A Family for Christmas (19 page)

“I think He did it ‘cause He loves us,” Rachel said thoughtfully. “I think He loves us an awful lot. He must have missed his daddy in heaven as much as we miss our mommy and daddy who are there now.
Maybe more, ‘cause He was the one who had to go to the new place as a baby. At least we have you and Uncle Trent, and we knew both of you our whole lifes.”

“You know, Rachel, I'm not sure I ever thought of it like that, but I bet you're right,” Maggie said. “He must have missed His Father just as much as all of you miss yours. And you're right. He did it because He loves us. Now let's open the rest of our gifts and try to remember the gift He gave us almost two thousand years ago.”

Trent sat up, bouncing Grace on his knee, and watched in awe as the children opened their gifts one at a time, helping Grace with her packages. There was wonder and sharing, gratitude and love shining on each sweet face. Choked up, he looked away and stared into the crèche that sat up on the mantel in a place of honor.

Christmas
was
about gifts. Grace. Salvation. Peace. And they all stem from His great love for us. Trent understood at last that all he had to do was reach out and take that gift the way the children did every time Maggie pulled one from under the tree and called out a name.

Blinking back tears, he closed his eyes.
Give me Your gifts, Jesus,
he prayed,
And You can have my life.

Trent felt Maggie's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her blurred form. “Tell me,” she said, and wiped tears off his cheeks that he hadn't even realized he'd shed.

“After the court hearing, when I spoke to my
mother, she told me the truth about my parents, and everything I'd always believed fell apart. Which is one of the reasons I buried myself out at the workshop these last two nights. I think better while I'm working. And I've been doing a lot of thinking—and not just because you ordered me to later that night.” He smiled and Maggie smiled back, warming his heart with the love shining in her eyes. For the first time he believed that everything was going to be all right.

“She also said my father was so proud of me that he insisted they keep my adoption secret. I realized that I didn't know anymore what was truth and what I'd fabricated out of hurt feelings. I've finally come to understand that they're just human and they made mistakes. Their views are skewed, but they aren't the monsters I'd blown them up to be either.”

“What did Albertine tell you about your parents?”

“That they were dead. It was an auto accident that killed them. Their names were James and Kathleen Trenton. I was named for their surname. James died instantly, and Kathleen died after I was born.

“Hearing that they'd loved me, that my mother's last act was to ask that my name be Trenton, meant so much. Then later in the evening, you came out to the workshop and it shook me when you told me that you'd love me no matter what, but that I had to decide what kind of marriage we'd have. Finally this morning, hearing the Christmas story and what you said about His sacrifices and why He made them, cemented it all together in my mind.

“I realized that God loves me and He confirmed
that love in my heart. I was so bitter and feeling so unloved that I couldn't see it before, I guess.”

Maggie finger-combed his hair gently and smiled. “I'm glad you finally know the truth. I know it's made you feel so much better about a lot of things.”

“Having your forgiveness would make me feel even better. I'm sorry I didn't trust your love, Mag. Because I've loved you practically from the first moment I met you. I need you to understand that my heart was scarred for years by a secret shame that I was afraid to tell you about.”

“Trent, what could you possibly have been so ashamed of. The adoption?”

Trent shook his head. How to explain? “You can't know what a life without love is like, Mag. You just can't know. I watch you with the kids. The little touches. The pats on their heads. The little smiles when they do some inconsequential thing right All the little ways you show love. That's what drew me to you in the first place. I was like a man who'd been without water in the desert. I just lapped up all the love and affection that you gave. Because I'd never had that.

“Can you imagine hearing your parents discuss sending you away at age twelve as if you were an employee they'd decided to transfer? No emotion. No love. No loss. Then they start discussing the fact that you aren't even their child. So here were my parents, who clearly didn't love me, sending me away and being relieved because I made Mike look bad. Then I realized that my real parents obviously hadn't wanted me either.

“I thought ‘What's wrong with me?' I spent hours that summer staring into the mirror, wondering what it was that they saw in me that I didn't. And I was still wondering the day I met you. I was still wondering when I went to bed last night.

“When you came into my life, I was instantly crazy about you. Then, like some dream come true, you loved me back. I couldn't stand to lose that, so I tried to be the person I thought you saw in me. And I still thought I was doing that. Even when I let you go, I told myself it was better that you left over not having children than that you saw it—the thing in me that repulsed two sets of parents.”

“Oh, Trent,” Maggie said, tears flooding her beautiful eyes.

“Shh,” he whispered, and put his finger to her lips. “Don't cry, Maggie. It's all fine now. In court I knew I had to save those kids even if it meant smashing that facade. But these last two days I've gone over and over our relationship, and I realized there was no longer a facade between us anyway. I'd let it fade away years ago.

“The last vestige of my secret self—for want of a better description—was holding back the truth about my parents. I did it because I was afraid you'd see my great flaw if I let you know it was there. And, of course, once you knew it was there, you'd find it.”

