by Tanya Hanson
Mrs. Martin stunned her with a motherly glare that spoke louder than an inauguration speech, even as she wielded her knife like an exclamation point.
“I’m kind of nervous around big knives,” Tiffany said instead, hoping to sidetrack Elaine’s appeal to make peace with Paul and her family. Her thoughts winged to the acorn-shaped candle she bought for Bragg’s mother. He had said joke gifts only, but the hazelnut-scent smelled nice and was something Olga would have liked.
Olga. Oh, why had Tiffany’s brain turned traitor? Just thinking the name stung her. She forced herself to laugh, and she tossed out something inane. “At Delacruz Drugs, I got Bragg a nightlight shaped like the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.”
Mrs. Martin set down her knife and smiled, eyes wise. “He loved that movie the other night. Likely reminded him of his gadabout days as a rapscallion kid. He’ll crack up for sure.” Her mouth twitched like she wanted to say something else, but all that came out was a loud direction for everybody to get dressed for church. “The service starts at six, and I want us all to leave by five-thirty. No need to rush on those icy roads. Ella’s been flapping those wings since lunch.”
Ella was already in seventh heaven and could recite the announcement from Luke, chapter two, without a mistake.
“Let’s hustle.” Bragg’s voice reached the kitchen before he did, and Tiffany’s blood blasted around her veins in excitement. In longing. Would he…
Yes. He kissed her in front of his mother. Tiffany’s eyelids fluttered and her lips sparked, and Mrs. Martin beamed. To prevent collapse, Tiffany had to reach for the counter. Would Bragg always do this to her, take the air from her lungs and get every skin cell trembling? She managed to untie the apron and show him she was all dressed. The clingy black wrap dress wasn’t new, but it was perfect for church, and both Ella and Elaine had already admired her jingle-bell earrings.
“All we need is a one-horse open sleigh,” Tiffany marveled on the drive to Mountain Cove through a winter wonderland in Bragg’s truck. Although darkness had fallen, the snow-dappled ranches and rangeland sparkled through the dusk.
“Well, we could do that,” Bragg chuckled.
But more than that, Tiffany needed the saving Word of God. Entering Community Church pounded her with blessings rather than loss, and like the kids, she gasped at the beautiful Christmas trees and the glorious organ prelude of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
The same elder from Sunday assisted the associate pastor of their sister church who’d driven in from Rustic Canyon. The congregation besought the Lord’s continued comfort and sustenance upon the Hales, as the pastor continued his return to good health.
Then the choir started with another advent chant while lights dimmed and candles flared.
During the tableau of Jesus’ birth, which included a pair of living sheep and His “mother”, age seven, riding into the chancel on an adorable, well-mannered donkey, Tiffany’s heart swelled and faith bloomed. She knew it wasn’t her need for a job and a new place that had led her to Mountain Cove and the people of Hearts Crossing. It was all part of God’s plan.
To bring her home.
What He had meant by sending her the test of Paul’s abandonment, she had yet to learn, but tonight, Christmas Eve, she finally learned the true meaning of Christmas.
God is love.
Singing her heart out, Hooper’s ex-wife, Lynn, sat near the family, but circumspectly off a ways, her face aglow at her angelic little girl.
Tiffany shook her head. What pain and madness had made the woman abandon her family those years ago? Tiffany pondered the Christian love and confidence that permitted Hooper and Mallie to let Lynn into their celebrations.
“Isn’t she adorable?” Bragg breathed quietly into her ear when Ella took her place, glittered wings sparkling in the candle glow.
Matty cooed in Rachel’s arms nearby.
As Tiffany’s fingers entwined with Bragg’s, she felt the first tick of her biological clock, and the hope someday for children of her own. She trembled.
Children with Bragg. She knew it now. He was The One. The feeling intensified while swarms of little children surged forward to place their handmade Chrismons on the trees. God surely must be smiling tonight. The smaller trees all but exploded in glory.
After the benediction, everyone recessed, singing along with the choir to ”Silent Night.” Another peace beyond her understanding settled on Tiffany. Somehow she knew the words to most of the Christmas songs and realized God had been at work in her heart all along.
