by Emily March
“Well, not precisely. The Christmas wishing tree definitely has more of a spiritual aspect to it.”
“Like ghosts?” Reilly asked.
“No, dear. While the term ‘spiritual’ means different things to different people depending on their worldview, in this case it refers to the sacred, that which is beyond ourselves, that existence that speaks to the soul.”
Michel frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Reilly raised his hand like a schoolboy. “Sacred is Baby Jesus in the manger. That’s what’s Christmas is supposed to be about, we just forget about it because of all the commercials.”
“Not commercials,” Jenna corrected. “Commercialism.”
Celeste laughed. “Commercials have something to do with it too. Let me try to explain it this way. Earlier when we entered the forest and you boys went still and quiet, do you know why you reacted that way?”
The boys looked at each other and shook their heads. “Jenna, do you recall what you said to me?”
“I said it was like entering a cathedral.”
“What’s a cathedral?” Michael asked.
“A great big church,” Cam told him.
“Why did the forest make you think of entering a cathedral, Jenna?”
The boys turned to Jenna expectantly. She took a moment to frame her response in a simple way the boys would understand. “Because when I go into a cathedral, it’s so huge and beautiful and peaceful that it touches my heart deep down inside. Sometimes makes me cry good tears.”
“My mom does that a lot,” Michael offered.
Jenna smiled at him and completed her explanation. “Walking into a cathedral reminds me that I’m a tiny human being and the universe is huge and created by a power that is bigger than my mind can comprehend.”
“That’s an excellent description, Jenna. The Christmas wishing tree tradition came about because while we might not always have a cathedral handy, we can usually find a tree growing in the woods somewhere.”
Reilly asked, “What about somebody’s front yard? Would that count?”
“Why, yes. Yes it would. Although I will admit that a forest is beneficial to get the full effect.”
He pressed. “What about fake Christmas trees, the kind you buy in a store?”
“Actually, I’ve never considered that question before, Reilly, but I believe that probably crosses the line. It needs to be a living, growing tree.”
“So do you decorate the exact same wishing tree every year?”
“No. Each year it’s a different tree. That’s one of the things that are so wonderful about a Christmas wishing tree. It doesn’t matter where I’m living or visiting, I can designate any tree to be my Christmas wishing tree.
“How does it work?”
“Reilly, that’s what she’s trying to tell us.” Jenna made a zipping motion over her mouth. “Let her talk.”
Celeste winked at Reilly, then continued. “Each year when I decorate my wishing tree, I make one special ornament that represents a particular challenge of circumstance I overcame during the past year and my biggest wish for the one upcoming. When I hang it on a tree, in the cathedral of a forest, I reflect on those two events. That’s when the magic happens.”
“Magic?” Cam asked, his green eyes watching Celeste closely.
“My wishes have a way of coming true.”
“Because of magic?” Michael asked.
“Because I choose to live my vision, not my circumstance.”
She focused her gaze on Jenna and continued, “All of us have circumstances. For some it’s health related. For others, it’s financial struggles. The choice each of us has is whether we allow circumstances to rule our lives, or whether we live according to our vision, how we want our lives to be. If I were the one who’d named my family tradition, I’d have called it the Christmas vision tree. Circumstances are temporary; vision lasts forever.”
The words resonated inside of Jenna like a song. She had the sense that something important had just taken place, and she was still trying to think it through when Reilly asked, “Has your wish come true? The one you made when you hung your special ornament this year?”
“Actually, yes. Yes it has. My wish came true yesterday, in fact.” Then the older woman clapped her hands and added, “Now, we’d better see to finding your Christmas tree, young man, before the afternoon gets away from us. I remember seeing a tall, full, beautiful spruce over this way.” She gestured toward the northeast. “Would you like me to show you?”
“Yes!” Reilly bounded after her with Michael close on their heels.
Jenna stood staring at the decorated tree, her gaze focused on a carved wooden angel ornament. Sensing Cam’s gaze upon her, she said, “I get the feeling that something important just happened, though I can’t really say what it was.”
