sale I’ve ever made. I’ll tell you about it when you get here.”
“That sounds good to me. Did you need me to bring anything?”
“No, I have champagne, and I’ll make us steaks for lunch. We should be good.” She really had wanted to do this for Josh, Adam, and Maverick for all the help they’d been anyway. She still couldn’t believe the amount of money they were getting for the vases, though she felt she couldn’t plan what to do with the money until she handed over the vases and received payment for them.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“We just need Maverick to come,” Brooke said to Josh when he ended the call with Adam.
“I’ll call him.”
“He deserves to be part of this, with all the help he’s been.”
“I agree.” Josh called his brother. “Brooke’s having an impromptu celebration for selling a couple of royal Chinese vases. Adam dropped off Lucas with the pack, and one of the families will take him in for now. We want to have you join us too. Lucas is the one who helped mess with our security video and stole the reindeer along with his friends. We found out he’s a wolf. That’s why we smelled a wolf around our security equipment… Well, there’s one other kid who was involved. We’ll still have to bring him up on charges so he can serve community service time. He’s not a wolf though… Okay, good. We’ll see you when you get here.” Josh set his phone on the table. “Maverick wants to help with tagging stuff too. He thinks you might find some more high-dollar antiques that would be the cause for more celebrations.”
“He may be right. My great-aunt knew what she was doing when she collected some of this stuff.”
Josh pulled Brooke into his arms. “You didn’t tell Adam about the mating, so I didn’t mention it to my brother.”
“I figured we’d tell them when they got here.”
“I was afraid you might want to wait. I’m ready to shout it out to the rest of the wolves.”
She laughed, rubbing his arms and then kissing him. “Don’t worry. We’ll let all the bachelor males know right away. There’s no reason to wait.” She went back over the treasure list her great-aunt had made. “The first on her list says ‘Travel to Imperial China for double the treasure.’ The two Chinese vases were in the steamer with Chinese ship-destination stickers. So that must have been the clue to them. I never would have guessed that they had been an emperor’s treasure and valued at so much.”
“I agree with you. It sounds like we have a party game for this afternoon.” Josh looked at the next item on the list. “‘You’ll have to go to the Miracle on 34th Street and then you’ll believe.’”
“The Santa suit we found in the trunk! Don’t you think?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s all about believing in Santa, right?” Josh said.
“And it’s about the commercialization of Christmas, even back in 1947.” Brooke snapped her fingers. “A sticker for New York City was on the steamer trunk. Thirty-Fourth Street in New York City.”
“This is great.”
“I agree.” She looked up information about one of her favorite Christmas movies. “Did you know that Edmund Gwenn, the actor who played Santa, actually was in the Macy’s parade in 1946 and that’s where they shot the film? It was bitterly cold too.”
“No, I hadn’t known that.”
“Gwenn’s cousin Cecil Kellaway rejected the role, and Gwenn grabbed it. To think his cousin missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime to play in a movie that has become a Christmas classic. It says here that Valentine Davies was inspired to write the story while standing in a long line waiting to buy his gifts at a department store,” she said.
“I hadn’t known that, but it’s sure relevant today too. Though online shopping has helped considerably. But why would the Santa suit be valuable?” Josh asked.
“I’m not sure. What about the next clue: ‘To believe, you have to dress the part. Especially in New York City.’”
“Both are about believing. Wait, both are about the movie?” Josh asked.
“Ohmigod, what if the little girl’s coat and hat and Santa’s costume actually were from Miracle on 34th Street?” Brooke went to find her colorized version of the movie and brought it out to show Josh. “That’s it. The outfit that Natalie Wood wore as an eight-year-old in the movie. The Santa suit looks just like Santa’s costume.”
“How much would it be worth?”
“I have