Tony. He sat near the back, alone.
Right away, Bragg went to him with an extended hand, and the two quietly spoke.
Back at the ranch for an informal holiday supper, Tony and Lynn gabbed together in a corner, and Bragg and Tiffany cozied together on a love seat with a TV tray of food.
“Somebody’s coming up the drive.” Elaine Martin called out, rising to peer out the big front windows.
Indeed, a pair of headlights bisected the frosty night.
Ella did a happy dance. “Who could it be? Presents?”
Hooper bore a secret grin, so Tiffany knew it wasn’t bad news.
Although Elaine had admitted to an open door policy, she stood like a sentinel at the window in a stance of unease. She gasped. “Why, it can’t be. It…I’m certain that’s Pike’s truck. But he left it at the airport. And he’s on his honeymoon. Why, my heavens.” Her voice choked with a sob. She turned to face her eldest son.“Hoop? You knew about this?”
“Yep. Merry Christmas, Ma.”
Pike and Daisy pounded up the steps and into Mrs. Martin’s arms before another word could be said.
“Merry Christmas, Ma. Everybody!” Pike and Daisy chorused.
“I don’t get it.” Elaine was all but speechless. “What’s going on? We were gonna talk to you on the computer at Vail in the morning.”
Daisy kissed her mother-in-law’s cheek before dashing over to her own parents, themselves stalled in delicious surprise, over their plates.
“We couldn’t miss Christmas at Hearts Crossing,” Pike said tenderly. “We realized we wanted to hang our first stockings over our own fireplace.”
“I…I just don’t know what to say…”
“Just say Merry Christmas,” somebody yelled.
Tiffany clapped and hooted with everybody else. The family’s joy couldn’t help but drift over her, and she once again had to hold back her own sadness. This was not the time for it. The Martins had made a place for her in their home, and Bragg was making a place for her in his heart. She had to concentrate on the goodness of the now. God didn’t make mistakes. As if sensing her roiling thoughts, Bragg hugged her, held her hand tight.
“You didn’t know?”
“Nobody breathed a word.” He kissed the end of her nose. “It’ll be all right, you know.”
This man was following her thoughts. Only God could bring him into her innermost heart. And she did believe him. Someday. “Yeah, I do know. Healing just takes time.”
As they waited for Pike and Daisy to make the rounds, more twin beams glided up the long drive.
“Who now?” Mrs. Martin yelped, but her eyes glowed.
Tiffany submitted to the pull of emotion that maybe it was Paul and Connor. Maybe they looked her up and realized they couldn’t live without her. Maybe Diana had rejoined the family and Olga had let go of some of her bitterness.
Once again she caught sight of Hooper’s secretive grin.
“Oh, mercy me,” Mallie extolled as she caught sight of the passengers emerging from the car after it parked. “It’s…my folks. And Brian!”
Without waiting for her coat, she ran outside into her parents’ waiting arms, and then threw herself at her brother.
“What?” Elaine barked again, eyebrows up to her hairline.
“The doors to Hearts Crossing are always open, Ma.” Hooper all but smirked.
“And that they are. God Himself is present. But you’re all off to California on Monday.
” Elaine’s face roadmapped into a frown.
He shook his head. “This was super last-minute. We wanted to surprise Mallie. And her folks want to see Ella as an angel.”
Elaine nodded. Although the main pageant had been this evening, the children were re-performing without the animals at the Christmas morning carol sing. Excited prattle and clomping boots mixed throughout the big room.
Even with Bragg real at her side, Tiffany felt like a spectator watching a spirited melodrama. Although her heart swelled with happiness for those around her, she couldn’t quite hold off the pain for all she’d lost.
In addition to the surprises of the families coming to visit, Nick talked via Skype with Rachel and his baby boy. Rachel’s radiant face still glowed. For everybody at Hearts Crossing, love was complete.
Except for her. But God didn’t make mistakes. She chanted the reminder throughout her brain even as the threat of tears overtook her. Quickly she blinked them away.
Bragg rejoined her after helping with the Camerons’ bags, and she squeezed his hand. “What wonderful surprises. Did you know?”
