The Christmas Promise (Christmas Hope) by Donna Vanliere Read Free Book Online

store closed at nine, so there would only be five hours when he’d have to deal with people. With the exception of Larry and the rest of the janitorial team, at night he’d have the place to himself to do what he wanted. He wandered through Women’s Clothing and saw Ray there. He was pointing to a woman with twins and pretending to gush over them. She pushed the baby stroller closer to Chaz and he stopped. “Your twins are really cute, Mrs. Grobinski.” She beamed and went into a story about Nicholas crawling but how little Natalie was content to just watch her brother do all the work. Mrs. Grobinski talked and talked and Chaz was stuck. He didn’t have the patience to be a “courtesy officer.” Ray saluted him and laughed his way into the men’s department. Twenty minutes later Chaz carried Mrs. Grobinski’s bags to the car and helped put the twins in their car seats.
    He made his way to the mailroom and nosed through the letters still sitting in the bins from the afternoon mail. “It hasn’t come,” Kelly said.
    He turned to see her standing in the door. She was pretty in an understated way. “Just curious,” he said. “Hey, what if I’m not here when it comes? What will you do with it?”
    She looked around the room and pointed to the top shelf. “I can put it right there under the air return.”
    Perfect. “That’d be great. Thanks.” He turned to leave but stopped, looking at her. “You know, I don’t come in until four and if that package comes early in the day maybe you could call me and I could come in and take a look at it.”
    “Sure.”
    “Or if you have the time, maybe you could bring it to my apartment?” He hadn’t been with a woman since moving to town. He’d lived with a lot of women over the years but moved on when they felt compelled to change him.
    She smiled and said she’d love to bring the package to his apartment.
     

    When the dinner hour came, Miriam chose to remain in her room, where she had been since the day before. Heddy whispered throughout the evening, afraid of disturbing her. “It’s all right,” I said. “There’s no need to walk on eggshells.”
    “Has she come out at all?” Heddy asked, whispering.
    “I left this morning to take Marv Lichton to the doctor’s office. Then Lakisha called and said Arianna was sick at school, so I picked her up and took her home. Maybe her royal highness broke out then.”
    “Did she eat anything?” Heddy said.
    “I don’t know. But if she gets thirsty I know where she can find some water.” I laughed at myself and fell onto the sofa, pounding the cushions. The bedroom door opened down the hall and I put my finger to my lips, but cackled again when the door closed.
     

    Miriam finally emerged from her room at eleven. She crept through the living room and turned off the porch light that was shining in her window. At eleven fifteen I walked downstairs and turned it back on. Miriam flicked it off again at eleven twenty. I was confident I could outlast her and had it shining bright at eleven thirty. Miriam crept through the living room at eleven forty-five.
    “The light stays on, Miriam!”
    Miriam screamed in the darkness. “It’s shining into my bedroom,” she said, digging her stubbed big toe into the carpet for comfort.
    “Close the blinds and the drapes,” I said.
    “I have done that, but there is still a glowing beam making its way into my bedroom from that confounded light.” She turned it off in a huff.
    I forced my way next to her and flicked the light back on. “The light stays on !” Miriam clenched the robe in her hands and darted back to her room, slamming the door.
     

    At midnight Chaz noticed a small figure dash beneath a rack of clothes in the juniors’ department. A vacuum cleaner hummed behind him, but the young woman running it didn’t notice he was there. He bent beneath the clothes and saw a small boy smiling at him. The young woman rushed beside Chaz and spoke in rapid Spanish to the