The action on the stage had started around noon with a local children’s choir, then the Trinity Falls ukulele band, followed by some kids doing a musical skit. Being near the stage gave Willow a front row seat to the performances, so she wasn’t as bored as she might have been. The musicians all seemed to have their own people taking care of the sound, so she figured she wouldn’t be seeing Jensen today after all.
In between the acts, the local radio station came on the speakers. WCCR played all Christmas music all the time from November to New Year’s, so the festive sounds continued even during the breaks.
Another live band was on the stage now, playing acoustic versions of all the holiday rock songs. People were singing along and swaying to the music.
As the sun sank, someone turned on the twinkle lights and thousands of tiny bulbs filled the space with a magical golden glow. The crowd let up a collective sigh of appreciation at the sight, which was followed immediately by the wailing of a child.
Willow was on her feet instantly. She wasn’t sure how she knew this wasn’t just the tired cry of a little one who wasn’t getting their way, but she did. It was the sound of a small child in pain.
She was halfway through the crowd when she spotted Henry sitting on the concrete floor of the market, tears flying out of his sweet little face. Jensen crouched beside him, speaking low, one arm wrapped around the boy.
“Oh dear,” Willow said calmly. “It looks like you fell down, Henry. Did you hurt your hands?”
Sure enough, the little one lifted up his hands to show her a pair of scraped up palms, the right more than the left.
“Oh, that does hurt, doesn’t it?” she said, feeling relieved that it probably wasn’t anything worse. “Would you like to come to my station and choose some special Band-Aids to help you feel better?”
Henry had stopped crying so hard while she was talking. Now, his solemn gray eyes met hers and he nodded up and down.
“Okay,” she told him. “Do you want your dad to carry you? Or do you want to walk?”
But he made a third choice, lifting his arms to her instead.
“You wantmeto carry you?” she asked.
He nodded again, so she slid her hands under his arms and scooped him up. He settled on her hip and leaned into her neck, as if she had been carrying him around all his life.
For the first time, she glanced over at Jensen. His eyes were on his son, slightly widened, as if he was surprised.
“Okay, here we go,” she said, tearing her eyes away from Jensen.
She wasn’t the only one who had heard Henry’s howl. The crowd parted, allowing her to carry him swiftly back to her booth.
“I’m going to put you down on the bench, okay?” she asked. “You can sit with your daddy while I get my nurse things ready.”
Henry didn’t reply, but he allowed himself to be placed on the bench without any complaints. Jensen sat right down next to him.
“The first thing we have to do is get your hands clean,” Willow told him. “It’s going to sting, but only for a second because I have magic spray that helps take away the hurting.”
Henry looked up at her, his eyes still so solemn.
“Stay here for a minute?” she told Jensen. “I have an idea.”
Normally, she would have brought the boy into the bathroom to wash his hands in the sink. But he was so small and sad that she figured it might be better to just fill a basin with warm soapy water and bring it back out for him instead. She grabbed her basin and got right to work, returning a moment later with the bath for his hands and a sealed bottle of cold, clean water.
“Okay, Henry,” she told him. “First, I’ll look at your hands and then we’ll give them a bath.”
“Hold them out, buddy,” Jensen murmured. “So she can see them.”
Henry hesitated, but she didn’t say a word. A few seconds later, he held out his little hands. The abrasionson his palms were angry and red, but there didn’t seem to be anything embedded in them, thank goodness.
“Oh yes,” she said. “I know that hurts, but you’ll be able to get them nice and clean. Are they ready for their bath? Remember, when you put your hands in here it will be nice and warm, but it will sting a little. As soon as you pull them out, we’ll rinse them with cool water and use the magic spray.”
Jensen rolled Henry’s sleeves up almost to his elbows.
“Here we go,” Willow said holding out the basin.
Jensen took Henry’s hands and plunged them into the water. She could see the instant that they began to sting, because he whimpered and his lower lip began to tremble like the tears were coming back.
