Shock left Duke momentarily speechless. He looked up at Cathy, then at Barrie, and shook his head.
“I am looking at two of the strongest women I think I’ve ever known. If you don’t mind me asking…how did you come to be living here?”
“My man brought me to the Bottoms,” Barrie said. “We were gonna get married, but we just kept putting it off. His old truck quit on him, and we didn’t have the money to fix it. He got down on himself, got mixed up with meth, and died in a motel in Savannah. I had just found out I was pregnant with Freddie, my baby, and had nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sorry,” Duke said. “I hope your life takes a happy turn one day soon.”
“Oh, it already has,” Barrie said. “She did it. She cared about us. That’s more than we’ve ever had.”
The baby had already crawled over to where Cathy was standing and pulled himself up by holding onto her leg.
Cathy laughed. “Well, hello, little man,” she said, then swooped him up in her arms.
When he laughed and patted her cheeks, Duke could tell she’d done this before. And seeing her with a baby in her arms made him aware of how much life he’d been missing.
“Freddie likes you,” Duke said.
“Down here, everyone loves Cathy,” Barrie said.
“Well, I have good news,” Cathy said. “I finally heard back from your landlord. To his credit, the old fellow has been in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s for years. His sons didn’t know he owned property here and, I think, chose to ignore the messages he was getting. But they finally called, and we made a deal. I’m buying all of the property here, and I can promise you as long as I live, this will never happen to any of you again.”
“Oh my God! That is wonderful news!” Barrie said. “Can I tell the others?”
“Yes, ma’am, you sure can,” Cathy said, and then looked around for the little girl. “Is Lucy in school?”
Barrie nodded. “Yes, now that she has clothes warm enough to go.”
“I’ll bring cookies next time I come,” Cathy said. “I know snickerdoodles are her favorite.”
“And mine,” Duke said.
Cathy grinned. “Every cookie is your favorite.”
“Guilty,” he said, which made Barrie smile. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been happy with a man.
Cathy kissed Freddie’s little cheek, and then put him back down on the floor and handed him his toy.
“We need to go. Thank you for letting us intrude, but I so wanted Duke to meet you and see what’s happening down here.”
“Miracles are happening in the Bottoms because of our Christmas angel,” Barrie said.
“Christmas angel?”
“That’s what we all call her,” Barrie said.
Duke slid his hand across her shoulder. “And I consider her my Christmas gift. Happy holidays to you and your family.”
“Thank you,” Barrie said, then waved goodbye from the window as they drove away.
They drove through the rest of the area, seeing the houses in different states of repair and stopping once to talk to some of the residents who were outside replacing chain-link fences.
When they finally left the Bottoms, Duke was beyond impressed with what was being done and praised Cathy, but she shrugged it off.
“You can do many good things if you have the money to do it,” she said.
“Yes, but not everyone with money does good things. You chose to make a difference in other people’s lives. You have a loving heart, and I am most grateful that you’re spending part of that love on me.”
Cathy sighed. “Oh honey…I’m spending all of my love on you. The other stuff is purpose with a passion. I need purpose to feel like I’m making a difference, and I need to make a difference. After all the wasted years I spent in Vegas—and all the wasted money spent on useless, frivolous things—this feels awesome…like I hit the jackpot.”
Duke nodded. He understood purpose.
* * *
The day was brisk but the sun was shining, which was a good thing because Santa Claus was due to arrive at the park. The crowd was growing, and Santa’s elves were all waiting in their red and green suits.
Junior Cooper was the official photographer for the day and all set up to take pictures of kids sitting in Santa’s lap.
Santa’s big overstuffed armchair was in the gazebo, in front of a potted pine with branches heavily laden in fake snow. The candy-filled stockings were stacked nearby in boxes, and the line was beginning to grow when two buses pulled