The Christmas Star

by Donna VanLiere

  Travis smiles. “Honestly?” Gabe nods. “Please tell me that you won’t wear that maintenance uniform to the wedding. Buy a suit, dude. I’m begging you.”

  Gabe smacks the table, laughing.

  SIX

  Maddie sets up the game Connect Four and waves for Amy to join her. “Would you like to play this with me?” Maddie sits at the end of the table, looking up at her. She picks up a red chip and slides it into a slot.

  Amy agrees, sitting in the corner chair. “I’d love to! It’s been years since I’ve played this.” She picks up a black chip and taps it to her forehead, thinking of where to place it.

  “You should know that I’m really good!” Maddie drops in another chip.

  “I believe you!”

  “I like your bracelet.” It’s a simple braided bracelet of turquoise, blue, and yellow.

  Amy slides a chip into a slot. “Thanks! It’s called a cord of three. See, it’s got three heavy cords that are braided together because a cord of three can’t be broken.”

  “It can’t?”

  Amy shakes her head. “Nope. A cord of two can be flimsy but a cord of three is much stronger.”

  Maddie slides in another red chip. “I like the colors. It’s pretty.”

  “Here,” Amy says, loosening the bracelet from her wrist and sliding it off her hand. “You can have it. See, it slips on over your hand and then you tighten it by moving this bead up.”

  Maddie’s mouth drops open. “This is so cool! I love it! But won’t you miss it?”

  Amy reaches for a black chip. “I got it at the flea market. The next time I’m there I’ll pick up another one.”

  Maddie drops in another chip and grins. “Connect Four!”

  Amy bugs her eyes out. “You are good at this!”

  “Do you want to play again?”

  “Sure!”

  Maddie moves the lever so the chips will drop to the table and then moves the lever back in place. “Do you think Lauren will change?”

  Amy looks at her. “What do you mean?”

  Maddie studies where she should place her first chip. “After she gets married. Do you think she’ll change? Because I don’t want her to.”

  Amy shakes her head. “I think Lauren will be exactly the person that you love right now.”

  “Mr. G. said that he changed. Said he was a bad husband.”

  Amy drops in a chip. “The guy that you wanted me to meet? He was a bad husband and you want me to meet him?!”

  Maddie looks at her, rolling her eyes. “He was a bad husband but he would be a good husband now. He said he wasn’t very nice to his wife. Do you think Lauren’s husband will be nice to her?”

  Amy looks over at Lauren, who’s helping with the choir. “Lauren strikes me as a person who would be very careful and selective about who she lets into her life. Although I’ve never met him, I can assume that her fiancé is a good man.”

  Maddie drops in another chip, grinning at Amy. “Do you want to get married?”

  Amy puts a hand on her hip with an exaggerated sigh. “Do you?”

  “I’m too young!”

  “So am I!”

  “You’re not young! You’re old!”

  Amy slaps her hand down on her thigh. “Miss Glory never told me that I was signing up for this!”

  Maddie grins. “Well, you’re not old but you’re old enough to be married. I still think you should meet Mr. G.”

  “The guy who was the bad husband, right?”

  “I think he should come to the fund-raiser and meet you. Don’t you?”

  Amy sighs. “I will be helping at the fund-raiser so if it makes you happy, then yes, tell him to come and I will be happy to say hello to him.” She leans closer for emphasis. “I will say hello to him.”

  Maddie uses a hand to pat the air in front of her. “I get it. I get it. You’ll say hello and that’s it.” She slides in another chip and points to the grid. “Connect four!”

  “That’s not fair! You keep distracting me!”

  Maddie giggles and moves the lever again so all the chips will fall. “You’re fun to play with.”

  “Only because you keep beating me!” Amy looks over at Maddie and smiles. “You said that a nurse named you.” She’s not sure how to continue with this train of thought but Maddie steps in for her.

  “She did. The woman who had me was out of there.” She raises her thumb and throws it over her shoulder as if hitchhiking.