“That’s our Celeste,” he told her. “All I can say is ignore her at your own peril. She has an uncanny ability to offer up advice that a person needs to hear at exactly the time they need to hear it. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.”
I choose to live my vision, not my circumstance. My wishes tend to come true.
“Mom? Hey, Mom! We found it! C’mere, Mom! It’s the perfect Christmas tree!”
Cam pulled the work gloves out of the back pocket of his jeans and said, “Sounds like it’s time for me to get to work.”
“Mom! Hurry!”
Jenna laughed and said, “Me too.”
She followed her son’s footsteps through the snow to where Reilly, his new friend, and a woman who seemed to have an inner glow about her admired a perfectly shaped Colorado blue spruce.
Two hours later it stood in front of Blitzen’s main window sporting blinking lights, glass balls, dog bones, ribbon garland, Eternity Springs’ Twelve Dogs of Christmas, and an angel tree topper that had the face of an Irish setter. The tree was so big it needed some fill-in decor, but all in all, Jenna decided it was the most beautiful Christmas tree ever due to the joy she saw in her son’s face when he looked at it.
“‘Where broken hearts come to heal’,” she quoted softly. Eternity Springs was doing its thing.
The sleepover at the Murphy’s house was a huge success. On Christmas Eve they attended church services and watched Michael shine in his role as a Christmas pageant shepherd. On Christmas Day Reilly did not find a puppy beneath the tree because Jenna judged he didn’t need one. Neither did she. The reasons against having one had not changed. Instead, Santa brought him a remote control car as a surprise, and he was thrilled with the gift.
Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, they filled their days with activities. They went snowmobiling and sledding and horseback riding. During a day trip to Wolf Creek, Reilly learned to snowboard and made a good effort at learning to ski. They attended story time at the library and participated in the official Eternity Springs Boxing Day Snowball Fight. Michael spent the night with Reilly once at Blitzen, and Reilly returned to the Murphy’s home for another sleepover the night before New Year’s Eve.
Jenna changed her mind half a dozen times about how they should spend New Year’s Eve. They’d been included in invitations for an adult party at Angel’s Rest and a corresponding children’s slumber party at a daycare center called Gingerbread House. Reilly desperately wanted to attend, but the thought of being separated on the swatting anniversary gave her cold sweats.
It was foolish, she knew. She had no reason to think that the stalker had traced them again. Nothing since their move to Tallahassee in September had given her cause for concern. She should allow Reilly to attend the party, go to one herself, and end their holiday trip on a positive note.
What finally made up her mind was finding Reilly sitting at the table in the cottage’s kitchen with a pile of pinecones, stones, sunflower seeds, and a bottle of glue. “Whatcha doin’ there, hot rod?”
“I’m making an ornament.”
“To take home as a souvenir?”
“No. It’s for my Christmas wishing tree. You can choo
se a wishing tree and decorate it any time you want. I asked Ms. Celeste.”
Jenna’s heart did a little flip. “You did?”
“Yep. When we come back to Eternity Springs next year for Christmas I can add more decorations.”
Choose to live your vision, not your circumstance.
Peace rolled through Jenna like an ocean wave. “That sounds like a plan. Looks like you have plenty of supplies there. Mind if I join you and make an ornament too?”
“Sure, Mom. You can come with me when I hang it. Just don’t ask me what my wish is. Ms. Celeste said it works better if you keep it in your heart.”
“Ah. Okay, then.”
When Jenna hung her ornament on a tree in the cathedral of the Angel’s Rest forest an hour later, she didn’t try to keep the tears from her eyes. “Good tears,” she assured Reilly.
They walked hand in hand back to Blitzen and got ready for their respective parties. Reilly left her at Gingerbread House without a backward glance, and Jenna enjoyed herself so much at Celeste’s party that she stayed past midnight and even shared a friendly midnight kiss with a handsome lawyer named Boone McBride.
On New Year’s Day with real regret for the end of their vacation and after Michael and Reilly secured promises from their mothers that phone calls between them would be allowed and encouraged, Reilly and Jenna headed home to Tallahassee.
