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friends here at home. We also ask a special blessing on our friends the Akimotos. Amen.”
    Rachel looked at David and smiled before passing him the plate of corn bread. “Mom makes the best corn bread. I’m sure you’ll love it.”
    David took a piece, but the expression on his face was very troubled. Rachel couldn’t help but ask why. “Is something wrong?”
    He looked down at the bowl of beans as if ashamed to look her in the face. “I don’t understand your attitude toward the Akimotos. How can you care what happens to them?” He looked up and the pain in his eyes caused Rachel to choose her words very carefully.
    “I know you’ve been through so much, David. I can’t know the exact experience, but Kenny often wrote to tell me of the atmosphere and edginess of living in Hawaii prior to the bombing. I guess mydefense, if it must be that,” she said softly, “is that I know the hearts of William and Sarah. I know they loved my brother as much as I did.” Tears came to her eyes and she looked away. “I know William would have taken Kenny’s place that day if he could have.”
    David put his hand on hers, and the coldness of it startled her. He seemed so void of life. Almost as if the pain and bad memories had snuffed out the very fire of his existence. Rachel felt drawn to him and looked up to see an apology in his expression.
    “I’m sorry that I’ve upset you. That wasn’t my intention. I’m sorry, too, for behaving so badly. I don’t want to be the cause of your tears.”
    Rachel nodded. “My tears are born of my own pain—it’s nothing you’ve done.”
    The moment seemed to linger and extend long past their original intent. Rachel sat very happily with David’s hand on hers, and despite its earlier coldness, Rachel could now feel a warmth to his touch.
    “Oh, Marion’s home!” Ruth called from the kitchen, breaking the spell. “You should see the tree he’s wrestling down from the truck.” She came into the dining room, drying her hands on her apron. “I don’t know why he didn’t park out front on the street. Now he’s going to have to drag that thing all the way around to the front.”
    Rachel pulled her hand away and sampled her mother’s beans. She collected her thoughts and gave David a smile. “You will help us decorate it, won’t you?”

    David felt amazed at what had transpired between him and Rachel. He found himself tempted to tell her everything—to explain himself and his betrayal of Kenny and then to run as far away as his legs could carry.
    Instead, he was now expected to join in the festivities and put aside his heart and fears. There was a first time for everything—even decorating Christmas trees. So he pushed away from the table and followed the women into the living room. His thoughts were momentarily lost in the vision of Rachel in a plum-colored dress with a pinafore apron of bleached flour sacks. She had taken extra care with her hair that morning—funny that he should notice something like that. She’d rolled and pinned her long chestnut hair back from herface and curled the ends. The style suited her nicely.
    She turned and caught him watching her and blushed furiously. David felt awkward in having been caught.
    “Well, here’s the tree to beat them all!” Marion announced as he forced the evergreen beast through the front door.
    Instantly the scent of pine filled the air. David had thought the boughs on the mantel to have been strong, but the tree’s aroma permeated everything in the room.
    “Help me put it in this,” Ruth told Rachel as she pulled a good-sized metal bucket from behind the couch. Between the three of them they finally managed to secure the tree.
    “Rachel, the sand for the bucket is out on the porch,” Ruth instructed.
    “Can I help?” David asked as Rachel went for the door.
    “Sure,” she said almost shyly. “I’d like that.”
    David followed her out and found another bucket, this one filled with sand, waiting for