“Nope. Hoop kept a pretty tight lip.”
“They’re so happy.”
“It’s going to be a great Christmas.” Bragg leaned close and dropped a kiss, quick but scrumptious, and his eyes glinted with manly longing.
“More dessert!” Elaine said loudly, herding everybody around the kitchen table, now overloaded with goodies that had taken her and Kelley days to make.
Then the chop of a helicopter clicked through the night.
“What the…?” Elaine’s mouth snapped shut.
Tiffany could understand. So far, it had been a night of nights. Each gift was as special as the one before.
Like the shepherds who likely swarmed the hills above Bethlehem at the angelic chorus, the Martins and all their guests dashed outside, most without pausing for jackets and gloves.
“Doyle,” Bragg yelled over the noisy machine swirling above in the cold air. “I recognize his ‘copter.”
“Bragg, what’s going on? Is everything OK?” Tiffany’s words puffed in the freezing air.
“I’d say so.” He held her tight and warm against his side. “All lines of communication are intact and roads open. I’d say we’re in for one more major surprise.”
At his words, Kelley’s face broke into a smirk of triumph. After the helicopter safely landed and the rotors halted, a group descended to the ground.
A group that had Tiffany pinching herself. No way could the scene be real. But the little boy screaming her name couldn’t be a figment of her imagination. Not with a God of love now on her side.
“Bragg, that’s Connor.” She couldn’t move. “Paul, and Diana, too. I don’t get it. I don’t…did you?”
He stood like stone, too. “No. I didn’t. Wish I had but…sorry.”
“Don’t you be sorry. This is a Christmas beyond any other. It’s a dream come to life! It’s God’s true design!”
She ran into Connor’s little arms.
“Aunty Tiffy, where did you be?”
Unable to speak and not knowing what words to use, anyway, she took tight hold of him as sobs overtook her. Behind then, she could hear Bragg’s boots slip-slide across the snowy yard to the ‘copter.
“Doyle.” Bragg managed. “What? How? Why?”
The rancher laughed deep down. “Aw, I took Joanne Hale over to Steamboat Springs to be with the reverend for Christmas Eve. Got wind that these fine folks wanted to cut short their ski trip. For a very good reason.”
“Mr. Calhoun, it’s Christmas Eve. You should be home.” Tiffany, barely finding breath, forced herself to her feet, before reaching for Connor. It was all she could think to say, with Paul hovering.
“Naw, naw. I’ll get back to the Hills in time for midnight candlelight service. I got time for a quick howdy for Elaine.”
With an encouraging squeeze of her shoulder, Bragg walked off with Doyle, leaving her with Paul and Diana.
“Paul? Di?” Finally able to halt the trembles that had nothing to do with the cold night, Tiffany beseeched them as her brother grabbed her tight. Diana stood back, and Tiffany remembered her thoughts of a few days ago, how wrong it was to judge and not forgive.
Paul pulled back and smiled at her in the ‘copter headlights. “Got a phone call from somebody named Kelley. I guess she called my boss, first.”
“What?” A spurt of something like awe rolled through her. Kelley? “Kelley? But why?”
Her brother took his little boy from her and they moved toward the house.
“Why? Mostly because…I miss you, Tiff. And I wronged you. Kelley was right to call.” Paul’s gaze dropped to his feet. “Well, I was missing you and something else. Diana and I, well, we’ve been working things out.” He waved his hand at his wife, and she stepped close to share an embrace with Tiffany.
Then Diana took her son. “I’ll go on ahead. Tiff, we’ll catch up later. I guess that’s Kelley waving over there at me.”
“I just…” Tiffany needed a chair. “You’re awfully chummy, it seems. Well, if you’re happy, that’s good then, I guess.”
“It is. I love her, Tiff. And it wasn’t her fault.”
“What wasn’t?”
Paul leaned down to give her cheek a kiss, then sighed, deep. “I’m as much to blame as she is. Our marriage was floundering. I told her to go to that reunion by herself. I pushed her away.”
“What about the biological father.”
“She contacted him, and he agreed to let us have Connor, no strings attached, if Diana kept quiet to his wife. Apparently they have five kids...”
