Praise for
GAIL
GAYMER
MARTIN
“In The Christmas Kite, Gail Martin probes the depths of love and forgiveness. A tender and heartwarming read.”
—Lyn Cote, Author of Summer’s End,
on The Christmas Kite
“The Christmas Kite is a tender romance, the story of two wounded people learning to live and love again. And I guarantee that little Mac will steal your heart. Settle into your favorite chair and enjoy.”
—Robin Lee Hatcher, bestselling author of Firstborn and Speak to Me of Love on The Christmas Kite
“Gail Gaymer Martin’s best book to date. Real conflict and very likeable characters enhance this wonderful romantic story.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Loving Hearts
“Perhaps Gail Gaymer Martin’s best, a romantic suspense novel you’ll want to read—during the day!”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
on A Love for Safekeeping
“An emotional, skillfully written story about mature subject matter. You’ll probably need a box of tissues for this one.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
on Upon a Midnight Clear
The Christmas Kite
Gail Gaymer Martin
With much love, to Andrea,
the inspiration for my poem, “The Kite Flyers.”
May she always remember to bend with the wind.
Thanks to Jo Ferguson and Linda Windsor,
fellow authors who introduced me
to families with Down Syndrome children.
And a huge thanks to authors Deb Stover
and April Kihlstrom, and to Jenni,
who willingly shared their stories.
I hope I did your openness justice.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast
all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
—2 Corinthians 12:9
THE KITE FLYERS
The heart, like a kite, is tugged
By the winds of change.
Fragments of color, dipping and soaring,
The kite flyers hold in their hands
The string, giving more to the wind
Or holding back in the softer silence.
With eager hearts they watch their kites
Soar in harmony, in a sweep of colored
Stillness.
Tugging too hard on the cord, it may break
And the lovely kite
flutters lifeless
to the ground.
Its spirit silenced like a whimper,
Or the string may slip from the hands
And the kite caught on the wind
sails away
a memory.
Patience and love is the cord.
Learn to bend with the wind,
To understand when to give
And when to hold back,
So your kites will soar on any wind
Independent, yet together.
Gail Gaymer Martin
1988
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
“Be careful, Mac.” Meara Hayden’s heart rose to her throat as her son wandered toward the white-capped waves. “Stay back.”
He turned toward her, his mouth bent into a gleeful smile. “Birds.” He pointed upward where seagulls curled and dipped above the rolling waters of Lake Huron.
“Yes,” she yelled, forcing her soft voice above the dashing waves, fear gripping her heart. “Come back, Mac.”
A new crest rose, its frothy cap arching high above the surface. Meara dashed forward. But too late.
The surging water thundered upward, crashing to the shore, then siphoned back in a powerful undertow. Mac staggered against its strength, and as the swell washed the earth from beneath his feet, the water dragged driftwood, debris and Mac into its roiling depths.
As a heart-wrenching gasp tore from Meara’s throat, she dashed into the retreating wave, grabbed him by one flailing arm and lifted him to safety.
“Mac,” she whispered, her voice quaking with fear. She clutched him to her side and guided him back to the dry sand.
“Wet,” he moaned, pulling at his soggy shorts. Tears brimmed in his eyes.
“It’s all right. They’ll dry.” To distract him, Meara pulled a wrapped cookie from her blouse pocket. “Here, Mac.” Her ploy worked.
“Cookie,” he said, brushing his moist eyes with a finger before grasping the treat.
Meara captured his free hand and continued their journey along the warm sandy beach. Glancing over her shoulder, she estimated the distance they’d wandered from the rough, rented cabin. Obviously her choice was a poor one. She hadn’t considered the inherent dangers of the water…and her son.
Mac paused and gazed above his head. “Birds,” he said again, waving the sugar cookie in the air.
“They’re seagulls. You’ll see lots of them around the water.”
“Sea…gulls,” he repeated, his face lifted upward toward her watchful eyes. He waved the cookie again in the birds’ direction.
Without warning, a cluster of gulls soared over them and swooped down. His body shaking, Mac gasped,