The little girl waddled up to the mall Santa, bundled in layers upon layers, tugging an apprehensive little boy behind her. Santa had seen lots of children today, The Lima Mall was always packed the day after Thanksgiving. However, this little girl seemed different. She had a look of sheer determination on her face. The children approached him and he smiled.
"Ho, Ho, Ho" Santa bellowed as the children situated themselves on his lap. "What are your names?"
The little girl threw back her scarf that was wrapped around her mouth. "Look, let's cut the small talk Claus. I'm Cadence. This is Jude. You see those two people over there?" She pointed a mitten at a tall, gawky man and a slender brunette who waved it excitedly when she pointed.
Santa nodded.
"Those two are our parents. we need a Christmas miracle! Our mommy and daddy have loved each other for a long time. Since high school! But now all they do is argue. They fight really loud when they think we're asleep."
The little boy, Jude, who had not taken his eyes off Santa, nodded silently in agreement.
Cadence rambled on. "Mommy cries, and says she isn't happy, and Daddy sleeps on the couch. He thinks we don't see his pillows, or hear him sneaking down the hall to the bedroom right before mommy wakes us up, but we do."
Rachel Hudson waved excitedly at Cadence and Jude, as Cadence pointed her and Finn out to Santa Claus. "Look how happy they are" she said smiling.
Finn smiled and waved as well. "It's officially Christmas time and they're talking to Santa. Of course they're happy. Doesn't hurt that Hanukkah is coming up as well."
"I don't think we should tell them yet Finn." Rachel said, twirling her small gold star pendent necklace that she always wore.
"I don't think we should tell them at all" Finn thought to himself. Here lately their marriage had been less than ideal. He knew that. Between Cadence and Jude, His sports memorabilia company that he was trying to keep afloat, and the financial stress of treading water, there was a lot of static between them. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of life, they had lost each other. He had always thought she was out of his league. However, she had said yes when he slipped the small diamond on her hand, and here they were 10 years and two kids later. He knew things were bad, but he didn't know they were this bad until Rachel had slid the file of papers across his desk last night. He looked up at her, already knowing that they were - divorce papers. "I think it's time" she had said.
Finn nodded not taking his eyes off of Cadence and Jude. "Nothing until after Christmas."
Rachel shook her head in agreement. Then she pointed at Cadence and Jude, up on Santa's lap. "What do you think she's asking for?"
"So you see, we don't want presents this year Santa. We don't want footballs, or Operation, or dolls, or a bike. We don't want anything like that."
Santa sighed, he was afraid of where this was going. "Well, I don't know if. . . "
Cadence cut him off. "I know this is usually Cupid's jurisdiction, but this is an emergency. We want you to make our mommy and daddy love each other again."
