Page 41 of A Little Christmas Wish

Ink had obviously expected him, because he hadn’t moved at all.

Baron ran over to Zippy, crouching down next to Betsy. “What’s going on? What happened? Why did you run off, Zippy?”

Royal followed him in, standing next to Ink.

“Leon is coming for me and I didn’t want him to hurt Betsy,” she explained again. “So I left.”

“Zippy, that’s not the way family works,” Royal said.

Betsy looked back over her shoulder at Royal who was frowning down at Zippy.

The girl frowned back at him. “What do you mean? I’m protecting Betsy. That’s being part of a family, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, we protect each other, Zippy,” Baron said. “But we can’t do that if we run away. We stay and fight. Together.”

“But . . . aren’t you all mad that Leon might hurt you?” Zippy glanced around at them all.

“Oh, Zippy, of course not,” Betsy told her. “We could never be mad at you, especially not for something that someone else has done. All we want is to take care of you.”

“Part of being a family is telling someone when you need help,” Ink said. “It’s caring and protecting each other, yes, but we fight our problems together.”

“Oh.” Zippy stared at them all with wide eyes. “Am I part of the family?”

“Of course you are,” Betsy told her.

“I’m only here for a short while, though.” Zippy glanced down at her hands.

“Would you like to be here for longer?” Ink asked in a careful voice.

“I like it here. The twins are fun. And you don’t shout or yell or hurt Betsy,” she said to Ink.

God. Betsy wanted to hurt Leon. It was amazing that Zippy was as well-adjusted as she was. That she wasn’t more scared of men.

Then Zippy turned to Betsy, giving her a shy look. “But I like being here mostly because of you.”

“Really?” Betsy whispered.

“Really. I know you worry about making things good for me. I haven’t had that. Amber was always too scared of Leon to do anything for me. Not that I need it, I can take care of myself,” Zippy declared.

“Of course you can,” Betsy said, hiding a smile.

“But it’s still nice when you put notes in my lunchbox telling me to have a good day. And you make sure I have clean clothes and everything I need for school. And take me Christmas shopping and make good hot cocoa.”

“I’ll get you a hot cocoa right now,” Betsy said as she tried to stand.

But before she could get onto her feet, she found her arms filled with a small seven-year-old.

This was the first time Zippy had hugged her. She wrapped her arms around her tentatively, not wanting to scare her off.

“You know we want you here, don’t you, Zippy?” Betsy said. “You’re very much a part of our family.”

Zippy nodded, but Betsy got the feeling she was still hesitant. Zippy drew back and Betsy reluctantly let her go.

“I’ll go make that hot cocoa.”

“You’re sure I deserve it?” Zippy asked.

“Of course you do,” Betsy said with a smile.

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