Free All I Want For Christmas by Ann Roth Page B

gone,” Maggie wailed.
    Feeling helpless, Tina stood near the empty cage and patted the child’s quivering little shoulder while tears rolled down her face. The cage door stood open. Apparently, Maggie had forgotten to latch it.
    Within moments Ryan strode into her room, as fierce as a warrior and ready to slay whatever dragons threatened his child. For that, Tina liked him even more.
    â€œDaddy,” she bawled, throwing herself against his legs.
    After hugging her, he hunkered down and gently held her chin in one of his big hands. “What’s the trouble, Maggie?”
    â€œLook—no Eggwhite.” Maggie pointed at the cage and sobbed.
    Ryan seemed to know exactly what to do, holding his daughter close, one hand cupping her head against his chest, the other patting her back. “We’ll find her,” he said. “She can’t have gotten far.”
    Despite his spoken assurances, he looked less than certain. Tina glanced around the room, with its white wood furniture, quilted pink bedspread and matching curtains, and shook her head in despair.
    At last, Ryan held his daughter at arm’s length. “Try to calm down, Sunshine, and let’s get busy searching. I’ll check the closet. What about you?”
    Sniffling, Maggie turned toward her bed. “Maybe she’s under the bed.”
    â€œCould be.” Ryan glanced at Tina. “Why don’t you look behind the dresser?”
    Eager to help, Tina did. They spent a good ten minutes fruitlessly searching, before Ryan narrowed his eyes and stared at the wastebasket, which had fallen over. “Eggwhite loves paper. Why don’t you check the trash, Maggie?”
    The little girl pawed intently but carefully through a mass of wadded-up paper and tissues. Suddenly, the white hamster scrambled from under a scrap of construction paper. Ryan caught the small creature and returned it to its cage, and the bleak expression faded from Maggie’s eyes.
    With the dimple in Maggie’s cheek once again winking, Tina felt as if a dark cloud had disappeared. No wonder Ryan worried so about her.
    â€œThis place is a mess,” he said in a gentle voice Tina had never heard from him before. “I’ll get the vacuum, and you and Tina feed Eggwhite that lettuce.”
    While he retrieved the vacuum, Tina returned the trash to the wastebasket and listened to Maggie scold her pet in loving tones.
    â€œI’m glad you found her,” she told Maggie.
    â€œMe, too.”
    Ryan returned. “It’s almost bedtime. I’ll clean up, and you go brush your teeth and get ready for bed.”
    Without argument, his daughter headed for the bathroom.
    It was nearly eight, and Tina had stayed far longer than she’d intended to. Time to go, but she couldn’t leave without a good-night to Maggie. She waited until Ryan shut off the vacuum before speaking. “That was pretty emotional. Now I understand why…”
    His attention jerked to the door. He shook his head in warning. An instant later, Maggie padded into the room.
    She’d changed into a white flannel nightgown decorated with blue sheep. Her face was shiny and clean, and the pigtails were gone. So young to accomplish those bedtime tasks all by herself. But then, Tina, too, had grown up at an early age.
    â€œThat’s a cute nightgown,” she said.
    â€œThank you. Daddy let me pick it out. Will you button me?” She turned her back, lifting her hair and bowing her head.
    The trusting act melted Tina’s heart. She breathed in Maggie’s little-girl scent. Longing for a daughter of her own filled her so that her fingers trembled. “All done,” she said in a shaky voice.
    Maggie turned to her. “Tuck me in tonight, Tina.”
    Such a sweet, intimate request. As it was, Tina’s emotions simmered dangerously close to the surface. And after what she’d just witnessed, she was afraid that regardless of her harmless