The Wishing Tree

    Within a few minutes, a small hillock rose before her and she climbed it. Cedar wood burned from several fireplaces adding a fragrant scent to the air and smudging the sky with its smoke. The large cabin her family had owned for well over two decades beckoned her with welcoming light from all of its visible windows. She could make out the building through the nude trees of the winter forest without a problem. The home announced its warmth and protection and was a beacon of love to her. She smiled and quickened her pace.

    The fluffy dry powder of the recent snowstorm was easy to trudge through, but layered the forest floor two feet deep in some places. Simone lifted her toned legs high, stepping gingerly so as not to stumble on any tree roots or dips in the ground. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, then startled at the sight of a set of large booted footprints in the more shallow areas of snowfall. She looked around her, wondering to whom they belonged.

    This was private property. Her family owned sixty acres surrounding the cabin all the way to the lake. On a night like this, the Millers would not be out. They would be inside, cooking a ton of rich food, singing Christmas carols and enjoying hot toddies by the large hearth in the grand family room centered in the middle of the cabin. Curious, she followed the markings to a large oak off to her right. She noted they led to and past a Ford pickup truck emblazoned with the seven pointed star and golden shield of the Orleans County Sheriff's Department.Simone grew worried, wondering if there was anything wrong at the cabin. She gathered Teddy's carrier to her and hurried away from the truck, fear mounting. As she passed under the massive wide-branched oak, a profound crack ricocheted around her, snapping her attention upward. "Wh-whoa!" a voice bellowed as a man, dressed in the uniform of a deputy sheriff, crashed through the tree. A violent whuff of air blasted from his lungs when he landed flat on his back in a deep pile of snow right in front of Simone's feet. A poof of the fresh powder caught her in the face.

    Surprised, she gasped and stumbled backward. She dropped poor Teddy and the expensive Dior handbag to the ground. Teddy hissed and shrieked in irritation, but she righted herself before falling, shouting, "Oh my word!"

    Clearing the snow from her eyes, she looked down on the long, lanky form of a handsome, stunned deputy sheriff who lay, unmoving, at her feet.

    A plain family heirloom—a Christmas tree crafted of chiseled gold laced with sparkling crystals known as The Wishing Tree—has been passed down to the women of the Miller family for generations. Legend has it if a heartfelt wish for true love is made on the tree, one's soul mate will be brought to them by mysterious happenstance. 1958. Simone Miller, top fashion model for the Astor Modeling Agency, is on a break between assignments and decides to meet with her family at their cabin in Vermont for the winter holidays. Joyful times are had by all for the entire week leading to Christmas Day where she inherits the ornament and all the possibilities the gift represents. 1983. Genevieve Jensen mourns the loss of her fiancé who died in a car accident two months prior to the holiday gathering of the Miller clan. At the insistence of her parents, she arrives at the Miller cabin, finds solace and comfort in their established traditions and begins to smile again, sharing in the love and laughter of her close knit family. 2008. Fiona Landis, top notch interior designer, barely makes it to the Miller family cabin to share in the holiday festivities. On Christmas morning Fiona's high-end sensibilities are put to the test when The Wishing Tree appears beside her, calling to the jaded young woman to make her wish. Will Fiona break the cycle and reject The Wishing Tree? Or will she too succumb to the time honored tradition the women of the Miller clan have shared for well over a century?