And that’s when Kate realized Michael’s plan.

“Wow.” To her surprise, Kate realized she wasn’t the one who said that. Clark did. Whipping her head back to see him a few paces behind her, she spotted him, illuminated by the light of the town, the image below reflected in his emerald eyes. “What is happening down there?”

In his official letter of dissolution of The Christmas Company, Clark demanded the immediate removal of all decorations from the town square. They were to be put in storage immediately. And to their credit, the grounds crew team of the festival, both paid and volunteer workers, all stayed through the night to get the job done. The only thing not packed away for storage was the Christmas tree itself, which stood unlit in the center of town. Not a single decoration accented the square. The only lights that should have been coming from town were the actual lights of the houses down below. People should have been tucked away in their living rooms or in their beds, ready to celebrate tomorrow’s holiday.

Only, they weren’t all tucked in their beds. They weren’t silently waiting for the morning to come and the now private festivities to commence. The town square of Miller’s Point was alive, as active and full as any evening of the actual festival. Without the decorations or trappings of the season, they made their own color and illumination. Tacky Christmas sweaters and red and green tights were lit by hundreds of white candles, held by singing people. Even here, high upon a hill just on the edge of their village, their voices rose up to Clark and Kate’s ears.

Kate realized her misplaced cynicism in Michael. He hadn’t organized this for their benefit. He’d been invited and wanted them to share in it. It wasn’t a trick to get Clark on their side; it was a sincere expression of a town’s faith.

O Holy Night

The stars are brightly shining.

It is the night of our dear savior’s birth…

Their voices didn’t ring out in perfect harmony. The song was at times too fast and at times too pitchy to be easily recognized as O Holy Night, but Kate’s soul still moved with the music.

The lesson Clark was, no doubt, brought here to learn hit her just as hard. She’d been so certain Miller’s Point needed the festival to stay together, never once considering that it wasn’t the festival keeping them together at all. It was their love for one another. Nothing could break that, not even a businessman with a heart of steel.

“Do you…” His voice shook. A grumbling sound came from his throat as he attempted to no avail to clear it. “Do they do this every year?”