The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (18 page)

“
Ladies, I’m going to have
to talk to this young man,” Chief Zondervan nodded at Peggy.
“Ma’am, why don’t you bring your son over to my car so you’re not
standing outside in the cold.” He turned to Martha. “Mrs. Longton,
perhaps you’ll be good enough to see that his brother gets home.”
Without waiting for an answer, he led the way toward his vehicle.
Peggy followed with Jordan, looking more defeated than Sophie had
ever seen her.

The parking lot was lit as brightly as a
football field, and she realized the blaze had engulfed the roof.
There was a loud crash as the steeple sank into the church.
Sophie’s heart clenched as she thought of the danger they’d
escaped.

“
Sophie, all the kids have
been accounted for and picked up. Why don’t I take you home?” Mitch
put his hands on her shoulders and spoke as he gently guided her
toward his car. Sophie was too drained to argue. He opened the car
door and waited for her to get in, wrapping the ends of the blanket
around her. Angie got into the back seat, and he pulled out of the
lot. But before they’d even gone a block, the tears started to
fall.

Where the tears came from, she didn’t know.
But they came. In buckets. Mitch pulled into Dave and Joanie’s
driveway and reached for her. She laid her head on his shoulder and
let her pent-up feelings pour out. She sobbed because she could
have been inside with all those kids, totally unaware of the danger
until it was too late. She sobbed because of all the hard work the
kids had put into the pageant, which would not take place. She
sobbed because the church, the cornerstone of the community,
someplace where she’d always felt safe, was gone.

A
nother day, another
list. Sophie
pursed her lips as she decided what to tackle first. She should go
to the church early and—

The pen fell out of her
hands.
The church!
As the events of the previous Wednesday night returned to her,
her shoulders sagged, her face fell, and the sense of hopeless
she’d felt returned.

She set her notebook back on the nightstand.
There was no point in making a list now. Setting her pillow down,
she lay back and closed her eyes, but her mind kept replaying the
horror of the fire. The feeling of terror as she’d herded the
children outside, counting and recounting the little bodies to make
sure no one had been left behind. The sense of urgency while
waiting for the parents to come. And the feeling of dejection that
all their hard work had been for naught.

Even the thrill at being in Mitch’s arms was
dulled by the tragedy. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since that
night. Had he regretted the closeness they’d shared?

“
Sophie? Breakfast is
ready. Come on down and eat so we can get ready for church.” Dave’s
voice floated up the stairs.

Joanie insisted the show was going
to proceed as planned, although Sophie really didn’t understand how
that would happen. Her sister had spent most of the last two days
on the phone, calling everyone in the county. Apparently the
VanEerdens had offered to clear out their barn and set things up so
that the service could take place there. Each family was asked to
bring their own chairs. Although Sophie appreciated her sister’s
efforts, she couldn’t see the whole congregation going to so much
trouble to watch a Christmas pageant in a barn. Good grief, they’d
have to wrap up in their winter coats and cover up with blankets!
And what kind of pageant would it be without the lovely decorations
that had adorned the sanctuary? Well, she would go, but she’d wager
there wouldn’t be more than a dozen people to watch it. They’d be
lucky to get even half the cast there. Who would want to bring
their kids to a production like that? And what would they do if
only a handful of the actors showed up? Joanie had told her
everyone would be there, but she tended to exaggerate when she
wanted to believe people were on board with her schemes.

Guess I’d better get
up
, she told herself. She’d get dressed and
go, even if no one else did. They probably wouldn’t be there long.
Her heart ached for the kids who had worked so hard, for the moms
who had helped out with costumes, for — everyone.

Stepping down the stairs, she heard
her sister and brother-in-law at the breakfast table. Obviously
they didn’t share her skepticism. They were dressed casually but
warmly, prepared for the frigid temps but didn’t seemed concerned
or worried about freezing to death.

