For too long, Nate Welby had gone through the motions of fatherhood, numbed by sorrow and anger. Now another lonely yuletide season loomed–and with it, the knowledge that he'd never be able to give his youngest daughter the one gift she wanted most: a new mommy....

As holiday pageant coordinator in her tiny Texas hometown, efficient Leandra Flanagan felt obligated to transform three motherless kids and their widowed carpenter dad into angel, shepherd, chorus member and set designer. But everything that happened afterward was purely by chance–or maybe the answer to a little girl's fervent Christmas prayer....