  Amy stops playing the game. “What do you mean?”

  Maddie shrugs. “All I know is that she had me and then she left. My dad too.”

  Amy nods. “Their leaving had nothing to do with you.”

  “How do you know? I think once they found out I had CP they left.” Maddie drops a chip into the grid.

  Amy leans onto the table. “You can’t tell that a baby has cerebral palsy when she’s born.”

  Maddie looks at her. “That’s what my foster mom said too.”

  “And she’s right!” Amy says. “I worked with a woman with cerebral palsy and she was around your age when she was diagnosed. You can’t look at a brand-new baby and diagnose CP. Your biological parents didn’t leave you behind because of that.”

  “But how do you know?”

  “Because no one could ever look at your face and walk away.”

  “I still wonder why they did.”

  “They were probably too young. Maybe her parents didn’t even know that she was about to have you and she had you without their knowing. Maybe he had a drug problem and they thought that they were doing the best thing for you by leaving you in the care of someone healthy and strong.” She desperately wants to believe this and hopes that Maddie believes it too. Maddie’s face is blank, leaving Amy to wonder if she has said something she shouldn’t have.

  “They did do the best thing!” Maddie says, sliding another red chip into the grid. “I never would’ve come to my first foster home in Grandon, which means I never would have ended up with Linda. She took me to all my doctor appointments and helped me with my leg braces when I had them. She’s a great foster mom.” She thinks for a second and then says, “I never would have met my teachers or friends at school, or Mr. G., or Miss Glory, or you, or anybody here. Right?”

  Amy smiles, nodding. “Right! And my life would be awfully dull without you in it.” She drops a chip into the grid and realizes that she has just set Maddie up to win again and she groans, throwing her hands on top of her head.

  “Thanks!” Maddie laughs, sliding her final red chip in to win.

  Lauren and Stacy call for Maddie’s group to come sing and Amy says, “Go on! I’ll clean this up.” As she’s leaving, Maddie leans in to hug Amy’s neck and Amy can feel her heart swell.

  “She’s awfully sweet, isn’t she?”

  Amy looks behind her at Gloria and nods. “She seems to have so much against her but…”

  “But she’s got everything going for her,” Gloria says, finishing her sentence. “There’s a lot to be said for childlike faith.”

  Amy begins to put the chips into the box and pulls the grid apart. “She said she’s in a foster home. Is it a good home for her?”

  Gloria hands her the lid to the box. “Her foster mom, Linda, is a lovely person. She’s a nurse and has given excellent care to Maddie. She’s an older woman who’s been fostering for years. We need more foster parents like her.”

  “How have you done this for as long as you have?”

  Gloria sits on the edge of the table. “Are you asking me how have I continued to believe that life for some of these kids can be changed, that somehow all their broken pieces can turn out for good?” Amy nods. “I believe because I’ve seen it happen in so many of their lives. I saw it happen in my own son’s life. He ran away when he was a teenager, just two weeks before his father died, and was gone for years. All I had left was hope and faith. All I had was my prayers for him. I left my front porch light on every single day year after year, just praying that the light would l
ead him home, and it did. It seemed impossible that I’d ever see him again but I couldn’t let my hope and faith die. I had to believe that my son would return. I have that same kind of hope and faith for these kids and I show that to them through the work that we all do here. And I pray for them every day.”

  “And that’s enough?”

  “It is enough because faith can move mountains.” She laughs. “You learn a lot about mountain moving at my age!”

  Miriam shouts for Gloria to from across the big room and Gloria shakes her head, sighing. “I always thought the English were supposed to be demure. Miriam has shattered that image.”

  Amy puts the game away and turns to listen as the children practice “O Holy Night.” When she was a child she did believe that faith could move mountains but that belief began to crumble as she grew into adulthood. There is a hollowed-out place in her heart that longs for a simple faith like that of Maddie and Gloria; a faith that sustains her when life pulls the rug out from beneath her. But the rug has been pulled out from under her one too many times, leaving her faith crippled at best. It wasn’t her parents’ fault. She looks back fondly at her home life with her two brothers and mom and dad. Her parents have always been supportive, and when her heart has been broken, her father’s arms have been the first to surround her. It has been years since her heart was broken and she knows it’s time to step out in faith, believing, like Gloria, that the broken pieces in her life can turn out for the good.

