She smiled at her.
But Tessa’s lower lip started to quiver. She was about to cry. “Where is he?”
It appeared Tessa hadn’t understood what Andrea meant.
Was this the real reason the little girl had asked the housekeeper to bring her to the shop? Her heart had been set on him. Andrea had to think fast as she handed the woman her package and credit card. “One of Santa’s elves came for it.” That was as much as she dared tell her.
She expected a smile, but Tessa’s face screwed up in pain. “No, he didn’t.” Her response took Andrea back. “My daddy didn’t mail my letter to Santa yet. It’s still home. My gingerbread man is gone! You promised Santa would bring it to me for Christmas!” She broke down in heart-wrenching tears and hugged Mrs. Milne’s legs. Andrea felt as if she’d been stabbed in the heart.
“I’m sorry.” Andrea mouthed the words to the other woman, feeling helpless to do anything.
The housekeeper nodded in understanding. “We’d better go.” She led a desolate Tessa out the door.
After they left the shop, Andrea looked at her mother in anguish. “I didn’t know what to say to her. Mr. Jenner is giving it to her for Christmas. I already made one mistake with him and didn’t want to make another for fear I’d give away his surprise.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’ll get over it when she finds it on Christmas morning. I must say she’s about the cutest little girl I ever saw in my life. Except for you,” she added. “No wonder you wanted her to have that gingerbread man. It was meant for a child like that.”
“I agree, but she was really devastated.”
“When you were her age, you had a few meltdowns, too.”
“I probably did, but this seemed different. She believes I lied to her.”
“Honey, you know children.”
“Actually I don’t, Mom. I won’t ever know them, since I can’t have one of my own. After this incident it’s probably just as well, since it appears I’m not so great in that department.”
“Andrea—”
“It’s true.”
Her hope for a family wasn’t meant to be. She wasn’t destined to be a wife and mother, and she needed to get over her self-pity. Thankfully more customers entered the store, keeping her too distracted to wallow in her deepest emotional wants for the time being.
After lunch Andrea was showing her newest customer a music box when the chimes sounded. As she glanced up and saw Tessa’s striking father, she clung to the edge of the display table for support. He wore a forest-green crewneck sweater beneath his black bomber jacket. The lines bracketing his hard mouth led her to believe he was upset. It enlarged the pit in her stomach left from his distraught daughter’s visit earlier in the day.
He wandered around the shop inspecting the merchandise until she was alone once more, then approached her. “I heard what happened here this morning,” he said without preamble. “Sharon admitted she’d brought Tessa to the shop to get me a gift—she’d had no idea what was going to happen.”
Andrea took a quick breath. “Is Tessa all right now?”
“She’s fine. I had a talk with her and explained Santa already knew what she wanted without a letter.”
“Did that satisfy her?”
“Enough for her to go to school this afternoon. I’m sorry she made things uncomfortable for you.”
“She was the one who was upset. I didn’t want her to think I’d lied to her.”
“I appreciate you keeping my secret. Sadly, Tessa has gotten her way too often when she wants something. It’s a habit I’m trying to curtail.”
Andrea shook her head. “I didn’t help when I took matters into my own hands the other day to grant her wish. Forgive me. It’ll teach me not to do anything like that again.”
His dark brows rose. “You couldn’t have known the struggle I’ve been having, and it is Christmas after all, as you reminded me that first day.” His comment relieved her. “Right after Tina died, I’m afraid I indulged her too much. So did both sides of the family, but my wife’s in particular.”
“Naturally everyone is still grieving.”
“True, but I finally recognized that giving in to her at every turn wouldn’t make the pain go away and was setting a negative precedent for the future.”
“You sound like a very responsible parent doing the job of two on your own.”
“I’m trying, but I learned quickly that I can’t be the mom.” No. That job was given out to the very luckiest of women. “My housekeeper helps with that.”
Andrea smiled. “While I floundered, she handled Tessa very well at the shop.”
“Sharon said she was impressed you thought of the elf idea.”
“It was a stretch.”
Stillness enveloped them both while he studied her intently. “I don’t see a ring on your finger, so I presume you’re single.”
“Yes.” She fought not to show emotion. “My husband was killed in a car accident fourteen months ago. Like you and your wife, we thought we had a whole lifetime together.”
More silence, then, “That’s tragic.” The compassion in his voice got to her.
“Yes,” she said, followed by the first thing that came into her mind. “If you’ve come by to pay me for those gifts, your effort has been in vain.”
“I already got that message at the station,” he said in a grating voice. “One of my reasons for being here is to thank you properly. You’ve convinced me there really is a Santa Claus.”
“If I could do that to a man of your age, then I’m convinced miracles really do happen.”
His dark brows quirked. “A man of my age?”
“You’re older than ten, right?” He chuckled. “What’s the other reason you came in?”
He shifted his weight. “My closest friends have invited me to a Christmas get-together tomorrow night. If you’re not busy after work, would you like to come with me?”
His invitation excited and dismayed her at the same time. “I’m afraid I can’t, but thank you.”
“You already have plans with the person who took you out of town?”
Her mother must have told him. “That’s not it. I went to visit one of my best girlfriends at Barrow’s Lake. She’s been having a bad time lately. We’re planning a Christmas Eve party for our other friend who’s on her second honeymoon right now. When she gets back, they’re going to renew their wedding vows. I was hoping that in making plans, it would cheer up my friend.”
“Did
