A Boy's Christmas Wish

A baby changed absolutely everything. Life wasn’t going to be easy, and the reality of her situation had been growing heavier over the last few days.

“Abby, I’m scared.” Beth blinked back tears. “This wasn’t the plan.”

“What you need is to get busy!” Abby said.

“You are the first person to say that,” Beth sighed. “Everyone else tells me to put my feet up.”

“Oh, forget them. I know you.” Abby leaned forward. “Get involved with something. You know what I’m doing right now? I’m volunteering with the North Fork Christmas pageant. We were in it every year when we were kids, remember?”

“I loved it,” Beth said with a smile.

“Well, it takes a lot of people to run. We could use more volunteers.”

“Yeah?” Beth paused, thinking. “I can’t bend or lift very much. I’m not sure how useful I’d be...”

“We’ll give you something to do that involves sitting or standing.” Abby glanced down at Beth’s belly. “Or just sitting. Whatever you want. Just come. It’ll be fun, and you’ll see other people and get out of your head a little bit. It’s Christmas, after all!”

Abby cocked her head, waiting, eyebrows raised.

“Is it at town hall this year?” Beth asked.

“It’s at town hall every year,” Abby said with a roll of her eyes. “Nothing changes in North Fork. You know that.”

“Okay, well...sure. You’re right. I should get out more.”

Abby grinned in satisfaction. “Perfect. Come for the practice tomorrow at six. They’ll put you to work. That’s a promise.”

Beth needed to get out of the house, away from the store that only reminded her of how hard her family had landed. And she needed to wipe her heart free from both Collin and Danny. Neither of them had been good for her, and she knew it.

Besides, Beth had plans to make. She was going to be a mother, and everything would be different. She might not have the right man by her side in this, but she also didn’t have the wrong one. She’d raise her daughter well, and that took some forethought. Danny was in the past, and she certainly wasn’t going to get distracted now.

* * *

DAN SLOWED HIS truck to a crawl. Granny was walking down the sidewalk, her red coat pulled close around her and her chin held high. She marched with determination, not even giving his rumbling motor a glance.

It was cold out there today—as it was every day this time of year. This was northern Canada, after all, and the citizens of North Fork didn’t let the weather stop them from anything. He’d moved here from Vancouver, and the mild weather he’d experienced in that coastal city hadn’t prepared him for the driving cold. Yet over the past almost nine years that he’d spent in Alberta, he’d found himself joining the other locals in their perverse pleasure in treating the coldest days like spring.

Dan pushed the button to lower the passenger-side window, and he slowed down enough to keep pace with her.

“Granny!” he called.

The old woman looked over at him, an arch expression on her face. When she saw Dan, she smiled and paused her steps.

“Oh, hello, Daniel,” she said sweetly. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” he said. There was something about Granny Thomas that brought out his manners. “How are you doing?”

“Just fine, thank you, Daniel. Have a good day,” she said, gave him a cordial nod and started walking again.

Dan heaved a sigh. She could be difficult when she was on some personal mission.

“Granny,” he called again. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going—” She stopped, frowned, shook her head. “I don’t remember. It’ll come back to me.”

“Why don’t I give you a ride?” Danny asked. “It’s cold out.”

“It’s not cold,” she said with a bat of her hand. “It’s winter.” As if the two things were separate experiences.

“But Beth said she needed you for something,” he countered.

“Oh...” Granny sighed. “Wedding plans, no doubt. You should be lending her more of a hand, young man.”

She came to the door, and Dan leaned over and pulled the handle to let her in. Granny was spryer than most people knew, and she hopped up into the cab without difficulty.

“Ralph didn’t do much for our wedding,” Granny said as she buckled up. “But those times were different. Men were expected to show up dressed in a suit. That was it. But these days, men are much more involved, Daniel.”

She wasn’t going to let this drop, he could tell. Dan gave her a pained smile. He’d been pretty involved in planning their wedding five years ago. At least he’d thought he’d been. Maybe he was wrong about that.

“And speaking of how times have changed,” Granny went on, “men are in the delivery room now.”

She gave him another meaningful look, and Dan wished he could disappear into his seat. Fetching Granny had been a lot easier before Beth came back, when Granny would sit quietly in the passenger seat and murmur about how Ralph just hated it when she was late.

“Have you considered moving the wedding date up?” Granny asked when Dan hadn’t answered. “I know this is delicate, dear, but I think it would mean a lot to Beth.”

If only Granny remembered that Beth had been the one to dump him. This wasn’t just about him and Beth anymore—Luke was in the mix now. Dan signaled a turn onto the Thomases’ street.

“We should probably talk about that,” he said diplomatically. It seemed easier to play along than to explain things and upset her. She wasn’t his grandmother. “Don’t worry, Granny. Everything will be okay.”

Funny—that’s what he used to tell Luke when he’d cry for his mother. “Don’t worry, Luke. Everything will be okay.” And Luke would cry himself out in his father’s arms. Because Dan couldn’t promise that Lana would come back...ever. All he could promise was that one day it’d be all right. Or close to all right. Sometimes, that just had to do.

Dan pulled into the Thomases’ driveway and got out first to give Granny a hand down. Then he accompanied her to the door. The early-afternoon sunlight sparkled on the snow. Granny opened the front door and went straight in.

Beth stood in the living room, a slightly frantic expression on her face. She wore leggings and a knit turtleneck sweater that was an icy-blue color, bringing out the blue of her eyes as her gaze whipped between Dan and her grandmother. He wasn’t supposed to be staring at her, but he was. She was gorgeous, and an eight-month pregnant belly didn’t change that.

“Granny!” Beth gasped. “I was looking for you. Where were you?”

“I was just—” Granny frowned, shook her head. “I don’t know. I was out, I think. Oh, hello, Daniel.” The old woman turned and smiled at Dan. “That’s right. We were talking about the wedding, weren’t we? Why don’t I leave you two to discuss. I could close my eyes for a few minutes.”

Granny bent to take off her boots. It took a few minutes for her to get out of all her winter wear, and as she quietly worked at it, Dan and Beth exchanged a look. Granny was getting worse—Dan could tell. She was more confused, and this time she’d wandered farther than the store. But his focus right now was on Beth and those fluid blue eyes and the way she cradled her belly with one porcelain hand... Why did she have to be so beautiful? Why couldn’t she have lost some of that sparkle over the last few years? It would have made her return easier for him, made her a little easier to file into the past.

Granny finished hanging her coat and headed for the recliner.

“Could I talk to you?” Dan said, nodding toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure.” Beth looked at her grandmother for a moment, then sighed and led the way into the kitchen.

“I had no idea she’d even left!” Beth ran a hand through her hair. “Abby dropped by and Granny was in the living room. We visited for a while, Abby left, and Granny was gone.”