Hope crossed to her sister and hugged her hard, wishing she could absorb some of her pain.
They were extremely close to each other and to Celeste, their sibling relationship forged through their unorthodox upbringing and the tragedy that had changed all of them so long ago.
Faith rested her cheek against Hope’s. “Oh, what a wonderful surprise. I thought you were going on to Nepal after you finished your teaching stint in Morocco.”
“That was the plan, but I decided to take a break for a few months to figure things out. I thought maybe, I don’t know, I could take a rest from traveling. Maybe stay and help you out around here for a while.”
“Oh. It will be so wonderful to have you here longer than a few days!”
“I thought I could stay through the holidays, if you’ll have me.”
While Faith smiled at her with apparent delight, Hope didn’t miss the sudden wariness in her gaze. “This is your home, too. You’re always welcome here, you know that.”
She paused and gave Hope a searching look. “I guess you must have seen the sign at the Ranch on the way in.”
Hope tried to summon a little of the anger that had accompanied her on the short drive to the ranchhouse but it was impossible to dredge up more than a little kernel at this sister she had always loved and admired for her courage, her sweetness, her practicality—all the things Hope didn’t have.
Her sister had suffered great pain and somehow continued to trudge on, though Hope had no idea how she was managing it.
“I saw the sign. I don’t understand what it means.”
“It means we’re not opening The Christmas Ranch this year,” Barrett announced, sounding just as disgruntled as Hope had been when she first spotted the empty parking lot.
She placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s what I suspected when I saw the sign. I still can’t quite believe it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Faith’s mouth compressed into a tight line. “I would have told you eventually, if you had asked how things were going with The Christmas Ranch, but I didn’t see any point in stirring the pot when you weren’t here anyway.”
She couldn’t blame her sister for that, she supposed. Her family had no reason to believe this year would be any different from the last handful, when she hadn’t been able to manage coming home for longer than a day or two for a quick visit, if that.
“What gives, though? Why are we Closed Indefinitely?”
Her sister pounded a little harder on the dough she was working on the table. “Auntie Mary and I decided to take a break this year while we figure things out.”
She gave a meaningful look to her son. “And speaking of Mary—Barrett, go find her. I think she went into her room earlier to do some knitting.”
“You mean to take a nap,” he said with a grin as he headed out of the room.
“A nap?” she asked as soon as her nephew was out of earshot. The idea of her vibrant aunt taking a nap was as foreign to her as she imagined Couscous Friday—a Moroccan cultural tradition—would be to her family.
“She takes a nap just about every afternoon. She starts in with watching a television show and usually dozes off in the middle of it for a few minutes. Don’t forget, she’s in her seventies and not as energetic as she used to be, especially since Uncle Claude died.”
Hope hated thinking of her aunt slowing down. Mary was her aunt by marriage, wed to the girls’ father’s oldest brother. She and her husband had become the only thing they had to parents after their parents’ tragic deaths only a few months apart.
“You’re telling me she wants to close the ranch, too?”
“Celeste voted, too. It was a mutual decision. We didn’t have much of a choice.”
“But people around here love it. It’s as much a tradition as the giant Christmas tree in the town square and the ice rink on the tennis courts behind city hall.”
“You think I don’t know how much people love the place? I completely get it. This is my home, remember? You haven’t been around since you graduated from high school and left for your study abroad in Europe.”
Though she didn’t think her sister meant the words as a barb, they stuck sharply anyway.
“But the Ranch is hemorrhaging money, sis. Money we just don’t have. Last year it was the stupid motor on the rope tow that had to be replaced, the year before that the roof on St. Nicholas lodge. The liability insurance alone is killing us.”
Hope frowned. “But Travis loved it. You know he did. Uncle Claude loved it! It was his life’s work. He loved everything about Christmas and found the greatest delight in his life by helping everyone else celebrate the holidays. How can you just close the door on all that tradition?”
“Uncle Claude is gone now. So is Tr-Travis.” Her voice wobbled a little on her husband’s name and Hope felt small and selfish for pushing her about The Christmas Ranch.
“It’s just me, Mary and Celeste—and Mary isn’t as young as she used to be and Celeste works fifty-hours a week at the library in town. That leaves mostly me and it’s all I can do to keep the cattle part of the Star N functioning without Travis. We wouldn’t have survived harvest and round-up if Chase Brannon hadn’t stepped in to help us and sent a couple of his guys on semipermanent loan, but he’s got his own ranch to run.”
“I’m here now. I can help. I want to help.”
“For how long this time?”
The question was a legitimate one. Hope didn’t know how to answer. She had finished her teaching obligation in Morocco and had been actively looking around for another one, but at this point her plans were nebulous at best.
“I don’t have anything scheduled. I can stay through the holidays. Let me run The Christmas Ranch. You can focus on the cattle side of things at the Star N and I’ll take care of everything on the holiday side.”
If she thought her sister would jump at the chance for the help, she would have been disappointed. Faith only shook her head. “You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s more than just wearing an elf costume and taking tickets. You haven’t been here during the season in years, not since Claude expanded the operations. You’ve got no experience.”
“Except for the five years I spent helping out when I was a kid, when we all pitched in. Those were magical times, Faith.”
Her sister’s expression indicated she didn’t particularly agree. Faith had never much liked the Christmas village, Hope suddenly remembered.
When they had come to Cold Creek Canyon and the Star N to live with Mary and Claude so long ago, they had all been traumatized and heartbroken. Three lost young girls.
Their father had died on Christmas day. The next year, Claude had put them all to work in the concessions stand at what was then only the reindeer petting zoo and the Christmas village with the moving figures. Her older sister had been