“So that's why you didn't tell me? Because you thought there was something wrong with you?” Her tone was incredulous.

Trent shrugged and felt a sheepish smile form on his lips. “Stupid, huh?”

Maggie shook her head. “Sad. Tragic. But not stupid. It just goes to prove how easily children can be damaged.”

“But it proves something else, too. It proves how much Jesus can heal if we let Him. I feel like a new person already. He's filled all the empty places in my heart that I tried for so long to hide.” He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “I don't want any more walls between us, Mag.”

The sound of three childish sets of giggles drew their attention. Mickey knelt on the back of the sofa, holding a plastic mistletoe ball over their heads.

“Family hugs and kisses,” Rachel called from her perch on the arm of the sofa, and Daniel shouted a lusty “Merry Christmas!” from his newly attained roost up next to Mickey. Then the three little bodies from above tackled Trent and Maggie, adding wild sloppy kisses to sweeten the family hug even more. Grace got into the act by planting a big wet baby kiss on Trent's cheek before giggling and diving for Maggie.

Trent closed his eyes. This was love. And that's what Christmas was all about.

Hours later the prediction Maggie made the night before the custody hearing had come true. They were both that wonderful kind of exhausted that only came after a day when there had been overwhelming joy— overwhelming love. Toys were scattered from one end of the usually neat living room to the other. All four energy-charged children were indeed safely tucked in their beds. And both Trent and Maggie were
too tired to even consider the long climb up the stairs to their own room.

Maggie watched Trent push himself off the sofa and onto the floor. “I thought you were too tired to move,” she said, then yawned expansively.

Trent sent her a spine-tingling grin. “I am, but I have one more thing to do,” he replied, his voice full of lazy satisfaction.

“The children are all tucked in bed. The dishes are done. The Christmas lights are lit outside and on our perfect Christmas tree inside. What else could you possibly need to do?”

Trent winked, then crawled across the short distance to the tree. He reached way under, emerging a second later with a triumphant smile. Then he scrambled back over to her, a large square package in one hand. “This morning was for the kids. So I waited ‘til now to give you this.”

Maggie smiled lazily and took a sip of her tea. “I never gave you yours either.” She pulled a flat box out from behind the pillow of the sofa. “But when I sat down, it was for the duration. I came prepared. Here's yours. Open it first.”

Trent put his box down and accepted the gift. He tore the packaging off, every sign of exhaustion gone. The man just loved Christmas! She hoped he felt the same way about the leather-bound Bible.

He looked up, and his shining eyes gave her her answer. “How did you know I'd need this after today?”

Maggie reached out and covered his hand where it rested on the Bible. “I prayed. I hoped.” She
shrugged and grinned. “I prayed some more. Oh, Trent, Michael would be so pleased.”

Trent nodded and extended the gift he had for her. “Thanks, Maggie. For the prayers and the patience. And for the chance to see Mike again.”

Maggie smiled as she accepted the neatly wrapped package with the bright golden ribbon, but she shook her head. “I had very little to do with your decision. You may have started questioning the idea of faith because of the things I said, but it was ultimately between you and the Lord. It was His decision to knock, and yours to answer by accepting Him.”

When she looked back at the package in her lap, she didn't know where she'd get the strength to tear off the wrapping. But a childlike enthusiasm welled up in her, bolstering her flagging energy. Soon she'd reduced the wrapping to a torn mass and pawed open the box. Inside was an identically wrapped box. She shot him a quelling glance. “We were in a mischievous mood while wrapping, weren't we?”

Trent replied with a boyish grin and a shrug.

The game of wrapped square box inside wrapped square box continued until she was down to one that was about four by four. Inside that one was a handblown concave Christmas ball. And nestled inside the spun-glass ornament was a tiny sleigh on a bed of cottony snow. And tucked in the back of the sleigh, behind a miniature Santa, was a diamond wedding band. “Oh, Trent,” Maggie breathed. “It's so beautiful.”

Trent took the ring carefully from its hiding place and reached for her left hand. As he removed her
plain gold band and replaced it with the new one, he explained that the design had a special meaning. “The jeweler said the continuous band of stones symbolizes eternity. That's how long I'm going to love you, Mag. Into eternity. Just the way you love me.”

Maggie blinked back sentimental tears as Trent went on. “This Christmas was so much more than I'd hoped, and the complete opposite of what I once dreaded. Six months ago I thought the end of this year was going to be the beginning of the rest of a lonely life. We were supposed to be divorced by now, and I couldn't imagine living the rest of my life without you, even though I was determined to do it

“Instead, I got Christ, eternity, you back in my life and a family for Christmas. Merry Christmas, Maggie. Merry Christmas.”

eISBN 978-14592-5790-0

A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS

Copyright © 1999 by Kate Welsh

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office. Steeple Hill Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

Visit us at www.steeplehill.com

Printed In U.S.A.