Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
STETSON
No bloody way.
“Dad?”
He smiles at me and rubs that god awful long, white beard that he insists on keeping before moving his big fingers to grip the suspenders holding up his red pants.
If anyone looks the part, it’s my father.
Charlie should have no doubt believing he is Santa Claus.
“My God, is your stomach even larger?” I ask him aghast.
Charlie gasps as I set her gently down and take hold of her hand again, unable to even process the situation I find myself in.
My father has barely ever met a date of mine, let alone… this.
I can see it on his face.
He rubs his belly and gives me a big smile.
“It’s Star’s caramel bundt cake,” he says with no shame. “I’m addicted to them. I’ve had at least a half dozen every day since I’ve been here.”
“And how long have you been here?” I ask, wondering why he’s here in the first place.
He doesn’t come to the village until the last two weeks in December.
That’s been his routine since I can remember.
The first two weeks are spent in relaxation to prepare for the round the clock schedule that follows.
Since he works year around, my sister and I like to stagger his workload, especially as he gets older.
“A few weeks now,” from the look on his face, he knows he’s in trouble.
“Dad.”
“You haven’t introduced me to your guest,” he waves me off and steps forward in all his glory to stand in front of Charlie, who happens to have gone completely frozen.
No joke.
She’s as still as an icicle outside. I don’t even think she’s blinking.
My father is an inch taller than me and given his girth, he appears larger than life.
Since he assumed the role of Claus, he’s also taken on an aura that can’t really be explained, only experienced.
I can only explain it like this: he’s more than magnetic, he’s a force of nature, chosen, as he says from above, to bring joy to children around the world.
He holds that energy within him.
“Dad, this is Charlie Horseman,” I tell him what he already knows because I know he’s read her mind. His powers during the season are greater than mine.
“Nice to meet you, Charlie,” he says politely as he reaches out his giant hand to shake hers.
It takes her a second to move and that’s only because I squeeze her hand. She quickly drops mine and rushes to shake my dad’s.
“It’s nice to meet you… ehhh…Mr.—” she stumbles over her words.
“Call me fa?ir,” his accent thickens when he says the Old Norse word for ‘father’.
I try to mask my surprise at his request. My sister and I, and occasionally Jayson, are the only ones who ever call him that.
“Ummm,” I watch Charlie’s face turn bright red. “Nice to meet you, fa?ir.”
Her accent is perfect.
The pleasure I get from hearing her say the familiar word is something I’m not quite ready to acknowledge.
He looks over at me and from the glint in his eyes I know his mind is racing, but he won’t let me in. I’m okay with it, because the feeling is mutual.
I block him out of my mind as much as he blocks me out of his.
It’s an unspoken rule between the two of us, since I turned thirteen and the gift became stronger.
“I didn’t realize you’d be coming in,” he says apologetically.
“Neither did I,” I say.
“She signed the clause.” He states, switching to Old Norse.
“She did,” I respond in our old tongue.
“I have questions,” he continues.
“They’ll have to be answered later,” I say.
I watch as Charlie’s gaze moves back and forth. I’m sure she realizes we’re speaking of her.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you guys, but is there a lady’s room I can use?” She asks politely, but I have a feeling it’s because she needs a moment alone to process my dad.
Meeting him in person is not for the faint of heart.
“Down that hall on the left side, my dear,” dad points out kindly.
She couldn’t leave us fast enough. I know it’s a lot to process for her.
We watch her until she disappears.
“Is she properly scared?” Dad wonders.
“More than likely,” I reply dryly. “You’re a lot to take in.”
Dad looks offended. “I’m the jolliest man around!”
I shrug. “Jolly or not, she’s also taking in the fact that the myth is in fact, a reality.”
He brushes the comment off and turns his inquisitive knowing gaze to mine.
“So tell me…”
“You know as much as I do.”
He watches me pensively.
“I like her.”
“Me too,” I reply.
“You do know what you’re getting yourself into,” he says this with a hint of warning.
“She signed the clause,” I remind him.
“She did,” he nods in agreement.
“I’ve told her everything.”
“Everything?” he askssolemnly, but I can see the surprise.
Hell, I’m surprised.
In all my life I’ve never heard my father sound like this.
I narrow my eyes suspiciously. Wait a second…
I thought only two of the seventeen descendants of Claus found their mate for life?
This information was passed down from my father like an old family tale.
My mother was the third? In all the years, he never said my mother had been his true mate and my sister and I had never questioned it.
“Mother?” I look at him in surprise.
“I never told you,” his voice sounds sad. “I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“Frighten me?” I reply, hating the uncomfortable feeling that blanketed me.
“Losing the one is the hardest pain to survive. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of her or feel the pain of her loss.”
I let his words settle in.
To be honest, I’m shocked as hell.
In all my life, he never let on to this. Yes, he’s always spent an unusual time alone, but we always thought it was about his role but now, I’m thinking it’s always been something else.
“The ache, my son,” he sighs and shakes his head in sadness. “The ache. It consumes me some nights.”
And just like that, my life flashes before my eyes. I remember moments from growing up when my father felt so sad, even though he portrayed the opposite. The times he’d go off alone at a party or with family and stare off into the distance thinking.
Now I know what he was thinking about.
“It’s both the greatest blessing and the greatest curse because without her, you will know no peace.”
And that’s all it takes for my dad to scare the living shit out of me.