A Simple Christmas Wish (2 page)

When Michael studied law in college, he had planned to become a public defense attorney, but outstanding grades and some good connections had lured him into a prestigious corporate law firm following graduation. It was supposed to have been a temporary stopping place, just long enough for him to pay off his student loans and build a comfortable nest egg for him and Miri. A few years later, Holly had come along and then they’d gotten a good deal on this swanky apartment. Rachel knew that the idea of leaving his lucrative position, with all its perks, had grown less and less appealing.

Even so, Rachel worried that Holly’s childhood was passing her parents by, and that someday the two of them would wake
up and realize their little girl was fully grown and setting off to live a life of her own without them. Of course, it wasn’t really any of Rachel’s business, except that she was Holly’s only aunt as well as her godmother and Michael’s only living relative—at least that they were aware of. So perhaps when Michael and Miri got home on Wednesday night, she would gently broach this subject with them. For Holly’s sake.

While she was on the subject, maybe she’d ask them if it was time to rethink their whole nanny situation. Nanny Vida had seemed a bit elderly when she was hired shortly after Holly was born, back when Miri decided to return to work, but according to some of the stories Holly had shared, Nanny Vida was in more need of supervision than her six-year-old charge. Besides that, since Miri had given up her career and Holly was in school, it seemed frivolous to keep the nanny. Except that Miri had grown to enjoy her freedoms. Thankfully, for Holly’s sake, Nanny Vida had taken her vacation simultaneously with Michael and Miri’s, which was precisely why Rachel was here now.

Still, it wasn’t Rachel’s place to butt into these things. What did she know about child rearing or families in the first place? Their father had abandoned them when Rachel was much younger than Holly. After that, their mom had been so busy trying to provide that they’d barely even seen her. When Rachel was about twelve, their mom had gotten sick. She’d passed away right before Rachel started high school, but Michael had gotten a tiny apartment and a part-time job, and had somehow managed to get her through school and complete his education at the same time.

To be fair, she rationalized as she tidied up the craft
materials, scrubbing Elmer’s glue from the glass-topped dining table, Michael was probably just making up for what he’d missed out on earlier in his life. Maybe he deserved to have some fun, as well as the chance to see some new places. After all, Rachel had been able to travel the whole world—thanks to her job as an international flight attendant. Even that was partly due to Michael’s sacrifices. So what right did she have to judge him?

Although she didn’t know much about Miri’s childhood and upbringing, she knew enough to understand it had been difficult, and based on a few random comments, she assumed it had been impoverished as well. Was it really Rachel’s place to express an opinion on how they lived their lives now? At least they provided well for Holly. She attended an exclusive private school, had a nanny (albeit a slightly senile one) and all the toys and material things a child could want. What more could Rachel expect of them? If Michael was happy practicing corporate law, why should she care?

As for being stuck in an unfulfilling career, who was she to talk? She’d been working for the same airline for close to fifteen years now. It was a job she’d planned to stick with for only as long as it took to see a bit of the world. After that, she had planned to find Mr. Right, settle down, and start a family of her own, instead of babysitting for her niece. Not that she didn’t love her adorable niece.

As she rinsed out the cocoa cups, she felt inexplicably tired and wondered why she hadn’t gone to bed by now. What was the point in staying up and fretting over her brother’s problems—problems that she was simply imagining and overblowing anyway?

She was reaching to turn out the kitchen lights when the wall phone rang, making her jump. She fumbled to grab the receiver before it rang again, worried it might wake up Holly—and wondering who would call this late.

“I am calling in regard to Michael and Miriam Milligan,” a slightly foreign-sounding voice informed her.

At first she assumed it was a solicitor’s call, perhaps someone from India, and she was about to get rid of them, but something stopped her. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Regarding what?”

“Are you a relative of Michael and Miriam Milligan?” the man asked.

“I’m Michael Milligan’s sister. Rachel Milligan.” In that same moment, she felt a disturbing uneasiness wash over her. She braced herself.

First he named a place she had never heard of and a word she couldn’t pronounce, explaining he was the chief of police, and then he informed her that there had been a plane accident early in the evening. “I am sorry to inform you that your relatives did not survive.”

