Epilogue
Aspen
“Welcome to Santa’s Lodge,” I greeted the older couple walking up to the desk.
I stood behind it, Noel snuggled close in a baby wrap as I swayed back and forth. He’d just fallen asleep, and I preferred to keep him that way. He did a great job getting to sleep, but staying there wasn’t always so easy for him.
“Samson, here to check in,” the taller gentleman said, leaning his cane against the counter.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Samson.” I pulled his folder from the file rack and took out the forms we had printed for him to sign. “Just need your ID and credit card to check in, and initial here, here, and sign here, please.”
He finished all of his sign-in work, and I got his key for him.
“What brings you here for the holidays? A getaway?”
“No, our grandbabies live in town, and we love them dearly, but it’s nice to go home at the end of the day.”
I didn’t really consider this home, not for anyone other than my family, but I took it as a compliment. “Well, we’re glad you’re here.”
I led them up to their room.
They were our third couple to check in, and we were expecting one more party. So far, they were three for three, people visiting locally. It wasn’t who I expected for our clientele base, but given it was the holidays, it made sense.
Ragnar and I had gone back and forth on whether to open before or after Christmas, but, given the name of the business and how beautifully we could decorate, we opted for before.
We would’ve done it a week earlier, but we had to wait for all the inspections to go through—and there were so many inspections, especially with us serving breakfast.
It was good; they protected everyone. But, oh, the process and the paperwork. So much paperwork.
When I got back to the desk, my mate was checking in a woman with her young son who was bouncing up, trying to look over the desk.
He couldn’t have been more than three. Unlike the other guests, they were stopping for the night and would finish their trip to family in the morning. We were glad to be there for them.
Once everyone settled in, I went and sat near the main room, watching the fire crackle. The fireplace was much larger than the one in our room, and Frosty slept in front of it, living his best life. Ragnar came and sat beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“I’m second-guessing whether we should have guests,” he said. “It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re working.”
“I am, but we did make the right choice. Look at the families who get to spend time with their loved ones because they have a place to stay and don’t have to drive an hour in questionable weather.”
“You don’t miss us having a nice, quiet Christmas alone?”
“It’ll be quiet. Everybody will be with their families. We’ll also be able to give them their Christmas. I feel like your grandfather would’ve liked that.”
“He definitely would have.”
We hung out there until Noel woke up then fed and changed him, before bundling up to go out into the woods. Ragnar had found a reindeer-themed baby-wearing coat that worked perfectly, which meant we didn’t have to disturb our son to go for our nightly walks if he was asleep.
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 actually pretty 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?”
“Maybe… Oh, I don’t know. A Rolex?” That was the last thing I could see my mate wanting, but it was the first expensive gift I came up with in my mind.
“You think I’d want a Rolex?”
“No, I think the last thing you’d want is a watch that costs that much when you’d have to worry about breaking it.”
“I have an idea—if you’re taking requests.” His smile said I’d just walked into a trap. A good one, but a trap.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
He pulled a small box from behind his back and opened it. Inside was a ring. I was not expecting that. Not even close.
“A wedding ring,” he said softly. “I want to get married. I want to be connected to you in all ways. How about a Christmas wedding next year? What do you think?”
We were mated, and I knew from my mate that mating was considered far more meaningful that marriage. You couldn’t sign a paper and no longer be mated. It was for life. Maybe forever.
But, despite what he said, he wasn’t doing this for him; he was doing it for me. He knew that my human self grew up with marriage being the end game. Gods, I loved him so.
“Yes,” I whispered, smiling through happy tears. “I think yes.”
Another happy Christmas tale from Lorelei M. Hart (who might be a little obsessed with the holidays) One-click Beary Mated Christmas today.