Miracle at Midnight

by Stacia Wolf

  Nick remembered her kiss, how sweet and sexy and somehow innocent it had been. Those kisses had affected him deeply. Could they possibly have given Amara the answer?

  “It seems like a hell of a gamble for her life.”

  “Nick!” Amara raced across the street, her dark hair flying about her.

  “Amara. Where’s Sami?”

  “I hoped you knew. Oh, dear heaven, I’d hoped you knew. I went to say goodbye—her bed’s empty, and her coat and backpack are gone.”

  I want to go home.

  Fear clutched at him. “She’s run away. She’s six, she’s alone in New York City. She’s trying to go home.” He felt panic envelop him as he thought about what could happen.

  “I’ll call the police. You two go look for her.” Father Lattigan hurried toward the church.

  Nick rushed to the street, Amara following. “We’ll do better splitting up,” she said.

  “No. I don’t want you out there alone.”

  “Nick, I can’t be hurt. Trust me. I’ve tried.”

  She answered eight times. Once she…refused to answer.

  Suicide? Had she become so despondent she’d tried to harm herself? He looked at her, this strong impossible woman. And knew that somehow she’d changed him forever.

  “Go.” And he took off running.

  Amara ran down the deserted street. She’d covered a few blocks now, and no sight of the little girl. Fear propelled her forward. Fear, and love for Sami.

  If anything happened to her…

  She rounded a corner, and she saw something ahead about a block. A small figure. Could it be—?

  Amara started running faster.

  Sami wiped another tear from her face. The freezing cold nipped at her wet cheek. She hadn’t found any taxis, she didn’t know why. Usually all she had to do was go outside and she’d see one. But maybe on Christmas taxi drivers stayed home.

  She was scared, and people kept looking at her with cold, hungry eyes. She wanted to go home. She wanted her Mom. Or Daddy. Or Amara.

  A sound thundered at her as she walked past a dark alley. With a small scream, she rushed away from the sound and turned the corner.

  Up ahead she saw a busier street. There had to be a cab there. She walked to stand under a street lamp and started watching for a taxi.

  “Sami!” Turning, she saw someone walking toward her. A tall man hidden in shadows, heavier than her dad, walked straight toward her.

  Never talk to strangers. Sami’s mother’s words reverberated in her head.

  Run.

  She turned and ran around the corner, then stopped in fear. Someone ran at her.

  In a panic she turned and fled from both of them.

  Right into the path of a car.

  Chapter Six

  “Sami!”

  Amara watched in horror as the little girl hit the pavement. With a scream, she rushed to her.

  She lay there, not moving. Amara reached for her. “Sami, no. Sami!”

  “Don’t touch her.” A man grabbed her arm. With a shout, she pulled away.

  “It’s okay, I’m a police officer. I called for an ambulance.”

  “Nick.” Amara knelt by Sami, by her still form. Please don’t die. “She needs her father. Nick. He’s looking for her.” She gave a brief description of Nick. “He’s a doctor. He can save her.”

  The officer turned and talked into something on his shoulder. “We’ll try to find him,” he said.

  “Oh, Sami, please be okay.” She stroked her head, all the while praying.

  “Is your name Nick?”

  Nick had just yelled for his daughter when a man called out to him. Turning, he saw a uniformed cop leaning out of his patrol car.

  “Yeah. I’m looking for my daughter, Sami.”

  The cop nodded. “We’ve found her.” He motioned for Nick to get in the car. When he’d done so, the cop said, “I have something to tell you.”

  And Nick knew. Without the officer saying a word, he knew that Sami had been hurt. He closed his eyes in agony as the cop’s words confirmed his worst nightmare.

  He opened his eyes, bracing himself for reality, hoping for a miracle. The siren and flashing lights seemed unreal. One block, two blocks, then an officer watching for them. Amara. And a small bundle lying in the street.

  Sami.

  “Sami! Oh God, baby.” Nick flew to her side. She lay crumpled on the street, Amara’s coat covering her. Instinctively his fingers went to her throat. A pulse, but thready.

  He opened one of her eyes, and his heart crashed. The pupil was dilated. He covered the eye and removed his hand. The streetlight shown right into it, but no change.

  Brain damage.

  He closed his eyes, unable to stand the pain.

  “Nick?” He felt Amara’s hand on his arm. “Can you save her?”

  He couldn’t answer her. He couldn’t talk. His little girl was gone. He couldn’t help her. He couldn’t save her.

  In the end, all he could do was watch her die.

  Watching Nick, Amara knew. Sami would die.

  “No.”

  The little girl had become too precious to her. She couldn’t let it happen. Maybe she could stop it.

  “Nicholas!” She stood up, stepping away from Sami and her dad. “Nicholas! I know you can hear me. I want to bargain with you. Nicholas, do you hear me?” She sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the two officers and the driver who stared at her as if she were insane.

  Why should I bargain with you? She felt him, heard his words in her mind, like a whisper.

  “Because of her. Because of Sami. She’s precious, don’t you see?” Amara sobbed now. “She deserves a good life. So I’ll give you my life for hers. My soul for hers. Take me, Nicholas! Let her live! Heal her, Nicholas!”

