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Cami glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “I just keep thinking the mom will appear somehow and know that I’ve got her and that she’s safe with me.”

“You really think that will happen?”

She shook her head. “But maybe… maybe we could find her.I.MaybeIcan find her.”

Ella’s curious gaze ping-ponged back and forth between them.

“How?” Gus asked. “You think she’s here somewhere? In town?”

“Why not? Maybe no one knew she was pregnant. Or she hid it somehow. But that baby is at least a week old. Not hours. Someone must have seen her with a baby. Don’t you think?”

“Maybe she went to a doctor?” Ella said.

The two of them turned to her, surprised. “Maybe,” Cami said. “We should be able to narrow it down if she did.”

“And if you should find her, then what?” Gus said. “She clearly doesn’t want to be found. No signature on the note. No clue, really.”

Cami shrugged. “I… I have no idea what would happen if we found her. But nothing will be better if Lolly’s been disappeared into the foster system.”

“Disappeared?” Ella’s eyes widened in alarm.

“No, no,” Cami said, covering Ella’s hand gently with hers. “I didn’t mean it that way. That’s not what would happen. She’ll be totally fine.”

But he knew from personal experience that she was right about kids disappearing into the system. Once in, it was very hard to get out. But the idea that she was even contemplating taking on that system for a stranger’s child… seemed—on its face—like a crazy idea. Yet, there was also some beautiful logic to it. The even crazier thing was… he was beginning to warm to the ideaforher.

Cami wrinkled her nose at Ella. “Anyway, what do you say we go look for that tree? And maybe I can pick up one for our house, too. You can’t ever have enough Christmas trees, right?”

She high-fived his daughter and Ella giggled. “Did you know that in the old days, people in Poland used to hang their Christmas trees upside down and put fruit and nuts on them for decorations?”

“Really?” Cami asked in all seriousness. “How did you know that?”

“I read it. In a book. In the library.”

Cami met Gus’s look.

“She’s been reading since she was four,” Gus said. “I can’t take credit. She sort of taught herself.”

Cami blinked in surprise as Eloise slurped her hot chocolate at the bottom of the cup. “Well. That is—”

“No, Daddy taught me. He read me the same book so many times, I learned the words.”

“Did he?”

“Oh, yes,” Gus said, grinning. “Blueberries for Sal.Many, many…manytimes.”

“I know that book,” Cami said. “It was one of my favorites.”

“Are there any bears at the Christmas tree place where you cut down your tree?” Eloise asked.

“I’ve never seen one,” Cami said. “I think it’s a little too crowded with humans up on the tree farm for the bears’ taste.”

“Darn,” Eloise sighed.

Cami laughed. “If it’s any help, there are plenty of bears in the mountains around here and lots of huckleberries and blueberries to go around. But hopefully—as far as I’m concerned—we won’t run into any of them.”

“That would make the ranchers around here very happy,” Gus said. “C’mon. Let’s go find a tree.”

*