The Christmas Shoes

She helps bring a struggling family together.

Author's note: This story came to me after listening to the Christmas song -- The Christmas Shoes. I hope you enjoy it. I deliberated between LW and romance, but ultimately decided to put it in romance; my first in this category. For a story with a little Christmas in it, I know it is a few days late. My apologies. My editor is backed up and it took me several days to proofread it, though I'm sure I missed a few things.

If you haven't heard the song (how?), I suggest you give it a quick listen to help set up the story.

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Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my mama, please

It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size

Could you hurry, sir, daddy says there's not much time

You see she's been sick for quite a while

And I know these shoes would make her smile

And I want her to look beautiful if mama meets Jesus tonight

Nora was listening to this song and smiling to herself upon hearing it, even if it seemed like the 1000^th time she had heard it since Thanksgiving. She had come into the Walmart near Holly Springs, NC, just outside of Raleigh, NC, to pick up a couple of things to take back to a house in which she was holding an open house that weekend. Walmart wasn't her favorite place to shop, but it had what she needed and was close to the house that she was listing for sale.

Having grabbed the few items she came for, she made a detour through the shoe section to get to the registers faster when she saw a young girl, sobbing. She was Caucasian, looked to be in her early teens, was thin and had wildly curly black hair that hung down past her shoulders. She was almost Nora's height, but then Nora was only about 5' 2", so that wasn't saying much.

Nora picked up her pace, hoping to avoid the girl seeing her. Success. But then when she reached the next aisle, her conscience kicked in and she turned around. Not seeing an adult nearby, Nora felt terrible to simply leave her in that condition. Sighing and cursing herself for not being able to walk away, she walked back to the girl and asked, "Honey, are you okay? Do you need me to call someone for you?"

The teen shook her head, but the tears continued to roll. In the teens arms was a box of shoes.

Nora really didn't want to get sucked into someone else's problems, but she asked anyway, "Is there something I can do for you?"

Once more, the teen shook her head, causing her mane of hair to swing wildly.

Trying again, Nora said, "Hi. I'm Nora. What's your name?"

This time, the teen looked up at her for only a moment and when she returned her gaze down towards the floor whispered, "Tina."

"Hi, Tina. I really wish you would let me help you. Are you sure I cannot call someone?"

The girl replied, "They can't help."

Nora asked, "What's wrong."

Tina said, "It's going to sound corny."

"I doubt anything that would make you cry like this would be corny."

"It's my grandmother." Said Tina. "She's really sick and not expected to last much longer. Like the song that was playing a few minutes ago. I wanted to do one last nice thing for her. I wanted to get her these shoes for Christmas. I don't know if she is going to last the three remaining weeks until Christmas."

Nora was a little startled by this revelation from the girl. She asked, "You're sure that is what the doctors said?"

The crazy wild hair shook everywhere as she bobbed her head up and down.

"Do you not have enough money for the shoes?"

Tina shook her head from left to right causing the cascading curls to bounce again.

While suspicious of the story, Nora wanted to help the girl and said. "Would you let met help you buy the shoes?"

This time Tina did look up allowing Nora to see the young lady's beautiful blue eyes, with just a few freckles on her nose. She was a very cute girl. The look on the girl's face was one of relief.

"How much are the shoes?"

"Fo..Forty-nine dollars"

Nora asked, "How much do you have?"

"Twenty."

Feeling a bit of Christmas spirit, Nora smiled at the girl and said, "Come on. Chin-up." She reached underneath the teen's chin and gently raised it until they were looking directly at each other. "You have heard that before; haven't you?"

The little girl had a surprised look in her eyes. She shook her head. "Chin up means to be brave and happy when you find yourself in a difficult situation." Nora was rolling her eyes inside because she needed someone to tell this to her every day for the last couple of weeks. She said, "Give me the shoes, and I'll pay for them when I check out. Come on. Chin up." She hated to see such a pretty young lady so down.

After exiting the self-checkout area, Tina hugged Nora and thanked her for the shoes and quickly walked out of the store all smiles. Nora exited just in time to see Tina riding away on her bike. The sound of Holly Jolly Christmas could be heard as she exited the store.

