Page 56 of Mending Fate
“Let’s say our farewells. The driver’s waiting, and the plane is ready to take us home.” His voice was low in my ear. “I have something I want to give you after the girls go to sleep.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice to be steady. His touch made me weak in the knees, and that promise of a gift had my thoughts racing. The two-hour flight home was going to be the best sort of torture.
* * *
“We’re not allowedto wake Daddy and Mama L up until six o’clock,” Evanne explained solemnly as she and Soleil carried a plate of cookies into the living room and set it on the table next to the tree. “Or else we have to wait until after breakfast to open presents.”
“Then we better make sure we pay attention to the clock.” Soleil didn’t crack a smile, but when she glanced up at me, humor danced in her eyes.
She’d come a long way since her assault and suicide attempt last year, and Evanne had a lot to do with it. Spending time together gave Soleil an opportunity to do childish things that she had missed in her own childhood, but in such a way that she didn’t need to be self-conscious about them.
Not having to worry about a trial had also helped. Clyde had been so arrogant after his arrest that, despite being Mirandized and asking to see his department rep, he hadn’t stopped talking. He’d been set up. Framed. Mai and I had lured him there under false pretenses, and then he’d been assaulted by a scarred thug. We’d tried to blackmail him.
At that point, his department rep had shown up, but even he hadn’t been able to stop Clyde from bringing up the other accusations that he had been certain we had already been making. In his zeal to declare his innocence, he’d provided the police with a list of reasons why we and Soleil had been lying. Unfortunately for him, he’d ended up giving them details that he would have only known had he actually committed the crimes.
It hadn’t taken long for the police to arrest the other men who’d assaulted Soleil, and Alec’s friend, Jefferson George, had played all of them off each other. With Soleil’s permission, he’d used her case to offer all four men various plea deals in exchange for information on the others. While the men would only serve ten to twelve years for what they’d done to her, Jefferson had gathered a plethora of information and charged them with enough crimes to keep them in jail for the rest of their lives.
Soleil hadn’t needed to testify or go over what they’d done. Instead, she’d had professional help coming to terms with what had happened. She still had her bad days, but we’d turned a corner, and she was looking forward to the rest of her life. A life I knew would be amazing.
“We also have to go to bed right away,” Evanne continued to explain the Christmas ritual. “Because if we don’t, Santa won’t come.”
“I see,” Soleil said, looking very solemn. “Do you think he’d mind if I read you a story?”
“Of course not.” Evanne came over to me and motioned for me to bend down. When I did, she whispered loudly in my ear, “I know Santa’s not real, but we should pretend for my big sis.”
Surprise, amusement, and pride mixed and stirred something deep inside my heart. “That’s very sweet of you.”
“Don’t tell Daddy I know. It’ll make him sad. I’ll tell him after Christmas.”
If I hadn’t known how tender Evanne’s heart was, I might’ve thought she was simply angling to get more gifts, but Alec typically kept the ‘Santa’ gifts small, not wanting other kids to wonder why Evanne would get expensive gifts from Santa when they didn’t.
Evanne enjoyed getting gifts, but she wasn’t a selfish child. Or a manipulative one. She had no problem boldly stating what she wanted. I had no doubt her revelation to Alec about not believing in Santa would include reasons why she should still get the same number of gifts.
When Alec first brought up the idea of Soleil and me moving in with him, I’d been worried about how Evanne would feel about suddenly having this teenager coming into her house. But when Alec and I had sat her down to talk to her about it, she’d simply said that she’d always wanted a sister. She also said that Soleil was better than a baby because Evanne wouldn’t have to wait until the baby was older for them to be able to play together. They’d practically been inseparable ever since.
“You don’t mind reading to her?” I asked Soleil.
“Not at all.” She smiled. “She doesn’t ask for bedtime stories much anymore.”
That was true. Over the last year, Evanne had moved to reading chapter books to us rather than us reading stories to her, but more often lately, she’d wanted to read on her own. She was growing up.
“And don’t worry, as soon as I’m done, I plan on showering and turning in. Can’t be the one who keeps Santa away.” Soleil’s smile grew even bigger, and it was beautiful to see. “Don’t you two stay up too late. I have a feeling we’ll be knocking on your door right at six.”
I winked at her. “Fair warning, she’ll probably wake you up earlier than that.”
“I figured as much,” she said with a laugh. “All right, squirt. Let’s go.”
Evanne grabbed Soleil’s hand. “Come on. I think we can finish the last two chapters ofPhilosopher’s Stonetonight.”
“I still don’t get why you call it that,” Soleil said as she and Evanne headed for the stairs.
“Because Daddy says it’s the real title, and that’s why he bought me the real book,” Evanne explained.
I looked over at Alec, who shrugged.
“It’s the truth,” he said.
As the girls disappeared upstairs, I walked over to the plate of sugar cookies and picked one up. Soleil and Evanne had iced them all by themselves earlier today, which was how we’d ended up with a red star, a blue Christmas tree, and a purple candy cane.