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held, she asked him how the conversation with her mother had gone. Jared replied, “It was fine. It was a good idea to have us meet that way, Molly.”
    “Good. I’m glad.” She paused, then asked, “So did you discuss a divorce?”
    The word made him wince. “Yes, we did. Your mother and I both want to do this with as little acrimony as possible, so you need not worry about that.”
    “Oh. So you’re, um, going to do it?”
    “Yes.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel as they approached an intersection. “You were right, Molly. It’s foolish to let this drag out any longer. Now, which way do I turn?”
    “Right.” After a momentary silence, she murmured, “Merry Christmas to me.”
    Jared cut his gaze in her direction, though he saw little more than shadows in the winter night. Had her request been a ploy? Had she tried some reverse psychology? If so, it had certainly backfired.
    The subject of divorce was a sorry thought to carry into a children’s Christmas program, so as Jared gathered his camera bag from the backseat of his car and walked through the frigid night air toward the school, he tried to turn his thoughts in a happier direction. But when he walked into the school auditorium, accepted a program from a kindergartner dressed like an elf, and he heard his wife playing “Greensleeves” on an upright piano, sadness overwhelmed him.
    The first picture he snapped was one of Emma at the piano.
    The program introduced an original play written by the sixth-grade class, to be followed by a Christmas carol sing-along. Eavesdropping on a conversation between a woman named Nic and one called Sage, he learned that the play was a version of the Nativity story as it had never been told before. The house lights dimmed, and Jared turned his attention to the stage.
    The first-grader dressed in a white choir robe and sporting gold paper-mâché wings was a doll who reminded him so much of Molly at that age that his heart hurt.
    The storyline that unfolded centered on a trio of angels tasked with announcing the birth of the Savior. One of them, Harold, was distracted by offerings at the Bazaar of Bethlehem and was late heralding the news to the Three Kings, who decided to trade in their camels for faster transportation.
    Jared almost dropped his camera when he saw the scene for that part of the story. Three boys dressed in kingly gear sat perched atop stuffed animals—not the plush kind but the work of a taxidermist—a bear, a mountain lion, and a bighorn sheep.
    Seeing Jared’s surprise, Celeste leaned over and whispered, “The school owns quite an extensive collection of preserved wildlife donated by a former resident of Eternity Springs.”
    The youngest angel clasped her hands and dramatically despaired, “What’s Christmas without camels?”
    The audience erupted in laughter, and Jared grinned, snapping a shot of the young drama queen that he knew her parents would treasure.
    Onstage, the Three Kings realized they still weren’t going to make it to the manger in time, and at that point, the materialistic little cherubim saw the light. Harold flew the Kings on Angel Airlines, delivering them to the stable in time to honor the Christ Child. Unfortunately, Angel Air lost the Kings’ baggage, so they despaired that they had no gold, frankincense, or myrrh to give the newborn King. At that point, Angel Harold patted them on the back and said, “Hark. I say unto you. It’s the thought that counts.”
    It was silly and sappy, but tonight’s little drama provided the first spark of Christmas cheer Jared had enjoyed all year. Then the lights dimmed and the three angels took center stage beneath a spotlight. Taking a page from Linus and the Charlie Brown Christmas show, they took turns reciting lines from the second chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, ending with “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.”
    Then the stage lights flashed bright and the entire cast