Given the recent turmoil in her own life, she felt pretty good about being able to do something for someone else. "Chin up, Nora" she thought to herself, and she went to the home to prepare for the open house.

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A couple of weeks later, Nora was in Target, not far from the Walmart in Holly Springs, because she was picking up items for another listing, which she wanted to spruce up a little.

Like two weeks earlier, she was walking towards the checkout when she heard someone crying, again. Getting a bad feeling, she snuck around and peeked through the shoe racks to see the same teenager from Walmart.

Nora went from zero to enraged in a flash. She thought, "How dare she take advantage of my helping her?"

She was about to confront the little ingrate when the girl stopped crying, put the shoe box back on the rack and walked out of the store. Nora dropped what she had and began following the girl. It appeared that Tina didn't catch any suckers that afternoon. As soon as she saw the girl pedaling away, Nora hopped in her Mercedes wagon and began looking for the girl. Seeing her riding quickly down the sidewalk, Nora followed at a distance.

When Tina turned into her neighborhood, she didn't see that she was being followed; nor did she see that she was being watched as she parked her bike on the carport and went inside.

Nora watched for a minute then called her assistant, Sandy, to ask her to find everything she could in five minutes about whoever lived at that house. It appeared to be a much older, small ranch house with most likely 3 bedrooms, given the neighborhood and style. The lit Christmas tree could be seen in the bay window at the front of the house. The yard looked well kept. There was an older Honda Accord parked in the carport.

The only thing Sandy could find in five minutes was where the mortgage on the house was paid off a decade ago and it was currently owned by Elise Acosta, age sixty.

That wasn't much to go on, but with steam still coming out of her ears, Nora stormed up to the front door and began ringing the doorbell and banging on the edge of the screened door, which was locked.

She could hear the lock being turned on the front door and then it opened. Tina was astonished to see a very angry Nora standing there and quickly closed and locked the door. Given the car parked in the carport, Nora wondered if an adult was home and resumed her ringing and banging. Several minutes later, she heard the lock turn once again, but this time when the door opened, a woman she assumed was Elise Acosta was looking at her.

Nora was taken aback at what she saw. The woman truly looked like death warmed over, barely able to hold herself upright while bent over a quad cane and holding an oxygen mask to her face. Now she wondered if there might be some truth to the girl's story. Nora asked, but not quite as forcefully, "Are you Tina's guardian?"

The old woman had a confused look on her face. "Tina? There is no Tina living here."

"Whatever that girl's name is. Are you her guardian?"

"No. Her father is, but he's at work and won't be home until much later. What is the regarding?"

Nora said, "I see you are not well, so I apologize for my disturbing you. Please give him my card and ask him to come by. I need to speak with him about that young lady."

Nora pulled out her business card and handed it to the woman through a hole in the screened door and abruptly left, fuming.

Elise looked at the card which said,

Nora Hamilton

Owner

Hamilton Realty

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The next day when Nora arrived at her office on the west side of Cary, NC, she saw a big truck in the parking lot. She didn't have to wonder very long who it was because, before she even opened the door to her car, she could see him walking her way. He was not happy, which was okay, because neither was she.

Just over six feet tall, she guessed, he appeared to be dressed like a home painter, given the painter coveralls. As he got closer, it was easy to see where Tina inherited her dark hair and blue eyes. Nora thought he was probably her age if not a few years older, early to mid-thirties, quite handsome, not that she was looking for anyone at the moment; certainly not the father of that little con-artist.

He started, "What did you need to see me about? Why were you banging on the door like that? My mother said she almost called the police on you."

Nora guffawed, "That's rich. I almost called them and asked them to meet me there. Your daughter is conning people out of money at local department stores. A couple of weeks ago at Walmart, she told me her grandmother was dying, and I stupidly bought some shoes for her to give to her 'dying' grandmother for Christmas." Nora emphasized the word 'dying' with air quotes. "Then yesterday at Target, I saw her crying crocodile tears trying to entrap someone else. When no one fell for it, she left, and I followed her home to give you a piece of my mind."

