A Picture-Purrfect Christmas (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 13) (21 page)

Erin pulled away from Mabel. “Better than I’ve ever been in my whole life.” She put her hands on Marissa’s shoulders, looked into her eyes, and said, “Oh yes, baby sister, I cry. I cry in the night when you’re asleep. I cry so often that I thought I would be out of tears by now. But this is the first time in a very long time that I’m crying happy tears.”

Savannah wiped tears from her own eyes as she watched their four guests enjoy a group hug.

“You’re crying, too,” Marissa said a few minutes later, as she approached Savannah. The child plopped down next to her on the loveseat and leaned against her. “Are you happy, too?”

“Yes and no,” Savannah said. “I’m over-the-top happy for you and Erin. But,” she laughed through her tears, “I will miss you girls so much.”

“You can visit.” Marissa quickly looked at Mabel and Roland. “Can’t they?”

“Of course,” Mabel said, smiling widely. “Anytime.”

“Please sit down, Mabel…Roland,” Michael invited, motioning toward the chairs they’d placed around the room.

After a brief silence, Marissa said, “This is the best Christmas ever.” She then thought for a moment. “In fact, this is my only Christmas.” She looked around at everyone, ran her hand over Lily’s curls, and said, “I like it. I like it a lot!”

“What smells so good?” Michael asked.

“Oh,” Mabel said, quickly standing and heading toward the kitchen, “my cinnamon rolls! Don’t want to burn them.”

Savannah followed after her. Turning, she said, “Your grandmother was busy in our kitchen while they waited for the…surprise.”

“Oh, that’s why you wouldn’t let me get my own drink of water,” Erin said, laughing.

In a moment, the two women returned, carrying a pitcher and a platter. Savannah took some glasses and small plates out of the buffet and placed them on the table. “Everyone grab a cinnamon roll and a glass of orange juice, and we’ll open some gifts.”

“Hellooo.”

“Oh, hi,” Savannah said, when she saw Margaret and Max walk into the dining room from the kitchen.

“Are we in time for the big reveal?” Margaret asked eagerly.

“We were getting ready to open the packages from under the tree. The girls just opened their biggest gift of all.”

“How’d it go?” Max asked the couple.

Both Mabel and Roland smiled from ear to ear. She said, “They think this was a gift for
them
. What they don’t know is that it is as much a gift for us,” she said, dabbing at her eyes.

Margaret hugged Mabel.

“Thanks, by the way, for allowing us to spend the night with you and Max,” Mabel said. “We sure enjoyed your hospitality. I hope we can reciprocate sometime soon.”

Margaret looked at the girls. “So did you like your surprise gift?”

Both girls nodded. “I still can’t believe it,” Erin said.

“What about you, Marissa?” she asked.

“I believe it.” She looked at the angel on top of the tree and said quietly, “I believe in miracles and this is a Christmas miracle.” She then looked at Savannah and asked, “Can I open my present now?”

“It’s burning a hole in your pocket, isn’t it?” she said smiling. “Yeah, I guess you can…” Before she’d finished the sentence, Marissa had snatched the package out from under the tree and started to tear into it.

“Wait, we want to watch you open it. Let me get my camera,” Savannah said.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Marissa complained good-naturedly. “I have only so much patience, you know.”

“Yeah, wait,” Margaret said. “I want you to open our gift first.”

“You brought gifts, too?” Marissa asked, jumping up and down a little. “This is so much fun.”

“Yes,” Margaret said handing Marissa a covered basket. “Careful, it’s fragile,” she cautioned, helping the girl carry it to the sofa, where she sat down with the basket on her lap.

Marissa looked up at Margaret and Max, who both had wide grins on their face. “Thank you,” she said.

Max winked. “I hope you like it.”

“Angel!” Marissa shouted when she lifted the basket lid and saw the little snow-white kitten peering up at her. “She’s mine? You’re giving her to me?” she asked, disbelieving.

“Yes,” Margaret said.

Max nodded.

Marissa looked to Mabel and Roland for their approval.

Dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, Mabel said, “It’s okay with us, as long as you take good care of her.”

“Oh, yes, I will. I sure will.” She then addressed Margaret and Max again, “Thank you so much,” she said, taking the kitten out of the basket and hugging her. “She has a harness and leash like Rags!” she exclaimed.

