“This was how we both felt when we learned Lindsay had decided to return to Atlanta, remember?” Leta prodded.

As though Hassie would ever forget. At the last minute Leta’s son, Gage, had realized he’d be making the worst mistake of his life if he let Lindsay leave without telling her how much he loved her. As a result, Lindsay had not only stayed on as a high-school teacher, she’d married Gage. Leta was a grandmother twice over, thanks to the young couple.

“Value-X is too powerful for me.” A bit of research had revealed that the retailer was accustomed to exactly this kind of local resistance. They had their battle plans worked out to the smallest detail. Hassie remembered from the television exposé that the company had a legal team, as well as public-relations people, all of them experts at squelching opposition. Hassie knew the town council couldn’t afford any high-priced attorneys to plead their case. Even if they banded together, they were no match for the company’s corporate attorneys. They were cutthroat, they’d seen it all, done it all. According to the documentary, they’d won in the majority of their cases. Like it or not, Value-X simply overran a community.

“We can’t give up,” Leta insisted. She glared at Hassie, as though waiting for some of the old fight to surface.

It wouldn’t, though. Not anymore. Slowly Hassie lowered her gaze, refusing to meet her friend’s eyes. “It’s a lost cause,” she murmured.

“This doesn’t sound like you, Hassie.”

“No,” she agreed, glancing at her tired reflection in the mirror above the soda fountain, “but it won’t matter that much if I lose the pharmacy.”

Leta’s jaw sagged open. “Wh-what—”

“I should’ve retired years ago. The only reason I held on as long as I did is the community needs a pharmacy and—”

“What about Carrie?”

Hassie had been so pleased and grateful when Carrie had come to work as an intern. This was what she’d always wanted for the pharmacy. Years ago she’d expected her son to take over, but Vietnam had robbed her of that dream. The hopelessness of the situation settled squarely over her heart.

“I’m sure Value-X will require a pharmacist. Carrie can apply there.”

Silent, Leta stared into the distance.

“I’m tired,” Hassie said. “Valerie’s been after me to retire, move to Hawaii…. Maybe I should.”

“You in Hawaii? Never!” Leta shook her head fiercely. “I’ve always followed your lead—we all have. I don’t know what would’ve become of us if not for you.”

“Fiddlesticks.” Hassie forced a laugh. “Value-X is coming to town, and that’s all there is to it. We might as well accept the inevitable. Not long from now, both of us will be shopping there and wondering how we ever lived without such a store in town.”

“You’re probably right,” Leta returned, but her words rang false.

“Let’s just enjoy Christmas,” Hassie suggested, gesturing at the garlands strung from the old-fashioned ceiling lights. “What are your plans?”

“Kevin won’t be home, but he’ll call from Paris on Christmas Eve. Gage and Lindsay invited me to spend Christmas Day with them.” Hassie knew that Leta would take delight in spoiling four-year-old Joy and two-year-old Madeline.

“Bob and Merrily invited me over in the morning to open gifts with them and Bobby,” Hassie told her friend. They thought of her as Bobby’s unofficial grandmother. Early in their marriage, Bob and Merrily had lost a son—although not to death. They’d fostered a child from an abusive environment and had wanted to adopt him, but in the end, the California authorities had seen fit to place the boy with another family. It’d been a difficult time for the couple. Having lost a son herself, Hassie had understood their grief as only someone who’d walked that path could understand it. She’d tried to bring them comfort and the example of her endurance. Bob and Merrily never forgot her kindness, little as it was. Over the past few years, they’d become as close to her as family.

“You finally met Vaughn Kyle,” Leta said. “That’s definitely a highlight of this Christmas season.”

“Yes,” Hassie agreed, somewhat cheered. It’d been an unanticipated pleasure, one she’d always remember. In the hours they’d spent with each other, she’d forged a bond with the young man. Meeting Vaughn had left Hassie feeling closer to her own son, although he’d been dead for thirty-three years. Hard to believe so much time had passed since his death….

“That was him with Carrie at the tree-lighting ceremony, wasn’t it?”

Hassie felt a small, sudden joy, sending a ray of light into the gloom she’d experienced earlier. “She’s spending the afternoon with him in Grand Forks.”

“It’s time she put the divorce behind her.”

Hassie felt the same way but didn’t comment.

“Do you think something might come of it?” Leta asked, her voice slightly raised.

Hassie couldn’t answer. Her hours with Vaughn had been taken up with the past, and she hadn’t discovered much at all about his future plans. She knew he’d been honorably discharged from the military and had accepted a position with a Seattle-based company, although he’d never said which one. Probably a big software firm, she decided. From what she understood, he’d be starting work after the first of the year. She felt it was a good sign that he’d come to spend two weeks with his parents.

