Page 127 of Run, Run Rudolph
The certainty of his conviction was novel to me, and it felt so deep-seated. It gave me the self-assurance of a woman who’d been married to the love of her life for twenty-five years. Such weighted trust, pinned and immovable.
“How can we know that we won’t grow away from each other?”
He pulled me close, giving me a gentle kiss. “Because in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve only grown fonder.”
“Even though we avoided each other for years?”
“Even then.”
“You sure?”
“You’re impossible to miss.”
“You saw me?” I confirmed, my thoughts on love still sorting into place. I knew now that you couldn’t fully love a person you didn’t truly see. Just like with Kade and me.
But Haden saw me, and he always had, even when I’d believed I was hiding. All those shared, secret looks that drove our families mad had been Haden seeing me, and me seeing him right back.
Only now, I could finally also see myself.
Chapter 37
~ Tamara ~
It was Christmas Eve—or maybe it was already Christmas Day—and Haden and I were curled up on the couch at my place. We’d been sitting, talking, and kissing long into the night. At some point we’d fallen asleep by the Christmas tree and fireplace, wrapped in each other’s arms. I woke up, hearing something beyond the dying crackle of the fire. I leaned forward, peering toward the window to see what it was.
I squeaked and fell back as a red nose lit up the dark night. I was on my feet in a second, sending Boots scrambling in a flurry of claws, trying to gain purchase on the hardwood floor. The blanket that had been over me and Haden dropped to the floor, nearly covering my gopher Felipe, who’d fallen in love with Haden, and had been sleeping near our feet.
“What is it?” Haden asked, his voice groggy, his tone indicating he was already on high alert. Felipe did a high-pitched warning call before scampering for safety behind my TV stand.
Haden was already standing, one arm swooping around my waist, as if he planned to swing me out of danger’s way should anything come at me.
How I adored this man.
“Rudolph,” he whispered in awe.
I sprung from Haden’s embrace and jogged in the direction of the front door, eager to see my reindeer friend. Behind me, I heard the window open despite the storm buffeting against the house. The second storm had arrived while Haden and I had crashed out on my couch after a very thorough make-out session in his clinic. We’d only been apart for family dinners, making our quick excuses to vamoose.
Next year, we planned to split our time between our families, but this year, we hadn’t quite been ready yet to reveal our new relationship. We had a how-we-got-together story to set straight first.
“Hey, pal,” Haden crooned, and I slid back to Haden’s side in my stocking feet.
Rudolph was at the window, sticking his blinking nose inside. Behind him, his pals all said their hellos, their bells jingling.
“Rudolph!”
The herd was hooked up to a sleigh, but in the dark I couldn’t tell which one it was. I was guessing it was Number Two, the newer, bigger one, seeing as the backup sleigh had been burned in my yard. Although, had it? I wasn’t sure what was permanent about yesterday.
“How are you? How is everyone? Are you okay?” I tried to peer around Rudolph, but I was more concerned about him than his friends.
Wait. Hadn’t I been banned from seeing and interacting with the magical world? Theoretically, the wall between worlds should be super strong again. Had Mrs. Claus not performed all of her Christmas duties? Or were the boys breaking rules again?
“I’m fine,” Rudolph said.
“How’s Santa? Is the sleigh fixed? Is Mrs. C. mad at everyone? And me, too? Everyone was gone by the time Estelle got me out of court.”
“Hugo lost the bet,” Donner said. “He thought you’d be a total goner. Not many people make it off the naughty list.”
“Well, I did get banished, and they erased Haden’s memories. Sort of.”
