The next morning, Mallory woke chilled. Brock was still sleeping, having slept like a rock. But after his fitful sleep the night before, he needed it. She carefully slid away from him and put another log on the fire as quietly as she could, glad that the owner had left a lot of pre-cut wood. Maybe the owners sensed that it would be needed somehow. Then she suddenly wondered if she and Brock hadn’t been the first to get stranded here.

Mallory looked over at the coffee table, eyeing the Christmas box. She sighed and quietly padded up the stairs and put it away where she had found it, putting...