Margaret smiled. “Yes, we thought you might like to take her for walks in the summertime.”

“Like Rags,” she said. She scooted off the sofa with the kitten and gave Margaret and Max each a one-armed hug. Then, rushing with the kitten across the room, she said, “Look Grandmother and Grandfather, she’s damaged like I am.”

“Damaged?” Roland said, choking up a little. “Oh no, dear child. You are perfect just the way you are. And so is Angel.”

“Honey,” Mabel said, “we talked to a doctor at the hospital and he said he can straighten your legs.”

“Oh,” Marissa said, a puzzled look on her face. “I wondered why that doctor was looking at my legs. He can fix them?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“He sure can.”

Marissa looked down at the kitten and ran her hand over the crook in her leg.

“I can fix that, if you want me to,” Michael said, “although, we should consider whether it would give her more quality of life or not.” He explained, “We don’t want to put her through surgery unnecessarily.”

Marissa put the kitten down on the floor and watched her for a moment. “Well, she can walk.” Before she could pick her up again, Rags rushed toward the kitten and began sniffing her. When he knocked her over with his exuberance, everyone laughed.

“She isn’t intimidated by him, is she?” Max said.

“No, she just seems to take things in her stride and bounces back,” Michael observed.

“Just like Marissa,” Savannah said, squeezing the child to her.

“Oh, look at that,” Roland said, when the kitten raised up on her haunches and began batting at Rags playfully. She jumped and then skittered around the room a few times, leaving Rags watching with interest.

“Just look at her,” Marissa said. “She can even run and play. Maybe she
is
okay just the way she is.”

“Shall we open the gifts?” Michael suggested.

Savannah nodded. “Yes, just as soon as I change Lily. I’ll be right back…promise,” she said, scooping up the toddler in her arms and heading through the living room and down the hallway with her.

When she returned, she noticed that the energy level in the room was high. Marissa sat on the sofa with a grandparent on each side of her and Angel on her lap. Roland was showing her and Erin pictures on his phone of their home and neighborhood and telling Erin about some of the choices in nearby colleges. Max and Michael were examining one of Lily’s new mechanical toys.

“Okay,” Savannah said, handing the baby to Margaret who waited with open arms, “is everyone ready to open gifts?”

Mabel and Roland laughed when Marissa let out an excited yelp. “Yes!” she said.

“Erin, would you help me with the gifts?” Savannah asked. “We’ll hand them all out and each of you can take turns opening your gifts so everyone can see what you got.”

“All this for me?” Marissa asked as she watched the packages and gift bags with her name on them piling up around her.

Mabel hugged Marissa to her. “Thank heavens for stores that stay open late on Christmas Eve.”

“But wait ‘til you see what we have for you at home,” Roland added.

Marissa looked confused.

“Your grandmother has been buying you gifts every year for Christmas and your birthday, hoping that would be the year we would see you. We never did, of course, so she stored them in a closet for the day when you would come back into our life.”

Mabel laughed. “I’m not sure you’re going to need baby toys anymore, or a princess dress, size three.”

Marissa thought about it for a moment before saying, “But boy, will I have fun opening them and pretending I had all that stuff when I was a kid.” She leaned against her grandmother, cuddling for a few moments. “That was nice of you to think of me all those years.” Mabel hugged her tightly as Marissa continued, “I just wish I could have been thinking about you, too.” She pulled back and looked at her grandmother, her head tilted. “Actually, I guess I was. I just didn’t know who God would send me.”

“Who He would send you?” Roland said.

“You know, as the answer to my prayers.” She then picked up the package with the Christmas-cat wrapping and asked, excitedly, “Can I open this now?”

After opening what seemed like a myriad of gifts including clothes, winter jackets, games, and toys, Savannah handed Marissa another package and said, “Open this.”

“Thank you,” the girl said. “I can’t imagine there’s anything else in the world I need or even want.”

“Oh you might change your mind when you see it. Open it,” Savannah said smiling.

“A camera!” she shouted. She hugged the box to her briefly, then held it out and looked at it. “…like yours.” Handing it to her grandmother, she stood and hobbled over to where Savannah sat, hugging her tightly. “Thank you, Ms. Savannah.”

“You’re so welcome. Here’s a charged battery. Let’s put it in and you can take pictures this morning, if you want.”

“Okay,” she said, first moving toward Michael and hugging him around his neck. “Thank you so much.”

