A Boy's Christmas Wish

“Yeah, right. Milk...” He nodded.

Everyone loved Beth’s grandmother, whom most people called Granny. She was that sort of lady. And when Beth had agreed to marry him, when a furious Rick had kept encouraging his daughter to think this through a little more, Granny had been happy for them. Dan would never forget that. She’d taken his hand in hers and smiled up into his eyes and said, “Marriage is a blessing, Danny. May you two be brilliantly happy.” For a guy who’d grown up with minimal encouragement, her words had meant the world.

“Granny, we should go,” Beth called. “We need to get back.”

“No, I’d better mind the store,” Granny said with a decisive shake of her head. “It’s too early to close.”

Beth and Dan exchanged a glance.

“Danny will mind the shop, Granny,” Beth said. “Right, Danny?”

“Yeah, of course,” Dan said. “Don’t worry, Granny, I’ll take care of everything.”

Granny brushed her hands off and came back toward them. “Are you sure, Danny?”

“I’m sure,” he said earnestly.

“Do you know how to use the cash register?” she pressed.

“Yes, ma’am. Beth showed me.”

Granny didn’t look convinced, but eventually she smiled. “Well, you are going to be part of the family very soon, aren’t you? I think it’s only right that we trust you with a few responsibilities.”

In Granny’s mind, Dan and Beth were still engaged, he realized, and his throat suddenly felt tight. Of all the days to go back to, those were happy ones. Too happy to last, but happy.

Granny smoothed her hands over her jacket.

“Can I help you zip up?” Beth asked.

“Oh, my...” Granny’s eyes grew large as she focused on Beth’s round belly. “Look at you!”

Granny glanced back at Danny with a look of shock, and he was forced to hide a smile. Yeah, there’d been a time when he’d have loved to take the credit for Beth’s glowing pregnancy, but not now.

“Okay, let’s just go,” Beth said hurriedly.

“The sooner the better on that wedding, my dear,” Granny said pointedly, and Beth shot Danny a look of exasperation.

“Beth, I’m cleaning this place out over the next couple of weeks. Come by and take anything you want,” Dan said.

“Thank you,” Beth said. “I’ll come by tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

“Not a problem. I’ll be here.”

Beth pushed the door open, and she and her grandmother left the store, the soft ding of the bell echoing in the stillness as the door swung shut again.

Beth Thomas was back, and Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about that. All those old memories—all those old feelings—came in a flood. But fatherhood had changed everything for Dan, and there was no going back.

CHAPTER TWO

“DANNY BROCKWOOD?” Rick exploded. “That twit has my store? He never said a thing to me. How fast did that sale go through?”

Granny came inside and unzipped her coat, then proceeded into the middle of the kitchen with her snowy boots still on her feet.

“I’m not sure,” Beth said, peeling off her jacket. “Granny, your boots.”

“Oh...silly me...” Granny came back to the door and bent to take her boots off. She was still physically spry, and while it seemed horrible for Beth to wish such a thing, if Granny would just get a little creaky in the knees or something, she might not make it so far when she wandered off. It was worse when the mind went before the body did, because there was so much more that could go wrong.

“He said the price was too good to refuse, so it looks like Danny had some money in the bank,” Beth said, hanging her coat on a peg. “Millwrights make a good wage.”

“Where is Ralph?” Granny asked as she stepped into her slippers. “Ralph!”

“He’s gone for milk, Granny,” Rick said. “Why don’t you go get settled in the living room? Warm up.”

“Oh...” Granny nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea.”

They waited until Granny had retreated to her favorite recliner and the footrest popped up. Beth shot her father an apologetic look.

“I thought it would be better if you heard it from me,” she said.

“It would have been better if he’d been man enough to tell me himself,” Rick snapped.

“No, it wouldn’t,” Beth said with a sigh. “You hate everything Danny does. It would have given you a chance to yell at him, that’s it.”

“And that’s too much to ask?” Rick muttered something under his breath. This was a personal loss for Rick—the store he’d helped his father build up. He’d set his last novel in a family-run corner store, just like theirs, and the critics had deemed it “important” and “layered.” They’d said they could feel the “regional heartbeat” in his work.

