Chapter Twenty One
Garrett
"Man, I don't have the money to go drinking, you know how it is with us."
"Just one drink Matt, you haven't been out in months."
"I don't have the time or the money. Sally's real sick again and the kids are expecting me home."
"Same as before?"
"Yeah, the doctor wants to try some new drug but the insurance won't pay for it and I barely make enough money as it is with the rent, utilities, and food. I'm just glad we have some health insurance or I'd have lost her before now."
"Should have married a stronger woman Matt, Sally's been a drag on you ever since you met."
"Hey, back off. I love Sally and she's gonna get over this. One day I'm gonna get a better job and give her everything a girl could ask for."
My ears pricked up at this partial conversation, it could be just the kind of thing we were looking for.
Charlotte
Well, Bella's idea had gotten off to a flying start but now we had to find people in genuine need to help and although Alice and Justin had another idea and Carlisle and Esme were busy with another scheme Peter and I needed to pull our weight too. Strangely enough, it was Garrett who found the ideal candidate on his way back to the house we were all using as a base. Instead of avoiding the city he decided to stroll through it or so he said. Personally, I thought he might be looking for a way to make the streets a little safer for people such as Bella who were forced to live there. On his way, he happened to overhear a conversation which he related to us and we decided to act on it, knowing Bella would be happy to see another miracle worked. Carlisle had hung a planner on the wall in the lounge and as we found possibilities for acts of kindness they were marked on there. At the moment, there were far too many gaps but I had faith that we would fill those in before Christmas Eve.
Garrett
I had followed the guy back to his place, a small rental apartment in a run down area, but it was neat and the front yard tidy. Two bikes stood against the wall, a small pink one., so a little daughter and older son. The name on the mailbox was Anderson and as soon as I got back and explained the situation to Peter and Charlotte, the only ones there we approached Darius for more information.
"I only have one pair of hands you know and the connection here is shit slow but go on, what do you need?"
"Anything on the family. The mom's sick so we need to know what's wrong, the age of the kids, where the guy works, anything at all."
"OK, give me half an hour."
It actually took him three-quarters but only because he got a call, information about another potential miracle someone had spotted.
"Right, Matthew Anderson aged 38, married to Sally 33 for ten years, she suffers from severe asthma and a heart murmur. They have two children, Jenny aged three and Graeson six. Dad works as a maintenance technician at a factory close to home, but he's struggling to put the hours in since Sally's last hospitalization. There's no extended family I can find, looks like they are on their own folks. A good candidate for help I'd say."
"He said something about a new treatment that was too expensive."
"Yeah, I pulled her medical records. She's on standard treatment for her conditions, their insurance won't pay for anything fancy. Looks like they still owe a couple of hundred dollars for her med's as it is."
Charlotte
Now we had all the facts we drove over to put it before Bella, to see if she was happy for us to intervene. It was cozy and warm in the small lounge and I could see Bella was recovering well from her years on the streets and her close brush with death although even now you could hear a slight wheeze. The major was a different man when he was with her, relaxed, laughing, the young man he had never been allowed to be before. Garrett explained the Anderson's situation and I could see it was a winner in Bella's eyes.
"What exactly will you be able to do, though?"
"Darius will take care of the health insurance, he's upgraded it to gold star so she'll be entitled to any medication that might help her for the next five years. The utilities are set for one year, he forged some kind of power lottery thing the Anderson's won. I don't know the ins and outs, just that all power and water bills are paid for the next twelve months. That gives them a breathing space to get some money put by."
"That's wonderful, thank you for myself and for the family."
Now it was my turn,
"Actually, we went a little further than that and decided to give them a good Christmas. Sally will be getting a check in the post tomorrow from a charitable organization for five hundred dollars. She was nominated by someone and her name was picked out of the hat. That way they'll be able to buy plenty of food and some gifts for the kids. They seem a level headed couple so I don't think they'll waste the opportunity."
I could see tears welling up in Bella's eyes and Jasper pulled her a little closer as if reminding her that everything was going to be fine, not only for her but because of her and the generosity in her heart. Bella was a very unusual woman, especially for a human!
Matt Anderson
At first, I thought it was some kind of sick joke, the mailbox was full and every letter looked official. I thought about hiding them from Sally, she'd had a really rough night and was so weary, but we had promised when we got married that we would share everything, keep no secrets from one another. I took them inside and she looked up from the book she was reading to Jenny groaning when she saw all the buff envelopes. Giving Jenny the book to look at the pictures she joined me at the table wheezing as she moved.
"Well, let's see the worst."
I opened the first and started to read, unable to believe what I was seeing. By the time, we had them all opened our lives had been turned around.
"It would seem there is a Fairy Godmother after all. We just needed a chance to get ourselves sorted out and with this, we can. I can take a little time off while you see about the new treatment now the insurance is going to cover it and after buying some things for Christmas we can put the rest into savings until we need it, I can even pay the back rent and we don't have to worry about moving Graeson from his school."
I looked over at Sally who was crying in relief and went to hold her, I had been so worried that I might lose her, lose our home, but now, somehow we had been given a second chance and I was going to make the most of it.
Garrett
I hadn't considered what life could be like for some humans in a very long time, after all, I'd been a vampire far longer than I was human and my upbringing had been pretty good, my father being a store owner in Boston, a wealthy man by the standards of the day. To see a family that was struggling so hard through no fault of their own have what amounted to an early and most unexpected Christmas through our actions made me feel good. It was so easy to fall into the trap of only caring about yourself, I didn't even have a mate to consider. Now I wondered if maybe there might be a Christmas Miracle out there for me. A tall, long-legged, blonde beauty, just looking for Mr. Right maybe? After all, if The Major could find his mate as he had then there had to be hope for the rest of us oddities!