“Morning, Sophie. Have some
breakfast. You’ve gotta get some fuel in you before your big day,”
Joanie sang. She sounded like a cheerful little bird. Nobody should
sound that bubbly first thing in the morning. Still, Sophie knew
Joanie wouldn’t let up if she refused, so she sat and ate. Now that
little Abbie was there, Joanie had a lot more energy and had been
cooking more. It was a good thing she’d bounced back to her
energetic self. It would make things easier when she moved out. The
phone call she’d received on Friday had been the only bright spot
in the past week. She’d wanted to call Mitch and tell him the news,
but she wasn’t sure how he’d react — or if he would have any kind
of reaction at all.

“Dave, do you have everything
packed in the SUV?” Joanie asked.

“Yes, dear. Every blasted thing you
had stacked by the back door is now in the car. We’ll have to strap
the baby to the roof, but all our stuff will get there
safely.”

Joanie gave her husband a playful
swat and got up to get the coffeepot.

~~~~

The Bennett family
arrived early to help with setup. The VanEerdens’
oldest daughter kept the baby and Joey in the house while Sophie,
Dave, and Joanie went to the barn.

The minute she walked through the
wide doors, she froze in her steps. The inside of the barn had been
transformed into a beautiful sanctuary. Strings of Christmas lights
had been draped from the beams and on the walls, brightening the
barn’s interior with a soft, gentle glow. The wall opposite the
barn doors had been set up as a makeshift stage with plywood panels
laid atop concrete blocks. And taking place of honor in the center
was the old wooden cross that normally adorned the wall of Zutphen
Community Church.

Joanie and her friends had worked a
miracle. But their efforts wouldn’t matter if the congregation
didn’t show up to see it. Would they come? Would they have enough
performers to put the show on?

Helen DeGroot entered behind her.
“Oh there you are, Sophie. I hoped I’d find you here already. I
wanted to go over some of the adjustments we’ll need to make...”
She opened her notebook and the two spent a few minutes with Mabel
Groendyke. Just as they finished, Sophie closed her notebook and
looked around. She thought she felt a little warmer and now she
knew why. While the three women had been talking, the barn had
gradually filled with parishioners. Lawn chairs, folding chairs,
benches of all kinds had been set up in neat rows. Many of her
youngsters waited in a group, under the watchful eyes of Martha
Longton and Agnes VanMeter. She found her sister and brother-in-law
returning from the house with Joey.

“
How did you manage all
this?” she asked.

Joanie shrugged. “Just a few phone calls, a
few favors called in. Nothing special. Everyone wanted to help,
especially with all the work you put into it.”

“
But it’s only been three
days! This must have taken all your time. This whole set up — the
heaters, the sound system, the decorations, the stage, the
set—”

“
Archie Todd owns all the
sound equipment. He used it last night at a party in Jamestown and
brought it over afterward. And you know Carol VanEerden — she’s a
whiz at decorating the sanctuary — she said she had all this stuff
here from previous Christmas pageants.”

“
But notifying all the
parents—”

“
That was a piece of cake.
Donna VanderMeulen is the Sunday School superintendent, and she had
the class lists and phone numbers. We got four of five moms to do
the calling.”

Sophie stood still as the tears filled her
eyes. She was overcome with gratitude for the love and dedication
of the people in her community who cared enough about their
children and the hard work they’d done that they’d gone the extra
mile to make the pageant happen, despite the tragedy.

“
Miss Sophie, are you
okay?” Josh stood next to her, tugging her arm. “Me and my brother,
we’re sorry about the fire. And we, uh, we’ll behave ourselves
today. Grandma told us we wouldn’t get no more cookies before we
come to church. So we’ll be good.”

“
Yeah,” Jordan echoed.
“We’re sorry we made you cry. You cried Wednesday night, too. Mommy
cries sometimes when we’re naughty. Grandma used to say it was
Mommy’s fault, but now she said it’s her fault for giving us too
much sugar. And she said it’s her fault we burned the church down.
She said we can’t go nowhere by ourselves for a long, long,
time.”