“Wh-what?” Rachel felt her knees weaken. “That’s impossible. Their flight to Chicago wasn’t scheduled until Wednesday and—”

“This was an inter-island flight,” he told her. “A small plane.”

Her knees seemed to melt, giving way as she sank down to the hard floor. “What did you say? Tell me again.
Who
are you?
Where
are you calling from?”

He went through the unfamiliar names once more, but now it felt as if her head was spinning, as if her whole world was spinning. This had to be a bad dream. A very bad dream.

“But my brother and sister-in-law aren’t staying in the place you mentioned,” she said eagerly. “You must have the wrong people. Michael and Miri are staying at a resort in Turks and Caicos,” she proclaimed. “I have the phone number right here and—”

“Yes, I’m sorry to be unclear. Mr. and Mrs. Milligan were not staying here on our island. They were passengers on a flight that goes past here. The plane was en route. The destination was Turks and Caicos. I called the hotel there and they gave me this phone number so that I could inform you of this tragedy. I am so sorry.”

“But how?” she demanded. “How could this happen?” She remembered the line she’d used hundreds of times to soothe nervous passengers:
“Airline travel is safer than driving our freeways.”

“They believe the airplane experienced a mechanical problem. A cruise ship witnessed the explosion right before it went down a few miles north of Saint Eustatius. There was a search . . . and I am sorry to inform you there were no survivors.”

“But that—that’s impossible.” She rubbed her head, trying to absorb this, knowing it couldn’t be true. Michael and Miri . . . they couldn’t be dead. Someone had made a mistake. A horrible, cruel mistake.

Once again, the police chief conveyed his sympathies, but then he told her to take down some phone numbers. With trembling legs, she stood up and walked to the dining room table, where she picked up a red crayon and a scrap of yellow construction paper, writing down the long numbers he was giving her. Then, after she questioned him again, he assured her that all he was saying was true.

“I am very sorry to be the bearer of such tragic news,” he said finally. “If you have any more questions, please call the numbers I gave you. Again, I am so very sorry for your loss.”

“Yes . . . yes . . . thank you.” Her voice choked and tears began to stream down her cheeks as she eased herself into a straight-backed dining room chair. Feeling shaky and sickened, she hung up the phone and just sat there staring at it. Did that really just happen? Was it real? Or was she asleep and simply having a horrible nightmare?

She looked at the phone still in her hand and pushed the caller ID button, seeing that the strange phone number did match the one she’d written down on the yellow paper. Of course it was true. She knew she was awake. She leaned her head forward until it thumped onto the hard, cold glass of the table and allowed the tears to flow freely. She sobbed and moaned and cried, asking herself again and again—how could this happen?
Why, why, why?
It was bad enough that she should lose her only living relative—besides Holly—but for Holly to lose both of her parents all at once, well, that was just wrong—wrong—
wrong
!

2

Most people had family to call in tragic moments like this. They had mothers or fathers or siblings or aunts or grandmothers . . . but Rachel had none of these. All she had for family was Michael and Miri and Holly. And now she only had Holly. She tiptoed down the hallway to check on Holly, worried that she might’ve woken and overheard some of the painful conversation or Rachel’s breakdown, but the sweet girl was still sleeping. Illuminated by her Dora the Explorer nightlight, she looked peaceful and serene. Poor Holly. Just like that, she had become an orphan.

Rachel went back to the great room, pacing back and forth and wringing her hands, trying to determine what she should do. She felt she needed to do
something
. Or talk to
someone
.

Finally, she decided to phone her best friend, Kayla. “I’m sorry to call so late,” she began.

“Hey, it’s not that late,” Kayla said cheerfully. “Is it even midnight? You’re still in the city, aren’t you? Why don’t you come down here and meet us at—”

“I need to talk to you,” Rachel interrupted. “Something—
something really, really terrible has happened and I need someone to—” She was sobbing again, trying to speak but unable to make herself understood. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “It’s just so awful.”

“What is it?” Kayla asked with concern. “Are you all right? Should I call 9-1-1? Is Holly all right?”

“Don’t call 9-1-1,” Rachel told her.

“Are you still at Michael’s? Do you want me to come over?”

