Page 35 of A Baxter Family Christmas
“Not yet.” He felt his nerves relax a little. “Any minute, though.”
Ryan hugged him then, and each of the kids did the same. They had bags of wrapped gifts and a plate of Christmas cookies.
“For Grandma Elaine.” Jessie smiled. “Where is she?”
John loved this about his family, how they had adapted to heartache and tragedy over the years. Yes, all the kids and grandkids missed Elizabeth but each in their own timing and their own way, had taken Elaine into the family.
Jessie’s cookies were proof.
Love like this was part of their story of redemption. No matter what happened, as long as they had each other, they would still be Baxters.
And they would be fine.
They headed to the kitchen where Brooke and Peter and their girls were helping Elaine set the two tables. Dayne and Katy and their kids would arrive in twenty minutes.
“Has anyone heard from Luke and Reagan?” Ashley was walking down the stairs with Landon at her side. “He should be here about the same time as Dayne and Katy.”
The others stopped for a moment and looked at each other. John was the first to speak. “Luke’s coming?”
“He didn’t want to miss being with the whole family.” Ashley paused at the bottom of the stairs and then crossed through the group to John. “We’re staying, too, Daddy.” She looked back at the kids. “You were right.” She stared into his eyes. “Amy wanted to meet Kendra. So now we all want to meet her.”
John couldn’t believe it. Earlier today he had been sure he’d made a mess of Christmas. And now... now they would have the Christmas Eve he’d prayed for. The one he’d dreamed about.
They all surrounded John for a group hug, just as his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket. It was Luke. “Hello?”
“Dad!” The connection was fuzzy. “We’re stuck in this snowstorm about twenty miles from Bloomington. Can’t see a thing.”
The warm feeling from a moment ago was immediately gone. “Are you safe? You and Reagan and the kids?”
The others gradually backed up, giving him space to talk.
It seemed like Luke had to yell to be heard. “We’re safe for now in the car. But the traffic isn’t moving. The way it’s snowing... snowdrift.” Static sounded over the line. Luke mentioned a mile-marker number. “We might... be stuck for a while.”
John refused to acknowledge the panic that rushed at him. “Stay in the car. I’ll make some phone calls.” John wanted to get in his truck and find them. Instead he told Luke the family would pray.
The doorbell rang as John hung up the phone, his focus entirely on Luke and Reagan and the kids. Kari answered the door and there, standing outside in the snow, were Kendra Bryant and her husband, Moe. The man who wasn’t supposed to join her. Whatever had happened between them he was here now.
“Hi.” Kari was the first to step up and hug her. “You must be Kendra.”
“Yes.” She removed her snowy coat and the man beside her did the same. Ryan took both coats and hung them on a rack near the front door. Kendra looked at the man beside her. “This is Moe, my husband.”
John hadn’t been sure what Kendra would look like. He almost expected her to look like Erin. But she was taller, more slender with dark hair and pretty dark eyes. She looked younger than John had anticipated. And shaky, nervous.
As deep as his emotions were in this moment, hers had to be equally intense.
John stepped up to her. “Kendra.” He took hold of her hands. “I’m John Baxter.”
“Hi, John.” And then it happened. The hug John had thought about for the last few years.
He didn’t hold on too long, didn’t want to make Kendra feel uncomfortable. But her heart was beating hard, and in that short embrace, he felt it against his chest. The heartbeat he had first felt when Erin was a baby. The one he felt on her wedding day, moments before he walked her down the aisle.
The steady, strong, beautiful heartbeat of his youngest daughter.
John stepped back, practically dizzy from the reality. Erin’s heart was right here, in the same room with them. Ashley hugged Kendra next and then she introduced Kendra and Moe to the others.
When it came time for Amy’s introduction, Ashley hesitated. “This is Amy.”
Kendra seemed to know immediately that Amy wasn’t like the other children. Her smile faded some. “Hello, Amy.” The two of them remained several feet apart. “Maybe we can talk later, okay?”
