Chapter 35

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

MOLLY

After Blake and I eat a scrumptious breakfast accompanied with copious flirting, he asks, "How about if we go snowmobiling today?"

"I need to do a little work," I tell him. "Would you mind if we caught up a bit later?"

"It's almost noon now," he says, "so why don't we just meet at tonight's dinner at five. Does that give you enough time?"

"That's perfect." I tentatively lean over and give him a kiss. The thing with kissing someone you've only just started seeing is that you don't want to be pegged as the needy one by always being the first to instigate physical contact. Having said that, I can't seem to keep my lips off Blake. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to mind.

Once I'm back in my room, I check the internet to see if the picture frame I ordered yesterday has arrived. According to the site, it's already been delivered to the front desk. I have no idea how it got here so quickly, I'm just glad it has.

I hurry downstairs to pick up my package. Trina is talking to one of the desk clerks. I approach her and say, "Good morning! Do you have a minute to chat?"

She nods her head. "I sure do."

"Let me just grab something and I'll be right with you." I tell another man behind the desk what I'm there for and he immediately hands the package over.

Then I turn to Trina. "Where should we go?"

"Let's sit in the great room," she says. "I can't get enough of that Christmas tree."

"It's really spectacular," I tell her. "I haven't put mine up at home yet so I've been enjoying yours a lot."

Once we're sitting at a small table in the corner, I open the envelope I'm holding and put the contents on the table in front of us.

She looks down at it. "You bought a digital picture frame?"

"I did." Her brow furrows in confusion so I tell her, "I think you should carry these in the gift shop." Then I elaborate, "Thanks to your and Heath's generosity, a lot of the families that come here have children who are having a hard time. And a vacation like this is the kind of thing they would really appreciate remembering."

"What a fabulous idea!" she says.

"I spent the day with a family yesterday who have a young son that I think might be terminally ill."

She nods her head. "I'm afraid that could be any number of people."

Opening the box, I pull out the picture frame, then I take my phone out of my purse. I plug the USB connector from the box to my phone and I transfer the files of the pictures and video that I took of Ben's family yesterday. Once I'm done, I hand the frame to Trina.

Her expressions softens as she watches the still images of such a happy little family move into footage of them zip lining, then playing in the snow. "This is remarkable, Molly. Seriously."

"I always have the best intentions of transferring my pictures to the digital frame that I bought." I add, "The one that's still in the box it shipped in three years ago."

She laughs. "Life has a way of getting in the way, doesn't it?"

"Yes, and I'm single with no kids. Imagine how hard it is for these families to get something like this done."

"It sounds like you're suggesting more than selling picture frames."

Nodding my head, I tell her, "I am. I think you should consider hiring a photographer to spend a couple hours with each family and then make them a frame of their own."

"Oh, Molly, I love that idea!"

"And the families could always add more pictures as they go."

Trina looks like she's about to cry. "This is exactly why you're so good at your job," she says. "You've looked beyond the surface and found something that will make people's time here a lifelong memory. We could still carry the frames in the gift shop for regular guests, but I really love your idea of helping the people whose trips we sponsor."

"This kid broke my heart," I tell her. "He's been saving his money so he could buy a frame for his parents."

"His name is Ben, right?" Trina asks.

I nod my head. "His parents are Ward and Francie."

Her expression turns serious. "Ben has leukemia. Heath heard about their family from his brother."

"Is it really hopeless?" I ask, both wanting to know the answer, and not. I can't stand the thought that such a child is living on borrowed time.

Trina shrugs. "I'm not sure. I know that Heath has asked a friend at Sloan Kettering to look at Ben's files. There's a chance there's a clinical trial he might be right for."

A chill shoots through my body that starts at the top of my head and zings down my arms. "I'm sure anything that gives his parents hope would be amazing."

"It's hard though, right? I mean, you don't want people to lose hope, but they still have to prepare for the worst. "

"When do you think Ward and Francie will find out if Ben qualifies?"

"They're supposed to hear before Christmas," she says. "Heath has offered to sponsor them in New York if they get in."

"You two are really amazing, do you know that?" I ask her. "So many people don't even know how to begin to help others and you guys are doing it on a huge scale."

"We're lucky that we can," she says.

"Yes, but a lot of people who can, don't. You two should give a seminar and teach them how it's done."

Trina smiles modestly. "If you have any more ideas like this, please let me know. In the meantime, you and Blake, huh?"

"I can't even believe it," I tell her. "I thought he'd friend-zoned me the second we met."

Crossing one long leg over another, Trina leans back in her chair. "He isn't the kind of guy I expected to sign up for one of my events."

"What does that mean?" Does she suspect he's here to steal her ideas? Does she know something about him that I don't?

"He hasn't spent his time with just women. He's been talking to everyone like he's interviewing them or something."

If she only knew that's exactly what he was doing, but I'm not going to tell her. I don't think Blake's getting ideas will take anything away from Trina's business, but she might still feel like he's ripping her off.

Veering the topic away from why Blake's here, I tell her, "I think he and I might have helped to get Thor and Krista back on track today."

"Nice." Then she says, "I hope the two of you will keep coming to our get-togethers. If for no other reason than to show the others what's possible."

"Oh, we're coming," I tell her. Turning my head, I see that Ben and his family have walked into the room. "I'm going to give Ben his frame."

Trina holds up one finger before standing up and walking toward the Christmas tree. She removes one of the bags underneath and hurries back to me. "We put a bunch of staged presents under the tree. Why don't you put the frame in here?"

"Thank you," I tell her as I slip the frame back into its box and then insert it into the bag. "Do you want to come with me?"

She shakes her head. "No, this is your gift to them. I'm going to go to my office and get to work on trying to hire a photographer. If I'm lucky I might be able to find one to start right away."

"That's fast!"

"This is the perfect time of year to capture some beautiful memories," she says. And then she's off.

I'm amazed there are people like Trina and her fiancé, and I decide in this moment to do more for charity than I have. If everyone did something small, the whole world would be the better for it.

Approaching Ben's family, I smile and wave. Poor Ben looks rough this morning, but as soon as he sees me, he smiles brightly. "Molly!"

"Hey, buddy." I wink at him and lift the bag. "Your gift for your parents arrived this morning."

He takes it enthusiastically before turning to his mom and dad. He tells them, "Molly helped me get your Christmas gift."

"It was all Ben's idea," I tell them. Francie and Ward both look like they're about to cry. Then I lean down and whisper in Ben's ear, "It's a digital frame. I already put in the pictures we took yesterday."

His eyes open wide with excitement. "Seriously? Can you show us?"

I lead the way to a small seating area near the fireplace. Once we're all seated, I tell Ben, "Let your parents open the bag and then I'll show you."

Francie's hands start to tremble as she unties the bow on the bag. Then she pulls out the box with the frame. "Oh!" she exclaims. "What a wonderful gift!"

"Open it up!" Ben encourages her .

Francie opens the box before sliding the frame out. "Just hit the power button on the side of the frame," I tell her.

As soon as she does, pictures of yesterday start popping up. Tears immediately stream down her face. This is my cue to leave, so I quietly stand up and walk away, giving this little family some privacy.

As I walk across the room toward the lobby, I can't help but feel grateful and humbled by how beautiful life is. No family deserves the kind of heartache that Ben's family is experiencing, and yet they're doing their best to really live in the moment and make the most of each other. I wish people would do that before there was a crisis.

Then, as though some kind of horrible magic has occurred, I look up and watch as my sister Ellen walks through the front doors. What in the world is she doing here?