Miracles Retold Page 5

  Soon, Annie, Hannah, and Carter joined them to see what was going on. They met Lisa and her daughter, Maia. Even Benji and the retriever, Lola, sniffed each other and wagged their tails.

  Grace explained that after her sister, Marie, had died and her husband Peter took the children to his hometown in North Carolina, he stopped returning phone calls and sending cards — she didn’t know what had happened to the family. Lisa said her father had passed away, but her brother and sisters were fine and living scattered around North Carolina and Florida. Lisa had returned to Florida to go to college, married her college boyfriend, started a business and had Maia. They had lived in town for five years.

  “All this time, and you were living just miles away!” Grace said. “I wish I had known earlier. Oh, it’s so wonderful to find you!”

  “It’s because of Benji,” Carter said. “This is the first time we’ve had a dog,” he explained to Lisa and Maia.

  “And so it’s our first time at a dog park,” Hannah said.

  “Benji is a great dog. He even helped me get home last night when I got lost!” Carter said.

  “What a great dog,” Maia said.

  “Yes, but let’s remember we need to check to make sure another family isn’t looking for him,” Annie said.

  “I guess you could say Benji found us,” Grace said.

  “I have a friend who is a local veterinarian,” Lisa said. “I can ask if she has heard about anyone looking for a dog.”

  “Wonderful!” Grace said. “And we should put up some signs around town.”

  Annie, Grace, and Lisa exchanged phone numbers. Lisa said she would call after she talked to the vet. She hugged Grace and told her they should get together soon.

  “Just wait until my son, Lon, finds out he has a cousin nearby!” Grace said.

  Carter played with Benji while Grace and Lisa got caught up some more, and Hannah and Maia chatted about dogs. Annie took in the whole scene, which wouldn’t have happened if she had stuck to her to-do list. She pulled her phone out of her purse, curious about what exactly she was supposed to be doing right now. But did she really want to know? Or would it just make her feel guilty for not completing some task? She looked at Grace, Hannah, and Carter, and at Lisa and Maia. Everyone was smiling. Even Benji and Lola appeared to smile. No, thought Annie, this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing right now.

  Finding Miracles

  Ryder unwound a string of outdoor lights from a spool. At the other end of the string, Lon stood on a ladder. He carefully hooked the string on a row of nails sticking into the wood along the roofline.

  “So you put those nails there? A long time ago?” Ryder asked.

  “Yep,” Lon answered, not looking down. “That’s how I put the lights up. No fancy light clips for me. Now you know all my secrets.”

  “So how do people put lights over their roof? And how do they time the lights to flash with music? How do you know how many lights you need? I wish we had a ton of lights! Let’s do that, Dad! Like the house around the corner with all the inflatables and the penguins on a ferris wheel and elves on a see-saw. Can we do that?”

  Lon laughed. “Maybe if we started in June! Not four days before Christmas.”

  “Oh. Well let’s do it next year, then. Can we?”

  “We’ll see,” Lon said.

  Ryder groaned. “That means no, but maybe someday….”

  Ryder shifted his weight and tried to make sure there was enough slack in the string of lights, the way Lon had told him. So maybe his family wasn’t going to have the best lights on the block. But until today, Ryder thought they weren’t going to have any lights again this year. Now he was making it happen. Well, and his dad too. Ryder was happy his dad asked him to help with the lights. Ryder could have gone to the dog park with the rest of the family, but he could play with Benji any time — unless they found he belonged to someone else.

  “Putting up lights is special,” Ryder said then. “I mean, you know. And then you turn the lights on at night, and it’s like magic. Like Disney World. It’s a good sign.”

  “A good sign? Of what?” Lon backed down the ladder to move it over a few feet.

  Ryder shrugged. “That you and Mom are happy.” He said it almost like a question.

  Lon raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He climbed back up the ladder.

  “It’s because you were worried about Carter last night, right?” Ryder asked. “You and Mom are happy he came home.”

  “Probably,” Lon said.

  His dad was usually easygoing, but his mom was often uptight, stressed, and worried — and not just at Christmas time as she claimed. Today she was different. Ryder had gotten donuts and a compliment from her this morning. Maybe her good mood would last just for one day, but it was still a nice change. Now he was putting up lights with his dad, and he didn’t have school for two weeks. Things were looking up. All Ryder needed now was a new skateboard and the two video games on his wish list, and he would be the happiest kid in the world. Or at least the city.

  “Hey, Ry, almost done here with these lights. You want to go into the attic to look for any other boxes of decorations?”

