The Rancher's Christmas Song. RaeAnne Thayne

school and is completely voluntary. Any students ages four to sixteen are encouraged to join us.”

      “Hey. That’s us!” Trevor said.

      “Can we do it, Dad?” Colter asked, with the same pleading look on his face he wore when asking for a second scoop of ice cream. “We wanted to last year, remember? Only you said we couldn’t because we were going to visit our Grandma Martin.”

      That had been a short-lived visit with Stephanie’s mother in Connecticut, who had thought she would enjoy taking the boys into the city over the holidays and showing off her grandsons to her friends. After three days, she had called him to pick up the boys ahead of schedule, sounding ages older than she had days earlier. She hadn’t called again this year.

      “Can we?” Trevor persisted.

      Beck didn’t know how to answer as items on his massive to-do list seemed to circle around him like buzzards on a carcass. He had so much to do this time of year and didn’t know how he could run the boys to and from the rehearsals at The Christmas Ranch, which was a good fifteen minutes away.

      On the other hand, Ella Baker lived just next door. Maybe he could work something out with her to give the boys a ride.

      Of course, that meant he would have to talk to her again, though. He did his best to avoid situations that put them into closer proximity, where he might be tempted to do something stupid.

      Like ask her out.

      “Please,” Colter begged.

      This was a good cause, a chance to reinforce to them the importance of helping others. The holiday show had become a high point to many of the senior citizens in town, and they looked forward to it all year. If the twins wanted to do it, how could he possibly refuse?

      “We’ll see,” he hedged, not quite ready to commit.

      “You always say that,” Trevor said. “How come we never really see anything after you say we will?”

      “Good question. Maybe someday, I’ll answer it. We’ll have to see.”

      The boys laughed, as he hoped, and were distracted by their friend Thomas—he, of the tiny puppies—who came over to talk to them.

      “Are you gonna do the Christmas show? My mom said I could, if I wanted.”

      “We want to,” Trevor said, with another cajoling look at Beck.

      “Maybe we can have a band,” Thomas said. “I’ll be J.D. and you can be the Warbling Wranglers.”

      As they squabbled good-naturedly about which of them would make the better lead singer, Beck listened to them with a sense of resignation. If they really wanted to be in the Christmas program, he would have to figure out a way to make it happen—even if it meant talking to Ella Baker again.

      The thought filled him with far more anticipation than he knew was good for him.

       Chapter Two

      “What a fantastic event!” Faith Brannon squeezed Ella’s hand. “I haven’t enjoyed a concert so much in a long time.”

      “Maybe that’s because you never go out,” Faith’s younger sister, Celeste, said with a laugh.

      “Newlyweds. What are you going to do?” Hope, the third Nichols sister, winked at their group of friends.

      Ella had to laugh, even as she was aware of a little pang. Faith had married her neighbor, Chase Brannon, about four months earlier, in a lovely wedding in the big reception hall of The Christmas Ranch.

      It had been lovely and understated, since it was a second marriage for both, but there hadn’t been a dry eye in the hall. They seemed so in love and so deserving of happiness.

      Ella had managed to smile all evening long. She considered that quite an accomplishment, considering once upon a time, she had completely made a fool of herself over the groom. When she first moved to Pine Gulch, she’d had a gigantic crush on Chase and had all but thrown herself at him, with no clue that he had adored Faith forever and had just been biding his time until she came to terms with her husband’s premature death.

      Ella had almost gotten over her embarrassment about events of the previous Christmas. It might have been easier to avoid the happy couple altogether except the Nichols sisters—all married now and with different surnames but still “the Nichols sisters” to just about everyone in town—had become some of her dearest friends.

      They were warm and kind and always went out of their way to include her in activities.

      “You did a great job of organizing,” Hope said now. “I couldn’t believe all the people who showed up. I met a couple earlier who drove all the way up from Utah because they love J.D. and his Wranglers. I hope you raked in the dough.”

      “Everyone has been generous,” she said. “We should have enough to purchase the new piano we need in the elementary school with plenty left over for sheet music at the middle school.”

      She still didn’t think it was right that the art and music programs had to struggle so much to make ends meet in this rural school system. Judging by tonight, though, many members of the community seemed to agree with her that it should be a priority and had donated accordingly.

      “It was a great community event. What a great turnout!”

      “Just think.” Hope grinned. “We get to turn around and do this again in a few weeks at The Christmas Ranch.”

      Faith made a face. “You wouldn’t believe how many people have brought up that Christmas program to me tonight, and I’m not even involved in the show!”

      “You’re a Nichols, though, which makes you one of the co-queens of Christmas, like it or not,” Ella said.

      The Nichols family had been running The Christmas Ranch—a holiday-themed attraction filled with sleigh rides, a life-size Christmas village and even their own herd of reindeer—for many years. It was enormously successful and attracted visitors from around the region.

      The popularity of the venue had grown exponentially in the last few years because of the hard work of the sisters.

      A few years earlier, they had come up with the idea of providing a free catered dinner and holiday-themed show presented by area children as a gift to the local senior citizens and the event had become legendary in the community.

      “We are so lucky that you’ve agreed to help us again this year,” Celeste said now to Ella.

      “Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to it all year.”

      The event—more like an old-fashioned variety show—wasn’t professionally staged, by any means. Rehearsals didn’t even start until a few weeks before the performance and there were no auditions and few soloists, but the children had fun doing it and the attendees enjoyed every moment.

      The previous year’s performance had been a wonderful growing experience for Ella, serving as an icebreaker of sorts to help her get to know the local children better.

      She hoped this year would only build on that success.

      “Wait until you see some of the songs we have planned. It’s going to knock your socks off,” she said.

      “How can you be so excited about wrestling seventy schoolchildren already on a Christmas sugar high?” Faith shook her head. “You must be crazy.”

      “The very best kind of crazy,” Celeste said with a smile.

      “You fit right in with the rest of us,” Hope assured her, then changed the subject. “Hey, did you see that good-looking guy who came in with Nate and Emery Cavazos? His name is Jess Saddler and he’s temporarily staying at their cabins. Em said he’s single and looking to move in and open a sporting goods store in town. He’s cute, isn’t