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“Our community school is putting on their Christmas pageant tonight.” Celeste looked at Emma and smiled encouragingly. “We’d be ever so grateful if you’d take her place. One of our more affluent residents donated a fabulous piano to the school. You need not worry about being forced to play a clunker. The children will be crushed if they’re not able to perform.”
“I’ll be happy to pitch in,” Emma responded.
“Wonderful.” Celeste turned to Jared. “We also need someone to be our official photographer since that job was assigned to Kelly’s husband. He’ll need to stay with his wife tonight. Can we count on your help, too?”
Jared gave Celeste an easy smile, markedly different from any he’d shown toward Emma. “Sure.”
Celeste clapped her hands. “Wonderful. Thank you so much. Molly is on her way down again, but I have something to show you first.” She removed a wooden box from one of the parlor bookcases. “After seeing her gown, I realized I have the perfect accessory to loan her, but I wouldn’t offer it before asking you first. If the little pearl clip attached to her veil has special meaning to one of you, I’ll simply put this away.”
“The clip isn’t anything special,” Emma replied. “It’s costume jewelry.”
“Well, this isn’t. It was a gift from a friend. I save it for special occasions. It’s fitting for both a princess and an angel, so I think it’s perfect for Molly on her wedding day.”
“An angel?” Jared murmured.
“She has a true and loving heart. No matter how old Molly gets or where life takes her, she will always be your little angel, will she not?” When Jared and Emma nodded, Celeste added, “I would be proud if she wore this on her wedding day.”
She opened the box and revealed a diamond-studded tiara in a pattern reminiscent of an angel’s wings. “Oh, Celeste,” Emma murmured. “It’s fabulous. You’ll make her the happiest bride ever.”
“No,” the other woman replied. “That job is up to Mason and”—she gave them each a significant look in turn—“to the two of you.”
The tears that spilled down Emma’s cheeks a minute later had little to do with the princess bride who floated into the drawing room to have her picture taken.
* * *
After the portrait session, Jared declined an invitation to join the Malone family for lunch. He spent the afternoon cross-country skiing, exercising, and exorcising his demons—or attempting to, anyway. He allowed himself to think about his relationship with Emma, something he’d not permitted himself to do for a very long time. He returned to Angel’s Rest in a pensive mood.
Marital mistakes were sorry thoughts to carry into a children’s Christmas program. That’s why Jared tried to focus on happier times as he gathered his camera bag from the backseat of his car and walked through the frigid night air toward the school that evening. But when he walked into the auditorium, accepted a program from a kindergartner dressed like an elf, and heard his wife playing “Greensleeves” on an upright piano, sadness overwhelmed him.
The first picture he snapped was one of Emma at the piano.
The program introduced an original play written by the sixth-grade class, followed by a Christmas carol sing-along. Eavesdropping on a conversation between a woman named Nic and one called Sage, he learned that the play was a version of the Nativity story as it had never been told before. The house lights dimmed, and Jared turned his attention to the stage.
The first-grader dressed in a white choir robe and sporting gold paper-mâché wings was a doll who reminded him so much of Molly at that age that Jared’s heart hurt.
The storyline centered on a trio of angels announcing the birth of the Savior. One of them, Harold, was distracted by offerings at the bazaar of Bethlehem and was late heralding the news to the Three Kings, who decided to trade in their camels for faster transportation.
Jared almost dropped his camera when he saw the scene for that part of the story. Three boys dressed in kingly gear sat perched atop stuffed animals—not the plush kind, but the work of a taxidermist—a bear, a mountain lion, and a bighorn sheep.
Seeing Jared’s surprise, Celeste leaned over and whispered, “The school owns quite an extensive collection of preserved wildlife donated by a former resident of Eternity Springs.”
On stage, the youngest angel clasped her hands and dramatically despaired, “What’s Christmas without camels?”
The audience erupted in laughter, and Jared grinned, snapping a shot of the young drama queen he knew her parents would treasure.
Onstage, the Three Kings realized they still weren’t going to make it to the manger in time, and at that point, the materialistic little cherubim saw the light. Harold flew the kings on Angel Airlines, delivering them to the stable in time to honor the Christ Child. Unfortunately, Angel Air lost the kings’ baggage, so they despaired that they had no gold, frankincense, or myrrh to give the newborn King. At that point, angel Harold patted them on the back and said, “Hark. I say unto you. It’s the thought that counts.”
It was silly and sappy, but the little drama provided the first spark of Christmas cheer Jared had enjoyed all year. Then the lights dimmed, and the three angels took center stage beneath a spotlight. Taking a page from Linus andA Charlie Brown Christmas,they took turns reciting lines from the second chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke. All the performers recited the final lines, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.”
Then the stage lights flashed bright, and the entire cast declared, “And that’s what Christmas is all about, Eternity Springs!”
Emma played the introduction to “Joy to the World,” and the sing-along commenced.
Soon, peace and goodwill settled over Jared like a snowfall. Without conscious thought, he drifted toward the piano. He’d always loved listening to Emma play, but being near and watching her . . . what a turn-on. She played the piano with such passion, such emotion, and those times when she’d held his gaze and spoken to him through her music—wow. More than once, he’d grabbed her up and taken her there against the piano.
He couldn’t believe they’d never share such moments again.
He didn’t plan to move beside her. Nevertheless, that’s where he ended up. When Emma glanced up and saw him, her eyes widened. Then, to his surprise, she smiled.
