Christmas Miracle: A Family Read Online Free PDF

hall, leaving a trail of slushy water and dirty snow in his wake.
    “Sorry about that,” James said. “I told him to stay in the car.”
    “When nature calls…” Fallon said, her voice not quite steady. This little boy was so much like the one she’d dreamt her own little boy would be that all the emotion she’d been fighting to hold back for so long was now fighting against her. This moment of realization unnerved her so badly that she had to back up to the wall to steady herself. This wasn’t her son, she knew that. But she felt the instant connection as this was her son’s brother. “I assume…assume that’s Tyler?”
    “Shelly dropped him off again a few days ago.”
    She swallowed back her emotion. She had to. There was no other way to do this with James. “A-and are you happy?” She knew he was. Happy, worried. Relieved.
    “More than you can imagine. Although being his dad scares me because it’s a lot of responsibility I never expected to have…at least, not right away. Not without you.”
    “Give it time,” she said, ignoring his last comment. “The adjustment for Tyler is just as big as yours. But you’ll both do fine once you’re used to each other.” Thinking about James and Tyler getting to know each other, working out their lives together, caused a lump to form in her throat when she thought about their child, their little boy…how they’d never have the chance to work out their lives with him. But seeing Tyler made the loss so acute again, like those first days after she’d lost her own baby. Suddenly she had to spin away from James lest he see the tears welling in her eyes. “He’s cute, James,” she said, walking away from the door. “I’m guessing he’s, what? Five or six? You may have told me, but I don’t remember.”
    “Five.”
    “And still so active?” That was a polite way of describing what James had told her early on about Tyler’s behavior.
    In answer to her question, a loud crash coming from the bathroom sent them both running down the hall to the open door where Tyler was standing, totally unaffected by the mess he’d made pulling a shelf of lotions and cosmetics right off the wall. And it had taken some doing, as it was hung a good three feet higher than Tyler was tall.
    “He must have climbed up on the sink,” Fallon said, bending to pick up a bottle of lotion. Only the bottom of the bottle had broken and when she lifted the bottle from the floor, its bottom, along with its contents, remained there, leaving Fallon holding a bottomless, empty bottle.
    “Tyler,” James said, his voice so quiet and controlled it was brittle.
    “I’m sure it was an accident,” she said, not sure what else to say, or do.
    “I’m sure it was not ,” James responded.
    “Maybe we should ask Tyler,” Fallon said, quite surprised that he seemed totally unaffected by the whole matter. Most children his age would be scared, on the verge of tears. But Tyler had his shoulders squared, his jaw set, his arms folded belligerently across his chest. Getting ready to do battle was what Fallon immediately thought of. This child was getting ready to square off with someone. “Was it an accident, Tyler?” she asked, suddenly feeling protective of the boy.
    He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared straight ahead at the hall, barely blinking.
    “Tyler?” she asked again.
    Again, no response. She glanced up at James, who seemed in agony. Then she glanced back at Tyler, and saw just a flash of that same agony, and the need to come to his defense in some way, to make the situation a littlebetter for him, overtook her. “Look, Tyler, I’m not going to punish you for breaking my shelf. But here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to go find some rags so you can clean up the lotions and everything else that spilled on the floor. And while I’m doing that, stand back so we can get the glass picked up. We don’t want you cutting yourself while you’re cleaning.”
    “We’ve been