Sadie pushed open the door to her apartment, carrying the bag of gifts from Charlie. Her phone sat on the kitchen table, and it rang just as she closed the door behind her.
Setting the bag on the table, she picked up her phone and looked at the ID.
“Hi, Mom. Merry Christmas,” she said cheerfully, hoping that it would resonate through to the other end of the call.
“Sadie, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“I called an hour ago and you didn’t answer.”
Sadie winced. “I was visiting with a neighbor,” she said.
“At six in the morning.”
Sadie swallowed hard. “Yes. Pastries on Christmas morning.”
“That sounds nice. It’s snowing.”
“I saw that,” Sadie said as she sat down in the chair next to her. “What time should we do lunch?”
Her mother let out a sigh. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I’m just not feeling my best today.”
Sadie rested elbow on the table, and her head in her hand. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“I just don’t get this holiday. I don’t feel it, honey. Maybe you should spend it with your neighbor.”
“Don’t you want to see me?”
Her mother didn’t answer right away. “I see you all the time. How about we have lunch tomorrow. When it’s not some frivolous holiday. Really, sweetie, I just want to be alone today.”
The very thought broke Sadie’s heart. “If that’s what you want.”
“I think so. You’ll be okay, right? I mean, you don’t celebrate this silly day either.”
Sadie looked at her little tree on the nightstand. “I’ll be okay, Mom.”
“Good. Let’s meet at Pearl’s for late breakfast tomorrow at ten.”
Batting back tears, Sadie nodded before she spoke. “Okay. I’ll see you then. Merry Christmas, Mom.”
“Good-bye, honey.”
The call disconnected just as the tapping started at the door.
Sadie set her phone down, stood, and pulled open the door.
“Are you okay?” Charlie’s smile quickly dissolved when he looked at her.
“My mother doesn’t want to see me today. She’s not feeling up to it on this frivolous holiday,” she said completely before the tears turned into sobs.
Charlie scrambled to step inside the apartment and set the pastry box on the table before pulling Sadie into him.
“It’s okay.” He kissed the top of her head. “It’s what she needs. You have me. I’m here with you. I love you,” he whispered in her ear.
“That’s as silly as this holiday, right?” Sadie pulled back and wiped her eyes. “I met you yesterday. Now you love me?”
“And you said you loved me too.”
She had said that. “I don’t know what’s real right now.”
“We are,” he offered taking a step toward her. “C’mon, ten minutes ago the world was right. Maybe tonight we can take your mom a plate from dinner. You don’t have to stay long, and you can just be with her for a moment. I’ll go with you.”
“How would I explain you?”
His brows drew together, then his face softened. “As your boyfriend, just as I’m going to introduce you to my parents as my girlfriend, because my grandmother already told them you were.”
She giggled at that. “Am I?”
“Aren’t you?” he asked. “Would you be?”
Sadie closed the distance between them and rested her head to his chest. “I would be.”
“Then it’s all going to be okay.”
Again, Charlie and Sadie walked into the care facility hand in hand.
The nurse lifted her head and smiled at Charlie. “Merry Christmas, Charlie. She’s in a good mood this morning.”
“I was hoping she would be.”
“Your dad is still here. He was here last night, and he’s here again this morning. She’s a miracle, that Ms. Ellen.”
Charlie smiled. “She’s that.”
They walked past the station and toward his grandmother’s room, but before they reached the door, Sadie pulled back and Charlie stopped.
She worried her bottom lip. “Your dad is in there?”
“That’s what the nurse said. And that’s a big deal, trust me.”
“Maybe I should wait out—”
Charlie shook his head and stepped to her, his hand still holding hers. “No. Come with me. You were going to meet him tonight anyway. Now’s as good a time.” Leaning in, he kissed her softly. “Besides, you have that book in your bag I want to ask her about.”
“I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be. You’ve already met my grandmother, and now you’re among family.”
Sadie drew in a breath and nodded.
Charlie turned back around and opened the door.
Not only was his father in the room, but so was his mother and his sister. Okay, he thought, Sadie had reason to be nervous now.
As they walked into the room, his father stood from his seat on his grandmother’s bed. His grandmother looked up at him with shining eyes and a wide smile.
His mother and sister’s expressions hadn’t gone unnoticed. Charlie had never been seen holding hands with a woman before. He supposed he’d stunned them all.
“Merry Christmas, Grandma,” he said moving in and kissing her cheek, leaving Sadie near the door.
“Merry Christmas, Charlie,” she said giving his cheek a pat. Then her eyes moved past him to Sadie. “Sarah? No, Shelly,” she tried again. “That’s not right either. Sweetheart, tell me your name again.”
Charlie watched as Sadie’s eyes moved to each person in the room before she landed them on him and his grandmother and smiled.
“It’s Sadie, Ellen. My name is Sadie.”
“That’s right. Come here, Sadie,” she said, and cautiously, Sadie moved to her.
His grandmother held out her hands, and Sadie took them. “You read books.”
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Books are good. Books have wonderful stories in them.”
“Yes.”
“Some of them are true. Some of them aren’t. But they give you hope, don’t they?”
Sadie shifted her eyes to Charlie, and he couldn’t help but smile at her. There was something about the book he’d accidentally brought his grandmother that had changed all of their lives.
“Yes, books do give you hope,” Sadie agreed.
His grandmother patted Sadie’s hand and pulled her in closer. “Some of those stories are true, and history is worth repeating.”