Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
We still invited kids from River Falls Haven, but no longer on Christmas Day. It had become too big, requiring weeks of prep work before Christmas, and days of teardown after. And the event itself was no longer contained to the morning. It hadn’t been fair to the volunteers, keeping them away from their families for so long, so we moved it to the first weekend after Christmas. The kids still got their gifts, and we still put up the themed trees.
It was clear, though, that someday soon we’d have to expand the event to invite some of the less-fortunate kids in our community, as well.
As I watched my own kids enjoy their Christmas gifts, my mind drifted to the phone call I’d received two weeks ago. It was from my aunt Karen, whom I hadn’t heard from in over two decades. She’d called to tell me that my father had passed away from a heart attack.
My mother had passed away two years earlier. My father, at the time, sent me a letter to let me know she’d died after suffering a major stroke. She’d left some items to me in her will, and I was to notify him as to where to send them. I’d disposed of the letter in our fireplace and never heard from my father again.
Regardless, my aunt, told me that my parents’ entire estate had been left to me. She was named the executor. I asked Karen to please make arrangements so that I could leave the estate to River Haven. Any paperwork she needed me to sign, she could simply send it my way. Karen was shocked, to say the least, saying she’d never known what happened to cause the rift between me and my folks. I decided it could stay that way.
My father never became Vice President or held any other political office after his last failed run for the Senate in 1992. I wasn’t sure how else they’d filled their time…but Karen had told me that they’d started a nonprofit to help young mothers who found themselves pregnant and without any support. Oh, the irony.
Karen sent me a letter two days ago, along with the paperwork I requested, saying that the entire estate would be given to River Haven, with my permission. I promptly filled out the paperwork, had it notarized, and sent it back the same day.
Laughter pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked across the living room. The warmth of happiness filled my chest as I looked at my children. All healthy and happy.
Lifting my hand, I rubbed the heart locket that I wore around my neck. It held a picture of my twenty-two-year-old daughter, Hope. We’d never met, but when she turned eighteen, she’d sent me a letter with the locket and a picture of her in it. She told me all about her life, that she’d known since she was ten that she was adopted, and who her biological mother and father were. She’d sent Robert a locket, as well, and she wanted to thank us both for the life that she had.
She’d said her parents loved her fiercely, and she was beyond spoiled. She was heading to college and, after that, medical school. Then she ended the letter by saying she would be forever grateful for the loving sacrifice Robert and I had made in order for her to have a better life. She wanted me to know that she was happy, and that she thought of me often.
She’d signed it, Your daughter, Hope.
Robert had called me, asking if I’d received a locket, as well. I hadn’t been sure if he’d ever told his wife about Hope, but it turns out he had. We spoke for about an hour, catching each other up on our lives. It was a nice phone call, and a part of my heart that I didn’t even know was still cracked open had healed that day.
Ladd came over and reached for my hands. “Our song is playing.”
Nat King Cole’s “A Christmas Song” had started. Drawing me to him, we slow danced while the kids sat and watched us. The girls always thought it was so sweet, while Caden and Gatlin pretended to gag, while sitting there with huge smiles on their faces. I wanted each of my children to find a love like I had. That was one of my most frequent prayers.
Ladd put his mouth against my ear and whispered, “Want to sneak off to the barn tonight?”
I chuckled and drew back to look into his handsome face. The years had been good to Ladd. He was still so attractive. His brown hair had streaks of gray peppered through, and he always wore a five o’clock shadow, not to mention his favorite white cowboy hat he’d had since the moment I’d first laid eyes on him.