“Dad, I hate this, too,” she admitted. “Our family used to be respected.”

“We are respected. Hard times don’t change that.”

He had a point, but this wasn’t what any of them had expected. If the town were to place bets on which of them would hit bottom, they’d have all put their money on Danny to slide down into ruin. Not the Thomases. But her father wasn’t the man he used to be since Linda had left, and Beth hadn’t decided if that was a good thing or not. That was ironic, considering how much she’d disliked her stepmother. They’d never gotten along, not that Linda was entirely to blame. Beth hadn’t been easy on her.

“Have you met his son?” Beth asked after a moment.

“You mean Danny’s son?” Rick asked. “Yeah, I’ve seen him around. Luke’s a good kid.”

She nodded. “Funny to think of Danny as a father.”

“Funny to think of my little girl as a mother,” her father retorted. “Some of these things creep up on a person.”

“Har har.” She cast her father an annoyed look. When was he going to stop being scandalized over this? She was due in a month. He’d had time to get used to the idea.

“And speaking of parenthood,” her father said, “we need to talk about getting child support.”

“No.”

“Even Luke’s mother came after Danny to do his part,” Rick said with a shake of his head.

“She wouldn’t let him near the kid before she dumped him on his doorstep,” she countered.

“Fine. Whatever. My point is, babies don’t come into the world by accident. It takes a cooperative act between two people, and it isn’t right for the full financial burden to fall on only one of them.”

“Dad, I’m not going after child support.”

What was she supposed to do, try to track down some random Australian tourist who’d happened to drink in a certain bar in Edmonton one spring night after her boyfriend had dumped her? It wasn’t even a possibility, but this wasn’t a story she could tell her father. She’d kept her mouth shut until now, and she was keeping it that way.

“It’s Collin’s baby, isn’t it?” her father pressed. “I mean, obviously it is. I’m not stupid.”

Collin was the accountant she’d been dating in Edmonton until he’d broken up with her. He was taking a job across the country in the Maritimes, and he didn’t feel their relationship would last long distance. He hadn’t mentioned her going with him, either. But he wasn’t the father.

Her father scrubbed a hand through his gray hair. “Beth, the book royalties have been a trickle at best. I’m not in a position—”

“I know,” she said quietly.

“I told Linda she could have the investments and the car. She was the mind behind the investments anyway. I just wanted to keep my shop and this house. I can always write more books.”

On the surface, it sounded like her father had come out ahead in the settlement, except for the fact that the store had been on the brink of bankruptcy and the house wasn’t worth much in a town this size. If they put it on the market, it would be nearly impossible to sell. No one moved to North Fork. People moved out.

“Dad, I’m not asking for anything.”

“You might not be asking,” he retorted. “But the reality is that kids are expensive. You’re going to have day care, food, diapers. And just wait until this kid starts school! School supplies, school clothes...”

Beth knew all of this, which was why she’d come home. But she was a burden around here. Coming home wasn’t the problem—it was coming home pregnant.

“After the baby is old enough, I’ll go back to work,” Beth said.

“See, this is the thing.” Her father’s voice grew gruff. “I want you have a choice. I don’t want you pushed into a corner.”

“But I don’t have a choice!” she countered.

“You could have more of a choice if you made the father of this baby take some responsibility,” he said.

They could argue this in circles all night, and they’d still never agree, because her dad was convinced that Collin was the father, and if that were so, Collin had a job and a stable income. He could easily pay child support.

“I know you think Collin is the father, but he isn’t.”

“He isn’t.” Her father eyed her critically. “Who is?”

“I’m not telling you that.”

“You have to think of your baby,” he said.

“Do you think I don’t?” Tears misted her eyes. “I think of very little else, Dad!”

In four short weeks, give or take, Beth was going to be the mother of a baby girl, and she’d be responsible for this little person’s well-being for the rest of her life. She could feel her daughter move and stretch inside her, and when she lay in bed at night, she’d play games with her by pressing on her belly and feeling the baby tap back. She’d already named her: Riley Elinor. Elinor since that was Granny’s first name, and Riley because Beth liked it. No other reason than that, and there wasn’t a father to debate with over names.

