I made my way down the hall toward Sarah, and Iris and smiled softly.“How are you doing?”I questioned, looking up at Iris.
Iris shook her head while I kneeled down so I was eye-level with Sarah.Almost immediately, she wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I whispered, hugging her back.
I was at a loss for how to respond to her; I did not know how to help at this point.Mostly, she had dealt with everything well; it was just in the last couple of days that she’d cried more often than not.
“We thought we’d come and see if perhaps there was something Sarah could help with today,” Iris said.
“I think we could find something,” I said, walking her down to the gymnasium door and grabbing Peggy right away.
Once Sarah was working away with Peggy, I turned to see Iris standing beside me.
“What happened?”I questioned.
“Sarah just broke down in tears,” Iris whispered.“She just wanted to come here.”
I looked over at Sarah, her face expressionless, which made me wonder if she had finally realized the holidays were here and that after the holidays she’d be moving, which possibly could have compounded the effects of losing her parents.It was then that Sarah left Peggy and came running over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“Did you want to help me with putting together and decorating two trees for the gazebo?”I questioned.
Sarah said nothing; she just stood there hugging me tighter.I looked at Iris with concern.
“What about helping me get the lights ready to put up?We are going with the suggestion you gave me the other night.Red and green this year, which means we need to make sure the colors alternate properly,” I said, thinking that may make her smile, only once again, there wasn’t anything.
“What about the garland?”I asked.“Gracie is coming over shortly to help.Did you want to help us with that?We really could use the help; the boys around the center don’t want to do the silly girl things.”I winked, hoping to get at least a glimmer of a smile from her.
Defeat filled me as she once again just stared at me.
“What about helping me decorate some cookies?”I heard Noah ask behind me.
I turned and met his gaze, catching a wink from him.
“Brooke and Tristan brought over all the cookies, icing and decorations for us to use.We can make them as silly or as serious as you’d like, with fun sayings, or even some funny faces, even sad faces, because sometimes people are sad at Christmas.Then tomorrow night, once the music starts, Brooke and Tristan will hand out hot chocolate and cider, and we can be in charge of handing out the cookies.”
I looked down at Sarah and then back to Noah.I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to when I heard Sarah speak for the first time.
“Can we make sad snowmen and happy snowmen?”she asked quietly.
“Absolutely we can,” he answered.
Sarah looked up at Iris and me and slowly let go of my waist and went over to Noah, who kneeled down so he could meet her eye to eye.They shared some words quietly between them, and then he stood up and took her hand in his and together they headed into the gymnasium, over to the cookie decorating table.
I turned to Iris, not really knowing what to say about what we’d just witnessed, but whatever it was, I hoped it was going to be good for Sarah.
“Oh, I was thinking if Sarah wanted to come over and spend the night next weekend, just let us know.Gracie and she have been talking about a sleepover.”
“Thanks, Iris,” I said, walking her over to the door.“I’ll talk with her tonight and let you know.”
“Wonderful.I’ll see you soon with the boys and Gracie.”
“Sounds good.”
When I walked into the gymnasium, everyone was already hard at work getting decorations together and ready to put up.Christmas music was playing, some kids were singing, while others focused on the task at hand.It was then I glanced over to see Noah and Sarah hard at work decorating the cookies Brooke had brought over.To my surprise, Sarah was talking Noah’s ear off, and when he looked up and over at me, he winked.Whatever he’d done, whatever he’d said, he was getting her to talk, which was what she needed the most, and for that alone, I was grateful to him.
Noah
I parked the truck in the only spot I could find and hopped out.It appeared we had taken the last nice evening last night while decorating the gazebo because sometime overnight it had grown super cold and snow now blanketed Willow Valley, giving the park a beautiful glow.