  Do you love her that much, Amara, that you’ll sacrifice yourself for her? After all, she’s only one child. You might have won your freedom this time.

  “I don’t care!” She looked back at Sami, at Nick who stood now, watching her in shock. She turned around, and she could see Nicholas, his tall form cloaked in red, his face looking at her almost kindly. “I don’t matter, don’t you see? She matters. She’s the one with the loving heart. She’s the one with the bright future, who deserves a second chance.” She felt wet heat on her cheeks. “Not me.” She took a step forward. “I’ll do whatever it takes, Nicholas. Please.”

  Yourself for her.

  “Yes.” She nodded, and when he nodded in return, she sobbed her relief. “Thank you, Nicholas. Thank you.”

  Then the saint disappeared, and she turned back to Sami. Nick stood there, staring at her. “What have you done? Amara, what did you just do?”

  She took in his dark eyes, the angles of his face, his lips that she longed to taste again. This moment, she thought, would last her an eternity. Then she looked past him and what she saw made it all worthwhile.

  “Nick, look.”

  He turned and she laughed at his stunned expression. Laughed, then ran.

  Because Sami was sitting up.

  “Daddy? What happened?”

  Amara reached her, held out her arms to her, but Nick held her back.

  “No, she might be hurt.” With his free hand, he checked Sami out, looking in her eyes. They were fine, Amara knew.

  “She’s fine.” Beyond Nick’s arm, she smiled at the girl. “Aren’t you?”

  “The car hit me, didn’t it? Amara, were you talking to Santa Claus?”

  “You saw that?” Finally, Nick let her loose, and she grabbed hold of the little girl. “You saw him.”

  Nick wrapped himself around both of them, pulling the three of them into a tight ball. He kissed Sami fiercely, several times.

  “No, not really,” Sami said, her voice muffled by her dad’s hug. “I heard him, and I knew who he was.”

  “I could feel something,” Nick said. “It was like someone stood there, just out of sight.”

  Amara began to tingle, then she felt it—the
tug, the pull. She knew her time had run out. “I have to leave now, Sami.” She hugged the girl tighter.

  “You’re going to go tell Santa your answer now?”

  Amara looked down at her and shook her head. “I gave it away, and you know what? I’ve never been happier. I want you to know, you’ve given me the best present ever. Because of you, I learned how to truly love.” She could see her hands starting to fade. Before it was too late, she kissed Sami’s forehead.

  “Goodbye.”

  “No, Amara! Don’t go!”

  She turned her gaze to Nick, who watched her with a look bordering on despair. She could admit it now. She’d fallen in love with him.

  Their gazes locked, and Amara told him everything in that one instant, without ever uttering a word. Unbidden, one hand reached for him. They touched, and for a moment, she felt that sizzle, that recognition that here, finally, she’d found the missing piece of her soul.

  Then there was nothing.

  “No!”

  Nick grasped at Amara, but nothing stopped her from fading away. His body screamed at the loss, his heart pounded at the message she’d sent him.

  She loved him.

  He looked down at Sami, still clutched in his arms, and up at the cops, who looked as stunned as he felt. Then at his watch, whose glowing dial stated he had under ten minutes to do something, anything.

  “Sami, honey, I have to run. Literally. Baby, stay with these kind officers, who’ll bring you home. Okay?” He looked at the cops, and one nodded as if in a daze. Then the other officer shook himself, nodded at his car, with the lights flashing on the roof.

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “And I’m going too, Daddy.”

  He looked at Sami’s stubborn little face, to the cop’s, then nodded. “All right, let’s go.”

  It took them only a moment to get to the church. Nick closed his eyes briefly at the sight. It hurt too damned much.

  The statue stood there, on its pedestal, with arms reaching out, just as before.

  Silently, he and Sami exited the car. As they approached, he lifted Sami up, who’d begun to cry. At the base stood Father Lattigan. He smiled at Sami, obviously relieved she was okay. He looked up at the statue, one tear silently traversing his weathered cheek.

  “The inscription’s changed,” he said. “It reads, ‘Amara—a loving heart who gave her life for another’. And she’s smiling now.”

  Nick looked up, and what Father Lattigan said was true. The statue of Amara—his Amara—radiated with true joy, where before she’d been almost expressionless.

  “Daddy,” Sami breathed, “She’s wearing my necklace.”

  The sight of Sami’s little beads, now encased in stone, brought unspeakable sorrow to bear.

  It had been true. All of it. Now, he’d lost her forever.

  Sami reached out to the statue, and Nick took her closer until she could wrap her arms about her. Amara wore her original robes and stood in the same pose as before, but Nick could feel the changes. Because now a good chunk of his heart stood frozen in that statue.

  Damned if he’d let her go without a fight.

  “Nicholas!” If the stakes weren’t so high, he’d feel like a fool, standing in the middle of New York City yelling at a ghost, a spirit. “I understand why you imprisoned her all those years ago. She said herself she was a bad person. But she’s not now. She just sacrificed her last chance at freedom for a little girl she only met two days ago. She’s changed. You got what you wanted. She grew a heart. Now you’re going to freeze that loving, giving heart?”

