Refuge of the Heart by Herne Ruth Logan

Author:Herne, Ruth Logan [Herne, Ruth Logan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2018-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

“Where shall we go first?” Mitch put his signal on as they edged past the police car that still maintained a regular presence.

“Can we visit the mall? See Santa?” Childish excitement laced Anna’s request, and Lena didn’t have to look back to know she was wriggling in her seat.

Mitch angled Lena a look. “What do you say? You know I’ll back you up either way.” He kept his voice low.

Lena thought hard.

Her reluctance to have Anna sit on Santa’s lap came from simple necessity. There was not enough money to promise the moon and she hated the thought of the precious girl having a disappointing Christmas. Still...

“I meant what I said the other night, Lena. I’ll help. It couldn’t hurt, could it?” Still whispering, Mitch added his entreaty to the child’s. His voice reminded Lena of what he missed, the childhood sights and sounds of Christmas. And of the boy he’d never held, the things he would never do with his lost baby son. She worried her lower lip with her top teeth, then said yes. “I think it would be all right.”

“Really, Lena?” The tone in the child’s voice showed how much she’d hoped for that answer. “I’ll be soooo good.”

“You are a good girl, Anna,” Lena admonished in a gentle tone. “You have always been so. Mama and I called you a blessing from the very beginning.”

“And what did Papa call me?”

The lie fell smoothly from Lena’s lips and she hated herself for it. “Dear one.” Turning slightly, she smiled at the child that regarded her with big, blue Russian eyes. “Papa called you his dear one.”

And he would have, too, if he’d been alive. If she’d been his child. The thought and the lie sobered Lena. She rubbed her hands together.

“Cold?” Anticipating her answer, Mitch hit the higher fan setting on the heat. “This should help.”

She smiled at his thoughtfulness. His kindness. “Thank you, Mitch.”

They arrived at the mall a quarter-hour later. The exits and entrances to the brightly lit shopping center were clogged with anxious shoppers. They found a spot big enough for the SUV in an overflow lot, then walked long steps to the nearest door.

Mitch scooped Anna up, despite her boots. “We don’t want to get Santa’s lap all dirty, do we?”

Anna’s eyes went wide as saucers and bright as the moon on a clear autumn night. “No.”

Christmas music greeted them as they stepped through the entrance. Anna’s grin widened as they approached the center display. Lena pressed her hand to Anna’s arm and pointed. “Look, little one. Just ahead. Do you see what I see?”

The weathered North Pole dwelling had seen years of use, but the little girl didn’t notice that. With a tiny squeal, she wiggled to get down and touch the evergreen-draped fence and the candy-striped poles surrounding Santa’s Arctic lodge. The life-sized robotic reindeer had lost a few tufts of hair but Anna’s eyes stayed round, her mouth open in a silent “O” as she looked from one thing to the next.

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