A Christmas Home: A Novel (20 page)

Todd waited for Laura to say something. When she didn’t, he wondered if he had lost his cell phone connection—a frequent occurrence in rural Cherokee County. “Laura, are you still there?” he asked.

Laura felt like she was leaning over the edge of a cliff. She gripped the bedspread in her right hand and pulled Gracie closer to her. She felt so many things at once: proud, afraid, hurt, worried, and joyful. She had no idea what to say. All the emotions were swirling around, and it would take days for her and Todd to sort them out. Right now, the confusion just produced tears. She pushed them back. “I’m here, Todd. I’m here.”

THE FIRST
sip of his morning coffee always tasted the best. George folded the paper and left it on the kitchen table for Mary Ann and quickly finished the rest of the cup. The back porch light barely pierced the fog that hugged the snow-crusted ground.

Christmas had begun renegotiating his custody arrangement between George and Todd. Now that he was not going into work with Todd every day at the shelter, he was spending a lot of his time with George and Mary Ann. George opened the door and let him back in after the Lab’s morning constitutional. There was a howling north wind, and Christmas scooted back inside and regained his favorite spot by the fire. George rinsed his cereal bowl, put it in the dishwasher, and walked into the mudroom to put on his coat, gloves, and boots.

As part of his morning routine, George tore the page
off the calendar—Friday, December 20th—and put it in the trash can. Another year was approaching its final lap. It seemed like it had been only a few weeks ago that he had hung this year’s calendar and pulled off January 1. George opened the back door and started digging in his pockets for truck keys, walking through the cold, damp air. He drove through the winter morning darkness to Hank’s farm and did the milking. When he finished that he returned home, checked on the mostly sleeping shelter dogs, and did his own chores. Todd joined him for an hour to help and then hurried off on some important but undefined errand.

With his work complete, George sat down for a midmorning cup of coffee with Mary Ann. It was just two days before the annual McCray holiday party, so she was too busy to linger. She was rinsing her cup and putting it away when the phone rang. It was Louisa Sailor.

“Just wanted you to know how excited we are about coming to your party Sunday evening,” Mary Ann’s friend said.

“Well, Louisa, George and I are glad you and Rick can make it.”

There was a pause, and it was obvious to Mary Ann that something else was on her friend’s mind. She tried to speed the conversation to its conclusion. “I guess we’ll see you Sunday?”

“Just one more thing. And, Mary Ann, I just thought you should know this, and I hope you don’t think I’m being a gossip.…”

Knowing Louisa to be just that, Mary Ann prodded her. “Go ahead, Louisa, what is it?”

“Well, your son, Todd, just left the bank. We were both the first ones in this morning.” The woman paused to make sure that her startling revelation had time to fully register. “So I just happened to be behind him waiting for a teller and, again, I know it’s none of my business. But, Mary Ann, I think you’ll be quite surprised to learn that Todd closed his savings account and they gave him thirty-two hundred and twenty-four dollars and sixteen cents in cash. He left with all that money in his pocket. Walked right out of the bank like it was a perfectly normal thing to do! Now, I just thought to myself, what does Todd McCray need with that much money? Mother to mother, I thought you should know.”

Mary Ann sighed. “Louisa, thanks for calling. I will check into it.” She hung up and tried to avoid speculating on why her son needed that much money. She tried to tell herself, for the third time that day, to stop worrying about Todd. George was right. He was fine.

She sat back down with her husband and tried to make light of the call from her nosy friend. “That was Louisa Sailor, who saw your son at the bank this morning. She thinks that Todd is running away and joining the French Foreign Legion.”

Mary Ann told him the entire story. The telling only made it worse. Eventually she gave up the pretext of not worrying. “I’m concerned. What’s this about?”

George offered what comfort he could. “Todd is pretty careful with his money.”

“Still, why that much and what for?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

She abruptly stood up from the table and began to pace about the kitchen. “I’m sorry but I can’t just sit around and not worry about this,” she said, with increasing anxiety in her voice. “Maybe you can, but I’m not that good. We’re going to have to get to the bottom of it.”

“He’s over twenty-one and it’s his money. It’s Christmastime.…” George caught himself in the middle of the thought. The pieces started to come together. Todd had been asking him about the nature of good gift giving. He had been expressing his love for Laura.
No
, he told himself.
Surely not
. He wasn’t ready for another daughter-in-law, and Todd was not ready for a wife. While he wondered about the withdrawal of the money, George decided not to voice any wild theories. “I’ll check into it,” he told Mary Ann.

He picked up the phone and dialed Todd’s number. Todd answered on the second ring and seemed preoccupied. “What’s up?” Todd asked.

“Nothing much. Say, Todd, I was wondering—how is your money situation? Are you a little worried about not having a job? You’ve got lots in savings, right?”

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve got plenty of money. Also, Laura and I will be gone all day tomorrow, back late. We’ve got something special planned. Got to go!”