“He’s been to town twice already,” Leta offered. “That’s encouraging, don’t you think?”

“I suppose.”

A small smile quivered at the edges of Leta’s mouth. “I remember when Gage first got interested in Lindsay. That boy drummed up a hundred excuses to drive into town.”

“Remember Jeb and Maddy?” Hassie murmured, her eyes flashing with the memory. These were the thoughts she preferred to cling to. Stories with happy resolutions. Good things happening to good people.

Leta’s responding grin brightened her face. “I’m not likely to forget. We hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him in months.”

“Years,” Hassie corrected. Following the farming accident that cost Jeb McKenna his leg, the farmer-turned-buffalo-rancher became a recluse. Hassie recalled the days Joshua had to practically drag his son into town for Christmas dinner. Then Maddy Washburn bought the grocery and started her delivery service. After those two were trapped together in a blizzard, why, there was no counting the number of times Jeb showed up in Buffalo Valley.

“Do you remember the day Margaret Eilers stormed into town and yanked Matt out of Buffalo Bob’s?” Leta asked, laughing outright.

“Sure do. She nearly beat him to a pulp.” Tears of laughter filled Hassie’s eyes. “Can’t say I blame her. Those two certainly had their troubles.”

Margaret had set her sights on Matt Eilers and wanted him in the worst way, faults and all. That was what she got, too. Not three months after they were married, Margaret found out that Matt had gotten a cocktail waitress pregnant. Granted, it had happened before the marriage, but Margaret had still felt angry and betrayed.

“Look at them now,” Leta said, sobering. “I don’t know any couple more in love.” She drank a sip of her tea. “If Margaret and Matt can overcome their problems, why can’t Buffalo Valley sort out this thing with Value-X?”

For the first time all week, Hassie felt hopeful. “Maybe you’re right, Leta. Maybe you’re right.”

Carrie sat down at the kitchen table and reached for the cream, adding it to her coffee. Even though she was twenty-seven years old, she found it comforting to watch her mother stir up a batch of gingerbread cookies. The house was redolent with the scent of cinnamon and other spices.

Her morning had been busy. After a lengthy conversation with Lindsay Sinclair, who’d been in contact with the Value-X corporate offices, Carrie had spent an hour on the Internet learning out what she could about the big retailer.

“Did you have a good time yesterday afternoon?” Diane Hendrickson asked. She set the mixing bowl in the refrigerator, then joined Carrie at the table.

“I had a wonderful time.” She was surprised to realize how much she meant that. Lowering her eyes momentarily, she looked back up. “I told Vaughn about Alec.”

Her mother held her gaze. Carrie didn’t often speak of her failed marriage, especially not to new acquaintances.

“It came up naturally, and for the first time I didn’t feel that terrible sense of…of defeat. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same person again, but after talking to Vaughn, I knew I don’t want to be.”

Her mother smiled softly. “There was nothing wrong with you, Carrie.”

“That’s true, Mom, but I was at fault, too. I suspected Alec was involved with someone else. I simply preferred not to face it. The evidence was right in front of my eyes months before he told me. I don’t ever again want to be the kind of woman who ignores the truth.”

“You’ve never—”

“Oh, Mom,” she said, loving her mother all the more for her unwavering loyalty. “It’s time to move forward.”

“With Vaughn Kyle?”

Carrie had thought of little else in the past three days. “Too soon to tell.”

“But you like him?” her mother pressed.

She nodded. “I do.” It felt good to admit it. Good to think that her life wouldn’t be forever weighed down by a mistake she’d made when she was too young to understand that her marriage was doomed. Her husband’s betrayal had blindsided her. Outwardly she’d picked up the pieces of her shattered pride and continued her life, but in her heart, Carrie had never completely recovered. Alec had shattered her self-esteem. Somehow she’d convinced herself that there must’ve been something lacking in her; it’d taken her a long time to realize the lack had been his.

Carrie drank the rest of her coffee and placed the cup in the sink. “We spoke about Value-X, too, Vaughn and I. At first he didn’t seem to see how a company like that would hurt Buffalo Valley. In fact, he felt it might even have a positive effect. If so, I don’t see one. But he let me vent my frustrations and helped me clarify my thinking.”

“Will you be seeing him again?” her mother asked innocently enough.

“Most likely. He’s bringing his mother into town this morning. He’s buying her one of Sarah’s quilts for Christmas and thought she’d like to choose it herself.”

“What a thoughtful gift.”

Carrie didn’t mention that she’d been the one to suggest it. “They’re meeting Hassie later.” They hadn’t made any definite plans, but Carrie hoped to meet Vaughn’s mother. She was almost sure he’d stop by, either here or at the store; in fact, she was counting on it.

The doorbell chimed right then, and fingers crossed, Carrie decided it had to be Vaughn. Her mother went to answer the door.