Free Let Me Whisper in Your Ear by Mary Jane Clark Page A

can try the toys out. If you find one you really like, I’ll buy it for you.”
    Today, the day after Christmas, was the day they had agreed upon for their excursion.
    Myra eyed Laura a bit warily as she handed over her daughter.
    â€œJade’s been lookin’ forward to this for weeks. She didn’t sleep last night, she was so excited that Christmas would last one more day.”
    â€œWell, I’m excited about this, too.” Laura smiled. “Thank you for letting me take her.”
    â€œWhen you be home?” Myra’s thick Hispanic accent sometimes made it difficult for Laura to understand her.
    â€œFour o’clock okay?”
    Myra nodded. “I’ll be here waiting at four o’clock.”
    Jade pulled her hand from her mother’s. Myra zipped up the child’s blue ski jacket tight around her neck and adjusted her red wool scarf.
    â€œYou be a good girl, Jade.”
    â€œYes, Mama. I’ll be good. I promise.”
    The subway ride downtown seemed quick to Laura, but Jade asked when they were going to get there a dozen times.
    Laura watched Jade’s awed expression as a real-life toy soldier greeted them at the entrance to the Fifth Avenue store. The child was hypnotized by the endless spinning, bobbing, bouncing and flashing of the Clock Tower. The rolling blue eyes and the chattering red lips of the animated, singing timepiece mesmerized her. They stood for ten minutes watching its tiers of chugging trains and floating blimps.
    Together, they toured the aisles of wonderful distractions in the world’s most fabulous toy store. Radio-controlled race cars zipped past their feet. Barbie dolls smiled in their glittering designer ball gowns, GI Joes in their camouflage posted sentry. Star Wars figures loomed. There were towers of board games, and video games flashed from shiny monitors. Electronic and science toys filled one buzzing section. Another area was stocked floor to ceiling with stuffed animals of all whimsical shapes and sizes.
    Laura steered Jade to the Lollipop Forest in the candy area. The Gummy Bear totem pole and a twelve-foot chocolate soldier greeted them. Jade looked longingly at the world’s largest M&M selection.
    â€œWant some?” Laura asked.
    Jade hesitated.
    â€œIt doesn’t count as your present,” Laura reassured her.
    As Jade carefully ate her candies, one at a time, Laura asked her if she had made a decision.
    â€œI saw a dog I liked. Mama says we can’t have a real dog in our apartment. Maybe I could get that dog?” she asked uncertainly.
    â€œThe dog it is. Let’s go.”
    From the array of dozens of soft, creamy-colored stuffed dogs, all named Patrick the Pup, the FAO Schwarz mascot, Jade chose the one whose ears weren’t quite so perky as the others.
    â€œHe looks like he needs a good home,” she said satisfied. “I want him.”
    Afterward, they walked along Central Park South together, the winter wind blowing into their happy faces. But Jade’s beam faded as she looked up at her older companion.
    â€œWhat’s that?” she asked solemnly, pointing to Laura’s bare forehead, the bangs now blown back by the cold breeze.
    Caught off guard, Laura reached up and touched the space over her brow.
    â€œOh, this? It’s just a scar I got when I fell and hit the corner of a table. I was just a little older than you when it happened.”
    Jade nodded, satisfied with what she did not know was only a partial explanation.
    Laura was careful to leave out the part about her father’s drunken anger and frustration that had led to his striking his young daughter, sending her careening into the table’s edge.

21
    Tuesday, December 28
    F RANCHESKA SKIMMED THROUGH the glossy pages of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Cookbook, settling on Ivana Trump’s recipe for beef goulash. She had prepared it before and Leonard loved it.
    She slid the emerald ring off her