The Greatest Gift Read Online Free PDF Page A

It would mean that Mary could save a little more money for rent. It was a windfall.
    She held hands with the children and she said grace before they ate. Life was being very good to her, despite the trials of the past week.

CHAPTER TWO
    M ARY TOOK THE CHILDREN with her to the grocery store on Friday afternoon. It was raining and cold. Trying to juggle John, who was squirming, and the paper bag containing the heaviest of their purchases, milk and canned goods, she dropped it.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” she groaned. “Here, Ann, honey, take John while I run down the cans of tuna fish…!”
    “I’ll get them,” came a deep voice from behind her. “I’m a fair fisherman, actually, but catching cans of tuna is more my style.”
    Mary turned and saw a police officer grinning at her. She recognized him at once. “Officer Clark!” she exclaimed. “How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for us?” she exclaimed. “Bev has been wonderful. We have a place to stay, now, too!”
    He held up a hand, smiling. “You don’t need to thank me, Mrs. Crandall. It was my pleasure.”
    In the clear daylight, without the mental torment that had possessed her at their first meeting, she saw him in a different way. He was several years older than she was, tall and a little heavy, but not enough to matter. He was good-looking.“You seem to have your hands full as it is,” he added, scooping up the cans and milk jug. “I’ll carry them for you.”
    “Thank you,” she said, flustered.
    He shrugged. “It isn’t as if I’m overwhelmed with crime in this neighborhood,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. “Jaywalking and petty theft are about it.”
    “Our car’s over here. Well, it’s not really our car,” she added, and then could have bitten her tongue.
    “You stole it, I guess,” the policeman sighed. “And here I thought I was going to end my shift without an hour’s paperwork.”
    “I didn’t steal it!” she exclaimed, and then laughed. “My employer let me borrow it…”
    “On account of Dad taking our car away after he left us,” Bob muttered.
    The policeman pursed his lips. “That’s a pretty raw way to treat someone.”
    “Alcohol and drugs,” she said, tight-lipped.
    He sighed. “I have seen my share of that curse,” he told her. “Are all these really yours?” he added, nodding toward the kids. “You didn’t shoplift these fine children in the store?” he added with mock suspicion.
    The children were laughing, now, too. “We shoplifted her,” Bob chuckled. “She’s a great mom!”
    “She keeps house for people,” Ann added quietly.
    “She works real hard,” Bob agreed.
    “Have you got a house?” the policeman asked.
    “Well, we’re living in a motel. Just temporarily,” Mary said at once, flushing. “Just until we find something else.”
    The policeman waited for Mary to unlock the trunk and he put the groceries he was carrying into it gingerly. Bob and Ann added their packages.
    “Thanks again, Officer Clark,” Mary said, trying not to let him see how attractive she found him. It was much too soon for that.
    “Do you have any kids?” Ann asked him, looking up with her big eyes.
    “No kids, no family,” he replied with a sad smile. “Not by choice, either.”
    He looked as if he’d had a hard life. “Well, if you haven’t stolen the car, and you need no further assistance, I’ve no choice but to go back to my car and try to catch a speeder or two before my shift ends. I hope I’ll see you around again, Mrs. Crandall…. Mary.”
    “Are you married?” she blurted out.
    He chuckled. “Not hardly. I entered the divorced state ten years ago, and I heartily recommend it. Much better than verbal combat over burned potatoes every single night.”
    “Your wife couldn’t cook?” Mary asked involuntarily.
    “She wouldn’t cook and I couldn’t cook, which led to a lot of the combat,” he told her with a chuckle. “Drive safely, now.”
    “I will. You, too.”
    He