Soldier’s Christmas Baby (Trinity Falls: – Home for Christmas #1)

1. Samantha

1

SAMANTHA

S amantha Green smiled at the young veteran sitting at the desk across from her and said a silent prayer that she was giving him comfort by offering him purpose.

“What do you think?” she asked. “Would you be able to help out up at Trinity Community Market for a day or two? Just until we can find a good match for you for work?”

“Absolutely,” the young man said with a big smile, taking the card she had offered him. “Glad to help. I’ll call Mrs. Williams this afternoon.”

“I know she’ll be grateful,” Samantha told him. “She’s trying to do something really special for this community, but she’s in a little over her head.”

That last remark was a bit of a fib. Samantha had talked to Valentina Jimenez Williams exactly twice, and she already suspected that Valentina might be the most capable woman she had ever met.

But this young man needed to feel like he was giving as well as receiving. Putting in a day or two on a big project would allow him to meet some other members of the community who were up there volunteering. More importantly, it would help him feel better about accepting assistance from the foundation once Sam had a package put together for him.

Her work with the veterans group in the city had taught her that most vets were more than happy to apply for honest work. But offers of networking lunches or pre-paid specialty trainings that could help them land the best jobs often felt like charity to them. The ideal way to get most of the vets she worked with to accept any kind of a leg-up was to let them feel like they were contributing something themselves.

To Sam, it didn’t make much sense. Obviously, these men and women had already contributed more than anyone could imagine just by serving.

But experience told her that it didn’t have to make sense. Her job was to help them feel comfortable and get settled. If lending a hand with a volunteer project did the trick, then it was a win-win for the vets and the community.

And thank goodness that a great big project was going on in this tiny, sleepy village, and that the woman running it seemed to understand how to organize volunteers.

When Captain Erik Anderson came to visit the foundation that Samantha worked for back in Philadelphia, she had been stunned when he asked her to come and help him get his own foundation off the ground. Sam was new to her job, and she had certain… limitations when it came to her work life.

Her eyes went automatically to her little sister, Amelia, who was curled up in a cozy chair, her nose stuck in a thick non-fiction book about horse care.

“Y’all have horses?” the soldier asked as he got up.

She glanced back at him to see that he was smiling at Amelia too.

“Not even a goldfish,” she said, shaking her head as she rose. “She just loves to learn about new things.”

“Smart cookie,” he said appreciatively, before giving them both a wave and heading out the door.

Outside, snowflakes had begun drifting down over the little town of Trinity Falls, making it look even more like a Christmas card than usual.

“He seemed nice,” Amelia said without lifting her face from the book.

“He is nice,” Sam told her. “Hopefully, we can find him a really great job. Though I’m thinking that with his interests, we should get him into a coding class first.”

She sat again, typing notes into her laptop as quickly as she could. She had another appointment in about three minutes, so it was crucial to write out all her ideas now before the next person had her fired up about a whole different set of possibilities and she lost track of what she had in mind for the man who just left.

I’m so grateful for this job, she thought to herself. I really hope Captain Anderson can keep it going.

It was a risk, locating a program like this one in the farmland of rural Pennsylvania. But Captain Anderson had his reasons, and he seemed to have a budget to match.

Her phone buzzed with a message as she finished making notes and she put in her code and waited to listen, while reorganizing the items on her desk and putting fresh candy in the little dish. In her experience, pretty much everyone loved M&Ms. They always broke the ice.

“Wolf Cassidy here.” The voice was so deep and serious she momentarily stopped what she was doing to listen. “I apologize, but I need to delay our appointment by one hour.”

She waited for the inevitable explanation, but he didn’t say anything more.

She glanced down at her phone, wondering if she had accidentally ended the call or maybe even run out of battery. But her phone was fine. Apparently, that was the whole message. She shook her head, sort of surprised at the brief message, but more so that he was going to be late.

The captain had already warned her that Edward “Wolf” Cassidy was… well, a bit of a control freak. Of course, he’d put it in nicer terms, but he was clear that Wolf was the kind of person that would appreciate it if she were down-to-business and organized. And she supposed it only made sense for a military pilot to be the type that liked things to be a certain way.

Of course, Sam always did her best to be professional with everyone, so she had tried not to take the captain’s words to heart. After all, he always told her how much he appreciated her work, so there must be a reason he’d gone out of his way to make sure she was ready to handle this particular client. And now she had even more time, but there wasn’t really anything else she could do to prepare.

“Hey, Amelia,” Sam said, deciding to take advantage of this bit of free time now, since they would be staying later than planned. “Let’s go for a walk.”

She knew better than to say, Do you want to go for a walk? Because the answer would be no. Amelia just wanted to read her book. But Sam was really hoping that one benefit of living in a more rural area would be the chance for her little sister to let her hair down a bit and learn to enjoy playing outside with other kids.

Amelia had always been super smart and kind of quiet. But since losing their parents, Sam’s favorite serious little person had only become even more serious. At first that only seemed natural. But now that some time had passed, Sam was hoping to see more signs of progress.

“Okay,” Amelia said agreeably, carefully placing a bookmark in the massive volume and placing it down on the small desk that sat beside Sam’s big one.