As they passed the Eternity Springs city limits marker, Jenna promised them both. “We’ll be back.”
CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA
At five a.m. on the second of January, Devin filled his travel mug with piping hot coffee and prepared to head down to the marina. He had a busy day ahead. The dive boat tour was three-quarters full this morning and both fishing boats were booked. The three pharmaceutical executives from Boston going out with him on the Out-n-Back were repeat customers, and since fishing had been excellent the past three days, he had high hopes that he’d put them on to something big.
He’d just picked up his keys when his phone rang. He checked the number. “Hey Dad. I’m just heading to work. Running a little late, in fact.”
“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to tell you about a phone call I had during the New Year’s Eve party last night.”
Cairns was seventeen hours ahead of Eternity Springs, so his dad was calling on New Year’s Day afternoon. Devin wanted to ask about the college football games, but he didn’t have time.
“Guess who phoned me a little before midnight? Your Reilly from Nashville.”
In the process of reaching for his coffee, Devin froze. His lips stretched in a smile. “Oh yeah?”
“It was a short call and I’m afraid I couldn’t hear him very well. Lots of noise on my end and on his. But what I did hear was him thanking Santa for his presents—I couldn’t tell what—and he said something about believing.”
Believing. Well, how about that? “Awesome. That’s great. I’m glad you heard from him. Thanks for filling in me.”
“Glad to do it. I just hope that next year, you’re here to serve this duty yourself. Your mother missed you terribly.”
Just Mom? Devin rolled his eyes. “I missed being there too. But don’t worry. I won’t miss it. Christmas in Eternity Springs—I can’t think of anything that sounds nicer.”
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
Reilly stood in the card shop with his hands clasped beneath his chin as he stared at the packaged valentines on the shelf. “I can’t decide, Mom. I just can’t decide! Do I get Minions or Paw Patrol?”
Jenna shook her head at the son’s genuine distress over the momentous decision he faced. She was tempted to buy both, but she knew that would only complicate the issue when he went to choose which card to give to which friend at tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day party at his Sunday school. “I’m sure either one would be just fine, Reilly. Better make up your mind. We still have a lot to do this afternoon.”
Like cookies to decorate! Do you think they’ve called off enough, yet?”
“I expect so, yes.” She and Reilly had spent the morning making two-dozen heart-shaped sugar cookies for tomorrow’s party.
“Then we’d better hurry, Mom! We still have to go to the grocery store for sprinkles.”
“I know,” Jenna replied. “We need red food coloring too.”
Thus motivated, Reilly made his choice, and as they walked toward the checkout counter, he said, “You know what I think, Mom?”
“What do you think, Reilly?”
“I think we should send a valentine to Santa at the North Pole. He was really nice to me and people shouldn’t forget about Santa just because it isn’t Christmas.”
Jenna smiled down at her son. “I think that’s an excellent idea, son.”
Pride at Reilly’s thoughtfulness warmed her heart, and during their stop at the grocery store, her thoughts drifted to a certain Santa. Too bad that a valentine sent to the North Pole wouldn’t find its way to Australia.
They returned home with sprinkles and food coloring and a box of Paw Patrol valentines. Reilly donned his child-sized apron and chef’s hat to help his mother whip up a batch of royal icing. After tinting one bowl of icing red and another pink, they sat at the kitchen table with cookies, icing, spatulas, and pastry bags before them. Reilly chatted like a magpie as he spread icing over golden brown hearts. Contentment rolled through Jenna like a tropical sea wave.
She was piping a red outline around a sugar cookie heart when the peace exploded. Light flashed, sound boomed, and men shouted. “We’re in, we’re in. Clear!”
Reilly screamed, “Mommy!”
Not again! Jenna lunged for her son and wrapped protective arms around him, bumping the table hard in the process. Cookies hit the floor.
Hearts broke.
