Tia had helped pick up the wrapping paper after they’d opened gifts. But the floor still wasn’t clear. There were unwrapped presents stacked everywhere, including what she’d received—the beautiful mirrored trees from Seth, a gold bracelet from Aiyana, a scented candle and matching lotion from Eli and his wife, a pressure cooker from Gavin and his wife and a box of See’s Candies from the younger boys. “It’s magical,” she said. She understood what her family meant when they said that Christmas had become too commercial in the outside world. She supposed a case could be made for that. But she loved the holiday, anyway, and preferred to focus on the beauty of spending time with family, making and enjoying a good meal and celebrating peace on earth and goodwill to all. “It’s not too much for you?”

“Not at all.” She almost admitted that it was very different from the Christmases she’d experienced as a child, but she hesitated to take the conversation in that direction. Aiyana had asked about her family while they were getting ready to open presents, and she’d answered honestly. She’d said they lived on a small farm in Iowa and that she had two siblings. The only thing she’d left out was the Mennonite aspect. She figured she might tell Aiyana one day that she’d been born Sarah Isaac, if Aiyana was still part of her life. But she had no idea what the future would hold. Although she couldn’t imagine her time with Seth coming to an end, she could tell he was still holding back—and she knew why.

Maybe he’d never get over Shiloh. Maybe she wasn’t everything Shiloh was or she wasn’t enough to satisfy him in any kind of permanent way.

She was about to excuse herself so she could step out of the room and go somewhere quieter to call her family to wish them a Merry Christmas, when she got a text from Nina at People.

Did you get it?

Get what? she wrote back.

Sent you the mock-up for the cover. Check your email. It’s beautiful. Merry Christmas!

It was touching to Tia that Nina would take the time to message her on Christmas Day. She couldn’t help feeling gratitude for how Nina had handled everything—although she was hesitant to feel too much gratitude when she didn’t yet know how the cover had turned out.

“Is that your family?” Aiyana asked when she noticed Tia using her phone.

“I need to call them,” she said instead of answering directly. “Is it okay if I go into another room so it’ll be easier to hear?”

“Of course,” she said and took Tia down the hall to a room at the back of the house she said was Cal’s and her office.