Todd’s secretive behavior only added to his parents’
worries. It also didn’t help that Todd had been spending an extraordinary amount of time on the phone with Laura over the last two weeks.

On the following Saturday morning, Mary Ann rose earlier than normal. George had left over an hour earlier for Hank’s farm to do the early-morning milking. The Christmas party was the next day, and while she still had a few things left to do, her worries were centered on Todd and his sudden need for cash.

Mary Ann walked over to the window. The sun was up far enough in the morning sky for her to see Todd’s truck still parked in his driveway. When she had gone to bed the night before, just after eleven, Laura’s car had still been parked in the cabin’s gravel driveway. She knew Laura’s parents would not be happy about her driving home that late at night. Neither was she.

She sat down in her chair, drank her coffee, and thought about her son. When George got back, she let loose. “I just can’t stand it another minute.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You have to go down there and see what’s going on with Todd.”

“What do you mean?”

“George! Demand an explanation. You let him off too easy.”

There was no use arguing. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” George said.

When he arrived at Thorne’s cabin, George opened the
door and called out for Todd, but there was no answer. It was only 7:15, but Todd was a very early riser, and George expected him to be awake. George called out again. “Todd, are you up?”

When his son emerged from his bedroom, George was stunned. “What happened to Todd McCray? There’s some handsome guy standing in his cabin wearing a suit!”

“Dad,” Todd moaned. “It’s me. Todd McCray.”

George whistled. “Wow, that outfit must have set you back a few dollars.”

“It did. Do you like it?”

Todd turned around. His tie was knotted like a lead line on a spring heifer and hung clumsily from his neck.

“I love the suit,” George said. “The tie is perfect, but I can help you tie a smaller knot. I’m not sure about the socks and shoes.”

Todd looked down at his white socks and red Converse tennis shoes. “That’s what I wanted to ask you about. I bought new ones.” He motioned over to the box on the sofa. “But I kind of like these better. What do you think?”

“Why don’t you try the new ones on for me? They’ll look better with those black socks.” George pointed to the pair of dark socks resting by the shoes.

Todd put them on, stood up, and said, “They still feel funny.”

“They always do at first. You’re just not used to the hard soles.”

“So do you think I should wear them?”

“You bought them for a reason. Right?” George was itching to find out what that reason was—and why Todd had closed his savings account and where he was going that morning. But he also far preferred that Todd tell him in his own way and in his own good time.
Patience
, he thought to himself, thankful that he’d been the one to come upon this scene and not Mary Ann.

Todd held his right leg up, so he could give his shoes a closer inspection. “I guess they fit.” He then took off the necktie and handed it to George. “I didn’t know how to tie it.”

George motioned his son over to the mirror that hung beside the picture he had recently hung nearby, the one of Grandpa Bo carrying George on his shoulders. He stepped behind Todd, tied the knot for his son, and slipped the tie snuggly against his collar. “What do you think?” George asked.

“I look pretty handsome.”

“Any particular reason you want to look so handsome?” he pressed, ever so gently.

“Laura and I have a special day planned today.”

“I see,” George said casually, straightening the shirt’s collar.

Once again, George was glad he was the one here, and not Mary Ann. He didn’t want to speculate on how she’d react to
Laura and I have a special day planned
.

It was obvious to George that Todd was still avoiding coming right out and saying what he was doing. George
wanted to respect Todd’s privacy and to follow his own advice about not meddling in Todd’s life. Still, he hoped Todd was not doing something he would later regret. George was trying hard to balance that uneasiness with his desire to let Todd make his own choices.

“If you need a hand, you know where to find me.” George looked down at the pile of Todd’s old discarded clothing on the floor, punctuated by his red Converse tennis shoes. “We’ll see you tomorrow at the open house?”

“I’ll be there. I’ve called Hayley. She’s coming out later this morning to feed, water, and exercise the dogs, but I’ll be back later today, except it might be a little late.”

“Sounds good, Todd. You’re okay, right?”

“Sure.”

“Nothing you want to tell me?”

Todd was nonchalant. “Dad, don’t worry. I’m good.”

Todd felt awkward driving in the suit. Once in Crossing Trails, he went straight to Laura’s house and parked his truck. They decided it was safer and more comfortable to drive her car. Julie had suggested that bringing Gracie would showcase Todd’s skills far better than any résumé. “Gracie is a walking, breathing demonstration of your skill and accomplishments,” Julie had said. “You should bring
her. If she doesn’t mind the drive, we’d love to meet your Laura, too.”

It was close to a three-hour drive to Washington, Kansas—a town in so many ways just like Crossing Trails, and the home of the Heartland School for Dogs. They were on the road by eight. Todd used the GPS app on his cell phone to retrieve a map and exact directions. The trip took him and Laura north past Manhattan, Kansas, and through the beautiful flint hills that rose from the prairie like gentle sphinxes.

Julie and her boss, Lyle Hanks, would meet them for a tour and then they would go to lunch together and talk some more about the school.