“No,” Jenny explained. “The Center is a nice place for them to get together and keep each other company and make plans for what to do next. Erik has an assistant who helps them find jobs or training or any other things they might need.”
“That’s good,” Gael said. “Because they’re like I was before.”
“What do you mean?” Jenny asked.
“They don’t have families,” he said softly.
Jenny swallowed over the sudden lump in her throat.
“It’s good to have a place where people are nice to you,” he added.
Gael’s grandmother hadn’t been gonelong before he came to live with Jenny, but she sometimes worried about what it had been like for him during the short time while he was being processed and waiting for her. It had seemed like an eternity to Jenny, and she could only imagine how it must have been for Gael.
She also wondered how many nights he’d gone to sleep in his new room before it started to feel like home, and the stranger in the bedroom next door began to feel like she might really be family.
She had thought today was good for Gael because he’d had fun and gotten lots of kind attention. But maybe something deeper had happened. Maybe a tender place in his heart had been soothed as he did his best to help out people who were living in the same in-between state he had once been through himself.
They drove on in thoughtful silence for a while, and before she knew it, Jenny was pulling down the long drive of the inn, past the lake.
“I like the decorations,” Gael said as she pulled into the gravel lot to park.
“They’re really pretty,” Jenny agreed. The simple white lights and evergreen branches adorning the inn were somehow just as festive as any of the lavishly decorated homes they had passed.
“Christmas isn’t over yet,” Gael said hopefully as they headed up the steps.
“No, definitely not,” Jenny told him. “I thought wecould hang out in the library and drink some hot cocoa.”
The inn’s library had been one of Gael’s favorite things to discover about the place when Trudy had given them a quick tour this morning after they opened presents.
“Do you think there are any comic books in there?” Gael asked uncertainly.
“It looked like there were all kinds of books,” Jenny told him. “But I was thinking we could bring our new books down too, just in case.”
That earned her an enormous smile, and she was feeling really happy as they headed inside.
“Welcome back,” Trudy called out from the dining room, where she was putting out a fresh vase of holly branches as a centerpiece. “Did you have fun at the Center?”
“Yes,” Gael answered enthusiastically. “And now we’re going to read comic books in the library.”
“Well, that sounds like an activity that would be better with hot cocoa,” Trudy said.
“That’s whatwesaid,” Gael said, looking thunderstruck.
“I guess great minds really do think alike,” Trudy declared. “I’ll just start the kettle.”
She headed for the kitchen as Jenny and Gael went upstairs to take off their coats and grab their new books.
Jenny felt happy all over again seeing Gael in the sweater she had made him. He’d been so happy this morning when he opened it. He’d pulled it right on, like there was no question in his mind that it was going to be his favorite article of clothing.
Once they dropped off their things and picked up their books, they headed back downstairs and settled in the library. Jenny curled up on one of the sofas and Gael took a big cozy chair by the Christmas tree and the window overlooking the lake.
The library itself had been added to the building in the twenties—Trudy had told them all about it this morning—and it was built to a larger scale than the rest of the rooms, though the ceiling was lower, which gave it a cozy feeling.
There was a big stone fireplace, where a fire crackled away merrily, keeping the whole room nice and toasty. Three of the walls were lined with built-in bookshelves that practically overflowed with fancy leather-bound volumes, dog-eared paperbacks, and every kind of book in between. In the corner was an upright piano that looked as old as the house. And then there was the focal point, a great big Christmas tree by the picture window that overlooked the lake.
Between the dancing fire and the gently twinkling lights on the tree, the room felt almost like a living thing, welcoming guests in to relax and enjoy themselves.
And somehow, in spite of the tumult of feelings from their day, Jenny found she was able to do just that. She lost herself in her new book while Gael eagerly tore through his comics, pausing only to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa with Trudy and her husband Ward when they stopped back with a tray of steaming mugs and a tin of cookies.
