Morgan. We miss you. And I hate for you to spend Christmas alone.”
“I miss you guys, too. But I’m used to being alone, so don’t worry about me. Can you put A.J. on?”
“Sure.”
After a few seconds of silence, her younger sister spoke. “So what’s this about working on Christmas?”
“Don’t start with me, A.J.,” Morgan warned.
“Hey, I only have your best interests at heart. Nobody should work on Christmas. It’s a day for God and family. So just chill out and relax for once. Maybe even go to church, like Clare suggested. It couldn’t hurt, you know.”
“I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do.”
“What are you having for dinner?”
Again, Morgan glanced at her meager supplies. She’d planned to stop and pick up a few things during the drive yesterday, but she’d gotten a late start, and when the weather turned bad she’d just kept going. She’d tossed a couple of frozen microwave dinners in the car with her luggage, but even if she could get the trunk open, the dinners weren’t going to be of much use without electricity.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“We’re having roast chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, and Clare made a wonderful chocolate mousse for dessert.”
Morgan’s mouth started to water. “Think of me while you’re eating.”
“You know we will. Listen, Morgan, Clare was right. We miss you.”
“I miss you, too. How’s it going at the bookshop?”
“Okay, I guess.” A.J. said with a chuckle. “But I think I’m driving my partner, Mr. Conventional, nuts. He’s the Oxford-shirt-wearing, let’s-plan-everything-out-down-to-the-last-detail type.”
Morgan laughed. “And how’s Clare doing with her assignment from Aunt Jo?”
“She seems to be ensconced in the Wright household. But I’d say she has her work cut out for her with the good doctor and his problem child.”
“Well, tell her I wish her luck. And stay in touch, okay?”
“You, too. Merry Christmas.”
As the line went dead, Morgan felt oddly bereft. She’d told Clare that she was used to being alone, and that was true enough. She liked her independence, and she’d created the precise life she wanted. But as she recalled the happy Christmases of her youth, she wished now that she could have found a way to join her sisters for the holiday. All at once the notion of spending the entire day alone, with only her work for company, held no appeal. Maybe she’d drive into Seaside and try to scrounge up some food. And if she saw a church, maybe—just maybe—she’d stop. After all, as both A.J. and Clare had reminded her, it was Christmas.
The trunk of her car was more cooperative this morning, and after a quick shower and change of clothes, Morgan tackled the drive into Seaside. The snow-covered roads were far easier to negotiate in the daylight, and within fifteen minutes she was in the tiny town. Maybe she’d find a nice restaurant or café and have a decent Christmas dinner after all, she thought, her sprits rising as she turned onto the main street.
But there was one little problem.
The streets were deserted and everything was closed and locked up.
As Morgan sat in her car debating her next move, a tall white spire in the distance caught her eye. She wasn’t in the mood for church, but a twinge of guilt about her lapsed faith niggled at her conscience. And it wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. Including eat, she thought, with one more glum look around the shuttered town. Besides, it might be nice to attend services, for old time’s sake. If nothing else, it would break up what otherwise promised to be a long, empty day. At least she could check it out. If she happened upon a service, great. If not…well, then it wasn’t meant to be.
But as Morgan drove past the church, the steady in-flux of people made it clear that she was just in time for a ten o’clock service. A wry smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. Clare and A.J. would be pleased to find their wayward sister back in the fold—at least for one day.
Morgan found a parking spot down the street and made her way toward the tall spire that rose in splendor toward the cobalt-blue sky. As she slipped into the back of the spruce-and poinsettia-bedecked church, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, the choir was singing a pre-service program of familiar carols. And with sudden vividness and poignancy, memories of her childhood came rushing back—memories of the warm and loving family she had been blessed with, of a life that was simple but good, of the sense of security she’d always felt as she’d observed the steady, deep love between her parents.
Over the years, those happy, younger days had become just a distant recollection, but today the memories were startling in their intensity, perhaps because the setting reminded her of the Christmas services they’d all attended together in a church very similar to this one. It had been a holiday ritual.
But everything had changed forever the year her father died. Her sense of security had been shattered as her mother struggled to hang on to the farm her husband had loved. Clare had gone off to college. And life had never been the same again. She had left, when the time came, without a backward glance. Yet in this place, on this day, she wished she could recapture that sense of closeness, of family, that had once been such an integral part of her life. Her eyes grew misty, and she bowed her head, hoping no one would observe her uncharacteristic display of emotion.
But she wasn’t quick enough. Grant was making his way back down the aisle to retrieve his father’s glasses from the car when he noticed the striking woman with the dark copper-colored hair seated in a back corner, alone. In the instant before she bowed her head, he caught the glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes. His step faltered, but he quickly regained his stride. The woman was a stranger to him, and whatever her problem, it was none of his concern.
Still, he was curious. He knew most of the members of the congregation, even the ones who only attended services on special days. In fact, he knew most, if not all, of the year-round residents in town. And though Seaside was becoming a summertime mecca for those seeking peace and quiet, it had few visitors in the off season. The woman could be someone’s relative, visiting for the holiday, he supposed. But if that was the case, why was she here alone? Especially on a day that most people spent with those they loved?
Grant knew he should just forget about the woman. He’d probably never see her again. But his brief glimpse of her had left him disturbed. Because in her eyes he’d seen what he had often experienced these past two-and-a-half years, despite his faith and the love and support of his extended family. Loss. Abandonment. Emptiness. And the sense that things would never be the same again.
Grant knew there was nothing he could do about his own situation except pray. Which he did. Every day. And that gave him great comfort.
But from the desolate look in her eyes, he somehow sensed that the solitary woman in the back of church didn’t have that kind of faith to rely on, that despite her presence here today, she didn’t expect to find any solace in the Lord. And perhaps she wouldn’t even try.
So he did it for her.
Lord, please watch over Your daughter, who seems in need of comfort. Let her feel Your
