“Especially here in Santa Ville. Our mission would be a waste of time if we did not point children to the One who holds the keys to the kingdom.”
“But the holiday has become so commercialized. Many have lost the true message,” Pam said.
“Then, during our reign, we shall have to try extra hard to remind them,” John said but glanced quickly away when he didn’t hear her Amen the our reign part. According to the huge calendar on the wall, this was Sunday and the last day of Christmas in July in Cedar Springs. She’d run out of time and needed to decide her future. Yet, in her mind, she knew she had no choice. She would go home.
“John, we need to talk, soon.”
“After the meal, Mother wants to give you a tour and a short run-down of our duties here. Yours as well – if you stay.” He busied himself straightening the napkin on his knee.
Pam sighed. “I suppose I’d like to get to know your mother better. She seems a fine lady.”
“The best. Present company excluded, of course.”
Pam smiled. “Always the flirt. At least I can count on that.”
“You can count on me for everything. You are the only Christmas gift I’ll ever want under the tree.”
Pam popped a sausage in her mouth to still the words that had the potential to burst his bubble. She couldn’t stay. Her sanity would not allow it.
Pam’s gaze lingered after John as he left with his father to do the rounds and organize reconstruction of the workshop. Mrs. Claus touched her arm.
“Do you love my son, Pamela?”
No sense lying to the lady married to the man with the naughty list. Pam still wanted the Christmas season to remain a magical time when she left this place. She’d not allow her mind to return to the hardness that her father had expected. Pam reasoned she could still experience the myth in Cedar Springs without living it inside Santa Ville.
“Yes, I do.”
John inherited his mother’s penetrating eyes, and now Pam’s lonely heart lay open for another of the Claus family to scrutinize.
“But you will not stay with us? After all the planning, you will cast my John aside like yesterday’s love affair.”
“That’s not fair,” Pam announced. “You expect me to leave a perfectly normal life and move into the Polar Penthouse? This is a dream, and soon I will waken and find you all safely tucked in a fiction book somewhere or on the stage of some nonsensical theater meant to give children of all ages a yearly boost of hope and good cheer.”
“That is what you honestly believe?” Mrs. Claus asked.
Pam looked away. “I am excited to accompany you on this tour of your village. Maybe we should stick to that.”
Mrs. Claus did not miss one opportunity to place Pam in the driver’s seat of life at the North Pole. Like in the auditorium; sit here, dear, and see how comfy the crown’s throne is – built especially for the wife of the reining Santa, or in the workshop, this is Jamie. She will be a life-saver for you in the manufacturing department, or John will do this, and you, his wife, will do that.
When they reached the screening room, Pam could not overlook her interference so easily. “It was here that you first came to me.” She touched the large screen, and it sprang to life. It was the ER, and she recognized the staff she worked with.
“You snoop on people?”
“Not regularly. You were the chosen one, and I needed to get a location to send the parcel.” She sighed. “I never even knew if you received it. I held the ornament in my hands, musing about the girl destined to fall in love with my son. Of course, at the time I didn’t know John had gone missing from Santa Ville. I knew of his struggles with growing up and taking over the business, but I never imagined he’d run. Just thought he was out and about with his father – enjoying a normal day.”
“Your son is a wonderful man. He won’t be running away again. Losing his memory, like the first-time experience, is not anything he’d like to repeat.”
“Oh, the evil one must have done that. I’d not hurt my boy even for the greater good – I’m not brave enough. I trust the wisdom of the Miracle Maker. He always makes a way. John landed in your town and under your care. Nothing is a coincidence with Him.”
“So, you sent the gift, and I received it. End of the plan? You leave the rest to chance whether if we fall in love or let Christmas die? You call that a fool-proof strategy?”
“I have helpers on the outside. You’ve met Cassie, yes?”
“You and my best friend, Denise both employ the new baker in town?”
“More an appointed position. Cassie rebelled once but came back at a great cost. Did she tell you the story?”
“No, she was standoffish and not too direct with me.”
“Yes, Cassie is obedient to the letter. I’m sure a quality well appreciated by the Miracle Maker.” Mrs. Claus sighed. “But let me continue with my story of that fatal day. I stood right here, where we are now. I held your ornamental gift and the real key to the kingdom in my hands and paused for a minute. I suppose the mother in me paused to dream a little. My son needed a woman to love, a woman like you.”
Pam refused to bite on that one. Mrs. Claus continued. “Suddenly, the earth shook, and the room fell in around me. I lost my balance and hit my head on that corner table. Not sure how long I was unconscious but I awoke to find myself
