"You're also four inches taller," Noah pointed out.

"Which means," Paige added, "that inch by inch you weigh less than she does. You can tell her that next time she mentions it."

I Noah grinned at Paige's resourcefulness. It was but another of the things that he lovedlike the way she had hugged Sara without recrimination, the way she had put in her two cents when he'd been talking with his father, the way her thoughts had run parallel to his.

Then his smile faded, because he didn't know what would happen if he went to Santa Fe next year and she stayed here.

"Anyway," Sara went on, "I won't be seeing her for a while. Not until spring break in March."

"Aren't you going there for Christmas?" Paige asked with a questioning look at Noah.

He shook his head. "She goes for Thanksgiving and spring break.

Summer has yet to be decided."

So what are you doing over Christmas?" Nonny asked. The gleam in her eye told Noah she had "You tell me," he invited.

"You'll stay here, of course. We'll have a big tree right in that corner. We'll decorate the house and hang stockings on the mantel, and sing carols in Tucker center with the rest of the townsfolk."

"Me too?" Sara asked.

"Why, yes, you too," Nonny answered.

Noah would have hugged her for the wholehearted way she included Sara in her doings, except that the picture she painted was a bit premature.

"Actually," he said, "I was thinking of taking Sara to New York over Christmas to see Rockefeller Center and" "New York stinks," Sara cried.

ill agree," Nonny said.

Paige looked at her. "No one asked your opinion Nonny."

"Well, I gave it anyway. And I'll continue to give it," she said as she rose from her chair, "because I happen to be the senior member of this group" 4nP she went to Sara's sideUwhich means I've lived the longest and had the most experiencecome, Sara and my experience tells me that we'll all have a far nicer time staying here." She led Sara, who carried Sami, toward the kitchen. "We'll be deciding what to make for supper." ill'll bring something in n Noah called after them "Mexican!" Nonny called back.

ill can't eat Mexican!"

"Then we'll cook!"

Noah watched the three of them disappear. He thought of the time Sara spent with his parents. She was comfortable with them. But with Nonny she was different. Nonny was an unexpected gift, part adult part elf.

Sara couldn't resist her.

Or Sami, for that matter. For someone who didn't have previous experiencedespite what she had once told Paigewith children, Sara did just fine with Sami. She held her like a pro, played with her like a pro. But then, with little children one didn't need experience, just love.

Noah hadn't thought Sara had so much. She had always been quiet and self-contained, even sullen, yet in this house she smiled, she talked, she participated.

He reached for Paige's hand. "What are you thinking" "Same thing you are," she said with a sigh.

"You'd think Sami was her sister."

She could be."

"Yes. Well."

"It's worth considering."

"Fine for you to say. You're not the one who's being asked to give up everything you've spent the whole of your adult life building."

She straightened her fingers, but Noah didn't let go.

"Come on, Paige. People have relocated before." He suddenly read more on her face.

"But it's not just the relocation, is it? It's the commitment. It terrifies you."

She took a breath and let it out in a high-pitched, "Uh-huh."

Which was another thing he loved about her.

She was honest. He didn't necessarily agree with everything she saidcertainly in this case he didn't agreebut she said what she felt.

He tried to reason with her. "It doesn't make sense. Your life has commitment written all over it."

"In some spheres, yes."

"Why not in all?"

"Beeause all's too much to ask."

"So you quit while you're ahead," he suggested with some bitterness.

He was hurt that she wasn't willing to take a chance on him, on them.

"That's not it."

"Sure sounds it to me."

"No. I'm just recognizing my limits. I'm trying to avoid failure."

"And in the process you're missing out on the best life has to offer.

Being with someone you love is the best kind of commitment imaginable.

Lonely people all over the world would give anything for it. Think of your friend Mara." ill do. All the time."

"Do you think she'd be backing away, like you are?"

"Not fair, Noah."

"True," he said, leaning closer, "but desperate circumstances require desperate measures. You're backing away. Taking the coward's way out.