But his younger daughter, Jaime, was going to break some hearts as well.

But even with all his guests, Jason was the first one to notice the present that had appeared in the parlor while the family was breakfasting. It was hard to miss, actually, placed prominently up on a pedestal table next to the fireplace. Wrapped in gold cloth, banded with a red velvet ribbon and bow, it was oddly shaped, nearly like the size of a thick book, yet a round protrusion on top suggested it was nothing that simple.

Poking a finger at it showed that the protrusion could move, yet not very much, as he found out when he tilted the present sideways and it didn’t change position. Strange, yet stranger still was that there was no indication of whom the present was from, nor whom it was for.

“A bit early to be passing out Christmas gifts, ain’t it?” Anthony remarked as he sauntered into the room to find Jason holding the present. “The Christmas tree ain’t even been brought in yet.”

“That was my thought as well, since I didn’t put it here,” Jason replied.

“No? Then who?”

“I’ve no idea,” Jason admitted.

“Who’s it for, then?” Anthony asked.

“I’d like to know that myself.”

Anthony raised a brow at that point. “No card?”

Jason shook his head. “None. I just found it here on this pedestal myself,” he said, and put it back.

Anthony picked up the present as well to poke at it a bit. “Hmmm, someone sure dressed it up fancy. I’ll wager it will fascinate the children—at least until we find out what it is.”

As it happened, it fascinated the adults as well. In the following days, since none of the family owned up to having put it there, the present created a sensation. Just about all of the adults poked, shook, or otherwise examined it, yet no one could figure out what it might be, or whom it was for.

Those having arrived so far were gathered in the parlor the night when Amy walked in holding one of her twins. “Don’t ask why we’re late, you wouldn’t believe it,” she said, then in the next breath, “First the wheel on the coach fell off. Then not a mile down the road, one of the horses lost not one, but two of his shoes. After we finally get that all taken care of and we’re almost here, the bloody axle broke. I thought surely Warren was going to kill that poor coach by then. He certainly kicked it enough. If I didn’t think to wager with him that we would arrive here today, I really don’t think we would have. But you know I never lose a wager, so . . . By the by, Uncle Jason, what’s an unmarked grave doing in that lovely clearing east of here? The one close to the road that runs through your property? We ended up walking through it to get here, since it was the shorter route by that point, to just head across that clearing.”