She had seen the anger shift as she was telling the story. She wondered what he was thinking.

He asked, "How much were the shoes?"

Nora said, "That's not important. It's the principal of the matter. She shouldn't..." She didn't get to finish.

"How much were the shoes?!" The man practically shouted.

Nora's own expression changed as she prepared herself for a confrontation. She replied, "Fifty dollars. I can show you the receipt." She began to pull it from her purse.

The man pulled his wallet out, and she could see him pull out every bill he had in there. A second of counting later, he pushed the bills into her hand and said, "Here's thirty-seven dollars. I'll mail you the rest."

Nora tried to tell him that she didn't care about the money, but he was already walking back to his truck and then drove away.

Of course, he didn't listen. "Freakin' men!" she thought. Nora tried to calm herself or she would be in a foul mood the rest of the day.

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Later the next day, in the office, Sandy knocked on Nora's door and gave her an envelope which contained thirteen dollars. Nora rolled her eyes. She told him the money wasn't important, but he sent it anyway.

Two days later on Christmas Eve, she was preparing to close up the office before driving to her parent's house in Charlotte for Christmas. Sandy and Nora's two real estate agents had already left for the holidays. She was going through the mail and saw a Christmas card addressed to her personally.

It said,

"Ms. Hamilton,

On behalf of Toys for Lil Troops, we would like to thank you and the Acosta family for your generous contribution. We will be sure that the new, or gently used, toys make it into the hands of children of low income and/or deployed troops by Christmas.

Thank you"

"Hmmm" She mused. She wondered why it would be addressed to her when she had already been repaid. She suspected that the family had given whatever else Tina had conned to the charity. Then she wondered, "but why was the card sent to me?"

She locked her office and drove the two and a half hours to her parents. She wasn't really looking forward to the visit.

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After a lonely and depressing holiday season, Nora was in her office on February 1^st, when she heard the outer door to her building open and someone asked for her. A moment later she was stunned to see Elise and Tina standing there. Elise looked much, much improved. Whatever had been bothering her seemed to be better, except for her still using the cane.

Elise asked, "May we speak to you for a minute? I'm sorry for just dropping by. I was afraid that if I called in advance, you might have refused to see us."

"Oh, no problem," Nora said. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Tina had me convinced you were about to die. What can I do for you?"

Elise patted Tina on the butt which caused her to jump a little. Then she said, "Ms. Hamilton, I'm sorry about lying to you and talking you into giving me money. It was for a worthy cause, but it was still wrong. I apologize."

This confused Nora for a moment, because she was wondering if Tina was referring to the Toys for Lil Troops as the worthy cause.

Nora said, "Thank you, Tina, for the apology. Your father repaid me, but I'm not certain why the Toys for Lil Troops charity sent the thank-you card to me."

Elise said, "Actually, her name isn't Tina. It's Silvia. She didn't want to use her real name for obvious reasons. We wanted the card sent to you so you would know that we took all the money given to Silvia or gift cards for which she traded the shoes and donated it to charity. Her father and I are both terribly embarrassed. We didn't raise her to steal, so we're very sorry. We wanted her to tell you in person." Then Elise lied when she said, "Her father would have brought her, but he has been very, very busy with work." Though the last part of that sentence was true.

"Mrs. Acosta, if you don't mind my asking - Silvia, why were you trying to get people to give you money?" Nora queried.

Silvia looked very uncomfortable at that moment. She turned to her grandmother and asked, "Nanny, will you tell her. If I try to, I know I'll start crying. I'll probably cry when you tell her."

Elise wrapped her arm lovingly around her only granddaughter and said, "She was doing it for her father. About a year ago, just after the holidays, Silvia's mother, well...ex-mother now, left my son, Daniel. She gave him two sets of divorce papers. In the first set she offered him 100% custody of Silvia if he surrendered all of their assets; everything, including his business tools. He's a painter. He had a business and ran a couple of painting crews. That offer would leave him penniless. In the second set of papers, she was asking for 100% custody of Silvia and most of his assets, including enormous alimony payments. She promised to make his life hell if he didn't take the 1^st option.

