The Greatest Gift Read Free Page B

say that. It made her feel less decent, somehow, as if she’d failed her children. “It’s just temporary,” she added quickly.
    “Oh, Mary,” she groaned. “I noticed the For Rent sign on your place, but I didn’t know what to think. I’m so sorry.”
    “The divorce became final Friday. Jack is failing to pay alimony or child support…and we were evicted.” She sighed. “I’m so tired, so scared. I’ve got nothing and three kids…”
    “You could stay with us,” came the immediate reply.
    Mary smiled, seeing the other woman’s quiet, kind smile in her mind. “No, thank you,” she added gently. “We have to make it on our own. Jack might track us down at your house, you know. I don’t want the children close to him. We’ll find a place. I’ll get the loan of a car later, but right now, I have to have the kids in school before I go to work. I can take John with me, but the others must be in school.”
    “I’ll come and get you,” Tammy said. “Be five minutes.”
    “Thanks,” Mary choked.
    “You’d do it for me in a heartbeat,” she replied. “And you know it.”
    “I would.” It was no lie.
    “Five minutes.” She hung up.
    Sure enough, five minutes later, Tammy was sitting in front of the shelter, waiting. Mary put the kids in the back of the station wagon, with John strapped securely in his car seat.
    “I can’t thank you enough,” she told the woman.
    “It’s not a problem. Here. Give this to the kids.” It was two little brown envelopes, the sort mothers put lunch money in.Mary almost broke down as she distributed the priceless little packets to the children.
    First stop was grammar school, where Mary went in with Ann and explained the situation, adding that nobody was to take Ann from school except herself or her friend Tammy. Then they went to middle school, where Mary dropped off Bob and met with the vice principal to explain their situation again.
    Finally they were down just to John.
    “Where do you go now?” she asked Mary.
    “To Debbie Shultz’s house,” she said. “She and Mark have about eight cars,” she said fondly. “They’ll loan me one if I ask. They’ve been clients of mine for ten years. They’re good people. They don’t even mind if John comes with me—they have a playpen and a high chair and a baby bed, just for him.”
    “You know, you may not have money and means, but you sure have plenty of people who care about you,” Tammy remarked with a grin.
    “I do. I’m lucky in my friends. Especially you. Thanks.”
    Tammy shrugged. “I’m having a nice ride around town, myself,” she said with twinkling eyes. “Before you go to work, want to try that motel you mentioned?”
    “Yes, if you don’t mind.”
    “If I did, I’d still be at home putting on a pot roast for supper,” Tammy said blandly. “Where is it?”
    Mary gave her directions. Tammy was dubious, but Mary wasn’t.
    “One of my friends had to leave home. She went to the women’s shelter first, and then she came here until she got a job. She said the manager looks out for people, and it’s a good decent place. Best of all, it’s not expensive. If you’ll watch John for a minute…”
    “You bet!”
    Mary walked into the small office. The manager, an elderly man with long hair in a ponytail and a young smile, greeted her.
    “What do you rent rooms for on a weekly basis?” she asked after she’d told him her name. “I have three children, ranging in age from thirteen to a toddler.”
    He noted the look on her face. He’d seen it far too often. “Fifty dollars a week,” he said, “but it’s negotiable. Forty’s plenty if that’s what you can manage comfortably,” he added with a grin. “You can use the phone whenever you like, and there’s a hot plate in the room where you can heat up stuff. We have a restaurant next door,” he added, “when you want something a little hotter.”
    “I couldn’t afford the restaurant,” she said matter-of-factly, but she