Tsandor played aimlessly with the paint and glitter on his paper plate. There was a round, white ball to one side he was supposed to be decorating with the art supplies but he wasn’t getting very far with it. It was Christmas Eve so he was supposed to be making a Christmas ornament according to Ms. Sophie but he didn’t really understand what that was. Something to hang on a tree, she had told him. But trees already had leaves—why did they need a ball of glitter and paint too?
He didn’t really understand much about the Earth holiday they were supposed to be celebrating tomorrow. Some of the other kids had tried to tell him about it. According to Shad a big man in a red suit called either Santa or Fanta—Tsandor couldn’t remember which—would come tonight while he was asleep and leave him lots of presents.
Tsandor didn’t know if he believed that and anyway there was only one present he really wanted—to be together with Patro and Sarah again. Ms. Lola had told him that his Patro had called to say Sarah was all right but Tsandor didn’t know if that was really so.
Adults said things to make you feel better sometimes, even if they weren’t true. The way everyone kept telling him that Maman was just sick for a long time after she went to be with the Goddess.
What if Sarah is still in trouble? What if the bad men hurt her after all?
The thought tied his stomach in knots and he didn’t have any appetite for the red and green sprinkled cookies that were on the plate beside his juice box.
“Hey…” Suddenly a hand touched him on the shoulder.
Tsandor looked up and saw Shad standing beside him. The other boy’s pale, almost white hair and big dark eyes scared some of the other kids. But Tsandor liked Shad—he had been nice to him even when he didn’t know anybody after moving to the Mother Ship from Tranq Prime.
“Hey,” he said listlessly, stirring a finger in the green glitter on his paper plate.
“You’re thinking bad, sad thoughts,” Shad said, frowning. In contrast to his light hair, he had dark eyebrows which made his frown intense.
“Yeah…” Tsandor didn’t ask how his friend knew. Shad just…knew things sometimes. Like the way he’d known Sarah was coming. He drew more patterns in the green glitter. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Well stop,” Shad said, so firmly that Tsandor looked up in surprise.
“What?”
“The Goddess told me to tell you Sarah is all right,” Shad said. “And you’re gonna see her and your dad real soon. Okay?”
“Really?” Tsandor looked at his friend hopefully. Unlike the adults in his life, Shad had never played him false.
“Really.” Shad nodded solemnly. “So don’t be sad, okay?”
“Okay.” Tsandor smiled. “Thanks Shad.”
Shad shrugged his thin shoulders.
“I only know ‘cause the Goddess said. She doesn’t like it when kids are unhappy, you know? So finish your ornament. You got to have something to hang on your Christmas tree.”
“But I don’t have a Christmas tree,” Tsandor protested.
“Do it,” Shad directed. “You will.”
He went back to his own seat and Tsandor shrugged and went back to the round white ball and the paint and glitter.
He had just finished it when Ms. Lola came up to him. She was holding a bag and inside it Tsandor could see some of his new clothes and Lump-Lump, the stuffed animal Sarah had given him.
“Ms. Lola?” He looked up at her, fearful of this sudden new change. Where was she talking his clothes and Lump-Lump? Was he being sent away from the constant care house? If so, then where would he go?
Then he saw that Ms. Lola was smiling.
“Tsandor,” she said, beaming at him. “I have a really great Christmas surprise for you.”
Tsandor felt his heart give a strange little jump.
“Do you want me to guess what it is?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“No, honey. Just come with me. You’ll see.”
Wiping his hands on a paper towel and leaving his ornament to dry, Tsandor got up and followed Ms. Lola, wondering what was going on.
She took him out of the playtime area and around to the front of the constant care house. At first Tsandor thought the surprise she meant was inside the house.
Then he saw who was standing in the front yard of the house, looking at him.
“Patro?” he whispered, coming a little closer. “Sarah?”
His father grinned at him and Sarah smiled that beautiful, warm smile that reminded him so much of Maman’s smile.
“Come here, Tsandor,” Patro said. “Sarah and I have come to take you home.”
At first Tsandor couldn’t believe it. Then he remembered what Shad had told him—that he would see his father and Sarah really soon. And then Ms. Lola had said she had a surprise for him—was this it? Was it really exactly what he had been wishing for?
Joy overwhelmed him and he ran to them as fast as he could and threw himself into their arms.
* * * * *
Sarah laughed for sheer joy as she and Sazar held each other and Tsandor tight, in a big, family hug.
“Sarah! Patro!”
The little boy was wriggling like a puppy he was so excited. But after lots of hugs and kisses he settled down enough to ask a question.
“Is it true?” he asked, looking from Sazar to her and back again. “Am I really going home with you guys? Really-really?”
“Really-really,” Sarah assured him, smiling.
“It’s true, Tsandor.” Sazar’s pale eyes were suspiciously bright. “You’re coming home with us and you’ll never have to live here at the care house again.”
“And…we’ll all be together?” Tsandor persisted, as if wanting to be sure.
“We’ll all be together—one happy family,” Sarah promised. She felt a lump in her throat as she hugged the little boy tight. She’d felt a pull towards Tsandor from the first moment she’d seen him—almost as though she was meant to be his second mom. It felt right to hold him tight—as right as it felt when she hugged Sazar.
“What are we going to do now?” Tsandor demanded, wiggling like an eager puppy again. “Where are we going to go? Are we going to go home?”
“I thought first we could get a Christmas tree,” Sarah said, smiling at Sazar. “Can we?”
“I think they still have a few for sale at the open market,” he remarked, smiling back.
“And we’ll need some ornaments to hang on it,” Sarah said. “And then I think we’d better get some ingredients to make Christmas cookies.”
“You mean the red and green kind?” Tsandor made a face. “Because I don’t know if I like them.”
“Those are the boxed kind,” Lola said, speaking up from the side yard where she’d been watching their reunion with a wide smile on her face. She shrugged apologetically. “I’m afraid they’re not very good.”
“You have to make them yourself for them to taste right,” Sarah said decisively. She smiled at Tsandor. “Would you like to help me? I have to warn you—it might get kind of messy.”
His little face broke into a grin.
“I like messy!”
“I do too.” Sarah hugged him and pressed a kiss to his hot little cheek. “I have a lot of Christmas traditions to teach you and your dad because Christmas is tomorrow.”
“Is that when the elderly overweight male goes to every house in the world in one night and brings presents?” Sazar asked, frowning.
“Exactly.” Sarah grinned. “Come on—let’s go. We have a lot to do to get ready.”
They put Tsandor down and held his hands between them as they left the grounds of the constant care house forever.
Sarah had a warm feeling, like a glow deep inside that radiated outward as they went. She wondered briefly if Malinda, Sazar’s first wife, could see her holding her son’s hand from wherever she was. She wondered if Malinda could know how much she cared for Tsandor and Sazar and how badly she wanted to be a good wife and mother.
Then, for a moment, she had a brief flash of a slim, blonde woman standing beside someone else—another woman but one whose face was so beautiful it was hard to look at.
Was it Malinda and the Goddess? Somehow, Sarah thought so. And both of them were smiling at her encouragingly.
I’ll take good care of Tsandor, she promised them silently. I’ll love him like my own, I promise I will! And I’ll be good to Sazar too.
I know you will, my daughter. That is why I chose you, the voice of the Goddess murmured in her head. I will bless your union with Sazar with many other children but you and Tsandor will always remain close. And you and Sazar will grow old together in harmony and love.
Then the brief flash was over and Sarah was left to blot the tears out of her eyes and smile at her new family. For the first time in longer than she cared to remember, she was going to have a happy Christmas—a family Christmas with the two new men in her life and she would never, ever let them go.