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.He ruffled Nick’s hair and said, “He was having so much fun with Luke’s girls, I couldn’t tear him away.”She started to object, but he held up his hand.“Boss, you’ve gotta learn to let go a bit.You wanted someone to look after Nick.You’ve got me.He’s safe.He’ll always be safe with me.”Becky expelled an exasperated sigh.“I…I know in my head that what you’re saying is true, but my heart is finding it hard to let go.”“The truth is, you don’t like not being in complete control of every situation in your life.”Will knew he’d hit a sore point when she flinched.Not being a control freak himself, he found it hard to imagine why some people needed to maintain such a tight hold on everything around them.Nicolas squealed from the living room.“There’s a dog in here!”Dugald raced up to Will, who reached down and scooped up the little dog.“What’re you doing here, Dugald?”“You know him?” Nick asked, his eyes wide with wonder.“Sure.Dugald and I go way back, don’t we, fella?” He passed him to Nick.“He’s yours?”“No, he’s yours,” Becky said.“If you want him.”Nick’s eyes were bigger than saucers.“Mine! Oh, boy!” He held the dog tightly.Dugald rewarded him by licking his face.“Eeyew!”“He’s only kissing you and saying hello,” Will assured him as they went into the living room.Nick sank onto the sofa and let Dugald lick his face some more.“He really likes me a lot, doesn’t he?”“Sure does,” Will said, then turned his attention to Becky.“So instead of resting as you were told to, you’ve been visiting with Miss P.?” He shook an admonishing finger at her, but tempered it with a smile.“I did rest.Then I remembered my promise to do something about Dugald.” Her face softened with pleasure as she observed Nick and Dugald bonding.Will massaged her neck, feeling her tension dissipate beneath his touch…and enjoying the fact that she didn’t pull away.“Thanks,” he said.“You’ve done a real favor for two people today.Dugald’s going to be a great companion.Why don’t we celebrate by buying a Christmas tree.The Boy Scouts are selling them down in the parking lot.”A HALF HOUR LATER, after they’d hastily eaten the sandwiches Becky had prepared, Nicolas was raring to go.With Dugald tucked in the crook of Will’s arm, they were wandering through neat lines of Christmas trees.Customers roamed the aisles or warmed their hands on a fire blazing in a brazier.The stars shone brightly overhead and, with no cloud cover, the temperature had plummeted to well below zero.The Boy Scout helping them pulled out three trees they’d shown interest in and leaned them against the fence side by side to compare.Becky was alarmed the young Scouts wore only sweatshirts on this cold night.She and Nicolas were warmly dressed in several layers of clothing as well as ski jackets, fleecy neck warmers, beanies and gloves.As usual, Will wore considerably less.She couldn’t resist asking the young Scout who was assisting them, “Aren’t you cold?”He looked at her as though she was from another planet.“Nah.Why?”“Because it’s cold.And dark.”The Scout indicated a pile of ski jackets lying on a chair.“We’ve got ’em, but we won’t need ’em.”Will bent to whisper in her ear.“We breed ’em tough up here in the mountains, ma’am.”The warmth of his breath against the tiny amount of skin exposed between her hat and neck warmer sent tickles down her spine, making Becky forget for a moment what she’d been talking about.“They’re only out here for another hour,” Will assured her.“Then they can go home.”“Another hour? Oh, my…”“I like this one best,” Nicolas declared.“Can we take it, Mom?”Becky tore her eyes from the Boy Scout and looked at the tree.It was a very handsome tree.A very tall tree.“Isn’t it a little large for the house?”Will sized it up.“Nope.We can put it beside the staircase where it winds up to the landing.There’s plenty of height there.”“Yeah! Great idea!” Nicolas agreed.Becky eyed the tree.There was no way it would fit in the back of her SUV—even with the rear seat down.“Can you deliver?” she asked the boy.“Sure, we can bring it around when we close up here.”“Yay! Now we need decorations!” Nicolas insisted.THEY GOT HOME, loaded down with decorations.Dugald had enjoyed his outing, sitting in the cart at the store, sniffing everything as it was chosen.A truck containing their tree arrived, and the Scoutmaster and Will manhandled the Fraser fir into the house and set it up on a stand exactly where Will had said it would fit.Will lit the fire, instantly suffusing the room with warmth.Becky stood back to check that it was in just the right place.She didn’t want it blocking Nicolas’s path, causing him to stumble and fall.“Perfect,” she decreed.“Yay!” Nicolas started tearing open the packs of decorations and lights.She’d never seen her son so animated.They’d had a Christmas tree before but it was the ready-decorated, plastic, store-bought variety and definitely lacked the soul of a real tree, she decided, as the scent of fir drifted through the house.She put on a CD of Christmas songs and soon the strains of Neil Diamond accompanied by Will and Nicolas singing “Winter Wonderland” filled the air.Will hung the lights on the tree, then they decorated it, Nicolas the lowest branches, Becky the middle ones and Will the topmost.Will had a beautiful singing voice and she told him so.He winked down at her from where he was perched on a stepladder.“Thanks, boss,” he said, sending Nicolas into fits of laughter.Becky put her hands on her hips.“What’s so funny, young man?”“Will’s calling you ‘boss’—but I guess you are his boss.” He dissolved into laughter again.Becky’s heart soared at the sound.She’d always assumed Nicolas to be a serious, withdrawn child, much like herself.But in Will’s presence, he was happy and effervescent.In another hour, all the decorations were on the tree, except one.“Come here, champ,” Will said from halfway up the stairs.Will handed him the angel and lifted him so he could place her on top of the tree.Becky was about to say careful, but managed to stop herself in time to admire Will’s biceps straining against his denim shirt as he held Nicolas over the banister railing.“There!” he said and peered down at her for approval.“Beautiful! Let’s turn on the tree lights.”Nicolas climbed onto the banister and slid down while Becky held her breath.“Wheee!” he cried and Will followed him down.“Hold on, champ.We need to dim the house lights.”Finally, with the room lit only by firelight, Nicolas plugged the lights into the socket.“Oh!” Becky exclaimed.It looked so much more beautiful than she’d expected.In her whole life, she’d rarely experienced such a wondrous moment as lighting this tree.There’d been no Christmas trees during her childhood, since there was never any money to spend on that kind of indulgence.Instead, she’d snap a branch off a larger tree and bring it home to decorate with anything she could find that was shiny or pretty.But there’d been so few of those things, too.One year she’d used some of her mother’s beads and been harshly reprimanded for it.Tears filled her eyes at the memory.She’d only wanted to cheer up the trailer a little.And yet she’d been so soundly rebuked by her mother that the effect was ruined
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