The Perfect Christmas - Debbie Macomber [84]
Her look said it wasn’t the first time mother and child had been let down.
Kate started to whimper.
“Sweetheart, please,” Elise whispered. She seemed close to breaking down herself. She picked up her daughter and held her close. As she gently rocked the little girl, her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Santa won’t forget you.”
“Daddy did.”
“No, honey, I’m sure he didn’t, not really.”
“Then why didn’t he come like he said?”
“Because…” Elise began, then hesitated and forcefully expelled her breath. “It’s complicated.”
“Everything’s complicated since you and Daddy divorced.”
Matt felt like an eavesdropper, yet he couldn’t tune out the conversation between mother and child. Part of him yearned to let Kate use his credit card to phone her father, but if he suggested that, Elise would know he’d been listening in.
Hearing Kate cry about being forgotten by her dad left Matt to wonder if this would be his own children’s future should he and Pam decide to split up. He didn’t want a divorce, never had. But it was obvious they couldn’t continue the way they’d been going—belittling each other, arguing, eroding the foundation of their love and commitment.
“Why didn’t Daddy come see me like he said he would?” Kate persisted.
Elise took her time answering. “Your daddy was embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?”
“He felt bad.”
“About what?”
“Being late helping to pay the bills. He didn’t come see you because…well, because I don’t think he could afford to buy you anything for Christmas, and he didn’t want you to be disappointed in him because he didn’t have a gift.”
Kate mulled that over for a while, nibbling her bottom lip. “I love him and I didn’t have a gift for him, either.”
“Your daddy loves you, Kate, that much I know.”
“Can I talk to him myself?”
Elise took a deep breath. “You can phone him when we reach Grandma’s house, and you can tell him about spending the night in the train depot. He’ll want to hear about all your adventures on Christmas Eve.”
Matt considered what would happen to his relationship with his children if he and Pam went their separate ways. The love he felt for Rachel and Jimmy ran deep, and the idea of Pam having to make excuses for him…
His thoughts tumbled to an abrupt halt. That was exactly what Pam had been forced to do the afternoon he’d left for Maine. Jimmy had been counting on him to attend the school Christmas program and, instead, he’d raced off to the airport. Matt’s stomach knotted, and he sat back, wiping a hand down his face.
A whispered discussion broke out between the widow and the elderly couple who’d supplied the oranges. Matt had no idea what was going on and, caught up in his own musing, didn’t much care.
Not long afterward, he discovered that a few of the senior crowd had decided to take this matter of Christmas for the two children into their own hands.
Cathy walked by Kate, paused suddenly and held one hand to her ear. “Did you hear something?” she asked the youngster.
“Not me,” Kate answered.
“I think it’s bells.”
Elise cupped her ear. “Reindeer feet?”
“Bells,” Cathy returned pointedly.
“Yes,” Louise piped up. “It’s definitely the sound of bells. What could it be?”
They weren’t going to get any Academy Award nominations, but they did manage to convince the children.
“I hear bells!” the other child called. “I do, I do.” It was the first time the little boy had spoken all day.
Kate sat up straight on her mother’s lap. “I hear them, too.”
Matt had to admit the two old ladies really had him going; he could almost hear them himself. Then he realized he really could hear the jingle of bells.
A knock sounded loudly on the station door. “I’ll get it.” Sam eagerly stepped to the door. He opened it a couple of inches, nodded a few times and looked over his shoulder. “Do we have a little girl named Kate here and a boy…Charlie?”
“Charles,” his mother corrected.
“Kate and Charles,” Sam informed the mysterious visitor no one was allowed to see. “As a matter of fact, Kate and Charles are here,” Sam said loudly. “You do…of course. I’ll see to it personally.