"So, of course he took the option where he could keep Silvia. They moved in with me, and Janet remarried an investment advisor as soon as the divorce was final. We haven't heard from Janet since then. After the divorce, with no tools, he couldn't run his business. He had to let his employees go. He now works for a couple of different builders in the area, but he's just an employee instead of an owner, and the pay isn't what it was. He drives for Uber when he isn't working in or on houses.

"Finally, I was in an accident several years ago, which killed my husband and put me in the hospital. We were too young for Medicare but had decent insurance. We were both in ICU for several weeks, and I was in a room much longer. I survived, and they saved my leg; but I cannot use it like I once could, hence the cane. As you can imagine, our hospital bills were enormous. Daniel and Janet were helping me pay off the hospital, but it would have taken years and years with their help. Now? After what Janet did, I'll never pay it off, but Daniel continues to help, which is why he works so much. Janet simply was tired of all of 'her' money going to my hospital bills."

Sniffling, Silvia said, "I was planning to take all the shoes back and trade them on gift cards which I would have used to help buy some tools for my dad. He works so hard and so long, but we cannot seem to get ahead. My intentions were good, but I shouldn't have talked you out of that money. I felt terrible while I was doing it. So, I'm sorry."

Nora wanted to go over and hug Silvia. She felt terrible for her. What her mother did to that family was horrible.

Nora said, "You're right. It's better to be honest about these things. I was pretty angry when I was knocking on your door. For a minute I wondered if you were telling the truth when I saw your grandmother answer the door. Elise, I felt bad that you came to the door at all."

Elise smiled. "I was very sick. I had a bad case of pneumonia, which is why I had the oxygen. I was actually getting better when you saw me, but my appearance didn't reflect that."

After that, the conversation paused, and Elise prepared to leave. "Thanks for seeing us Nora. We aren't bad people. Silvia, and I, would do anything for her father."

"It's okay. Mrs. Acosta. I respect families that love each other that much. It is very rare."

Elise smiled at her. As she was turning with her granddaughter to leave, she hesitated and asked, "Miss Hamilton, if you aren't too busy next Friday or Saturday evening, would you let me cook dinner for you? I would be interested in your opinion of my home. We might be needing to sell sometime in the near future, and if we do, it would be nice to have an expert's opinion early on to help us prepare."

She knew if Sandy was listening to this conversation and she refused, she would catch grief for the next several weeks. Nora had told her about the handsome, but angry, man that confronted her in the parking lot before Christmas. What could it hurt to have dinner either before or after looking at their house? She didn't usually deal with properties that small or in that price range, but she was sure she could give them some idea of its value and tips to ensure that they maximize it's potential.

"I think that can be arranged. How about Friday? I'm hosting an open house that Saturday and am usually dead after those."

Elise smiled and said, "We'll look forward to Friday."

After they left, Sandy walked in, on que, and gave Nora an inquiring look. Her desk at reception was close enough that Nora knew she heard everything through the open door.

"It's nothing, Sandy. I'm going to give them some advice, and she's going to feed me. There isn't anything more to it."

Sandy hoped she was wrong. She had been worried about her boss, her friend, since Thanksgiving. Maybe at least a date could come out of this.

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The following Friday Nora was in a great mood as she approached the Acosta's home. The house that she planned to 'open' and work from all the next day had sold for a good price making her customers and her business' bank account remarkably happy.

She had a nice bottle of wine in her hand as she knocked on the front door. Lord knows she had drunk way too much wine since Thanksgiving, so giving them a bottle, or sharing it with them, would reduce her stock, which was probably a good idea. She only saw Elise's car in the driveway. Daniel's truck wasn't there.

Elise was all smiles as she opened the door. "Come in. Come in."

Nora handed her the wine, saying, "I wasn't sure what you were cooking. I hope red is okay."

Elise replied, "I'm sure it will be lovely. We don't usually drink much wine, but I'm looking forward to it. Thank you." She continued. "Dinner is being kept warm in the oven and the salads are in the fridge waiting for Daniel to arrive. He should be here any minute. Would you like to see the house while we are waiting?"