Page 27 of Snowed in at Santa's Lodge
There’d been a lot of snow recently, and I was using my new snowshoes. I’d never had a pair before now, and it was actuallypretty fun to use them. It was a workout, too, so like a two-in-one. But I wasn’t in it for the exercise. We were going out so that my mate could shift and I could enjoy some time with him while being away from prying eyes.
We decided early on that it was important for Noel to know his father’s reindeer as well as his human side. We wouldn’t know if he was a shifter too until he got older, but he was the spitting image of his alpha father, so I highly suspected he was.
We had a little storage box about a quarter mile into the woods, and my mate took off his clothes and put them in there before taking his reindeer form. I pushed the flap of my coat back to make sure Noel could see him, and he broke into a huge smile.
“He recognizes you’re his daddy.”
I kissed the top of Reindeer Ragnar’s nose. He really was a beautiful creature.
“And before you ask, Noel, no, Daddy doesn’t work for Santa. And no, he’s not going to fly away tonight. He’ll stay home with us, and then, in the morning, he’ll still be with us. And the next morning. And the one after that.”
I was speaking to Noel, but very intentionally. I didn’t want Ragnar to think for even a second that I doubted he was going to be a thousand times the father his father had been. He was never going to leave us—never going to leave his son. He was here forever, because we were what mattered to him.
“I think one day I’ll make your daddy get a harness, and you can ride on his back.” We hadn’t gotten around to making one for me, although I’d ridden him a few times for brief moments.
But suggesting our son ride? That got me some serious reindeer side-eye.
“Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t thought of it. He’ll be perfectly safe.”
He shook his big head and then went running, earning some giggles from our son. How I loved those giggles.
When we got back to the inn, a couple of guests were heading to family gatherings for the evening. The woman and her son were putting together a child-friendly jigsaw puzzle in the dining area, and the Samsons were slow dancing to I wasn’t sure what. There was no music. They had to be close to seventy. Seeing them so in love had my heart soaring.
“It’s going to be us one day,” I said.
Ragnar shook his head. “It’s not. I can’t dance that well, but we’ll be that much in love.”
On that, we agreed.
The next morning came too quickly. Because we offered breakfast and it was Christmas morning, the two of us were up exceptionally early. We were doing a fruit salad, baked French toast with bacon cooked in the oven, and muffins we’d picked up from the bakery the day before. Normally we’d want them fresher than that, but given it was Christmas and we knew they’d still taste good, we went with it.
We were up so early that even Frosty hadn’t emerged from our rooms yet. But it was a good thing we did because the mother and her little son came down just as the food was done, wanting to get an early start toward their final destination.
Frosty wandered in as the oven timer went off and, after a quick trip outside, found a spot under their table. I tried to shoo him away, but they insisted it was fine. Frosty, ever the optimist, was hopeful something would fall to the floor. Nothing did. They ate every bite of their food and were soon on their way.
Ragnar was busy cleaning up their dishes when everyone else showed up. We hadn’t set a specific time for breakfast, just stated the hours when it would be available. But you wouldn’t know that by the way they all wandered in at once and sat together.
If you didn’t know better, you’d look at them and think they were having their family Christmas brunch. It was equally wonderful to see them heading off to celebrate their own Christmas forty-five minutes later, leaving the three of us alone.
At least for a short while.
We’d set up Christmas in our living area, and I was interested to see how Noel liked the whole present thing. He was amazing at ripping the paper but had no clue that what was inside was what mattered. It was just the ripping he loved, which had me feeling better about getting him practical things like clothes and books for Christmas. And, of course, a stuffed reindeer, which he held on to. It was adorable.
Then came my present for Ragnar. I wasn’t sure how much of a surprise it would be, but I chewed on my lower lip as he opened it up. He looked at it, at me, at it again, then back at me.
“Really?”
“I just found out yesterday,” I said. “We’re having another calf.”
“Is that okay? Is it too soon?” He went straight to worried mode.
“Nick says it’s perfectly fine, and there’s no need to worry.” I’d seen him to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.
“We’re having another baby.”
“We are.” And I was thrilled.
“That’s two Christmases in a row you’ve given me this wonderful news. How are you going to top that next year?”
