Baby Beneath the Christmas Tree. SUSAN MEIER

Claire in the baby carrier and three plastic bags of towels, Brody was sitting at the kitchen table, looking bored out of his mind.

      “Help me bring in the things from my car, would you?” she said lightly as she dropped the bags on the kitchen floor. She tossed her keys to Brody. “I’ll be out in two minutes. I just need to put Claire down for her nap.”

      She didn’t know where Drew was, but she and Brody took so long carrying in the bags and putting the groceries into the kitchen pantry that Claire had awakened from her nap. After Gwen got Claire from the bedroom and fed her, she again found Brody in the kitchen.

      “Blue towels and linens are yours,” she said to Brody, who was remarkably cooperative. From the way he’d behaved with his father, she’d thought he’d throw a fit when she asked for his help. But he hadn’t even flinched when she’d asked him to carry in the groceries and linens. She pointed at the bags that contained his linens. “Why don’t you take them upstairs?”