Tiffany’s heart tugged. If only she’d done the right thing and talked to Diana way back when…been friend and sister, she might have been a help, not—
Paul interrupted her thoughts. “But no matter what really went down, I was wrong to cast you out, Tiff. I just wanted to blame everyone but myself. And Connor, well, he seriously needs you in his life. I do, too.”
Finally she found her voice. “There aren’t any real words to describe how happy I am. I have missed you with a pain I hope never to feel again. I’m so glad you’re standing at her side. But I still don’t understand…I mean…you could have just called.”
“No. I came here for Christmas. For you.” He paused a bit. “And for a job interview.
“A job interview? What? Here? You got laid off?” Would the knee-weakening sensations of the night ever end?
“Oh, no. Yesterday this Kelley Martin”—his eyes twinkled with reflected Christmas lights—“called me up and put me on to applying for a position as Doyle Calhoun’s publicist. And I can’t deny she told me a ton about you.” Shyness and regret husked his voice. “When I mentioned how weird Christmas would be without you, she and Doyle arranged the pick-up ride. Diana and I knew we’d just gone skiing to run away. And well, Connor’s nuts about ‘hairplanes’ and anything with rotors. How could I deny him?”
“Paul, Kelley. I just…”
“Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her toward the house. “And don’t you get mad at Kelley. She was right to do it. She loves you. Anyway, I got interviewed on the flight, and I’ve got the job. And…” He didn’t look at her directly for a second, but when he did, she saw a tear flicker. “Doyle’s got a small cabin on his ranch for us. For our new start.”
More than ever, Tiffany had the distinct notion she was stuck in a fiction story with an impossibly happy ending. The Last Real Rancher?
“Unbelievable. Doyle Calhoun, he’s your hero.”
“I know. I can hardly believe it. I’ll get to live the dream.”
“I’m so happy for you, but don’t you have other clients?”
“Yeah. The producers of the show don’t have a lot of money for public relations. Part of the gig on the ranch is free rent. And my boss said I can telecommute and pop in the office a few times a month. Diana and I are really looking forward to a…change of pace. Mostly though, I won’t be far
from you. That is, if you’re staying in these parts. Kelley seemed to think…”
Tiffany blushed and pointed to Bragg through the big window. As her heart pulsed with joy, he stood silhouetted by the Christmas tree in another perfect moment. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be staying. But…” She trembled at God’s goodness. Everything sounded too good to be true, but there was one major player nowhere near. The architect of it all. “But there’s our stepmom. Where is she?”
“Back home.” Paul’s jaw tightened. “She’s not a skier, as you likely recall. And she’s had a new load of health issues. But…we’re all trying to work things out. After all, our dad loved her.” His gold-flecked eyes implored her. “She needs you to forgive her, Tiffany. And I do, too. To forgive me, I mean.”
The heaviness of the moment and the burden across her shoulders drizzled into the wind. “Oh, Paul. Of course.” She hugged him tight. “You’re my brother. And our mom, well…”
“I was thinking.” Paul said, slow, not looking at her. “I was thinking. Maybe you wouldn’t mind, us calling her and wishing her merry Christmas.”
Tiffany’s heart soared. “Yeah. But let’s do her even better. Let’s tell her to come to Hearts Crossing for Christmas dinner.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. It’s not a bad drive, and I know Elaine, Kelley’s mom, will love the idea. She’s been rooting for this reunion for days. And me, I’ll welcome her back. Because I think it won’t be too long before she needs to give a certain kind of permission. Not quite yet, mind you, but likely sometime in the coming year.” Eager for Bragg’s strength, she glanced at him again as she and her brother stomped up the steps. By now, she was shivering from the weather and too many emotions to count.
Paul squinted through the window. Obviously he wasn’t wearing his contacts, him and his no-glasses vanity. She grinned. Paul, Paul…here at last.
“Guess I better get inside and meet him,” he said. “Well, from what I know, these are good people.”
“That they are, Paul. That they are. You’re going to love everybody. His name is Bragg, and by now, his ma will have beds made up for this entire crowd. There’s still supper on, too.”