Sophie wrapped the little boy in a hug. “I
know you’re sorry, Jordan.” She hesitated before asking, “Is
someone with you today?”

“
Yeah,” Josh answered.
“Grandpa and Grandma DeSmit and Mommy are watching me, and Grandma
and Grandpa Longton and Uncle Nolan are supposed to watch Jordan.”
Sophie looked up to see the six relatives hovering nearby. Nolan
cast her a grin and pointed to his eyes, assuring her he would
watch his nephews very carefully. She gave her old friend a
thumbs-up before looking back at the twins.

“
Well, I’m glad your
grandmas and grandpas and other relatives are all here. And I know
you’re both going to do a great job this morning.”

The little boys flashed identical
gap-toothed grins and raced off. Sugar or not, the boys had plenty
of energy.

Angie Carson took her place on the
improvised stage. She smiled and waved at her family. Sophie
directed a glance to where Angie waved and saw Mitch with his
entire family, along with Geoffrey Billingsworth. They had set up
their seats as close to the front as they could get and had their
cameras ready.

Pastor Sikkema welcomed everyone with some
very eloquent words about the church not being a building but a
group of believers. He began with the verse in Matthew that reads,
“Where two or three are gathered in my Name, there am I in the
midst of them.” He thanked the VanEerdens for hosting the service
and pageant and thanked the parents for being so flexible and for
sharing their talented children.

“
And without further ado,
we have the annual Christmas pageant, directed by Helen DeGroot and
Sophie Gardner.”

The show went off without a hitch. Well,
almost. Mary dropped the baby Jesus on the floor then hastily
picked him up, dusted him off with her headpiece, and placed him in
the manger. Jordan Longton got a little too excited about bringing
his new truck to baby Jesus and tripped over the microphone cord.
But each child spoke his or her line clearly and the songs rang out
with joy.

Afterward, Helen came over and congratulated
her. “Wonderful job with the children, Sophie. I can’t remember a
nicer program. I love the way you did so much more with the
children than usual. This is a show to remember — and not just
because we’re in a different place.”

Pastor Sikkema thanked her too. “Nice
program, Sophie. If you end up going to Hollywood, we’re going to
see some great shows and movies.”

And then there was Mitch. He gave her a
thumbs up but kept his distance while Angie gave her a big hug.
Sophie hugged her back and then gasped when she saw the little
girl’s tear stained face.

“
Angie, what’s the
matter?”

“
Miss Sophie, I don’t want
you to go away!”

“
I’m not going anywhere,
sweetheart. Where did you think I was going?”

“
Daddy said you’re going to
move away and that’s why you can’t be my mom.”

“
Your — mom?”

“
Yeah. I said I wished you
could be my mommy and Daddy said he wished you could too, but
you’re going to live in New York or California and be a famous
writer.”

Sophie didn’t know what to say. “He said —
he wished I could?”

Angie nodded. “He said he loved you as much
as I do. But he said we can’t stop you from going for your
dreams.”

Warmth. Blessed warmth stole through her.
She squatted down and put her forehead against Angie’s and spoke
very softly. “Sweetheart, can you keep a secret?”

The little girl nodded.

“
It used to be my dream to
move far away, but now I’m having a very different one. Now I dream
about having a house and a husband and a little girl.”

Angie beamed through her tears. “We have a
house. Daddy could be a husband. And I’m a little girl.”

“
Yes, you are. And my new
wish is that you could be my little girl. But you have to promise
to keep that a secret for now. I’ll tell your dad about it very
soon. We’ll surprise him, okay?” She waited for Angie’s nod. “Okay,
go on back to your family. Tell your dad I’ll come over later this
afternoon. Tell him — tell him I have some questions about living
in the Big City.”

“
Okay. See you,
Sophie!”

M
itch paced back
and forth across the
kitchen after checking the driveway for the tenth time in five
minutes. Angie had told him Sophie wanted to come and talk to him,
but she didn’t know when. With each lap, his nerves became more
frayed. Was she coming to say goodbye forever? How would he bear
that? Did he dare ask her to stay? Should he offer to follow her
out there? Would she want him to?