Evergreen Springs

The snow was the ideal consistency, wet enough to stick together, but not so heavy it was hard to work. She crafted the first large snowball until it was too big to hold in her hands, then set it down on the ground.

“Okay. This is the fun part. Start rolling it around and around.”

Cole took up the challenge and in just a moment, the snowball had doubled in size.

“How’s that?”

“It’s still not big enough for the bottom ball,” Jazmyn declared. “I’m stronger than you are. Maybe I better do it.”

“If we all three work together, we can make it even bigger,” Devin told her. “We have to figure out where we want to end up. Where do you want the snowman to stand?”

Ty stopped, his cheeks flushed pink from the cold and the exertion. “How about right there, by the front porch, where we can see it from the window?”

“No. that won’t work,” Jazmyn said.

“Why?” he demanded.

“Because that’s where we’re going to put our Christmas tree, remember? Aunt Tricia promised we could put one up this weekend.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”

Devin didn’t have the heart to tell either of these children their aunt wasn’t coming home this weekend to put up a Christmas tree. She wondered if Cole had told them yet that Tricia would probably have to stay in the hospital until she delivered her twins.

“We’re going to cut down our very own tree,” Ty informed Devin. “We were going to do it last weekend except Dad didn’t have time. He had a horse ’mergency.”

“Our mom liked a fake Christmas tree. It was white with pink lights and it was soooo pretty,” Jazmyn said.

“Aunt Tricia said we can’t put up an artificial Christmas tree here,” Ty said.

Jazmyn sniffed. “I don’t know why not. I want a white tree with pink lights but Aunt Tricia said Evergreen Springs always has to have a real tree. It’s even in the name. Christmas trees are evergreens—did you know that?”

“I did.” Devin smiled, her heart aching a little at the sad note in Jazmyn’s voice when she talked about her mother. Deep compassion seeped through her for these children whose world had been tossed around as if they were pinecones floating in the fast current of the Hell’s Fury.

Personally, she thought a white tree with pink lights didn’t sound appealing, but she supposed it was like the difference between living somewhere like Haven Point or choosing a warmer climate. Everybody had personal preferences, which was what made the world such a crazy, jumbled place of both beauty and tragedy.

“Well, there are tons of evergreens at Evergreen Springs,” Jazmyn informed her. “Just look around.”

“There’s a whole forest of them,” Ty added, grunting a little as he tried to keep rolling the ball that was now up to his chest.

“I wish we had a tree already but Dad hasn’t had time,” Jazmyn said with a little note of disgust in her voice.

“He got four new horses to train this week and maybe two more coming next week,” Ty answered.

So they didn’t only raise cattle here at the ranch, apparently. Cole Barrett sounded like a busy man. Still, that was no excuse for not giving two grieving children as happy a Christmas as possible.

That was the missing element at the house, Devin suddenly realized. She had seen no sign of Christmas anywhere. No stockings hanging over that beautiful hewn-log mantel over the river-rock fireplace in the great room, no evergreen garlands twining down the staircase, no candles or bells or wreaths.

And no Christmas tree.

The holiday was now a little less than two weeks away. Busy or not, Cole would have to find time to give this to his children.

What would he do now, without his sister here to help? She could only imagine how overwhelming he must be finding this, suddenly having custody of two needy, emotionally fragile children.

Had he even bought gifts for Jazmyn and Ty?

Tricia probably would have done a few things to bring a holiday mood to the house but considering her marriage was in trouble and she was pregnant with twins, perhaps she hadn’t quite had the energy.

Not her business, Devin reminded herself. She had done her kind deed for the day, gathering freezer meals for him in an effort to take one thing off his plate until he could hire a housekeeper. She couldn’t jump in and start decorating his house.

Why was she so drawn to help him?

The children, she told herself. It was all about the children. Cole Barrett could sit here in his cold, cheerless house for all she cared, but these children needed more.

“Do you have a Christmas tree?” Ty asked her, his breath coming in puffs as they pushed the big ball across the yard one more time, working together to pat on more snow as they went.

“I do. I have a couple of them, one in my bedroom and one in my family room. They don’t have very many decorations on them. I have two cats named Seamus and Simone, a tiger-striped and a black cat, and they like to knock off the ornaments.”

“You don’t have a little boy or a little girl?” Ty asked.

Devin forced a smile, ignoring the familiar crampy ache around her heart. “No. I’m afraid not.”

“But you have two cats,” Jazmyn said. “I’d like to have a cat. If I did, I would name her Penelope and call her Penny.”

“Sounds like you’ve given it some thought.”

“I have. I’d like a cat or a puppy.” She went on about the time she, Ty and their mother had lived in an apartment building and the lady next door had four cats and let Jazmyn come over sometimes to pet them and help give them food and water. From there, she chattered about how easy school was for her because they were behind the school where she used to go, about her favorite TV show, about the trip to Disneyland her grandmother had apparently promised her.

Whenever his sister stopped to take a breath, Ty interjected his own occasional commentary—about the new brick set he wanted for Christmas, about the horse his father said he could get someday and about his new friends at school.

In the process, they finished the midsection of the snowman and worked together on the final ball.

“That is the perfect snowman head,” Jazmyn declared. “It’s not too square and not too tall.”

“I agree. Can you help me lift it up?”

The two of them worked together to heft the large ball onto the top of the snowman and pat a little more snow in to anchor it in place. Then it was time for the finishing touches.

“What a good idea you had to bring out a scarf. That’s just what he needs,” Devin said, which made Jazmyn preen. Devin wrapped the scarf around, even giving it a jaunty, complicated knot.

“We have to put on a face now! I’m going to go see if there’s a carrot in the refrigerator.”

“Good thinking. While you’re doing that, we’ll look for some sticks for the arms and something to use for eyes and a mouth.”

She and Ty easily found sticks as well as an abundance of pinecones perfect for crafting the snowman’s face and buttons down his front. She was lifting the boy up to wedge in a couple of pinecones for his eyes when Jazmyn returned from the house.

“No carrots,” she said in a tone of deep disgust. “All we had were dinky baby carrots and that would just look stupid. But I did find an orange plastic cup. I thought that might work.”

“Nice save.” Devin smiled. “I think that should do very well.”