Christmas season at the Lazy M Ranch was always an extravaganza, and this year proved to be even more spectacular. The annual Christmas party for challenged children was in full swing with more children than ever before, and with the increase, a record number of locals had volunteered to make the event unforgettable.
Pausing a moment to regroup and catch her breath, Sarah Tanner stood at the back of the dorm's all-purpose room and watched the festivity. Her gaze alighted on her husband Sage who would soon be sneaking from the room to dress as Santa Claus, and although in his sixties, he was just as handsome as the day she’d met him thirty years earlier when he'd posed for the cover of her book, Dream Kisses. And even though he'd later angered her by doing something she now considered trivial, she'd still felt drawn to him. And then, weeks later, arriving at his dude ranch, not realizing he was the owner, she’d been unable to quash her growing attraction. Within a matter of days he and his daughter Julie had won her heart over. And although she'd made the huge mistake of leaving Sage because of self-doubt, his flashy marriage proposal in front of an audience of romance readers had transformed her life forever.
As if feeling her watching him, he glanced in her direction and did that thing that always made her heart somersault. He smiled with his eyes.
She returned his smile and then searched for the girl she had adored from their first meeting. Julie had grown into a wonderful woman and married the son of Ann Martinez, who was Sarah's best friend. Julie and Jacob would soon celebrate their twenty-sixth wedding anniversary and their children, Maudie and Missy, were extraordinary granddaughters that Sarah couldn't have been prouder of.
She searched for Ann and saw her laughing with her husband Jackson. Ann's path to happiness had been long and rocky, both before and after Jacob's father's death, but her marriage to Jackson was as solid as Sarah's was to Sage, and their daughter Angel's marriage to Eli Brightman was proving to be just as strong.
Thinking about Eli brought his parents to mind and Sarah scanned the room for Tooty and Miles. She saw Tooty encircled by enraptured children as she read The Night Before Christmas. Miles, in his wheelchair, had a boy and girl sitting on his lap and the girl said loudly, "Let me see that picture again, Miz Tooty!" and the boy echoed, "Me, too!" Sarah chuckled.
Against all odds the Brightman marriage had survived not only a significant age difference, with Tooty being eighteen years younger than Miles, but also huge social differences. Tooty had been an unwed twenty year old raising four year old Harris when Miles, an established best selling author, had hired her as his personal assistant. The bigger issue for Miles, however, had been his paraplegia caused by a car accident.
Now, watching the couple, Sarah barely remembered the three years of their estrangement when Eli was born. She almost laughed aloud thinking of the years since then. Miles and Tooty had five grown children and were hoping that Harris and Lucinda or Eli and Angel would soon make them grandparents.
As for Harris and Lucinda, what a storybook romance—boy meets girl; boy almost gets girl; girl betrays boy; boy rejects girl; girl shows up in boy's home town; boy forgives girl; boy thinks girl betrayed him again; boy loses girl; boy discovers girl didn’t betray him; boy finally marries girl and they move away to fulfill his dream of ranching, and her dream of starting her own newspaper. Sarah liked the scenario and thought it might play out as a storyline for one of her romance novels.
Laughter at the refreshment table arrested her attention and she saw Justin Blake and Phoenix Phillips joking with Sean and Tessa Barfield. Sarah had first met Justin when he started working for Dixie's Cuppa Joe years earlier, and for all of her effort, and the effort of the best matchmakers in Paxtonville, they had been unable to match him up with anyone. Now, to everyone's shock and delight, a city gal from California had stolen his heart and a March wedding was being planned.
As for Sean and Tessa, they also had a storybook romance, as did Sean's birthfather and stepmother, Mac and Cecelia MacKenzie. Sean and Tessa had met as teenagers, but their romance hadn't begun until they were over twenty and he was famous. And Mac's relationship with Cecelia had started when she'd botched a coffee delivery to his house and accidentally discovered he was a reclusive artist she had admired for years.
Sarah searched the room for Mac and Cecelia's girls, Goldie and Merry, and saw them helping Hank—cook at the Lazy M for years—replenish hors d'oeuvres on the buffet table. The girls, like their mother and father, had compassionate hearts and could always be found assisting others. Goldie, a victim of cerebral palsy, had been four years old when Cecelia first met her at a Lazy M Christmas party, and after Cecelia's marriage to Mac, the couple had adopted her. A few years later they had adopted Merry.
The dorm door open and Sarah watched a tall young man in Navy attire enter and remove his cap. He glanced around until he spotted Goldie waving to get his attention. It was no secret that Morgan Brightman, the third son of Tooty and Miles was crazy about her, and everyone wondered where their relationship would lead since Goldie was only eighteen.
Standing by the door Dirk Branigan welcomed Morgan by slapping him on the back, and Sarah couldn’t help but reflect on Dirk's slippery slope to happiness with Monica. It was a crazy one for sure. Monica had actually been Miles Brightman’s girlfriend "back in the day" in New York City before he'd met Tooty. However, several years after he and Tooty had tied the knot, Monica had resurfaced in a frantic telephone call to Miles because her life in New York had skid out of control. She'd been jilted and robbed by her boyfriend, laid off her job, evicted from her apartment, and, to cap it off, discovered she was pregnant. However, as unlikely as it seemed, Tooty had been the one to suggest a temporary solution to Monica's predicament—work for Dirk as domestic help while he recovered from a rodeo accident. And although reluctant, spoiled Monica had taken the job, but in so doing, upset Dirk's orderly life. And now their teenage daughter, Candi, who had inherited her mother's drive and her father's gift with animals, had become a force to be reckoned with. Following in the footsteps of her father, her uncanny insight as a horse whisper was receiving statewide recognition.
Sighing with joy, Sarah again sought out her own children and their families. Julie and Jacob and their girls, Maudie and Missy, had been joined by her twins Toby and Preston. Her sons were pillars of the community and Toby was even considering running for mayor.
Joining the group, Dovie held mistletoe above Toby's head and Freckles held some over Preston's. The men's laughter was followed by long kisses with their wives. Freckles, who was due to deliver another son any day and looked like a toothpick with a beach ball for a belly, handed her mistletoe to Julie, who raised it above Jacob’s head.
Sage, holding the hands of his youngest grandchildren, joined his family. Gus squealed and lifted his hands high in the air for his pawpaw to pick him up, and then Hope started crying and lifting her hands, too. Pawpaw laughed and reached down to scoop both children into his arms, jostling them and sending them into fits of giggles.
The dorm door opened again and Hannah entered with Alex. They had called earlier to say their hopper plane from Denver to Cortez was behind schedule, but they shouldn’t be too late. It had been two months since Sarah had visited her daughter and Alex at their estate in England and received the wonderful news that Hannah was pregnant. Now she was showing a baby bump and Sarah got a lump in her throat. Her daughter and son-in-law had almost lost their lives while working in a third-world country for the prestigious organization Border's Removed, and after the incident Hannah's future with Alex had appeared bleak to everyone but Sarah. She supposed that’s why she was a romance novelist. She was a firm believer in happily-ever-after.
Lifting away from the wall she started toward her loved ones, but paused in the center of the room to capture the moment. Turning slowly in a circle she memorized the familiar faces of family, friends, acquaintances, and children. She saw Sage watching her and he did that thing again with his eyes that somersaulted her heart. Releasing a long sigh of happiness she continued turning in a circle—the circle of life.