Read Online The Christmas Hope by Donna Vanliere - Free Book Online

back or provide any understanding of what had happened. I wiped the tear away and prayed that God would provide a home full of love for this beautiful little girl, and after her breathing grew heavy, I fell asleep.
    Nathan Andrews stuck his head out of the attic opening. “Lights,” he said, reading the side of the box. His wife, Meghan, stepped onto the ladder and climbed up to get closer to the box. “Don’t climb up here,” Nathan scolded.
    “I can’t reach it,” Meghan said.
    Nathan’s body filled the attic entrance. “Then I’ll climb down.” He held the box on his shoulder as he stepped down the ladder toward Meghan then handed it to her. “Careful, it’s heavy,” he warned.
    Meghan reached for the box and rolled her eyes. “This might weigh five pounds,” she said, placing it on the garage floor. She put her hand on top of her swollen belly.
    “What’s the matter? Are you tired?” Nathan asked, climbing the ladder.
    “I’m just standing here waiting for you,” Meghan said.
    “Is the baby all right?”
    “Yes! It’s just bored because we’ve been waiting so long for you to hand down what few Christmas boxes we have up there!”
    “Don’t call my boy an it. That’s offensive.”
    Meghan smiled. “What if this baby isn’t a boy?”
    Nathan looked through the attic opening. “Didn’t you say he jumped the other day when we were watching football?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “No buts about it. You’re about to give birth to a cardcarrying Steelers fan!”
    Meghan shook her head.
    “Garland and wreaths coming down,” Nathan yelled. He threw the box and it landed at Meghan’s feet. “Ribbon and tinsel.” Another box landed on the garage floor. “Fragile,” Nathan said of the next box, watching Meghan’s reaction. “Nativity.”
    “Don’t throw that one!” Meghan screamed, stretching her arms up toward the box.
    Nathan laughed and climbed down, closing the attic hatch. He bent down and started carrying boxes into the front yard. “Don’t carry anything heavy,” he said, looking at Meghan over his shoulder.
    Meghan rolled her eyes and picked up a box marked “Lights.” They had wanted to decorate the outside of the house sooner but Nathan’s hours at the hospital kept them from it. His third year of residency in pediatric cardiology kept him busier than expected at times. Meghan didn’t mind his schedule. She kept busy teaching and coaching high school track and when she could she worked on preparing the baby’s room. She was due the first week in January and couldn’t wait to be a mother. When she and Nathan married on Christmas Eve nearly three years earlier they’d said they wanted to wait five years before trying to have a baby but when Meghan started to feel nauseous during her first morning class she knew that their five-year plan was changing. They didn’t know the gender of the baby and didn’t want to know until the day of delivery. “Nothing is surprising anymore,” Nathan told friends and family who would ask. “This is really the last great surprise that’s left. Besides, I already know it’s a boy.”
    Nathan began to string the lights around the small shrubs in front of their duplex as Meghan opened boxes, pulling out wreaths, handmade Victorian stars, and painted wooden angels. She pulled a wad of garland from a box and began to straighten it when a small box fell to the ground. She bent over and discovered it was an unwrapped gift. She turned it over to examine it. “What’s this?” she asked, turning toward Nathan. He was on his back underneath an evergreen bush making sure each branch was covered from front to back with lights.
    He peered between the branches. “Don’t know. Maybe it’s the key to the Harley you bought me for Christmas.”
    “Keep holding on to that pipe dream,” Meghan said. She examined the gift and threw her hands in the air. “This is that same gift we found last Christmas. The one with no name on it.”
    When Meghan