Page 86 of Through the Snow Globe
“No. I just . . . I need a reminder, that’s all.” Diana looked down at the bag in her hand. It was heavy. What was inside?
“Here’s your reminder,” the woman said. “Dustin is yours now. The expedited paperwork was approved yesterday after he was already in bed. You said you’d come first thing this morning to get him.”
“Paperwork?” Diana repeated, trying to make sense of this conversation.
“Congrats. You’re a new foster mom. Everything the boy owns is in the bag,” the woman reiterated.
Diana felt her mouth hang open. She met Dustin’s eyes. He still looked frightened and she had the sudden need to scoop him up and carry him far away from this house. Did he remember the last twenty days? Was he as lost as Diana was? “It’s Christmas,” Diana said. “Where are his toys?”
The woman laughed dryly as if that were an absurd thing to wonder. “Christmas doesn’t come to kids who behave the way he does.” She turned back to glare at Dustin. Who could hate a child? This woman could, evidently. “When you behave the way you do, you get kicked out of the warm home that invited you in and from the warm food you’ve been given. Eventually, you’ll run out of people willing to take a chance on you, you know?” she said, speaking in a harsh tone.
“Dustin?” Diana said.
He looked past the woman to Diana. “Yes?” he asked so quietly that Diana almost didn’t hear him.
“Come on. It’s time to leave.”
Relief washed over his expression. He timidly stepped onto the porch where Diana was standing.
“Is the bike on the lawn his?” Diana asked. There was no need for smiles or friendly pretenses. She didn’t like this woman any more than the woman seemed to like her or Dustin.
“No. It’s going to the thrift store first thing tomorrow. Trust me, you’ll thank me for not giving it to him. He used that thing to ride all over town causing mischief in his wake.”
Diana placed a hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “Come on, buddy. We have a busy day ahead of us.” She walked the boy around to the passenger side of her car and opened the door for him. Then she tossed his bag into the back seat. Once she was in the driver’s seat, she looked over. “Apparently, you’re with me now.”
He nodded silently, keeping his head low.
“Is that okay with you?” she asked, suddenly concerned this wasn’t what he wanted. She wasn’t exactly the family he’d asked for on his Christmas wish list.
He nodded again. “It’s okay with me,” he said quietly.
“Do you remember the last couple of weeks?” she asked, hopefully.
This time he met her eyes. “You told me you’d do everything you could to bring me home with you. I didn’t really think you meant it. Until now.” His eyes shimmered with tears that he seemed to be working hard to hold in. “I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas,” he said. “Thank you, Diana.”
She was working hard to hold in her tears too. Diana wasn’t sure what exactly had transpired to lead her here, but she wasn’t sorry.
She slid the gear into DRIVE and reversed the car. “You deserve more than me for Christmas.” She glanced over with a sudden idea and a growing smile. “And you’re going to get more.” She directed her vehicle toward her next destination and talked to Dustin as she drove. “So, you do remember the last few weeks?”
“Kind of. You followed me home one day and Mrs. Keller was yelling at me. You told her you had a friend who would help you become my foster mom.”
Rochelle?
“We were repeating the same day over and over. Do you remember that?” Diana asked.
Dustin nodded in her peripheral vision. “But Mrs. Keller never believed me.”
“I can blame her for a lot, but I can’t blame her for that. It’s a tall tale. How about we just keep that a secret between us?”
Dustin nodded again. “I really tried to change how I acted. I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. Mr. Linus gave me a doll and I brought it home to Jacy. Then Mrs. Keller accused me of stealing it. She threw it away to hide the evidence and told me I was rotten.”
Diana’s heart broke. “I’m sorry, Dustin.” She parked in front of Linus’s toy store. The lights were off. It was closed today because Linus was at New Hope in a coma. As far as Diana knew, his part-time employee, Jean, had been operating the store for the last three weeks. “Let’s go inside. It’s Christmas Day after all. And I can’t say for sure if you’ve been behaved or not, but I can say that you deserve good things.”
Dustin’s eyes lit up. “You’re going to let me pick out a toy?”
Diana laughed as she pushed open her car door. She stepped out and dipped to speak to Dustin, who was still in the passenger seat. “You can pick out ten toys and a new bike. How’s that sound?”
The boy whooped and threw open his door.