“Linda would have known how to handle this,” her father said with a sigh.

“Linda was a cold, brittle witch, Dad!”

“Say what you like about her, she was here!” her father snapped. “At least I gave you a stepmother to help with all the girly things I knew nothing about!”

Beth pressed her lips together. This was not the time for this argument. Her father had married Linda about a year after Beth’s mother passed away from cancer. Beth had been twelve, and she’d hated the idea of her father loving another woman from the very start. So, granted, they hadn’t had the smoothest of transitions, but Linda had been a chilly and unsupportive woman. Linda knew what she expected, and she didn’t waver in that: homework done on time, kitchen cleaned nightly, a half hour of TV a night and skirts to the knee. Beth realized that didn’t sound horrible, but there also hadn’t been any softness or understanding. Linda hadn’t liked Beth very much, and she’d never hidden it well.

Beth’s brother, Michael, on the other hand, had been more likable in Linda’s eyes. She’d never been a doting kind of woman, and heaven knew she’d never tried to take their mother’s place. But Michael got off easier on everything, and when he went on to get his PhD and a teaching position, Linda had never been prouder.

“Well, now you don’t have Linda to help you figure it out,” her father snapped. “And I don’t have any answers, either.”

“I’m glad Linda isn’t here for this—” she began, but she stopped when she saw Granny standing in the doorway. The old woman’s eyes filled with angry tears.

“Granny,” Beth said, softening her tone.

“Now listen here, both of you.” Granny’s expression was like lightning. “Beth is pregnant. That’s true. There is no going back and undoing that, but I see no use fighting over it!”

“I know, Mom,” Rick said. “I’m sorry. We’ll keep it down.”

Was Granny back in the present? It was an emotional relief when Granny’s mind cleared for a few minutes.

“And for crying out loud,” Granny added, “she’s getting married in a few months! She’s marrying the father of her child, and while in my day we hid that kind of thing a little more effectively, I don’t see what the big deal is now!”

No, Granny was stuck in the past again, and Beth pulled a hand through her hair.

“I’m going to tell you something, Ricky,” Granny went on. “I was three months pregnant with you when I married your father. We eloped, he and I, because you were on the way! It was a big deal back then, so we fudged our anniversary so you’d never know. But your dad and I have been very happy together. So stop hounding this poor girl and let her get married!”

Beth stared at her grandmother in surprise. In Granny’s day, that would have been quite the scandal. To think, Granny had shared that secret to stand up for her... Except she wasn’t marrying anybody, and Danny had nothing to do with her pregnancy. Still, Granny had meant well.

“I didn’t know that, Mom,” her father said. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Are you going to give her a break already?” Granny pressed.

“Yes, of course.”

Granny reached out and put a hand on Beth’s arm. “You should probably get off your feet, dear.”

Granny headed back into the living room, and Beth met her father’s gaze with a small smile.

“Wow,” Beth said. “I’m not the only scandal around here.”

Her father shook his head. “She’s told me that about four times already. She keeps forgetting.” Her father heaved a sigh. “I’m only looking out for you, Beth. I’m not judging you. I’m doing my best, and I feel like it isn’t enough.”

“I’m a grown woman, Dad,” Beth replied. “I’ll figure it out. You don’t need to worry.”

Except he would worry. She knew that. Under it all, he was still her daddy, and she had come home in the most vulnerable state possible...right when he had nothing left to give.

* * *

DAN STOOD ON a stepladder to unscrew the bell over the top of the door. It tinkled dully against his sleeve as he worked, and when the second screw finally came out of the wall, he pulled the bell free. How long had this been here?

The corner store had been a fixture in this town, and he did feel a little bit bad that he was the one to tear apart a place with so much history, but a corner store couldn’t make money anymore. Especially not with the chain gas stations selling all the same product cheaper. That was why Rick had gone out of business. Dan wasn’t supposed to feel guilty here, and yet somehow he did. Just a little.

