Enrico climbed on his back and nudged him into a trot.Instead of immediately heading to the workshop, Enrico guided the reindeer to follow Celyn’s scent to her home.
By the time he got to where she’d parked in the driveway of a big, old house in the historic district, the windows on the first floor were dark, but there was a light on the second floor that went out a few minutes later.
Looking up and down the block, he saw there were several houses with “For Sale” signs in their yards.The one that pulled at him the strongest was right next door.It was a smaller, newer brick house.Going to the front door, he waved his hand over the knob to unlock it.Opening the door, he walked through the place, noting the work that would need to be done in order to make it comfortable for them to live in.Once he finished going room by room, he stepped outside and relocked the house again.With one last look where Celyn was sleeping, Enrico climbed on his restless steed and with a running start, flew off toward the north.
As they made their way home, Enrico worked on a plan to make every one of Celyn’s wishes come true.Not just the ones she had written about in her letter to Santa, but also the ones she’d never told anyone about.The ones that made her the special woman that had claimed his heart in less than an hour.He just hoped that when he returned on Christmas Day, she would welcome him with a mug of hot chocolate and some of her delicious Elf Kisses cookies.But first he had Christmas to help Santa prepare for Christmas.
****
As the days bled intoweeks, Celyn thought of Enrico often but told no one of his promises.She tried to do as he said and not worry, but it was a bigger challenge than she thought it would be.Keeping Lilly calm and in bed, while helping her nieces maintain the spirit of the holiday without hoping helped distract her from Enrico’s absence.
When letters from Cedar stopped coming in the middle of the month, Celyn fought down her own concerns and worked to reassure Lilly that the mail was slow due to the holidays.But her words sounded hollow to her own ears, just like the ones when telling herself that Enrico would be back on Christmas Day and had not been just a jackass looking for a quickie.
She and the girls watched with neighborly curiosity when the house next door sold and crews worked what seemed like around the clock.When she asked one of the supervisors what was going on, he said they were earning a big bonus for the house to be complete by December twenty-third.
By Christmas Eve, Celyn could no longer lie to herself.There had been no word from Cedar in nearly two weeks.There was no extra money for toys and Micah had decided to close the bar for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve so he could take a cruise with his wife.The few packages under the tree just reminded her of Enrico’s wild promises.That made her angry because she knew he would not keep them.
How could he?He wasn’t one of Santa’s helpers.He’d just been another man looking for a good time who’d found it with her.
After taking Joy and Hope to Christmas Eve church service, Celyn put them to bed and checked on her sister.Lilly was asleep, hugging a picture of Cedar to her chest.Celyn could tell she had been crying.Again.She’d been doing that a lot in the last week, and Celyn couldn’t blame her.
If she wasn’t so busy trying to hold everything together and keep spirits from diving into the black zone, she would crawl into bed next to Lilly and cry until she had no more tears.She didn’t think it would take more than a month or two to cry herself out.
But that wouldn’t do anyone any good.After filling the girls’ stockings with an apple and orange and a bag of their favorite candies, Celyn turned off the lights and headed upstairs to the daybed in the playroom that she had claimed as her own.Pulling the covers over her head, she gave herself permission to mourn the loss of Enrico, and the uncertainty of Cedar’s whereabouts, and how bad she’d failed the family this year.
How was she supposed to believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas now?
Chapter Nine
Little girl squealswoke her just seconds before two small bodies used the small step to climb onto the bed.After her first morning, she moved the step to the end of the bed where her feet were to avoid having them crawl over her face.Knowing what was coming, Celyn rolled to her side and pushed herself so her back was against the back of the daybed frame.
“Aunt C, you were right!Santa came!Santa came!”four-year-old Hope shouted, her excitement tangible as she stood up on the bed and began to bounce.She bounced around her sister who crawled up to sit beside Celyn’s head.
“Santa, Santa,” two-year-old Joy chanted as she patted Celyn’s cheek.
“Santa came?Really?”Celyn sat up and began to tickle and snuggle with her nieces before they all crawled out of bed.“Well, let’s go see what he brought us.”
