Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Just as it had the night before, the feel of his hand in hers gave her the sensation of warmth and safety. Melody felt herself relax and decided to concentrate on enjoying the moment, and as they continued to slowly make their way to the front of the line, they began a discussion of popular Christmas movies which completely took her mind off of her mom, her dad, music, everything except for Reid and his uncanny ability to quote holiday films.

When there were only a few other families in front of them, Michael looked up and said something to his friend before trotting over to join them. “Dad, we read Olive the Other Reindeer,” he said, slipping under the tinsel.

“That sounds like a great book, buddy,” his dad said. “Did you have fun with Hailey?”

“Yeah. She’s going to church tomorrow. Am I going with Mrs. Gregory?”

“As far as I know,” Reid said. He’d let go of Melody’s hand when Michael approached, and while she missed the comfort of his touch, she understood why he wasn’t ready to show any sort of intimacy in front of his son. “Unless you wanted to kidnap one of these polar bears and ride it.”

“Dad!” Michael said as if he were exhausted by too many dad jokes. “You could take me.”

“I can’t tomorrow, buddy.” Reid scooted up in the line, and they were almost to the front.

Michael hung his head, and Melody felt sorry for him. She had no idea why Reid refused to go to church, even to see Michael practice, and she knew it wasn’t her place to say anything in front of the child, but she wanted to ask him as soon as she could. Likewise, she wouldn’t mind picking Michael up and bringing him home herself. Even though she hadn’t been planning on staying for rehearsal, she did want him to have a familiar face in the audience because she knew how much it meant to him.

When it was Michael’s turn, his disappointment melted away, and he bounded forward onto Santa’s lap, a huge smile plastered on his face. One of the elves guided Reid and Melody to a little waiting area as another snapped Michael’s picture. Melody couldn’t help but giggle at how animated he was as he told Santa who knows what. The magical old elf was quite patient and let Michael go on for a bit. Then, it seemed as if he must have asked Michael what he wanted for Christmas because Michael suddenly grew quite serious. He asked Santa something, and Santa shook his head. Michael’s eyes focused directly on her face, and Melody smiled and waved, but he didn’t wave back. Instead, he used both of his tiny hands to cover his mouth as he leaned in to Santa and whispered something. Santa’s eyes went to Melody as well, and he was quiet for a second before he leaned into Michael’s ear and whispered something back. Michael nodded, though his face was still quite serious, and then Santa must have said something funny, because Michael began to laugh. After another moment, Michael wrapped his arms around Santa’s neck and then hopped off of his knee. On his way over to them, an elf handed him a candy cane, and Michael smiled.

“Why don’t you take him over to look at the polar bears, and I’ll go check out the pictures,” Reid said, and Melody nodded. She wondered if he had noticed the odd exchange between the two, but she couldn’t ask him just now.

“Dad! I met Santa!” Michael exclaimed, lunging at his dad.

“I know!” he replied, catching him. “Did you tell him what you want for Christmas?”

“Uh huh!”

“What did you ask for?” Reid asked.

“It’s a secret,” Michael replied, closing his lips tight.

Reid let out an exaggerated sigh. “All right. Well, why don’t you go over there with Miss Melody for a minute, and I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Come on, Michael,” Melody said, extending her hand, which he took. “Let’s go check out this polar bear.”

Standing in front of the wooden cutout, Michael glanced up, and said, “Wow—he’s tall. And furry.”

Melody giggled. “Yes, he is. Did you have fun talking to Santa?”

“Yep,” Michael replied.

Knowing that he hadn’t been willing to tell Reid anything, she doubted Michael would tell her either, but she wanted to know if Michael had asked for the gift she suspected he had. “I bet I can guess what you asked for.”

He looked up at her out of the corner of his eye. “Bet you can’t,” he said shaking his head.

Melody pretended to think. “Hmmm. Was it… a football?”

“Nope.” His eyes were trained on the bear again.

“How about… some tinker toys?”

“What are those?” he asked, his forehead crinkled up.

“They’re like Legos,” she explained, “only made of wood.”

“Nope and nope.”

“How about a Red Ryder BB gun?” she asked, running her hand through his hair.