He also hadn’t counted on Beth coming back to town... Pregnant Beth. That had been a shock, all right. He’d thought that he’d cleared his heart of her years ago when she’d walked out on him, but seeing her again had proven him wrong. He definitely felt something, even if it was mingled with anger. He knew he’d messed up by not telling her about his son sooner, but in his defense, he’d never met the boy, and Lana seemed to have dropped off the map. Then when Lana showed up with a little boy with big brown eyes, his world had turned upside down, and he’d hoped Beth would stand by him. But she couldn’t—she was betrayed by the surprise, and he was equally betrayed by her abandonment.

Yeah, he’d messed up, but so had she. Marriage was for better or for worse, and they’d been just days from the ceremony, and she’d still walked out. What about their commitment to each other? This was his son, and any woman who couldn’t love Luke, too, didn’t belong with him, much as it hurt. So whatever he still felt for her was tempered by reality.

Dan put the bell down on the front counter and glanced out the window in time to see Beth approaching. He’d told her to come and take what she wanted, and it looked like she wasn’t wasting any time. He paused and watched her pick her way around icy patches. Her breath hung in the air, and as he watched her careful movements, he remembered an image he’d had in his mind a long time ago...back when he’d asked her to marry him, when he’d thought about starting a family with her and what she’d look like pregnant with their baby.

And there she was—fully, richly pregnant. He stepped away from the window so she wouldn’t see him, but his heart was already beating quicker than it was before. Beth had always done this to him, mixed him up and made him yearn for more...

The front door opened, and a whoosh of cold air swept in ahead of Beth. She slammed the door shut behind her and shivered.

“It’s cold out,” she said.

Dan nodded toward a space heater he had humming in the center of the store. “That’ll help.”

She moved over to the heater and pulled off her gloves, then held her hands out.

“I took the bell down for you,” he said, picking it up from the counter and bringing it to her across the room.

Beth took the bell with a wistful smile. “Grandpa hung this.”

“I thought so,” he admitted, then cleared his throat. “Look, my goal is to have everything cleaned out by Christmas. I want to open shop in the new year. I’ll be working pretty quickly to get it all done.”

“Sounds like you’d have to.” She glanced around sadly.

“There are probably more things around here that you’ll want, but it’ll be hard for me to know what’s meaningful and what isn’t.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” she admitted. “What if I...helped?”

“I hate to break it to you, Beth,” he said with a wry smile. “But you’re pregnant and I’m not going to be responsible for you hurting yourself.”

“Then what would you suggest?” she asked.

“You not helping,” he said with a short laugh. “But definitely come by. I mean, you can go through the stuff I’m tearing out and make sure you’ve got everything you want.”

“I won’t be in the way?” she asked.

“Probably will be,” he admitted. “But I’ll survive.”

“All right, then.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

He’d probably live to regret this, but his guilt for taking over a place that meant so much to the Thomases had been piqued. Dealing with Rick’s resentment would have been one thing, but Beth’s arrival back in town had softened him.

For the next hour, Beth sat on a crate and sorted through the last of the product that Rick hadn’t already taken. Dan dismantled a slushie machine and carried it outside piece by piece. On his last trip to the garbage bin out back, he entered the store to find Beth behind the till. She was sorting through some drawers, and she held up a small, triple frame that held three photos—one of Rick, one of a teenage Michael and the other of Beth in her girlhood.

Dan crossed the room and took it from her fingers to look closer. Beth had been pretty then, but the beauty that would develop was still sleeping behind big teeth and crooked bangs.

“That’s you, all right,” he said. “You were a cute kid.”

“I gave this to Linda one year for her birthday,” Beth said, then shook her head. “Dad pressured me into making an effort, so I did. I thought I’d give her something that showed she was part of the family. I gave it to her here, and she didn’t take it with her.”

“She left it in the drawer,” Dan concluded.

Beth nodded. “Dad told me later that it hadn’t sent the message I thought. It was a frame with me, my brother and my dad. Linda wasn’t included.”

“You hated your dad marrying her, didn’t you?” he asked.

Beth sighed. “I wasn’t easy to deal with. I’ll admit that. I didn’t like her from the start because she wasn’t my mother, and my mother had been wonderful. Mom loved us with her whole heart, and no one could eclipse her...”

“But your dad must have been lonely,” Dan said. “Your mom was gone, and he was on his own with you kids.”

