“The timing is good…” Christina said, thinking aloud. “He must feel triumphant after winning the bet today. On the other hand, he’s not the kind of guy to get softened up by a few carols.”

“Well, Christina,” Harriet snapped, “why don’t you give us a better idea? I mean, your plan with Oscar in the store didn’t seem to change his mind. We’re a little desperate here. Can you think of anything better?”

“No,” Christina admitted. “I’m just afraid this, um, wonderful idea of yours won’t work.”

“We won’t know until we’ve tried!” Mimi chirped.

“You’re right, of course, Mimi.” Christina had to smile at her friends’ optimism. “I’m in. Let’s do it.”

“Hooray!” Mimi said.

“Actually,” Jacob admitted, blushing as he spoke, “I have a decent baritone. I sang with my college glee club.”

“I can sing,” Christina said, “but not always on key.”

The others laughed.

“Enthusiasm will be more important than technical accuracy,” Mimi said.

“This is slightly…frightening,” Christina admitted.

“I know,” Jacob agreed. “Isn’t that cool?”

Christina almost retorted that she’d had her share of scares this Christmas, thank you very much, but she was thrilled that Jacob was excited about trying something new.

“Very cool,” Christina agreed. “Now. How many carols shall we sing, and what are they? And when shall we do this?”

“We should do this as soon as possible,” Harriet said.

“We’ve discussed what carols we should sing,” Mimi told her. “We’ve even tested a few.”

“We don’t want to be childish and silly, so ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ is out,” Jacob added.

“We’re thinking something knock-out beautiful,” Mimi said. “Something so stirring Oscar’s cold heart will melt.”

“That might be too much to hope for,” Christina cautioned them.

“We’re thinking we’ll start with ‘In the Bleak Midwinter,’ ” Harriet said. “It’s from a poem by Christina Rossetti, with beautiful music by Harold Darke.”

“Oh, Harriet,” Christina protested gently, “we don’t want to try that. We’d absolutely ruin it. Let’s think of something less ambitious. ‘Silent Night,’ maybe?”

Harriet pulled herself up straight, insulted. “I used to sing in college.”

Mimi said quietly, “Christina, just listen.”

Christina tried not to roll her eyes. “Sure.”

Oh, brother, her Inner Christina said. Plug your ears.

Harriet folded her hands in her lap and began to sing.

“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow on snow

In the bleak midwinter, long ago…”

Christina’s jaw dropped. Harriet’s voice was sweet and pure and full, a perfect angelic soprano. She was precisely on tune, each word winging from her mouth flawlessly. Christina’s entire body broke out in goosebumps at the beauty of the sound.