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She held his gaze “I never needed a diamond”
“I wanted to give you one”
“It’s perfect”
Holding hands, they went out to the truck and drove down to the farmhouse
Vivi Ann stood back, looking at the house White Christ the porch’s handrails Through the front , the decorated tree cast prislass
Inside, the party had already begun The Glen Campbell Christaround, playing hide-and-seek with their dad, while Aurora and Winona worked in the kitchen Dad was by the fireplace, drinking bourbon already, and looking at a photograph of Mom
Aurora greeted theh-heeled ankle boots, and red velvet tunic, she looked like an elf come to life; her jewelry ran on soht “There’s eous nephew” She reached out for Noah and carried him over to the tree
“The usual carnival,” Dallas said, looking around at all the Christmas knickknacks
Richard chose that h on his waist and drawn tight by a brown belt, with his blue plaid shirt tucked in, and his stockinged feet, he ed to look as he always did, both ready to stay and ready to leave at the sa “I heard you’ve been working miracles with the Jurikas’ new colt”
“He’s a hell of an animal,” Dallas said “Just last week”
Vivi Ann squeezed her husband’s hand and wandered into the kitchen Winona was at the counter, rolling squares of dough into crescent rolls She looked up at Vivi Ann’s entrance and paused “Hey”
For a second, Vivi Ann felt tih the reathing her sister’s full, beautiful face, Vivi Ann remembered another time in this kitchen
I’ about as sotten as a child could That hat she recalledinvisible But Winona had seen her, had bent down beside her and touched her head and said, We’ll put it on the fridge
Vivi Ann had assumed back then that they would always be connected, she and Win, that nothing could rend two sisters apart
That was before she’d known about passion, of course And though Winona wouldn’t admit it, Vivi Ann knew that their reconciliation was imperfect Winona still didn’t trust Dallas, and she hadn’t entirely forgiven Vivi Ann for hurting Luke In Winona’s world, everything was black and white Justice ht Vivi Ann had been rewarded for doing the wrong thing