  He looked around him. Nothing. When Amara had spoken to the saint, Nick had felt something.

  He looked at his daughter, who hugged Amara, tears coating her cheeks. A few minutes ago, she lay dying. Now, she walked and talked. A true Christmas miracle.

  But Nick wanted more.

  “You gave Amara only part of her deal. She bargained her life away, and you didn’t deliver. Look at my little girl, Nicholas! Look at her. She might be alive, but she’s not healed. Because you took Amara away from her, she now has a broken heart.”

  “Daddy!” Sami lifted her eyes to Nick. “Daddy, you’re yelling at Santa Claus.”

  Nick looked at Father Lattigan, then at the cop. The cop shrugged, but Father Lattigan said, “I would say that under the circumstances, yelling would be acceptable.”

  Nick looked up at Amara. Somewhere, a clock began to toll. Midnight.

  Right then, Nick felt it. That same surety of someone standing near.

  And what are you willing to sacrifice for Amara? Because I agree, she has changed and become very precious.

  Nick closed his eyes in relief. Saint Nicholas had answered. There was still a chance. “I’d give my life to her.” Opening his eyes, he saw Nicholas shimmering several feet away, his bright eyes expectant. “Whatever it will take to make her happy, I’ll do it. She’ll never spend another day not knowing love.”

  That is a very ambitious promise.

  “And I mean every word of it. Will you accept?”

  Nicholas smiled widely. It’s not up to me. He looked past Nick.

  Nick turned around. Kneeling on the statue’s pedestal was Amara, holding Sami.

  Amara, you have exceeded my every wish for you. There’s a saying that actions speak louder than words, and your unselfish sacrifice of yourself for Sami tells me that you learned the true meaning of love.

  To truly love someone means that you’d die for that person. There is no greater love than that.

  Nicholas walked past the dumbstruck cop, nodded at Father Lattigan and stopped between Nick and Amara. He lifted his staff and it burst into light.

  Amara de la Cortese, I declare you free. Please, child, come away from the pedestal.

  Amara, looking numb and obviously overwhelmed, didn’t move for a moment, until the light flared brightly above her. Then she and Sami scurried off. Before their eyes, the statue returned, looking as it had for centuries.

  A gift to you, Father Lattigan, for comforting this child with your presence.

  The good father nodded as he stared at the statue. Nick noticed the beads were gone from this version. The originals hung around Amara’s neck.

  Child, this man is willing to devote his life to you. But you are free now, and as my Christmas gift to you I will grant you a life anywhere you wish to go. Name the place and I’ll give you the tools to start a new life.

  Amara looked at Nicholas as she assessed his words. You are free now. She’d waited several lifetimes to hear those words. But right now she longed to hear four other words spoken from another Nicholas.

  Amara, I love you.

  She felt Sami’s hand tighten in hers. “Santa Claus, I always thought you were a nice person,” the little girl said. “But you’re very mean to Amara.”

  The apparition knelt down to eye-level with Sami. My gift to children five hundred years ago was to remove Amara from them so she could do no harm. My gift to you this year is to let you see how love can transform even the coldest heart.

  “Sami, he was right to do what he did,” Amara said. “I understand now. Not only did you save the children, but you gave me many more chances than I deserved to become someone better.” Then she uttered the words she’d sworn for five hundred years she’d never say to him. “Thank you.”

  They felt so good, so right, that she couldn’t contain a smile.

  Never letting go of Sami’s hand, Amara walked past Saint Nicholas until she stood in front of Nick. She captured his gaze with her own and didn’t let go. “Nicholas, you asked me to choose a life. To live anywhere in the world I want.”

  She reached out, and immediately Nick grasped her hand. Recognition flared between them. She looked into his eyes and she didn’t need to hear those words. She could read them, bannered across his face.

  As she spoke, each word erased the pain and loneliness of the last five centuries. “I choose this. I choose here and now. Nicholas, give me what I’ve already
found.”

  You are in charge of your own destiny now, child.

  Amara didn’t see Nicholas fade, she didn’t hear his soft chuckle or witness his lingering gaze filled with warmth and approval as he left.

  Because she was too busy engulfed in Nick’s hug, in melting in his kiss, in Sami’s fierce embrace about her waist.

  “I love you,” Nick whispered against her hair.

  “I love you.” Amara laughed, hugging him intensely, then she wrapped an arm about Sami. She felt a tear stream down her face and shouted, “Thank you, Nicholas! And merry Christmas!”

  Nick kissed her again, and with a bark of laughter, he twirled the three of them until they all laughed with joy. Then with a smile of thanks to Father Lattigan and the officer, he said, “Let’s go home.”

  “Home.” Amara smiled at her new family. “I love the sound of that.” She held onto Nick and Sami’s hands and marched boldly into her new life, her new heart full to bursting.

  Thank you, Nicholas, she whispered silently, for everything.

  About the Author

  To learn more about Stacia, please visit http://www.staciawolf.com. Send an email to stacia@staciawolf.com.

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