The captain had generously set up a whole area for Amelia. In fact, allowing her to spend time in the office had been a big part of his job offer. Back in the city, Sam had only worked part time, since she’d had to fly home to get Amelia off the bus most days.

But Captain Anderson had explained that Sam could work flexible hours in this new job, and that Amelia was more than welcome to come to work with her after school or whenever the local elementary school had an in-service day. He surprised her by setting up the cozy chair as well as the small desk beside Sam’s, and he even added a bookshelf when he saw how much the little girl loved to read.

At first, Sam had worried that the veterans would think she was unprofessional for having a child with her. But it turned out they all seemed to get a kick out of seeing the little girl going to town on her homework, or curled up with a book. And Amelia never interrupted or caused any trouble.

Sam figured she would personally be happier if her sister acted a little more like the other silly seven-year-old kids. But hopefully that would come in time.

“Can we go to the bookstore?” Amelia asked hopefully as she pulled on her coat.

“We don’t really have a lot of time,” Sam told her. “I thought we would stretch our legs, maybe swing by the park.”

“That park is for toddlers,” Amelia pointed out.

She wasn’t wrong. The nearest park to the office was definitely for smaller children. But smaller children often had older siblings who might want to play.

Sam didn’t want to push it, though.

“Should we just window shop?” she suggested instead.

“Okay,” Amelia replied, shrugging.

“Don’t forget your gloves,” Sam said, nodding to the radiator, where Amelia had placed her snowy things when she arrived earlier.

“Toasty warm,” Amelia said happily to herself as she pulled them on.

“How did you think of that?” Sam asked her, impressed.

“It was in a book,” Amelia said, shrugging.

Sam finished bundling herself up, and they headed out into the little town together. It was so cold outside that even the sounds seemed more crisp and clear, like the crunch of their boots on the snowy sidewalk or the chatter of the passing shoppers.

She still couldn’t get over the way the shops all seemed to be decorated. Some had lights and holly boughs, others had pine wreaths, and many of the stores had holiday displays in the front windows as well.

As if on cue, Amelia headed straight for the real estate office and crouched in front of the big window, where a Victorian dollhouse sat on a bed of cotton snow.

Amelia had never been one for dolls. She preferred stuffed animals and books. But Sam noticed that she stopped to look at the dollhouse every time they were in town. Her heart tugged at the solemn expression on Amelia’s face as she gazed in the little windows at the tiny doll family inside.

She misses our parents.

There was nothing Sam could do about that. She missed them too. She only wished that Amelia would talk about them more, and about her feelings. The child psychologist back in the city told Sam to give her time and patience, but it was hard. Sam already felt like she wasn’t enough for her sister.

Sometimes she lay in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering what her parents would have done if they had seen Amelia retreating into herself like this.

The lady sitting at the desk inside gave them a friendly wave. Sam waved back and Amelia straightened and waved with a small smile.

“Now where?” Sam asked.

“You’re sure no bookstore?” Amelia asked.

But before she could answer, a familiar voice called out from across the street. They both looked up to see the friendly face of Mrs. Bard from the ice cream store standing in the doorway and waving to them.

“Should we go see her?” Sam asked.

“Definitely,” Amelia said, a hopeful look on her face.

“Oh, girls,” Mrs. Bard said, when they arrived. “It’s great to see you. I hope you don’t mind me flagging you down, but we have new holiday flavors today, and that means free samples.”

“ Free ice cream samples?” Amelia asked in awe.

“Yes, indeed,” Mrs. Bard said with a fond smile. “And if it’s okay with your big sister, you two can try them all.”

Amelia glanced up at Sam.

“How can I say no to ice cream samples?” Sam laughed.

It was still a few hours until dinner, and everyone needed a little treat once in a while.

“Come on in,” Mrs. Bard told them. “It’s awfully cold out, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Amelia said politely, making her sister proud.

“You know, my daughter says you’re the library’s favorite new customer,” Mrs. Bard said, scooping out a sample of a creamy pink confection from one of the barrels behind the glass. “That’s peppermint.”

Amelia grinned and took the little wooden spoon.

“Miss Caroline is an amazing librarian,” Sam said. “Has she actually read every single book in the kids’ section?”

“It seems that way, doesn’t it?” Mrs. Bard said. “She sure has read a lot of them. And she loves her job. It’s what she always said she wanted to do, and when she landed a position right here in town, it was a dream come true for our whole family.”

Mrs. Bard’s smile slipped a little, and Sam felt her heart squeeze. The older woman’s husband had passed away a few years ago. She was still heartbroken, and Sam suspected that it made her all the more sympathetic to the idea of a young woman raising her sister after losing their parents.

Immediately after the tragedy, Sam hadn’t wanted anyone’s pity. And she still didn’t. But she had learned to understand the difference between pity and compassion, and to appreciate anything that might help Amelia.

“And one for you,” Mrs. Bard said, handing her a spoonful of peppermint ice cream.

“Thank you,” Sam said.

The ice cream melted on her tongue, the flavor so bright and sweet that she hummed in appreciation.

“That one is my favorite,” Mrs. Bard declared. “But we have two more, so you’ll have to let me know which one you like best.”

Amelia smiled up at Mrs. Bard, a real smile, not a tiny one, and Sam felt something in her heart unlock at the sight.

Please let me see more of that little girl I love so much…