  SEVEN

  “Good-bye, Mr. G.!”

  Gabe turns as he’s folding the flag and walks toward Maddie, who’s waiting for the van for Glory’s Place. “Hey! You’re first in line for the van today!”

  “I decided to wait until I got to Glory’s Place to go to the bathroom.” He finishes folding the flag and puts it under his arm. She notices something on his arm and says, “I have a bracelet like that!”

  He looks down at his corded bracelet of black, brown, and red on his arm and touches it. “We have the same great taste!”

  “Miss Jenson gave this to me. She said that a cord of three can’t be broken.”

  He nods, impressed. “That’s right!”

  “It looks like you and Miss Jenson already have things in common,” she says, grinning and raising her eyebrows up and down.

  He chuckles. “I think this is a pretty common bracelet.”

  “Where’d you get yours?”

  He shrugs. “At an arts festival in California. I’ve had it for years. I don’t know why I decided to put it on today.”

  “Miss Jenson got hers at the flea market.”

  “She probably paid less at the flea market. Those colors are really pretty on you.”

  She reaches out to touch his bracelet. “I really like yours.”

  “Then why don’t you have it?” He begins to take off the bracelet.

  “Really?”

  He slides it over her hand. “Absolutely! Two of them will look awesome together. If I want another one I’ll go to the flea market this time.”

  Maddie grins. “Maybe you’ll see Miss Jenson there.” She straightens her shoulders. “Wait! You have to come to the fund-raiser. She’ll be helping out and she said that if you’re there that she’d say hello.” He begins to shake his head. “Please come! We are going to be singing and everything.”

  He sighs in resignation. “How can I say no to singing and everything?”

  As the van pulls in to the school driveway, Maddie throws her arms around Gabe’s waist. “It’s Saturday afternoon, okay?”

  He helps her into the van and watches as it pulls away. Before he was married, Gabe always thought he wanted three or four children, but as alcohol gained its control, life became increasingly more about him. By the time he was married he had little interest in children. Life was a party and children would bring an end to that. His wife wanted kids but he always had the best of excuses: they needed more money, a better place to live, better health insurance, or more time together. The last excuse is laughable now as the more time they spent together, the more he tore them apart. He walks back into the school and through the empty halls to the maintenance office, placing the flag on its shelf. God saved him from destroying himself and this job has kept him busy, his thoughts and time occupied with others and not just himself.

  He’s tried dating a few times over the last six years but the women have never measured up to his ex-wife. She was kind and beautiful and would laugh at even his dumbest jokes. He dreads meeting Maddie’s Miss Jenson but he will do it in order to see the joy on Maddie’s face. Although he enjoys all of the children at school, there’s something about Maddie that stays with him after he locks the doors each evening. He grabs his tool belt and bucket of tools and heads toward the gymnasium. One of the risers was unable to be pulled out for the school assembly today and needs his attention.

  Bent over his work, he wonders what he could do for Maddie and other kids like her. Although his dad wasn’t perfect, he always showed Gabe the value of hard work and being a man of your word. He showed him how to be a man, and when Gabe’s life fell off the rails, he always remembered his dad’s words and example. What about the kids who don’t know what that’s like? He’s heard rumblings of a mentoring program but knows little about it. Maybe there’s room for someone like him to help? He jumps when he hears his name. “I’m sorry, Gabe,” Mrs. Kurtz says. “I took a shortcut through the gym. I was trying to let you know I was behind you so that I didn’t scare you but ended up doing that very thing.”