  “OK.” Ryder went up the ladder that unfolded from the ceiling of the garage. His dad had left the light on at the top of the ladder, hanging inside the attic. If it had been dark up there? No way.

  Ryder ignored the spider webs and smell of mildew. He scanned the row of cardboard boxes and plastic totes, reading the labels on them that were hand-written by his parents. None of them were marked “Christmas” or “holiday.” But Ryder did see a box with his name on it. He sat on his heels and opened it.

  Inside the box were his old baby toys. Mostly Ryder saw worn-out plush animals. There were also a plastic barn, a set of stacking blocks, and a few books that had tiny teeth marks on the frayed edges. Gross! But the chunky, bright green train is what really caught his attention. It looked like it would move when you pushed a button — but it needed batteries. Ryder sort of remembered playing with the train. It made train sounds. And you could put cargo in the train car behind the engine. He picked it up and opened the train car door. Then he gasped at what was in his train.

  Ryder eased down the ladder with the train in his hand and held it up to Lon. “Dad, look! This was in my old toy train.”

  Lon squinted into Ryder’s train car. His mouth fell open. “I’ll be darned. Huh.” He smiled at Ryder. “This is … so incredible, you have no idea. Thank you, son.” Lon pocketed the special cargo. “Let’s make this our secret surprise. Right? Don’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t,” Ryder said. “I love surprises! What do you have in mind?”

  - - - - -

  There were no more lights or decorations, so Ryder packed away the empty light spools while Lon put away the ladder. Annie drove up in her wagon a few moments later.

  “Lon!” Grace said as she hurried out of the vehicle.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You’re out of breath. Take it easy. Are you all right?” His mother couldn’t be having another stroke, or else Annie would have been upset. In fact, Lon thought, Annie looked pretty happy at the moment. So did Hannah and Carter, who were getting out of the wagon with Benji. “Do you want to sit down?” he asked.

  “I’m fine!” Grace grasped Lon’s hand. “Lon, at the dog park, I found one of my nieces. She lives right here. You have a cousin! Right here in town!”

  “What?”

  “She’s married and has a daughter and the nicest retriever. I got her phone number. This is the best day!”

  Lon didn’t know what to do or say, so he just hugged Grace. Benji walked over and nudged his way in between them. Grace laughed.

  Lon looked at his mother and shook his head. “I didn’t know you could smile so big.”

  As his family chattered about his new-found cousin, Lon scratched at his stubble. Good things come in threes, he thought. And, apparently, so can miracles.

  - - - - -

  Ove
r the next two hours, Annie, Grace, and the kids worked to find out if Benji was a missing dog. They took Benji to their vet to have him scanned for a microchip implant, but he didn’t have one. Hannah designed flyers on the laptop, printed them out and went with Annie and Ryder to area shopping centers, dog grooming shops and busy intersections to post the flyers. Grace called the local animal shelter to see if anyone was looking for a dog that fit Benji’s description. Then she checked pet-finding sites online.

  When Annie finally looked at the clock, she realized they had worked through lunch time, and everyone was hungry. She drafted the kids to help make sandwiches for everyone. Hannah wanted to eat outside, so in the spirit of letting the kids decide what to do that day, Annie led the family to the patio. Angel watched them from a window.

  “What’s next?” Annie asked.

  Her family looked at her with blank expressions.

  “Don’t you have something you need to do?” Hannah asked.

  “Well, I still haven’t sent out holiday cards,” Annie said. “But I’d much rather spend the day with you. Whatever gets left unfinished, well, it just will not be done.”

  “Did you know you can send Christmas cards right from a website?” Grace asked.

  “Ooh, Mom, I can design a card online,” Hannah said. “I love doing stuff like that.”

  Annie raised her eyebrows. “Well, you did a great job with Benji’s flyers,” Annie said. “Sure, go ahead. You take care of that, and I’ll sneak off and do something fun for a change.”

  “Not without me?” Hannah asked.

  “Let’s go to the skate park,” Ryder said.

  “I want to go to the bounce house place,” Carter said.

  “Skate park, skate park, skate park!” Ryder chanted.

  “Ice skating at the arena,” Hannah said, looking at her brothers.

  “You guys have it all wrong,” Lon teased. “Clearly, on a day like today, we should be out fishing.”

  Grace waved her hand. “I saw on the news about a festival, the Winter on the River. There’s a carnival, then at night a lighted boat parade.”

  “Oh,” Annie said, “we went a few times. Remember, Lon, you won Hannah that stuffed wiener dog at a game? And Ryder rode his first roller coaster there.”

