Page 10 of Soldier's Chrismas Hope
John-John nodded up and down hard, and River lowered him effortlessly to the ground, giving him a little pat on the back after he let him go.
“Christmas pudding?” River offered Nora.
“Of course,” she told him. “Thank you.”
She grabbed four spoons while he picked up two bowls of pudding. They looked absolutely tiny in his hands.
She led the way back out to the nook with the dining table that they called the dining room. The kids were already in their seats, waiting patiently for her to give them spoons.
When everyone was seated, Pixie bowed her little head, and everyone followed suit.
“Thank you for this Christmas pudding,” Pixie said politely.
“And thank you for our new toys,” John-John added. “And for letting us try them in the bathtub.”
“And thank you for good friends,” Nora chimed in. “Amen.”
They all dug in, and she ventured a glance over at River. Edward had never been one to say grace before meals. But River had joined them in bowing his head just now, and he didn’t seem to think it was strange or old-fashioned.
She had been a little surprised at it when the kids came to her. She and Alma hadn’t really been raised to pray at mealtimes. But as soon as she got used to it, she couldn’t help being glad for the kids, and herself, having a chance to stop and remember the things they were grateful for.
“Oh, wow, this is so good,” River said around a mouthful of pudding.
Pixie smiled proudly while John-John devoured his dessert.
Nora’s phone buzzed in her pocket.
“I’m so sorry, but we’re going to meet some friends at the park tomorrow,” she said, pulling it out. “I just want to check to see what time they want to get together.”
Her heart sank as soon as she saw the message.
Sophie’s mom (Linda? Lucy?)
so sorry
something came up and we can’t make it tomorrow
another time maybe
Sadness melted into sudden anger, and the phone screen went blurry as tears of fury gathered in Nora’s eyes.
“Excuse me just for a moment,” she murmured, hurrying off to the bathroom to pull herself together.
She caught River’s worried look out of the corner of her eye as she passed. But the kids were too busy enjoying their treat to take much notice of her leaving.
When she got into the bathroom with the door closed, she took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
It was thoughtless of the woman to say yes to a playdate and then cancel at the last minute. And this news was going to make Pixie very sad. But at the end of the day, Pixie’s old friends’ parents were not responsible for Pixie’s happiness.
Nora was.
Taking another cleansing breath, she faced herself in the mirror.
“You can do this,” she whispered to her reflection.“Everything is going to be fine.”
Pushing worrisome thoughts of the canceled playdate and her old job out of her mind, she immediately put herfocus on thinking up fun things to do tomorrow that she could tell the kids about when she broke the news.
The trouble was that this part of the city didn’t really have a lot of free things for kids.
