lovely contralto voice. His mother and the children all joined in, then his nephew immediately launched into “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“Now ‘Frosty,’” his mother said, her features more animated than he had seen all day.

The children complied. By the time they also made it through “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”—twice—he was nearly done with the top branches.

“I love Christmas songs,” Susie said happily.

Hannah smiled warmly at her. “So do I, my dear.”

“I think your dog likes the music too,” Carter said. “Look, his tail is wagging.”

Wes glanced over at Kodi and saw that the Malinois indeed looked more energetic and engaged than he had in a long time. He watched them with interest, his eyes alert.

“Maybe Kodi needs music therapy too,” he joked.

“It’s not that far-fetched of an idea,” Hannah said. “Multiple studies show that music can help calm anxiety in animals and can promote healing.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s not appropriate in every situation but it’s worth trying. Classical or ambient music would be an excellent place to start. Maybe you could play it for him when you’re not home as a way to relax him.”

He was willing to try just about anything at this point, especially if it meant his buddy could return to the energetic, happy dog he had been prior to their attack.