The Perfect Gift

Chapter 5

Soon after, Mary's father arrived back from his meeting with Frank.

"Hey Mary, sweetie, how did it go here?"

"Well, not too great to be honest. Not a single customer came by to buy anything. In fact, the only people who came to the mercantile were Miles and his father, the mayor."

"Oh. I see. Well, thank you very much for running the mercantile for me, even if nothing much happened. It's starting to get late, and I'm not feeling my best. You guys go on and have supper without me. I think I just need a good night's sleep and I'm sure things will pick up here in the morning. Goodnight Mary, and say goodnight to your brother for me. Love you."

"No problem Pa. You're probably right. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow."

At least she hoped, thought Mary.

"Love you too. Goodnight," Mary added.

And with that, Mary's father left the main room of the mercantile and headed into his small bedroom. Mary almost forgot Annabelle was still there until her grandmother spoke up.

"Well that's a shame - slow business, your father unwell too. Call down John for me, would ya? Just leftovers for tonight. Wash up and meet me at the table. At least we can fit everyone, since your father has gone off to bed."

Annabelle chuckled a little, then got up from the table and into the small, rectangular kitchen, making creaking noises off the floorboards as she went. Meanwhile, Mary called down John from their bedroom.

"JOHN, SUPPERS READY! WASH UP AND MEET US AT THE TABLE!" yelled Mary from the bottom of the steps.

Then Mary washed her own hands, and fell silently to the table. Shortly after, both John and Annabelle were seated at the table.

"Where's Pa?" asked John.

"He wasn't feeling well this evening, so he headed off to bed early." Annabelle informed John.

"Oh. Okay. I just wanted to ask him how he would feel if I spent Christmas with Miles and his family, but I guess I can wait."

Everyone was silent and Mary was sure that her grandma was thinking the same thing as her.

Absolutely not, John! It's Christmas! Don't you remember? Don't you care? It's mom's favorite holiday!

"Alright, let's eat. I'm starving!" exclaimed Annabelle.

Not another word was spoken, as everyone ate in peace. Normally it was Mary's father that started the conversation and kept the talking going, but because he wasn't there, it was so quiet that they could hear Mr and Mrs O'Klair laughing in the house beside them. There hasn't been much laughter since Mary's mother had died.  Mary finished her food quickly and dismissed herself without another word. She set her plate and silverware on the kitchen counter, telling herself that she would get to it later. She took off towards the stairs, but heard her father making some sort of whimpering noise in his office. Mary decided to go check on her father. Mary knocked on the door to her fathers office and waited for a reply.

"Co- Co- Co-come on in."

"Pa? Are you alright?"

Mary could see through the act. Pa's eyes were wet and water drops were attached to his cheek. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him cry.

Perhaps the few days after Ma died, decided Mary.

"I'm fine, darling. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I was just heading up to my room, when I heard you crying. Why are you crying Pa?" asked Mary.

"It's nothing for you to worry about sweetie. You should go off to bed now, it's getting late."

"Oh, come on Pa! It's only quarter past seven!" exclaimed Mary. "What is really going on? You can tell me, really you can!"

"It's just, I'm missing your mother right now, that's all Mary. She would've known what to do if she were here right now. We would be having the best Christmas holidays. I miss her very much."

Then, Mary's father started to cry softly again, reaching for his handkerchief to muffle the sound even more.

"I miss her too," Mary agreed.

That was the closest that Mary ever got with her father about trying to explain how she felt after losing her mom.

"Are we okay? It's the mercantile, isn't it? We're going to lose it, aren't we?" Mary questioned.

"How did you know?"

"I overheard you and Frank talking about business this morning, over the phone."

That was all that Mary could bring herself to say. She didn't want to tell her father how worried she has been, and stress him out even more.

"Mary... you must stop eavesdropping on people."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to, it's just - no one told me earlier. About ma. If I had eavesdropped then, I would have been able to help her get better" Mary said.

"No honey. There was nothing we could do." He paused for a moment, then abruptly said, "Now off to bed you go. You need a good rest for tomorrow's work. Thanks for checking in on me. It was very sweet of you. I know I say this a lot, but not enough. You're a good kid. I'll see you in the morning. Tell John to get to bed too. That rascal, he never listens."

Mary thought she saw a small smile on his face.

"Goodnight Pa. Thanks for telling me how you're feeling. You know you always can. Always. Love you."

Mary left the room, and climbed the stairs to her bedroom, not even bothering to mention to John that Pa wanted him to go to bed.

He wouldn't have listened anyways, Mary thought. But I should've followed his instructions. Goodnight Pa. Goodnight ma...wherever you are.

And with that, Mary fell asleep.