There was a sturdy chair placed next to the tree, to use to reach the upper branches. Vincent simply couldn’t picture himself standing on it, yet he found himself walking forward. She was the draw, not the silly tree, which had no business being inside a house.

He took the ornament from her, glanced at the top of the tree, which was a good three feet above his head. He stood on the chair. She stood behind it, holding the back to keep it steady for him. He looked down at her, caught his breath yet again. She looked so delighted. It was too easy to make her happy. She took joy in such little things.

He placed the angel on the top of the tree. Not correctly, apparently, since she began to direct him to try again, and again. Hale started making jokes about angels becoming fallen in his hands, which fortunately, Larissa saw no double meaning in, but Vincent certainly did.

Finally she clapped and said, “Perfect!”

Thomas, standing across the room to view it from a different angle, said, “It’s crooked.”

“Bah, don’t listen to him, Vince, he’s being ornery.”

Hale chimed in, “Crooked.”

“See? Majority rules.” Thomas chuckled.

“You don’t have a majority yet without my vote,” Vincent heard himself saying.

“Well, then, what’s the verdict?”

Vincent stepped off the chair, moved about the room looking at the tree from different directions, keeping them waiting while he seemed to give it serious thought. Finally he stopped next to Thomas and said, “Crooked. You fix it. I obviously don’t have a knack for it,” and he lifted Thomas up to straighten the ornament, which he did.

Across the room, Larissa pealed with laughter. “Now it’s crooked.”

It was infectious this time, her laughter. Vincent heard himself joining in with the others and was amazed at how good it felt. He sat back after that and watched them finish, making a comment here or there, pointing out a few barren spots on the tree that could use some help.

He still couldn’t quite believe that he had joined their festive group and actually felt a part of it. But then that was Larissa’s doing. It wasn’t that she had a knack for taking command, was more that people simply wanted to please her by doing whatever she requested of them.

Vincent couldn’t not invite Hale to dinner after all his help, much as he would have preferred it otherwise. While the child had been present in the parlor, Hale had been the perfect gentleman, merely part of the group. But now with the boy sent back to his bed, Hale turned every bit of charm he could muster in Larissa’s direction.