Aunt Santa

Chapter 3

The first leg of the trip to Christmas House was the train ride to Grand Central Station. Billy dropped the three of them off at the platform on his way to school. From South Orange, the ride into the city would take about an hour.

"I still think it's a bad idea to be hauling luggage all over New York at Christmas," Billy said as he hefted the kids' single, enormous suitcase out of the trunk. "Oof, it's heavy."

"I had to pack all of their snow gear," Mo reminded him. "Beebs, hold still." BB was twisting her head in all directions to see if the train was coming and trying to get her thick gloves on her tiny hands was like a game of Whack-a-mole. "There," she said finally, attaching the little hook on the end of each glove to her daughter's sleeves. "Besides, Sara always has some plan for the suitcases when we get there."

When Mo called and told her the changed plans, and asked if she felt comfortable taking the kids by herself, the first thing she suggested was they keep it simple. Instead of their annual start in the city, Mo could drive the kids directly up to Christmas House and meet her there.

"But we have to see the tree!" Sara had exclaimed instantly. "And get our hot chocolate and go ice skating in the park. All of it."

Mo had kept her sigh to herself. If there was anything Sara hated, it was changing her meticulously considered plans. And this year, her plans seemed more ambitious than usual.

"Are you absolutely sure this isn't too much?" Mo asked her for the third time.

"It'll be fun. You forget," her friend reminded her, a tease in her voice, "the kids are like angels when you and Billy aren't there."

"Maybe not this year," Mo had muttered as she'd hung up the phone. When Sam heard the new plan, he'd made his feelings clear by giving her the silent treatment until it was time to leave.

When they got on the train, she and BB sat on one side of the car and Sam immediately moved to the opposite end of the aisle, choosing to perch next to a stranger enjoying his enormous breakfast burrito.

"Why are you taking the train with us?" BB asked her mother, even though they'd already gone over the plan a dozen times.

"I want to make sure you find Aunt Sara at the station. The city is very busy this time of year. And you have all your luggage for the trip, too." She patted her daughter's purple backpack.

"And then you'll go home?"

"Yes." Mo wondered if she should be insulted that her daughter looked so happy about that. "Dad and I will drive up on Christmas Eve. And we'll all be together on Christmas morning."

"That's good," her daughter said, kicking her feet against the seat as the train lurched its way toward the city.

Arriving at Grand Central during morning rush hour on a Friday, a week before Christmas, was perhaps not one of their wisest decisions.

Sara stood on the lower level and sipped her coffee, trying to separate the rushing travelers into groups as they passed by. The commuters were obvious by the flat detachment on their faces. There were the teenagers from surrounding suburbs already on break for the holiday, trying to look casual as they scanned signs for the subway. Her favorite sighting was the small clumps of families all dressed up in their finery, en-route to Radio City Music Hall for the first showing of the Rockettes doing their thing.

A little girl in a black velvet dress stopped in front of her and gazed up at the tiled ceilings that swooped up and over their heads in rainbow curves, moving only when her mother tugged her forward.