When she returned to where Savannah sat with her camera, Marissa climbed into her lap. Wiping her eyes, she said, “Ms. Savannah, if I could choose a mother, it would be you. I love you.”

“And I would be proud to have you for a daughter,” Savannah said, choking up.

When Marissa pulled back, she held out her little finger. “Will you be my wishful mommy?”

Savannah linked her little finger with the child’s. “Absolutely, wishful daughter.”

Everyone laughed.

Just then, Rags jumped up on the chair where Savannah and Marissa sat. He stepped into Marissa’s lap and began rubbing his cheek against hers.

“And you’re my brother cat, Rags,” she said, running her hands down his back. “…and my hero,” she said quietly.

Just then, Mabel spoke out. “Erin, we have something else for you, too, dear.”

“More?” Erin said when Mabel handed her a gift bag. She looked at Marissa. “Are we dreaming, Rissy? This is just too good to be true.” She looked around at everyone. “All of it.”

“But there’s more,” Roland said. “Mabel and I thought you might need this. We heard through the grapevine that you don’t have one. I think it’s standard for a college student.”

Erin wiped at her eyes and focused on the gift bag. She reached in and pulled something out. Once she had removed the tissue, she shouted, “A laptop! I can’t believe it. My own laptop! It’s mine, really?”

Laughing, Mabel and Roland said, “Really. It’s yours.”

Erin leaped up from the floor and rushed to the couple, hugging one and then the other. “Thank you so much,” she said. She held the laptop to her and spun around. “No more waiting at the library for a computer.” She looked at it again and said, “I’m so happy.” She glanced around the room and said more somberly, “So this is Christmas, huh?”

“You never celebrated Christmas either?” Savannah asked.

She shook her head. “We had a tree at one of the places where I stayed, and there were a few presents. Don’t get me wrong; I was grateful for what I got—an old doll of the housemother’s that was only for looking at, not playing with, and a few hair ribbons.”

“Susie?” Marissa said.

Erin nodded. “Yes, I still have that doll—Susie—as a remembrance of my first—one and only—Christmas.”

“How old were you, Erin?”

“Seven, I think.”

Suddenly, Marissa stood. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She walked awkwardly toward the tree, digging around in the branches for a moment. She then pulled out something, and walked over to Savannah. “I remembered what you said that day in the photography class about giving.” She lowered her head. “I was so busy taking that I forgot about giving. She held something out to Savannah. “For you and Dr. Mike, from me,” she said, smiling.

“Oh, well, you sneaky little devil,” Savannah said, smiling widely. “When…how?” she stammered.

“One day when you weren’t looking,” she said. “Open it.”

Savannah peered at Marissa, thinned her lips, and untied the piece of string from around the newspaper wrapping. When she removed the paper, she looked stunned. “Oh Marissa, this is stunning. Is this one of your…?”

The girl nodded. “I thought you’d like that picture I took, so I had Ms. Shelly print it and we kept it a secret from you. I made the frame out of cardboard and beads. Do you like it?”

“I love it,” Savannah said, holding it to herself.

“What is it, hon?” Michael asked, looking over her shoulder.

“A gorgeous picture of our daughter. Boy, Marissa, you really captured her. This is a wonderful shot.”

“Gosh, it sure is,” Michael agreed. “I’ve seen this expression on Lily, but I don’t think we’ve ever caught it in a picture. Good job, Marissa,” Michael said, inviting a high five.

“I want to see,” Margaret said. “Pass it around.”

Marissa stood silently for a moment, before saying, “You were right, Ms. Savannah.”

“About what?” she asked.

“It does feel good to give.”

While everyone looked at the picture, Marissa went back to her seat on the sofa and began tinkering with her camera. She took a few shots of Angel and Rags. She asked everyone to gather around the tree so she could get a picture to always remember her first Christmas. Then Savannah showed her how to set the camera on delay and take a picture with everyone in it—Michael held Rags, Marissa held Angel, and Margaret held Lily.

Suddenly, Savannah said, “Oh, where has the time gone? I’d better get the potatoes boiling.”

“I put the pies in the pantry,” Max said, “…pumpkin, apple, and chocolate cream—that one’s in the fridge.” He grinned at the girls. “I heard there is a choco-holic here today.”

Erin grinned. “That would be me. Chocolate cream pie? Sounds delicious!”