She took the frame back from him and looked down at the faces for a moment. “You’re a single dad now, too...”

“And I can appreciate how hard that is,” Dan admitted. “Being a dad—it’s amazing, but it’s lonely. I’d never undo Luke. He’s the best thing in my life, but parenthood can be isolating. You child doesn’t take the place of a partner.”

“I guess I’ll find that out soon enough,” she said.

“Yeah. It’ll be the best ride of your life, hands down.”

“You say your child doesn’t take the place of a partner,” she said. “So you must date, then.” A blush rose in her cheeks. She must have realized how it sounded, and he shot her a teasing grin.

“We’ve done that once, Beth. Probably best if we don’t do it again.”

“I’m not interested in dating you,” she retorted. “I’m asking because I’ll be a single mom very soon, and I can’t imagine trying to juggle dating and a baby.”

“It’s not easy,” he admitted. “And no, I don’t really date. I’m busy with Luke, I’m careful about who he meets, and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for a relationship.” Her eyebrows went up, and he shot her a grin. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

“I’m not used to seeing you as a dad.”

“Ditto.” He smiled faintly, and she looked down at her belly.

“Oh...well, yes. I suppose we’re even there, aren’t we?”

Dan regarded her thoughtfully. He was curious about Rick and Linda—all of North Fork was. They were one of those established couples that everyone expected to bicker good-naturedly until they died. Rick was the quieter one, with his laptop set up on the store counter, and Linda was the go-getter. It had shocked everyone when they announced their intention to separate.

“So what happened between your dad and Linda?” Dan asked. “From the outside, there weren’t any cracks.”

“She left him,” Beth said.

“Really.” Dan sighed. “That’s rough. How come? Another guy?”

“Not that we know of,” Beth replied. “But Linda was always a little frustrated by Dad. She wanted him to be the alpha male, but she didn’t like being countered, either. So no matter what he did, she wasn’t happy.”

“Hmm.” Dan nodded. “She decided to leave and your dad just went along with it?”

That was the weird part. Rick hadn’t gotten soppy or angry—at least not in public. He’d just been the supportive guy he’d always been, as if they were announcing Linda was taking a job, or something. But it had been the end of their marriage.

“Dad was tired,” she replied. “And I don’t know...I mean, I was in the city. Whatever their relationship morphed into, I have no idea. But I do know that when Linda said she was leaving him, he was both sad and kind of relieved. I think he was just...tired.”

“After so many years together,” Dan said. He’d always been curious, at the very least. Not that Rick and Linda had ever been nice to him.

Beth met his gaze. “I’m not going to argue that they should have stayed married.”

Neither would he. “I know Linda was hard on you.”

“Kids need love, Dan. She was big on structure and manners but pretty low on affection. And while I might have been a hard kid to love, I still needed more than she gave.”

Hard to love. Was that how she’d seen herself? And she might have been—he hadn’t known her then, but the thought of her feeling unlovable as fragile preteen who’d just lost her mom was heartbreaking.

“You were a kid, Beth,” he said. “You couldn’t have been that hard to love...”

Beth turned her attention back to the drawer. “Pass me the garbage.”

Dan did as she asked, and she dumped the rest of the contents of the drawer into the trash can, then replaced the drawer.

“Dad never did stand up to her,” Beth went on. “He could have told her that she needed to be kinder. He could have told her to back off and let him have some time alone with me. But Linda was always there, guarding her turf as if I was competition for my dad’s love.”

“I agree there,” Dan said quietly. “He should have stood up for you. You were his daughter, and you were the child. You needed your dad to be your champion.”

Beth smiled. “Thank you. It’s nice to be agreed with on that.”

Dan was the kind of dad who would do just that—stick up for his son. Like Beth said, kids needed love, and if he was ever put into a position to choose between his son and a woman, his son would win. In fact, looking back on it, Beth had done him a favor by walking away. Because even if their wedding had been earlier, Luke would have still ended up on his doorstep, and Dan was glad that he’d never been put into the position to choose between his child and his wife. How had she put it? Danny, asking me to marry you and asking me to be a stepmother to your child are two different proposals! I can’t do this!

He might not have been mature enough back then to make the right choice often enough.