“You can’t be serious,” Beverly said.

“I am totally serious.”

“Then why do you sound down?”

“Well, there’s only one thing wrong with it. It’s much too far from one of my best friends.” She felt her throat thicken even as her vision blurred with tears. “We don’t agree that often, Mom, but at the end of the day, you’re always on my side.”

“Oh, Becca,” Beverly said. “Best friends are never very far apart. The job sounds great, but what I really want to know is, have you made the right decision about Denny?”

“Oh, yes. He is the man I missed so much, the man I fell in love with such a long time ago, before I was ready for it. Before he was ready for it. I wish you could see him here, with the people of this town. He takes such good care of his friends. He looks after people he doesn’t even know. And, Mom, he takes such good care of me. Even though this place is the best thing that’s ever happened to him, he never hesitated for a second in saying he’d move back to San Diego to be with me. Anything that would make me happy, he would do it. I love him so much. Mom, it’s right. It’s completely right with Denny. I’m going to marry him.”

“Please, please don’t rush,” Beverly pleaded. “At least give yourself time to think, to be sure. Besides, I want to be the mother of the bride!”

She laughed through her tears. “Of course, Mom. Do I have your blessing?”

“Becca, a very long time ago I had to leave my parents to start a new life with your dad. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. Sometimes I was so lonely. But nothing helped me grow up faster than taking that new direction and building my own family. I’ve watched you the past few years. Much as I wanted you to, you never let go of Denny. He was always the love of your life. I’m only going to ask you one more time—are you sure? Of him?”

“I’m sure,” she said. “I’ve never been more sure. Mom? Will you be very disappointed if I don’t live in San Diego?”

“I might become an expert on flight schedules,” she said with a laugh.

“This is the first year I wasn’t there to help get out all the decorations and ornaments,” Becca said. “Like the really old ones from your grandmother. When I was little, it was a very big deal to peel back the tissue paper and discover some of those precious holiday things…the crystal balls, the crewel tree skirt, the nativity scene that Great-Grandpa carved.”

“I’m sure we’ll have many holidays together in the future,” Beverly said. “I’ll miss you the rest of the time, but what I want for you is much bigger than our friendship and our holidays together. It’s time for you to build your own family. I can’t be so selfish that I’d put restrictions on how you do that.”

Becca cried. “You are the best mother. If I can be half as good a mother as you…”

“I have no doubt you’ll show me up! Now, when are you coming home?”

She sniffed back her tears. “I’m going to stay long enough to see the pageant I helped with and to tell the kids and my friends that I’m coming back. Will you be terribly hurt if I don’t get home until late on Christmas day?”

“I’ll hold dinner,” she said. “Just don’t rush. Drive carefully and safely.”

“We’ll leave extra, extra early. The weather will be good. We’ll make good time. I’ll stay home a week—long enough to pack, close up the apartment and spend some time with you and Dad. And Jack, the guy who owns the bar, he’s going to fix us up with a little two-bedroom house in town rather than that one room over the garage. Denny’s been saving for a house. In a couple of years…”

“Are you going to be all right if you’re not here for Christmas Eve?” Beverly asked.

“The little girl I told you about? The one who’s playing Mary in the pageant? She reminds me of me. Oh, her life is much more difficult than mine ever was, but if anyone could use a champion, it’s that kid. I’m going to watch her do her part, tell her that I’m going to be around to make sure she gets smiley faces on her good papers, and then we’ll get a little sleep so we can start the drive home real early.”

“I can’t wait to see you, sweetheart,” she said.

“Me, too. Thank you, Mom. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for trusting me to know what I want.”

“Becca, my sweet girl, this is far easier than watching you bungee jump or poised at the top of a thirty-foot wave. And tell our sweet Denny that if he ever hurts you like that again, he’ll answer to me!”

She laughed through her tears. “I’ll tell him. But I bet he already knows.”

It was during dinner at the bar with the Sheridans and the Middletons that Becca made her announcement. She hadn’t even told Denny in private first. She said, “Jack and I came up with an arrangement that works for me and for Virgin River. He’s going to put up a schoolhouse and I’m going to be the teacher. We have lots of details to work out, but that’s the gist. I called home and told my mom. I told her I’d just be coming home for Christmas dinner—and to pack up my apartment.”

Denny was frozen. He had a spoonful of stew halfway to his mouth and he dropped it.

She hooked her gaze into his and said, “I hope you can get your job back with Jilly Farms, because I made a commitment.”

“You told your mother this?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. She lifted her chin and a tear slid down her cheek. “She said you better be very nice to me.”

He smiled and, cradling her jaw in his hand, he kissed the corner of her mouth. Then the other corner. And then he said, “Okay.”

There was a dress rehearsal for the pageant at noon on Christmas Eve and when the kids saw Becca crutch her way into the church, they all squealed and broke ranks to run to her. When she told them she was going home to San Diego to pack up her things and come back as their full-time teacher, cheers and tears surrounded her. Megan Thickson clung to her and wouldn’t let go.

“This is the best Christmas ever,” she said.

The pageant began at 7:00 p.m. sharp. The church was completely full. The entire Sheridan clan from out of town attended. Jillian and her sister and the Riordan clan were there. Everyone Becca had ever met and many she hadn’t—a real community affair.

Becca’s role was behind the scenes, telling Mary and Joseph when to walk down the aisle toward the manger at the apex of the church. Then she pushed off the wise men one at a time and finally the shepherds. Ellie Kincaid directed the angels from the door that led to the church office and their voices were never more angelic. Christopher read the story of the birth of Christ and finally the congregation joined the angels in singing a couple of carols.

Then the lights in the church came up and many congratulations were exchanged before the entire gathering moved to the church basement, where cookies, coffee and punch were waiting. Becca received what seemed like a hundred hugs and offers of help in setting up a school. There were dozens of congratulations to the announcement that Denny and Becca would marry, hopefully in summer.

Then Preacher cut his way through the crowd. He was wearing his jacket and carrying a box. “This came to the bar right before the pageant started,” he said. “It was expressed—and it’s addressed to you, Becca.”

“What in the world,” she said, taking the box. “It’s from my mother!”

She put the box on a nearby table and opened it. She peeled back the tissue paper to reveal the beautiful crewel tree skirt her great-grandmother had made, that had been passed down to her mother along with so many other precious decorations. There was a note on top in her mother’s hand.

Time to start your own traditions.

Love, Mom