Michael looked at her like she was crazy. “Noooo.”

“All right. I give up,” Melody said with a sigh. “I guess I can’t figure it out. What was it?”

Michael glanced over her shoulder as if he was looking to see if his dad was nearby. When he saw that Reid was still talking to the elf with the pictures, he tugged on her coat sleeve. Melody bent down, and with his hand up to cover his mouth, he whispered into her ear, “I asked Santa for a new mom.”

Melody dropped to her knees. Even though that is what she had suspected, actually hearing him say it was still a shock. Trying to keep her expression nonchalant, she asked, “You did?” Michael nodded sharply. “What did he say?”

“He said he’d see what he could do, but that was a tough one this close to Christmas,” Michael said with a shrug, his face showing disappointment.

“I’m sure that would be difficult, Michael,” Melody agreed, stroking his hair again.

“But, Miss Melody. I didn’t ask for just any old mom.”

“You didn’t?” she asked, confused.

“No,” he replied, his little face quite serious. “I asked for you to be my mom.”

Melody felt all of the color drain out of her face as she fumbled for a response. Luckily, Reid came up behind her just then and said in a cheerful voice, “All right, little man. You ready to go?” He helped Melody up, and she could tell by his expression that he could see something was troubling her, but he didn’t ask just then, and as Michael agreed that he would be ready to go so long as they could stop and get a cheeseburger, Melody followed them toward the door.

“Do you want to see the picture?” Reid asked, handing it over.

Melody took it and felt her countenance change. Michael looked overjoyed sitting on Santa’s knee, and the man smiling back at him looked absolutely genuine. Melody wished that he was the real Santa; maybe then he could make Michael’s wish come true. “He’s so adorable,” Melody said, handing the picture back to Reid.

When they got outside, Michael immediately noticed a group of children building a snowman over in the side yard of the library. “Dad! Can I go play?” he asked.

Reid seemed to hesitate but finally said, “Yeah, sure. For a few minutes.” Michael was off and running before the sentence got out of his mouth. “That kid. Always running. No wonder he has to eat six pounds of candy every day in order to survive.”

Melody giggled and made her way to a bench not far from where Michael was playing, her mind going back to the first time she’d sat on a similar bench with Reid to watch Michael play in the snow. As he had done the first time, he hurried to brush the snow off and then sat down beside her. This time he sat much closer, his arm around her shoulders. Despite the cold, Melody felt warm all over.

“Did he tell you what he asked Santa for?” Reid asked quietly.

Even though she was hesitant to do so, Melody nodded. “Yes. But I’m kind of afraid to tell you.”

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Why is that?”

“You might be the one riding the polar bear off into the sunset.”

“That bad, huh?” he asked.

He was running his fingers through the ends of her hair, and Melody found the sensation more than slightly distracting. “I’ll let you be the judge of that,” she replied. “Just hard for me to say.”

“Well?”

“He asked Santa to make me his new mother,” she said with a loud exhale.

Reid’s eyebrows raised, and he stared at her for a long moment. “I see.”

“Santa told him that might be hard to do on such short notice,” she further explained.

“And how did Michael take that?”

Melody sighed. “He seemed disappointed. I’m sorry, Reid. I don’t know why he’s decided that I’m supposed to be his mom. It’s like… since he first met me, he immediately picked me out for that purpose.”

“I don’t know either,” Reid replied, “but I’m glad he did. Melody, I’m not sorry that Michael feels the way he does about you. I’m surprised because it’s only been a few weeks, but it’s not hard for me to imagine he could love you already.”

She was looking into his eyes now and couldn’t pull herself away. “I love him, Reid. I honestly do. It must sound so bizarre to hear someone say that about your child, but it’s like he’s just… supposed to be in my life. Is that crazy?”

“Not at all,” he assured her. “Because he’s not the only one who’s fallen for you.”

Melody could hardly believe what she was hearing. Did that mean what she thought it did? She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry, and with his soft lips so very close to her own, her first instinct was to lean in and show him just how much she felt the same. But with Michael and his friends playing nearby, she knew that was not an option, so she finally managed to say, “Maybe there is such a thing as Christmas magic after all.”