Page 25 of Christmas in Whitehorn
“I’m going to get out of the way before I step in it,” Mark muttered under his breath.
The boy laughed.
Mark inched toward him, then dropped into a crouch. “Women,” he said. “Do they drive you crazy, too?”
The boy nodded.
Mark pulled two more wooden ornaments out of his shirt pocket. “I’ll distract her and you hang these, okay?”
Big brown eyes brightened at the thought of a conspiracy. Mark sensed Darcy’s attention and knew that she’d heard him, but that wasn’t a problem. He didn’t doubt she would play along with the game.
“Oh, Darcy,” he said, his voice loud enough to carry. “We’re missing a box of ornaments.”
She turned toward him, careful to keep her back to the boy who was moving slowly toward the tree.
“Did you lose them again? I thought I could trust you. Where did you last see the box?”
Mark rose and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybeyoulost them.”
“Me?” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m crushed you would say such a thing about me. Simply crushed. Mortified. Broken.”
She sagged into a nearby chair and buried her head in her hands. The child finished hanging the two ornaments and made his way to Mark’s side.
“Good job,” Mark said, touching the boy’s shoulder. “I’m impressed.”
Darcy looked at the tree and sprang to her feet. “My tree. It’s perfect. And yet. No! Someone has touched it. Someone has…made it better. Was it you?”
She turned to the boy. He grinned in delight. She returned to her chair.
“Done in by a child.”
Still smiling, the boy gave a little wave then started back to his room. One of the nurses stepped into the hall.
“Jon-Anthony, you get back here, young man. You just got your crutches today and already you’re running marathons. I told the doctor you’d be trouble, but did she listen?”
“Nice job,” Darcy said, rising and surveying their tree. “You’re really good with kids.”
“You, too.”
They stared at each other. It was too much like a moment for Mark to be comfortable. “Maddie was always breaking something when we were growing up. It was never fun for her to be slowed down by a cast or crutches. I used to entertain her.”
Darcy stared down the hall. “I feel badly for the children who have to spend Christmas here.”
“You’re helping.”
“I want it to be enough, and I’m not sure it is.”
She looked a little lost as she spoke. He had the thought she was the kind of woman who should be married with a couple of kids of her own. That might keep her from wanting to rescue the world.
As he stared at the lights on the tree, he remembered when he’d had his own dreams about children. It had been a year ago, right after he’d met Sylvia. By their second date, he’d been ready to propose, having already named their children. He’d never been happier.
Suddenly he could hear the sound of Sylvia’s laughter. He recalled how she’d looked waiting for him to come home from work. Usually she’d been naked and in his bed. It had taken nearly three months after he’d gotten out of the hospital for him to stop expecting to see her. Even when he’d stopped caring about her, she’d still managed to invade his dreams. Even now she haunted him, reminding him to be wary.
“Mark?”
He turned to look at Darcy.
“Want to come back to earth?” she asked with a smile.
