Page 44 of Sweet Surrender

“Come on, Miss Hawthorne,” Cal called out suddenly. “You can use the ladder.”

“It’s only a small ladder,” Nick said, in a disappointed way. “But this isn’t a very big tree.”

Becca laughed and jogged over to join them, figuring she could try to piece together the look their father had been giving her later.

“Dad is already very tall,” Cal said. “So if you stand on a ladder on this side, he can go on the other side, and you can pass the lights back and forth. Okay?”

“Okay,” she told them.

“I’ll hold the ladder while you climb up,” Nick told her. “That’s called spotting.”

“Thank you, Nick,” she told him.

Zane had jogged down from the porch now too, and he let Cal lead him to the other side of the tree.

Taking a deep breath, Becca climbed up the ladder. She only had to go up a few rungs, and it was a sturdy A-frame ladder set up on the snowy ground. But she had never exactly been much of a ladder climber, so she was a little shaky at first.

“Yes,” Nick yelled out when she was up high enough to reach the string of lights Zane was handing her.

Smiling, she took it and did her best to guide it nicely through the branches, tucking it over one and under another before handing it back to Zane.

They continued their work cheerfully. The boys scampering around and yelling out encouragement as they slowly worked their way around the little tree. Before long, she had to go up another rung, and then another, but once she knew the ladder wasn’t going anywhere, she wasn’t so scared.

“Boys, your grandpa and I are making some hot cocoa,” Maggie called from the front door a little while later.

“I want to help,” Nick yelled.

“Me too,” Cal added. “Especially with the marshmallows.”

“We’ll be fine, boys,” Zane said, chuckling. “Go on in. We’re almost done here.”

The twins scrambled into the house after their grandmother, leaving Becca outside alone with Zane and the chickadees chirping around the bird feeder by the big front window as the setting sun painted the edges of the waiting snow clouds a brilliant pink.

“Is this okay with you?” Zane asked. “I’m sure you have plenty to do.”

“This is amazing,” she told him. “It’s exactly what I wanted to do tonight. I was telling the boys the truth.”

“That’s really nice,” he said, bringing the strand of lights back to her.

She had to climb up one more rung to thread them through the branches.

“I think that might be it for this side,” she told him.

“Yeah,” he said from the other side. “This was just right. Want to stay up there while I plug it in—just to make sure we don’t have to change out any bulbs?”

“Sure,” she said, feeling excited to see the tree light up as Zane jogged over to the house and bent down.

Suddenly, the little tree was illuminated—tiny red, green, gold, and blue lights elevating it from a simple yard tree to a beautiful Christmas display in front of her eyes.

“Oh,” she sighed happily. “It’s beautiful.”

“Looks like the bulbs are in good shape too,” Zane said.

“Thank you,” she said, suddenly feeling a little emotional, and wishing she could find the words to tell him how much this meant. “Thank you for letting me help, and thank you for letting me teach your sweet boys.”

“Hang on,” he said gruffly. “I’ll spot you.”

He grabbed the ladder and held tight enough that she felt safe easing her way down the rungs until she reached the ground.

---