  “No worries. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Kurtz.” For reasons he can’t explain, and before there is any time to think of something else, he says, “Mrs. Kurtz?” Her hand is on the door as she turns to him. “I’ve been thinking…” She’s looking at him, waiting, but he doesn’t know how to put the words together. “I don’t know.”

  She walks over to him and smiles. “What is it, Gabe?”

  He turns the wrench over in his hands, looking down at it. “There are a lot of great kids here but…”

  “Did one of mine do something? It’s okay, you can let me know and I’ll take care of it.”

  He shakes his head. “No. Nothing like that. I know it sounds strange but … I’ve heard about a mentoring program after school and was wondering if you know anything about it. I know there’s lots of kids who could … I mean, I know I’m not the best example of—”

  She cuts him off. “You would be a wonderful influence on so many of them! Mr. Parrish organizes that. I don’t know much about it but I know that he tries to get some kids together with men once a week. The problem is he doesn’t have enough men.” She smiles. “He’ll be so happy to know you’re interested.”

  Mrs. Kurtz leaves the gym and he turns back to his work. He stands, thinking, wondering if he’d be any good at something like this. He turns the wrench over and over in his hands before setting it down on the riser and heading for the main office. “Is Mr. Parrish still in?” he asks Mrs. Kemper.

  “He’s in his office. Do you need him?”

  Gabe rests his hands on top of the counter. “I just wanted to ask him a quick question if he’s around.”

  Mrs. Kemper shrugs. “You can head back there and see if he’s available.”

  “Thanks,” Gabe says, walking through the office to the hallway where the principal, school nurse, bookkeeper, and Vice Principal Parrish have their offices. Rick Parrish looks to be in his late forties and has been at Grandon Elementary for twenty years, serving the last eleven years as vice principal. Gabe sees that his office door is open and sticks his head inside. Mr. Parrish is working on his computer. “Mr. Parrish? Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure, Gabe! What’s up?”

  Gabe sits in a chair opposite the desk, leaning forward on his knees. “I was just talking to Mrs. Kurtz and she said that you organize a mentoring program and I was wondering if you could tell me about it.”

  Mr. Parrish’s face opens in surprise. “Absolutely! I try to pair a man from the commun
ity with a child from the school who currently lives in a home without a dad. We just get together once a week as a group and do things like bowling, go for pizza, or to a sporting event that’s in season; sometimes we do a project. Ed came from the hardware store and instructed us on how to make a wooden airplane. Another time we made a simple boat together. Sometimes we’ll just shoot baskets or play games. We discovered that it doesn’t really matter what we do. The kids just like to get together.” He props his elbows on top of his desk. “Could you help us?”

  Gabe nods. “Yeah. I think so.”

  “Well, you’ve already gone through all the background checks so if you’re interested you can join us tomorrow evening. We’re meeting here at six for pizza and then someone’s going to help us make a wreath for each child’s front door.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  Mr. Parrish leans back in his chair. “Just curious. What is it that brought you to me?”

  Gabe shakes his head. “Maddie was telling me this week about her report on Florence Nightingale in Mrs. Kurtz’s class. She said that if she dressed nice, she’d get extra points for her presentation, but she wasn’t sure if what she wore was nice enough. I told her she looked perfect, and, I don’t know why, but I’ve just been thinking of her and so many of these kids who don’t…” He stops, thinking. “I know I’m not a dad but these kids need to hear that they’re smart and awesome. Maybe I can help them believe that.”

  Gabe leaves the office unsure of what he’s gotten himself into but there’s no turning back now.

  EIGHT

  That evening, Travis and Lauren as well as Stacy and Miriam meet at Gloria’s house for dinner because Lauren and Travis have asked them to help with the wedding plans. “First things first,” Miriam says, setting the table with Gloria’s dinner plates, the ones with the word Thankful—surrounded by autumn leaves—written across each one. “The date that you get married will often be determined by the place you select to get married.” She sets the last plate down and moves aside so Stacy can follow with the napkins and silverware. “So,” she says, moving to a cupboard to retrieve glasses. “Where do you want to get married?”