Susan Wiggs - Candlelight Christmas

“We can’t,” said her older sister, Nan. “He lives with his other family there, and they’re the enemy.”

“Are not,” Charlie snapped.

“He’s right,” said China. “They are not the enemy. Where in the world did you get that idea?”

“After people split up, they’re enemies,” said Nan, with firm authority.

“That’s just silly. Tell Charlie you’re sorry.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Sometimes I feel the same way,” Charlie admitted, mumbling past another bite of pie.

Logan lost his appetite. He ached for the kid. Was there any way to protect him from feeling torn loyalties? Any way to protect him from the life Logan and Daisy had given him? He hadn’t asked to be born to two people who weren’t meant to be together. All he wanted was to be part of a family, a regular kid. But Logan wasn’t sure it was his job to make the kid feel okay about moving halfway around the globe.

“Hey,” he said, “you’re in Florida, you stood up on a surfboard today, you had an epic Thanksgiving dinner and pumpkin pie. So life is good.”

“Yeah.” Charlie nodded agreeably enough.

“We have a lot,” said Logan. “A lot to be thankful for.”

“Yep.”

“Friends and family,” China said.

“Full bellies and Florida sunshine,” Marion added.

“And pie that makes me forget the whole world,” Darcy said. “Marion, I really appreciate being here with you guys.”

“I wish you could stay longer,” said Logan’s mother.

Logan checked his watch. “That reminds me. My shift is about to start.”

“How’s that? Are we eating in shifts now?” asked Bilski.

“Charlie and I are going to help serve dinner at Ryder House. It’s a place for kids who aren’t with their families.”

“Are they orphans?” asked Bernie.

“Some of them, yes. And some are just there temporarily. They come from lots of different circumstances.”

“Can I come?” Bernie asked.

“If you want to help,” he said, looking around the room. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll join you,” Darcy said. “I need to find a way out of this food-induced trance.”

* * *

The SUV was full, with Charlie and three of his cousins buckled in the backseat and Darcy in the front. The cargo area was loaded with boxed pies Logan had ordered the day before from the Sky High Pie Company, his contribution to the community feast. The afternoon light of South Florida gilded the neighborhood in a dreamy sheen, but as they left Paradise Cove behind, the scenery shed its charm, like the sad aftermath of a parade.

In the backseat, Nan led everyone in a chorus of “Over the River.” There were no rivers in sight, no white and drifting snow, just a depressing series of strip centers that all looked virtually the same—nail salons, pawnshops, coin laundries, payday loan outfits.

The Ryder Center was surrounded by chain-link fencing. Although the welcome sign proclaimed it “A Place For Hope,” an air of despair hung like Spanish moss from the trees. This was where people brought children they no longer wanted or couldn’t care for. The social workers and volunteers were passionate and committed, but sometimes there just wasn’t any substitute for family.

“Is this a regular commitment for you?” asked Darcy.

“Yep. I’ve been bringing Charlie here to help out ever since he was old enough to serve a wedge of pie.”

“That’s nice,” she said.

“Is it?” He pulled in by a small fleet of vans with the Ryder logo on the side, a silhouette of a candle cupped in two hands. “I always find myself wishing I could do more.”

“There’s always more to do,” she murmured.

“I feel sorry for the kids who live here,” said Bernie. “I’m kind of bashful about meeting them.”

“Kids are kids,” said Logan, opening the back of the SUV. “There’s usually a pretty good party going on here.”

Everyone helped carry the boxed pies to the serving area. The feasting had been going on all day, with a rotating series of kids and volunteers. Some of the children were long-term residents of Ryder House, while others came for the day. People were gathered around tables decorated with flower arrangements, crepe paper turkeys, cornucopia and candles. The buffet line moved slowly along a sideboard laden with a feast with all the trimmings. At one end of the room, a bluegrass ensemble played background music.

“Ready to help out?” Logan asked, handing out aprons to Charlie, the nieces and nephews. “We’re on the pie detail.”

“Okay.” Like his cousin Bernie, Charlie seemed timid around the other kids, though eager to help out. They went to the dessert table and got to work, carefully placing small slices of pie on white china plates and setting them out for people to eat.