  Carter raised his hand. “Did I go?”

  “Yes,” Annie said. “But you were really little and couldn’t do much. I think you sat on my lap and we went down the giant slide together. You also got cotton candy all over yourself!”

  Carter smiled. “Let’s go! I want to remember it again!”

  The women backed up Carter. Lon conceded his fishing trip idea, but only if he got to pick next time. Ryder wasn’t won over until Lon promised to take him to the skate park the next day. So after lunch, the family got ready to go.

  The festival was busy, but not too crowded. All the kids got wristbands that let them ride as many rides as they wanted. Annie and Lon ran into other people they knew. Benji, on his new leash held by Grace, seemed fine around the groups of strange people. After the rides and games at the carnival, the family stayed past dark to watch the boat parade. Staking a claim on a spot along the river with portable chairs and blankets, the family watched the boats glide past on the black water. Each craft was decked in decorations and strings of lights. Boat passengers waved or played music for everyone watching from land. When the last boat had passed by, Annie looked at Carter, resting in her lap, and saw he was asleep.

  Returning home, Annie heaved Carter’s sleep-stilled body onto his bed to take off his shoes. When had he gotten so big and heavy? His little face looked so peaceful that Annie didn’t want to disturb him by changing him into pajamas. She pulled a blanket over him and kissed his cheek.

  Carter rolled his head to the side, but didn’t open his eyes. “There are miracles,” he mumbled.

  Annie smiled and brushed his hair off his forehead. She stared at the features she had memorized: the shape of Carter’s eyelids, the curve of his nose, how his upper lip swept into a bow. His features had lost their baby-ness, and he was often more serious than a child should be, but the cherubic aura remained in his face.

  “You’re right,” she whispered back.

  Good Things

  The sand was gritty and cold as it landed on Annie’s arm.

  “Carter,” she said, “I see you’re making a fantastic tunnel under your sand castle, but can you please toss the sand that way?”

  “Sorry, Mom” Carter said, pausing his digging with a bright orange shovel. “I did it axeldentally.”

  “I know.” Annie grabbed her youngest child and kissed him despite the grains of sand that now dusted him from head to toe. She gave his little shoulder a squeeze when she remembered how she had almost lost him. Just thinking about the frightening search for Carter almost made her heart stop again. Annie took a breath and eased back onto the beach blanket next to Grace in a beach chair, and told her mind to turn off all negative thoughts. It was Christmas. And her family was on the beach on a sunny, crisp day with three new family members — and two dogs.

  Annie watched Lon and Ryder playing some form of football with Lisa’s husband, Carlos. Then she squinted to look for Hannah, who was slowly walking the shoreline with Maia. Benji padded alongside the girls.

  “Hannah and Maia have become fast friends. That was so nice of Maia to invite Hannah to go to the concert with her — she was so excited, especially after worrying that she and her childhood friends are drifting apart. Mom, tell me again,” Annie said, turning to Grace, “Lon and Lisa are first cousins, right? So what are the children?”

  “First cousins once removed,” Grace said.

  “It would be great if you could write down a simple family tree,” Lisa said. She was sitting on Grace’s other side. “It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just so we can fill in the blanks.”

  “Well, sure. I’ll do my best to remember,” Grace said. “What I can’t write down, I guess we can look up online. There’s probably a YouTube tutorial for that.”

  Lon flopped down on the sand next to Annie. “Hit me with another piece of pecan pie,” he said. “It’s a holiday; I can indulge.”

  “That’s the idea,” Annie said, reaching into the cooler.

  “Oh, can I have some cheese?” Ryder asked.

  “I want some too,” Carter said.

  “I could go for another sandwich,” Carlos said.

  “As long as we’re digging through the cooler,” Grace said, “I’d love another drink.”

  “Me too,” Annie and Lisa said at the same time.

  After getting out more food and drinks, Annie said, “This was a great idea you had to come to the beach today, Lon. This is such a perfect Christmas: a wonderful church service last night, watching the kids get excited over presents this morning, and relaxing on the beach the rest of the day.”

  “With my long-lost cousin!” Lon interjected. “Thank you, Lisa and Carlos, for joining us.”

  “Thanks for inviting us,” Carlos said.

  “And Mom,” Annie continued, “none of this would have happened if you hadn’t made friends with Benji.”

  Grace looked down, then out to the gulf. “And that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had a stroke,” she said. “So I suppose something good has come out of something bad.” Everyone was quiet for a moment.