The Surprise Holiday Dad by Jacqueline Diamond

tired of spending holidays with my sitter.”
    Adrienne gave a start. Although Thanksgiving was only two weeks off, she’d been so focused on planning Harper’s wedding the following day that she’d assumed her arrangements were fine with her nephew.
    Wade looked surprised. “You work on Thanksgiving?”
    “My shift starts at eight. The trade-off is that I’m free on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.” Adrienne tried not to feel defensive.
    “That sounds as bad as police work,” Wade observed.
    “So you’ll stay over?” Reggie pressed.
    Like it or not, Wade was part of their lives now. And Adrienne had been less than thrilled about the prospect of eating their holiday meal at a restaurant. “I suppose we could cook dinner here, the three of us.”
    “I’m afraid I already have a commitment,” Wade said. “My father’s counting on me.”
    Adrienne hoped her regret didn’t show. “I understand.”
    “I have a grandpa?” Reggie gave a little hop. “I want to meet him.”
    Seeing the dismay in Wade’s eyes, Adrienne recalled what he’d mentioned about his father’s drinking. She waited for Wade to cough up an excuse. Instead, he sat down and took Reggie onto his lap.
    “I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “My father isn’t the grandpa type. I’m not sure he was ever the dad type, either. I used to take care of him as much as he took care of me.”
    “Is he sick?” the boy asked.
    “In a way,” Wade told him. “He has a disease called alcoholism. That means he sometimes acts like he loves drinking more than he loves his family. After my mother left, I did the laundry and fixed meals. Once in a while I had to sober him up in the morning so he could go to work. He’s a good man at heart, but right now he isn’t ready to be a grandfather.”
    Reggie pressed his lips together, thinking. Adrienne had discussed alcoholism with him before. Was he remembering a tipsy Vicki falling off a step stool the morning of his second birthday and bruising her hip? She’d cursed a blue streak, and they’d had to cancel the celebration while they took her to the emergency room.
    “Okay,” he said. “I’ll wait till he’s ready.”
    “Honestly, I’d rather spend Thanksgiving with you,” Wade told him. “But I did promise.”
    “You should always keep a promise,” the little boy responded firmly. “It hurts when people let you down.”
    “Yes, it does.” She was glad Wade was reinforcing that value. “It’s good to keep your word, even though it’s our loss.”
    “My loss, too.” Wade glanced at his watch. “We’d better be going.”
    After making sure Reggie had his key and arranging for Wade to phone if their sailing trip took longer than expected, Adrienne went to catch some sleep. Normally, she had trouble relaxing when Reg was with anyone other than his most relied-upon caretakers. Today, though, she wasn’t as tense as she’d expected.
    * * *
    E VEN AFTER THE chill wind over the water was nothing but a memory and the abrasions on Wade’s hands from helping to sail the boat began to heal, Saturday’s outing lingered in his mind.
    Reggie’s energies were channeled as he cooperated with his new friends, eight-year-old Fred and his older sister, Marlys. They taught him the terminology of sailing, such as boom and rudder, tacking and jibing, and the directions: aft, bow, port and starboard instead of back, front, left and right. They also divided the task of scanning the waves for migrating whales, each child responsible for his or her own sector.
    As for the parents, Bob and Lisa Rosen formed a smooth team. They spoke to each other and the children with respect, teaching while having fun. When a couple playful dolphins appeared, they shared in the youngsters’ glee.
    Being part of a family was fun. Wade regretted having to turn down Adrienne and Reggie’s Thanksgiving invitation. He’d meant what he’d said about commitments, though. And if Daryl was alone on the holiday, he