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disapproval and smiled up at his daughter as she brought a present over to him. “Thanks, Em.”
    “Hey, Emmy the Elf, don’t I get anything?” Max, ensconced on the couch, gave her the pouty face.
    “I’m not an elf.” She sat primly down next to the present she’d chosen for herself. It wasn’t paper that Russ recognized.
    “Who’s that from, Emily?”
    She checked the label. “Uncle Max.”
    “Who doesn’t get a present.” Max’s lower lip was out.
    “Maxwell, stop being a pest and take some pictures.” Randall shook his head and pulled out the windbreaker with the Navy logo on it. “Oh, Russell, thanks!”
    “Sure. That’s technically from David and me, but he doesn’t know I bought you Navy gear, so he can’t complain about it.”
    “Hah.” Randall stood up to try it on. “Great fit. It’ll be nice for those morning walks. Thanks.”
    “Sure.”
    “Uncle Max!” Emily squealed, hopping up to her feet in a crunch of scattering wrapping paper. “This is perfect!”
    Max, his fancy camera trying to capture Doris opening her gift, grunted when his niece collided with his midsection.
    Emily was hugging him, jumping, and thanking him simultaneously. Max looked a little bewildered.
    “Uh, you’re welcome?”
    “Look what he got me, Dad, look!” Emily, her face alight, shoved the thick book toward Russ.
    “A book on code breaking? The way you reacted, I wondered if One Direction was in there.”
    “Ruuuusss.” She hit him on the shoulder and snatched the book back. “This is awesome, Uncle Max!” Ignoring the remaining presents, she plopped down and started flipping through the pages of the book.
    “How’d you come up with that?” Russ looked up at his brother.
    “You said she liked puzzles. Code breaking is all about puzzles. I thought she’d enjoy it.”
    “Well, I’d say you just earned favorite uncle status.”
    “Gotta be on her good side when she takes over the world, you know.”
    Russ nodded agreement. “Seriously.”
    Doris opened her package finally, to reveal a CD of her favorite Christian artist. Russ fervently hoped they wouldn’t be treated to a performance of it later.
    Emily would not be coaxed from her book, so Max crawled under the tree to fetch presents for himself and Russ.
    Max’s gift contained the oldest, crummiest camera case Russ had been able to find and a gift certificate for an upscale bag seller for him to get a new camera bag. Max thanked him by bouncing a ball of gift wrap off his head.
    “What’d you get, Russ?” Doris asked.
    Russ finished peeling back the paper. “Oh. A biography of Ansel Adams. Thanks, Dad.”
    “Sure. I know you like his art.”
    “Emmy. Presents?” Russ nudged her with his knee. She reluctantly set the book down.
    Randall, Doris, and Max all got presents. Emily fished under the tree for herself when the doorbell rang.
    “I’ll get it!” she announced, standing and stepping toward the hall.
    As a parent, Russ had learned to differentiate the sounds his kids made. He could tell Austin’s tired cry apart from the shocked/hurt cry. He had learned to differentiate Emmy’s “I can’t solve this homework” frustrated shriek apart from her “boy crush on the TV” squeal.
    The sound he heard her make from down the hall he didn’t recognize. It went high and surprised, then cut out short. Out on the porch, the dogs barked at the noise, pawing and scratching at the sliding-glass door. The cases from Russ’s new DVDs clattered as he got up, but he stumbled on anyway, throwing himself around the corner to the front hall.
    “Emmy? Are you oh—oh God.” He caught himself on the corner of the wall. Emmy was in the arms of a tall man in combat fatigues. “David?”
    Russ sagged into the wall, his legs refusing to hold him up or propel him forward. Em pulled back to kiss the man holding her, and Russ had a brief glimpse of Dave’s chiseled features before her bushy hair blocked it again.
    Dave laughed, warm and deep, and