“Where were you?” Raylen asked.

She pulled his head down and whispered, “Thinking about Colleen and Blaze.”

“Raylen is blushing,” Colleen teased. “What did Liz just say to you?”

The high color that had reached his cheeks deepened. “She said that she’s starving. So will you hurry up and get your plate filled? You are holding up the line, Sister.”

“I don’t believe you,” Colleen said.

Liz leaned forward and whispered into Colleen’s ear. “Believe it. Food isn’t the only thing a woman can hunger after, is it?”

Colleen nodded and grinned. “You got it, sister! You know anything about this big surprise Blaze has in store for me?”

“Now I wonder what I said that made you think of Blaze?” Liz asked.

Colleen’s face turned almost the same color as her hair. “Hush! Surprise?”

“Yes, I do know, but I’m not telling you. It’s his surprise,” Liz answered.

“What can you tell me?” Colleen asked.

“Take a warm coat.”

Colleen gave her a stern look.

Liz giggled. “It won’t work. You don’t scare me anymore.”

Blaze grinned. “But you did at first, darlin’. She called me every night and whined about how you wouldn’t ever accept her.”

“I still might not if she doesn’t tell me what you two cooked up,” Colleen said.

“Don’t care if you do or not, I’m not sayin’ another word other than pack a warm coat and have a good time,” Liz said.

“You’ve met your match,” Raylen told Colleen.

Liz looked over her shoulder at Colleen. “She scared me worse than Maddie did when I first met her.”

“I did not,” Colleen argued.

“Yeah, you did,” Liz said.

Maddie touched Liz on the shoulder. “As soon as they are gone, you can tell me the big secret. I won’t tell her a thing.”

Liz smiled and nodded in agreement.

Raylen waited until they were seated and kissed Liz on the ear and whispered, “I love you.”

***

They barely made it home from dinner Sunday night when the parade of cars began to drive down the lane. The very first carload brought two elderly people who parked and headed for the barn. They were dressed in plaid men’s robes, belted at the waist and hanging to their ankles. Dark blue towels were held down on their heads with stretchy black headbands, but kinky gray curls had escaped around their ears. “We didn’t have time to go home and change. We just came from a Christmas play at the church. Didn’t have enough men to be the shepherds so we stepped in. No one knew if they were lookin’ at men or women by the time we got our towels on our heads and our Goodwill store bathrobes on,” one of them explained.

“Welcome to the Ringgold light show.” Liz followed them into the barn.

“Would you look at that, Agnes? That’s the prettiest tree I’ve ever seen. Folks don’t use real ones much no more. And look at that angel up there. Can’t buy them like that no more. It’s an antique for sure,” the lady with the white turban said.