Then Arthur said something neither woman expected.

“They weren’t trying to embarrass Santa.”

He looked at the photograph of his wife.

“They were trying to get rid of Ruth’s charity.”

Chapter 6: The Price of Silence

By nine the next morning, Arthur’s face was everywhere.

The edited video had reached nearly five million views.

News websites were repeating the claim that an elderly mall employee had attacked a professional fighter during a Christmas promotion.

A local television station displayed a photograph of Arthur in his Santa suit beside an image of Derek holding a championship belt.

The headline made Nora furious.

CHRISTMAS CHAOS: MMA CHAMPION CLAIMS MALL SANTA ATTACKED HIM.

“What kind of reporting is that?” she asked, staring at her phone.

Arthur was sitting at the kitchen table with an ice pack against his shoulder.

He had slept badly.

His left knee had swollen during the night, and lifting his arm above his head sent a sharp pain across his upper back.

But the physical discomfort wasn’t what occupied his thoughts.

He was studying the list of children waiting for their Christmas gifts.

Three hundred and twenty-seven names.

He recognized some.

A little boy named Caleb who wanted a blue bicycle.

A pair of sisters who had asked for matching winter coats.

A seven-year-old girl named Lucy who wanted a dollhouse.

And several children whose parents had requested groceries instead of toys.

Ruth had always insisted that the charity treat those requests with the same dignity as every other wish.

Arthur turned the page.

“Somebody needs to call the families,” he said.

Nora looked up.

“What?”

“If we can’t use the mall, we need another place to distribute everything.”

“Dad, this is getting serious. There are lawyers involved.”

“I know.”

“You could be facing a lawsuit.”

“I know.”

“And you’re worried about delivering bicycles?”

Arthur lowered the list.

“Nora, those children don’t know anything about lawsuits. They know somebody promised them Christmas presents.”

She opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

That was her father.

It was also the reason she was frightened for him.

Arthur had spent so much of his life caring for other people that he sometimes forgot he was allowed to need help himself.