Thom agreed, but he already knew it had been a futile trip. He tried to hide his disappointment. Against all the odds, he’d held high hopes for this. Like Noelle, he’d been waiting for a Christmas miracle but apparently it wasn’t going to happen.

Bending low, Peter thrust his arm inside the canvas bag and extracted two more objects. He carefully unwrapped the silver teapot and then the coffeepot and offered them a moment to scrutinize his wares.

The elaborate tray was last. Carefully arranging each piece on top of it, Peter stepped back to give them a full view of the service. “It’s a magnificent find, don’t you think?”

“It’s lovely,” Noelle said.

“But it’s not the one we’re looking for.”

He accepted their news with good grace. “That’s a shame.”

“You see, this service—” she held out the picture “—was stolen years ago, and Thom and I are hoping to replace it with one that’s exactly the same. Or as much like it as possible.”

Peter reached for the photograph and studied it a moment. “I guess I should’ve looked closer and saved you folks the drive.”

“No problem,” Thom said. “Thanks for getting back to us.”

“Yes, thank you for your trouble,” Noelle said as they left the store. “It’s a beautiful service.”

“I’ll give you a good price on it if you change your mind,” the old man said, following them to the front door. “I’ll be here another hour or so if you want to come back.”

“Thank you,” Thom said, but he didn’t think there was much chance they’d be back. It wasn’t the tea service they needed.

“How about lunch before we head home,” he suggested. The Thai restaurant appeared to be open.

“Sure,” Noelle agreed.

Thom shared her discouragement, but he was determined to maintain her optimism—and his own. “Hey, we’ve only started to look. It’s too early to give up.”

“I know. You’re right, it was foolish of me to think we’d find it so quickly. It’s just that…oh, I don’t know, I guess I thought it would be easy because everything else fell into place for us.”

They were the only customers in the restaurant. A charming waitress greeted them and escorted them to a table near the window.

Thom waited until they were seated before he spoke. “I guess this means we go to Plan B.”

“What about Pad Thai and—” Noelle glanced up at him over the menu. “What exactly is Plan B?”

Thom reached inside his coat pocket and set the jeweler’s box in the middle of the table.

“Thom?” Noelle put her menu down.