Part Two
Six
June
Traveling from Cairns, Australia, to Eternity Springs, Colorado, was no easy jaunt under the best of circumstances. This journey back to the States had been a nightmare of missed connections, crying babies, and mechanical problems that included a malfunctioning toilet on the Brisbane-to-Honolulu leg of the trip. By the time his plane from Denver landed in Gunnison and he exited security to see his mom, dad, and little brother waiting for him, Devin felt like wallaby road kill.
“Devin!” Michael ran toward him, arms outstretched. Devin dropped his backpack and stooped to scoop up his brother. “Hey, squirt. You’ve grown a foot since last October.”
“Nope. I still only have two of them.”
Sarah followed a few steps behind Michael. She wore her dark hair short in a style that framed her unusual violet eyes, eyes that gleamed with happiness and love as she wrapped Devin in her arms. “Finally. You’re finally here. Oh, Devin.”
He buried his face in her hair and inhaled the fragrance of . . . home. “Mom.”
She looked up at him with tear-flooded eyes. “We’ve missed you so much.”
Michael began to wiggle and Devin set the boy down as his gaze fell upon Cam. Tall and lean and broad of shoulders, his father had gone a little grayer at the temples, the laugh lines along his eyes carved a little deeper and stretched a little longer. His eyes hadn’t changed. Mountain eyes, Sarah called them, because of their myriad shades of green. Neither had his grin, the devil-may-care pirate’s smile that Devin had so admired and mimicked as a boy until he’d perfected it.
Devin extended his hand. “Hello, old man.”
“Boy.” Cam took Devin’s hand in a punishing grip. “You look like you went ten rounds with a ’roo on a walkabout.”
“Feels like fifteen.”
“C’mere, son.” Cam wrapped him into a bear hug and when they finally broke apart, Devin couldn’t miss the sheen of tears in his father’s eyes. “This has been too long a stretch. We have to do better.”
“I won’t argue with you.”
After a late-season blizzard grounded his family in Eternity Springs at Easter, they’d attempted to reschedule their trip. Trying to coordinate schedules proved too diffi
cult, however, and eventually they’d decided the best solution was for Devin to make a summertime trip home. Now, though, Devin was home for a three-week visit planned around the Callahan family’s big Fourth of July celebration and an engagement party for Lori’s sister-in-law, Caitlin Timberlake.
Sarah shoved her husband out of the way and swooped in for another hug. “Lori said to tell you she’s sorry she isn’t here. She wasn’t feeling well this morning—she’s had the stomach bug that’s been going around town and she wasn’t up to a car ride—but she and Chase are planning to come to dinner tonight as long as she’s feeling better and Chase remains healthy.”
“Are you killing the fatted calf?” Devin asked.
Cam shook his head. “She’s killed the Crisco. You’re mother’s been baking for days.”
Devin gave him a droll look. “She bakes every day. It’s her job.”
Sarah sniffed. “I’ll have you know I made two extra batches of strawberry pinwheels and they’re in the kitchen cookie jar. Of course, I could always take them back to Fresh.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“We’re having Tex-Mex. Enchiladas, refried beans, Mexican rice and chips with homemade salsa. Torie Callahan’s recipe. It’s your brother’s new favorite food.”
“Guacamole, too?” At his mother’s nod, Devin stopped and put his hand over his heart. “That’s almost enough to make me forget the horrors of the flights.”
He shared the joys of the trip while they waited for his bag. Once they’d loaded into his dad’s SUV for the two hour drive to Eternity Springs, he asked for the local gossip update. That kept the conversation going for an hour. Then, as usual, his mother began grilling him on the status of his love life.
“I’m not dating anyone in particular, Mom.”
“What about that schoolteacher you said you were seeing this spring?”
“That didn’t work out.” Lisa had been a nice woman, but the spark just hadn’t been there in the bedroom.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Devin shrugged. He’d been sorry too. Although he wasn’t ready for a steady relationship yet, the dating scene was starting to grow tiresome. What had been fun when he was younger had become . . . well . . . work. Not that he wanted to settle down. He didn’t. His flirtation with that idea two years ago had cured him of ever reaching for anything permanent. But he wouldn’t mind having someone in his life who mattered for longer than a weekend or two—if he could find someone looking for a similar level of commitment.