“Can you?” Rachel asked desperately.

“Yes, of course. I’m not even that far away. I’ll grab a taxi and pop over.”

“Thank you.” Rachel closed her phone and sank into the Eames chair, staring at the Christmas tree through her tears, which had transformed it into a wild, blurry wash of color. It looked so unreal she began to hope, once again, that this truly was a dream. However, she felt certain it was not. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself by taking some slow, deep breaths.

———

When she heard someone at the door, she leaped up and hurried to let Kayla in. Seeing her friend’s concerned expression, Rachel started to cry all over again.

Kayla grabbed her and hugged her. “I’m here. It’s going to be okay,” she soothed.

“It’s so awful,” Rachel said. “I just needed someone to talk to.”

“Tell me what’s happened,” Kayla said with her arms still around Rachel, guiding her over to the couch. “Tell me why you’re so upset. I’ve never seen you like this.” She eased her down and sat next to her. “What is it?”

The story poured out of Rachel, the words spilling out like a broken bag of marbles, and Kayla just listened with wide eyes. “Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry,” she said finally. “That’s just horrible. Poor Holly. Does she know yet?”

Rachel shook her head and blew her nose. “I have no idea how I’m going to tell her.”

“Well, there’s no reason to wake her now.”

“I guess not . . . but she’ll need to know soon.”

Kayla looked at the tree and sighed. “This is going to ruin her Christmas.”

“Not to mention her life.” Rachel pulled out another tissue. “I’ve got to get myself together. For Holly’s sake I’ve got to be strong.”

“Yes.” Kayla gently rubbed Rachel’s shoulder. “And you will. You’ll be strong for her. I know you will.”

“Just like Michael was strong for me when our mother died.” Rachel wiped her eyes.

Kayla nodded. “That’s what family does.”

Rachel knew that Kayla had a big family—the kind of supportive family that rallied around whenever something big happened, whether good or bad. Rachel had no idea what that would feel like, but sometimes she’d been envious.

“So will you adopt Holly?” Kayla asked. “I assume you’re all she has.”

“Yes,” Rachel said. “At least we’ll have each other. That’s something.”

“You and Holly have always been so simpatico,” Kayla pointed out.

“I know. We’ve always had this great connection. If I ever had a daughter, I’d imagine her to be just like Holly.”

“Whenever anyone sees you two together, they always assume you’re her mother.”

Rachel sniffed. “Yes . . . but a mother is hard to replace.”

“Even so, she’s blessed to have you, Rachel. You’ll be a great mother to her.”

“I’m blessed to have her too.” Rachel brightened ever so slightly. Despite the horrible tragedy, the idea that she would be wholly responsible for Holly was a huge comfort. She couldn’t even imagine how difficult this would be if Holly had been taken from her too.

“I assume your brother had life insurance to provide for Holly.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he did. Michael was always uber-responsible like that.” Except for this time, she thought sadly, when he hopped on an inter-island flight in the middle of the Caribbean.

Kayla waved her hand around the room. “I assume you’ll get to keep this too.”

Rachel blinked. “I don’t know about that. This is a pretty expensive apartment.”

“But with their insurance and all, it seems like it would be a good idea to just stay put,” Kayla suggested, “for Holly’s sake.”

Rachel considered this. “Well, it does make sense to keep her in her regular routines . . . and in her same school.” She shrugged. “Hopefully, we can stay here for a while anyway. Even if we had to sell it, I’m sure it would take some time. Maybe until the end of her school year. Then we might need something more modest.”

They continued talking about the practicalities of what
Rachel would do next, and eventually it all seemed to sift down into a somewhat feasible plan. By the time Kayla left—in the wee hours of the morning, since she had a flight later in the day—Rachel felt she had an actual plan to work from. On Monday she would give her notice at work. If she fully explained the situation to her supervisor, she felt certain she wouldn’t be expected to return to work at all. She would also give up her room at the house she shared with the other flight attendants. Kayla already knew another employee who was looking for a place close to O’Hare. Kayla even offered to help Rachel pack up if she could wait until Kayla’s day off. As Rachel finally sank into the guest room bed, she felt utterly exhausted and incredibly sad, but at least she had a plan.