Page 35 of A Ferry Merry Christmas
“I don’t know . . . Maybe.” She didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter the truth.
Leaving Olivia to stand guard was the only way she could avoid her daughter hearing their conversation.
Logan looked up as she approached, wearing a frown.
She reassured him right away. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to come sit with us.”
Relief showed in his eyes.
“After telling Olivia that you’d be with us on Christmas Day, you’ve now decided to disappoint our daughter. All I ask is that you be man enough to tell her instead of leaving it up to me. That’s the least you can do.”
With that, Beth returned to where Olivia waited, looking up expectantly. Seeing that it was only her mother and not Logan, the little girl’s face fell.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Logan was sick at heart. He’d been excited to see Beth and Olivia on the ferry. At first, he’d been shocked, and wary, too. His heart had leapt with a sense of joy to find the two people he loved more than life itself on this ferry. He’d had no idea they were headed into Seattle or that he’d unexpectedly run into them.
He’d been heading to Seattle to sell his motorcycle. He loved that machine and drove it to work most days, as it was far more economical than his truck. His old pickup was a gas guzzler. And then one of the men on his crew who lived close by had agreed to give Logan a ride to and from work. That had its advantages and disadvantages.
The biggest advantage was that by selling his bike, he’d be able to give Olivia and Beth a Christmas gift. He desperately wanted them to know how deeply he loved them. He’d failed at most everything when it came to his wife and daughter, so the least he could do was show them he cared enough to buy them a Christmas present.
Now that would be impossible. The entire reason he’d been on this doomed ferry was to meet the buyer who’d contacted him. The plan was for Logan to bring over the bike for him to examine. If the guy found the motorcycle to his liking, he’d pay the agreed-upon price. Logan would take an Uber back to the dock and ride the ferry home.
And now his plan had gone awry with the ferry stalled in the water. He’d reached out to let the buyer know he’d be late for the appointment time they’d set. The text reply told Logan that theguy’s wife had talked him out of buying a motorcycle, claiming it was too dangerous.
Logan felt his heart sink to his stomach to the point that he felt physically ill. With only two days until Christmas, he wouldn’t be able to find another buyer in time to purchase any gifts.
When he’d agreed to spend Christmas with Beth’s parents, he’d envisioned arriving with a bottle of fine Scotch for Grant, Beth’s father, and a poinsettia for Irene, her mother. He already had a beautiful piece of jewelry picked out for Beth. Something exquisite and delicate like his wife. He’d seen a cameo at the farmer’s market and instantly knew it would be the perfect Christmas present for her. The woman who manned the stall had agreed to set it aside for him. Logan knew Beth would cherish that cameo.
But like so much else in life, it wasn’t meant to be. With less than twenty bucks in his pocket, twenty bucks that would need to see him to the end of the month, now there would be nothing for Beth and Olivia.
With his shoulders hunched forward, he sat in the small cafeteria, his heart as heavy as it had ever been. For just a few hours he’d been filled with hope. With joy that he would be able to surprise his family with gifts that showed his heart.
He should have known better, should have realized that what his father said all those years ago was true.
Logan was no good, filled with lofty dreams that were doomed to fail.
Life hadn’t been easy after his mother walked out. She’d left, kissed each of her two sons good-bye, and said she’d be in touch once she’d settled down. She would send for them, she’d said, and he’d believed her.
In the next three years Logan got one phone call and one birthday card and then nothing. That had been the extent of her interest and her love.
The first and only time she’d called was to let Logan know she’d found a job in a tavern and was putting aside her tips. It shouldn’t take her more than a month or two to save up enough to rent a decent apartment. Once she did, she’d send for both boys. Logan lived on that dream until it was impossible to hold on to any longer.
The fool that he was, Logan had desperately wanted to believe his mother meant what she’d said. He gripped hold of her promise with everything he had and trusted her words.
After several weeks and then months without any word, he gave up hope. She hadn’t given him any information on where she’d settled or any way of contacting her. The number she used had been disconnected when he tried to call back. It took far longer than it should have for him to realize everything she’d said had been a bald-faced lie.
Perhaps at one time she’d believed she would follow through, although in retrospect he didn’t think so. Most likely, it was a way to suppress her guilt for having abandoned her sons.
With his mother gone, the situation at home got worse. His father’s drinking increased to the point that he was drunk most days. As a result, he grew more and more verbally aggressive.
Paul, Logan’s younger brother, left before he did, running off in the middle of the night with a friend who had a car. He stole the secret stash Logan had saved. Logan had worked odd jobs before and after school, hoping that once he graduated, he could find his own escape.
Instead, he was stuck with an abusive father who gave up on life and, sadly, gave up on himself. In his misery, he took out his anger on Logan. Not physically, because by this time, Logan was taller and stronger than his father. He was smart enough notto try. The verbal abuse was worse than anything physical his father might have done, though.
More times than Logan could count, his father had reiterated that Logan didn’t have any better chance of making something of himself than he had. Like his father, Logan was destined to fail at life.
His father’s taunts echoed in his dreams, echoed in his marriage, and followed him into every endeavor since.
