It was a particularly difficult Christmas, particularly for Leta’s daughter-in-law Kathryn and son Dale. On the day before Thanksgiving their only son died. Kathryn had fallen into a deep state of mourning; it was all she could do to get up in the morning and fulfill the most basic needs of her young daughters. Mostly, she sat in the dark living room, staring into regret and loss. She had no sense of the holiday, even as her little girls, ages two and five, began to fear that Santa Claus was going to pass them by this year. While Dale struggled with his own sense of loss, he tried to respect his wife’s deep sadness, hold his family together and keep moving forward.
Kathryn’s sisters and mother took on the primary task of housekeeping and childcare. Leta and Vivian provided meals and special needs. One evening, after Kathryn had gone to bed, they sat with Dale, who had just started thinking about how to reintroduce Christmas into his home. His older daughter Connie, in particular, had noted with no little concern the absence.
Always one to provide assistance where needed, Vivian offered, with her mother’s participation, to manage the Christmas shopping and wrapping. Leta agreed immediately.
Dale, Leta noticed, had risen in his chair during Vivian’s offer, and she could practically hear him accepting the kind offer with his next breath.
“Of course,” Leta added, “you need to talk it over with Kathryn.”
“Of course,” Vivian concurred.
By this time, Dale was nearly beside himself with the prospect.
“Thank you. I will. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, and I’ll give you a call, Viv,” he said.
“That’s fine,” Vivian agreed.
With this in place, Dale eagerly consumed the rest of the cookies that Vivian had brought, as if he were a 12-year-old boy.
The next morning he telephoned Vivian to inform her that Kathryn consented. Whether she did this immediately or after some persuasion by her husband and thoughtful consideration, Leta never knew. What she did know was that despite her current grief, her daughter-in-law was a loving mother, and that love for her daughters would not allow her to let them suffer for her own desolation.
Over the subsequent week, she and Vivian had a marvelous time shopping. Having only a son at home and her own heartbreak over having no additional children as a lingering companion, Vivian pursued the task with relish. For the first time in her life, she was actually looking at toys and clothes for girls. Her delight in the activity fueled Leta’s own spirited temperament, and they spent hours perusing all the many options in the department stores and other shops. During this week of furious activity, Vivian had even had the appropriate conversations with her nieces to learn what their own wishes were.
While all this was going on, Leta’s spirits were also on the rise, and in short order she had her own home decorated and commenced her own holiday baking. Her husband Claud caught the contagious glow, as well, and made himself quite useful to her.
A week before Christmas, Kathryn agreed to have a tree, and Leta offered to pay for it. So one evening, she, Claud, Dale and five-year-old Connie went tree shopping while Kathryn stayed home with little Chrissie who was running a slight fever. When they returned with it, Kathryn was sitting in the dark living room, sipping a glass of wine, caught up in her melancholy. If it had made any impact on her sensibility, she might have even regretted allowing the tree or any indication of celebration into her house. The blusteriness of their arrival shocked her. When they banged into the house and flicked on the lights, she jumped from her seat, as if the cold wind slapped her right in the face. First, she glared at Dale, then the tree and, gasped at Claud who was helping Dale with the tree, and finally with a malevolence that nearly slapped back, glared at her mother-in-law, who had dared to bring her paramour into their home life. Leta felt immediately uncomfortable.
She understood the look. It was blame. Filled with customary Roman Catholic guilt at the death of her son, Kathryn was, without saying a word, blaming her. The sins of the grandmother were waged on little Sonny. When Kathryn met and married Dale, Leta was a single woman with a reputation for being too intimate with men to whom she was not married. Kathryn also held an assumption that Leta was a poor parent to Dale and Vivian, having subjected them to her indelicate lifestyle for several years before abandoning them altogether. These sorts of sinful choices, according to Kathryn’s faith, would create repercussions for Leta’s family, and with the death of her only son, as well as Vivian’s childbearing problems, Kathryn felt in her grief that this must be the punishment.
And now, to add more injury, the wicked, scandalous woman had brought her current companion du jour into a house of mourning.
Dale and Claud stood in the doorway with the tree, realizing that something was troubling Kathryn, but not knowing what.
“Mommy,” Connie said, gently taking her mother’s hand, “isn’t it pretty? Grandma Fields bought it for us. Now we can have our own Christmas tree, so Santa Claus will know where to put our presents.”
Kathryn looked at her older daughter’s glowing face with a tear in her eye. “That’s right, darling. You have been a good girl, and Santa is sure to visit you this year.”
Connie threw her arms around her mother. “I promise, Mommy, to be good forever and ever!”
“I thought we could put it right in the front window, as usual,” Dale suggested to his wife. “What do you think?”
“That would be fine,” Kathryn agreed.
Then she rose.
“It’s time I put this good little girl to bed.”
END OF PART 2
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