Ellie's Song (6 page)

And just when she thought her heart was so full that it was going to burst, her mother started tugging at her sleeve and pointing.
Ellie’s gaze followed to where her mother was pointing and couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Calvin.
He was singing
. The hair on her arms stood up and she could feel a lump forming in her already sore throat. She had hoped and prayed that
he would talk before she left
Da
nning
to go back to college
, but
this
…
she had never imagined
she would see this! He was singing her song
, the one from the storybook that he loved so much, just as she had
.

Luke turned to make eye contact with Ellie to make sure that she saw Calvin. His eye
s were full of tears, too. She
nodded
and smiled in acknowledgement. This was truly a Christmas miracl
e.

When they were finished, the whole church stood up and gave them a standing ovation. Ellie looked around, wishing that she knew what Calvin’s aunt looked like. She hoped that the aunt was there and had been able to see Calvin singing. She still couldn’t believe she’
d really seen his mouth open in
song
,
it was almost like a dream.

The kids led the procession out of church and Ellie hoped that she’d be able to find them in the front lobby area in the crowd. Despite the number of people gathering in the area, she quickly spotted Luke. He was talking with a woman that she instantly recognized as Cori and Calvin’s aunt; not only was she holding their hands but she had the same beautiful
, long-lashed
brown eyes as them.
She was thankful that the woman had been able to be there on that night.

As she approached them, the woman looked at her and said, “
Hi Ellie,
I’m Ruby Miller, Cori and Calvin’s
aunt.”

Ellie held out her hand, but the woman pulled her in for a hug instead. “I heard that you’re the lady I need to thank for saving Calvin from getting hit by a truck. God bless you
, dear
!”

Ellie shook her head no and pointed to Cori, indicating it was really her that had saved him. “Well, it was the two of you
together
,
so you can
both
take credit. B
ut th
ank the Good Lord that he didn’t get killed
. And singing! Did you hear my boy sing?” Her eyes were wet with tears and she squeezed Calvin tight to her body with her arm.

“This is because of you
. Before we came here tonight, he asked if Miss Ellie was still going to be there. Can you believe it? Praise the Lord, the child is speaking again!
I didn’t know if we’d ever see it happen again!
”

Ellie knelt down to look Calvin in the eye. “Thank you
for being my friend
, Miss Ellie,” he said in a quiet voice.
She gave him a hug and wished she could tell him the same thing.

“Kind of funny how it’s reversed now, isn’t it?” Luke commented, “Now it’s Ellie who isn’t doing any talking!” Everyone laughed at the irony of the situation. Ellie tried to speak but then stopped and reached into her purse for a little notepad and pen that she thought she might need tonight. She wrote a message and handed it to Luke.

He smiled. “How did we do it? Well, after seeing how upset you were last night, I really wanted to make it up to you. I called the kids to see if they could make an impromptu practice this morning to run thr
ough the
song. Most of them kne
w it
, so it didn’t take us long to get it ready. We thought it would be a great gift to you Ellie
, to thank
you
.”

Happiness bubbled up inside of Ellie and sh
e reached
her arms
up to give Luke
a hug, which produced giggles and squeals from some of the children.

“I knew it!” Cori
exclaimed. “They really
are
boyfriend and girlfriend!”
Luke and Ellie laughed out loud.

Ellie wasn’t sure what the future held for them, but she knew that Northwestern was o
nly a couple hours away and
she knew
that
she’d be back soon to see Luke and to see the kids again. But for now, she’d enjoy this won
derful night, knowing
she’d never forget the lesson that the children taught her. That by helping others, you help yourself and that you never know what you’re capable of unless you try new things outside of your comfort zone.

And she would never
, ever
forget the gift they gave her, the gift of a song that would stay in her heart forever.

The End