There were smiles and subdued thank-yous, although an air of melancholy pervaded the atmosphere. Some of the older kids seemed chastened by the understanding that they were receiving charity. Logan served a slice of berry pie to a boy who looked to be about Charlie’s age. His clothes were clean but worn, and he had a peculiar world-weariness that made him seem much older. He furtively took his dessert, mumbled a thank-you and shuffled away to a table.

I will never complain again about my life, thought Logan.

He noticed that Darcy wasn’t serving food, but had hunkered down in the play area, supervising a game of Jenga blocks. She seemed so vibrant, surrounded by kids, relaxed in their presence. It made him wonder about her comment last summer, when she’d claimed she was averse to children.

She was something of a puzzle to him. An intriguing puzzle. A puzzle he found far more attractive than he should.

Maybe it was deprivation, plain and simple. He hadn’t dated anyone this fall. In the first place, he hadn’t met anyone he wanted to date. In the second place, he’d been way too busy with Saddle Mountain. True to his word, he’d created an investor group and they’d acquired the ski area. The transfer was going smoothly, but it was a lot of work. All-consuming work. It left little time for a social life. He’d been working twelve-hour days, seven days a week, since signing the papers, and this holiday was his very first time off. The mountain was slated to open for skiing in a week. It kept him busy to the point of exhaustion. Yet the project fulfilled him in a way his insurance business never, ever had.

The ensemble played some traditional tunes while some of the younger kids ran around, pretending to dance.

“Time for the hokeypokey,” announced a guy on the microphone. “Come on, everybody, don’t be shy. Let’s bust a move!”

Logan scanned the room, and noticed Darcy bearing down on him.

“Oh, hell no,” he muttered under his breath, apprehensive about the glint of mischief in her eyes.

“You heard what the guy said,” she told him. “Don’t be a chicken.”

“Yeah, Dad,” said Charlie. “Don’t be a chicken.”

Resigned, Logan took off his apron and set it aside. “You’re coming, too, buddy.”

“No way.” Charlie stuck out his chin. “No w-a-y.”

Darcy was having none of it. She grabbed Charlie with one hand and Logan with the other. “Let’s go, boys.”

Feeling all kinds of foolish, Logan joined the raucous circle and forced himself to do the hokey-freaking-pokey.

Darcy was ridiculously into it, and in spite of himself, he couldn’t take his eyes off her when she did the “shake it all about” part. Damn.

When Charlie saw his cousins and some of the older kids joining in, he got over his bashfulness and let himself go. Within minutes, he was in the center of the action, laughing and shaking, surrounded by children who seemed to forget, if only for a moment, that they were homeless, neglected, troubled, abused.

Logan caught Darcy looking at him, and she laughed. “Now, that,” she said, indicating the mass of squirming, laughing kids, “is what it’s all about.”

Darcy got up early the day after Thanksgiving. The lovely guest room at Sea Breeze didn’t feel like the real world to her. That, at any rate, was something to be thankful for. A quick check of her phone showed that she’d missed a few calls and text messages from her parents and sisters. She shrugged them off; she’d return their calls later, maybe from the airport.

In some respects, being away from her family this Thanksgiving had been unexpectedly painful. She couldn’t help resenting Huntley for supplanting her at the Thanksgiving table. Even as she’d toasted and feasted with the O’Donnells, she’d caught herself thinking wistfully of her dad’s gentle humor, her mom’s perfectly seasoned stuffing, her sisters’ gossip and laughter. She missed their chatter and her parents’ banter, and the deep, elemental security of being part of a family. But having Huntley there would have put a damper on everything.

The best way to keep from stumbling over the past was to move forward, she reminded herself. That was her whole rationale for braving the holiday travel crowds and coming to Florida in the first place. She got up and went to the window, opening the plantation shutters and looking out over the gardens.

There was a unique sort of beauty in the tropical morning. The air was warm already, and according to the tide chart posted on the wall above the writing desk, the surf was going to be perfect. She slipped into her borrowed swimsuit, cover-up and flip-flops and headed down to the beach.

In the morning quiet of the garden, Darcy woke her mouth up with a calamondin plucked straight from the tree, wincing at the taste of the bittersweet peel and tart center. Then she plucked a couple of oranges and tucked them in her bag.