Chapter Ten #2
To her vast relief, Nancy asked a question about Stacy’s pregnancy and the conversation shifted to other topics.
By the time the shower wrapped up, Holly wasn’t sure who was more exhausted, her or Lydia. Her daughter yawned as they walked to the car.
“Did you have fun with your cousins and the other children?”
Lydia nodded. “Grandma gave me treats.”
She held up a gift bag that Holly could see contained small Christmas-themed party favors. “Oh, how nice. I hope you said thank you.”
She nodded. “I did, Mommy. And Ella let me play with her Barbie. And we played dress-up. I was a cowgirl and Ella was a princess.”
Troy’s family was always so warm and inclusive to Lydia.
While Holly would have preferred to maintain a little more distance between them to make things less awkward all the way around, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Lydia needed her father’s family in her life, even if Troy himself had become a distant figure since he moved out of state. Maybe because of that.
A light snowfall had coated the windshield but it was easy to brush it off after she loaded Lydia into her booster seat.
Snowflakes floated through the air as she backed out of the driveway and turned toward Shelter Springs.
“Ooh. That’s pretty,” Lydia said as they passed a park and botanical garden a few blocks from her grandparents’ house. Spruce Creek Park was decorated with vivid LED light displays as well as a huge, brightly colored tree in the center.
“I want to see the lights, Mommy. Can we?”
“Not tonight, honey. We’re both tired.”
“Please oh please oh please?”
She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Lydia’s face glowing with colors reflected from the display. As much as she wanted to go home and put her feet up for a few moments, she found herself pulling into the small, crowded parking area.
Stopping would only take a few moments. And wasn’t this what the holidays were all about? Seizing these priceless, fleeting moments of joy to store up and cherish through the rest of the year?
“We can’t stay long, since we didn’t bring all our warm clothes, okay? Perhaps we can come back another time and be here longer when we’re all bundled up for the cold.”
“You promise?”
She kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I promise.”
Lydia was vibrating with excitement as Holly helped her out of her booster seat. At least Lydia had her favorite purple snow boots on so her feet would stay warm.
“I can’t wait! I can’t wait!”
Holly held her mittened hand, her heart awash with love as they walked through the soft snowfall along a path lit by hanging lanterns on candy canes.
Holly squeezed Lydia’s hand as they stepped through a glowing archway at the park entrance, its rainbow lights casting a kaleidoscope of colors on the snow-dusted ground.
Lydia’s gasp of delight made Holly’s heart swell, grateful she had made the effort.
Her daughter’s eyes were wide with wonder, her rosy cheeks flushed with the excitement that only Christmas magic could bring.
“Mommy, look! Look!” Lydia cried, tugging on Holly’s hand as she pointed toward a row of trees wrapped in shimmering gold-and-silver lights. “It’s sparkly!”
“It is, sweetheart,” Holly replied, crouching down beside her. “And look over there!” She gestured toward an animated display of Santa and his reindeer. The lights twinkled in time with a cheerful holiday tune, and Lydia clapped her mittened hands together, hopping up and down in delight.
The two wandered farther, following a path lined with more glowing candy canes. Lydia stopped at every display, her fascination growing with each discovery.
“Look! Penguins!” she exclaimed, her breath visible in the chilly air as she pointed to an LED display of penguins skidding across a frozen pond. Holly loved seeing pure joy radiate from her daughter’s face.
Then Lydia spotted the giant Christmas tree in the center of the park.
“That’s big!” she whispered, her eyes shining.
She pulled Holly toward it, her boots crunching over the snow. The tree sparkled with multicolored lights that seemed to dance as they stood beneath it, the massive golden star at the top glowing like a beacon.
Holly blinked back tears, her heart full as she held her little girl close. For all the challenges they faced, moments like this reminded her of the beauty in seeing the world through Lydia’s eyes—a world where wonder was everywhere and magic always felt within reach.
“I love this tree.”
“It is beautiful,” she agreed. “Let’s take your picture.”
They weren’t alone in the park and other families were taking selfies around the tree. She and Lydia managed to find an empty area by the tree and she crouched down to her daughter’s level, holding her phone out and smiling.
They had taken several when she heard a deep voice from nearby. “Want me to take a picture of both of you?”
She looked around and suddenly spotted a tall, dark-haired man standing a few yards away. Feeling vulnerable from her crouched position, she rose. “Ryan! What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Ry!” Lydia exclaimed, clearly thrilled to see him.
“Hi, Lydia,” he said with a wide smile for her daughter that did ridiculous things to Holly’s insides.
He turned back to her. “Audrey made cookies this afternoon after we finished decorating and wanted us to take some to Diane.”
“Oh, how sweet.”
He made a face that told her he didn’t necessarily agree and hadn’t wanted to deliver cookies to his stepmother. Or, more precisely, probably hadn’t wanted to deliver them to his father’s house. He had, though. That touched her almost as much as his clear affection for her child.
“We were heading home when we saw this place,” he said. “Audrey wanted to stop and see the light display. Apparently she comes here every year with her mom. Then she found some friends and abandoned me.”
He stepped closer and she was suddenly back at Kim’s house with him, her heart pounding with awareness and her breath caught as she waited for a kiss that hadn’t happened.
“Give me your phone and I’ll take one of both you and Lydia.”
She handed it to him, then returned to her daughter’s side. She again bent to Lydia’s level, their faces side by side. She smiled into her phone camera, oddly aware of the man on the other side of the camera.
“Beautiful,” he said, handing her phone back to her.
“Thanks. We stopped on impulse, too. We’re not really dressed for a big outdoor excursion but at least it’s not too cold.”
“Fortunately it’s not a big park. It doesn’t take long to see everything.”
“Have you been through the entire thing? What are the highlights?”
“Audrey really liked the holiday castle toward the exit. She said that has always been her favorite.”
“We’ll check it out. Thanks.”
“You come too, Ry.” Lydia held her hand out to him. He looked a little disconcerted but after a brief hesitation he reached for her mittened fingers.
This felt entirely too domestic, Holly thought, with her holding one of Lydia’s hands and him holding the other. She thought about dropping her daughter’s fingers but didn’t know how to do it without calling more attention to the situation.
“How’s your stepmother tonight?” she asked instead.
“She seems to be okay. Like Dad said earlier today, she’s using her crutches now. She can even go up and down steps with them.”
“And your dad?”
His mouth tightened. “Fine.”
Again, she knew whatever was between him and Doug wasn’t any of her business but she sensed it was a painful topic. Something about the intimacy of the night, this magical, colorful fairyland beside the lake, made her want to help.
“Why are you so angry with him, Ryan? What did he do?”
His jaw hardened again. For a moment, she was certain he wouldn’t answer her but after a long pause, he sighed. “It’s not really what he did. It’s what he didn’t do.”