Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Finn watched as Hadley showed her card to Santa and nodded in excitement at something he said. She hugged the jolly man while Finn snapped pictures on his phone. Santa helped her off his lap and she ran back to him.
“Did you make the nice list?” Finn asked.
She nodded and held up a new pack of coloring pencils.
“Wow, such a good girl,” he said, before kissing her lips sweetly.
“Alright, baby, I got it all switched for you,” Mindy’s Daddy said as he walked back over just in time to see her sit on Santa’s lap.
“Thank you, Daddy!” she said before running to the man and climbing in his lap.
“Mindy wanted to see if I could move her Reindeer Team spot to 7:30 so she and Hadley could be together. Master Derek worked some Rawhide magic and got it switched around,” her Daddy explained.
Hadley jumped up and down in excitement making the men chuckle.
“Master Derek has worked a lot of magic for us,” Finn agreed.
Mindy rushed down the stairs and showed her Daddy the pack of stickers she’d received. “Did you really get it changed, Daddy?”
“I really did, little one.”
“Yay! Now we can take care of the reindeer together.”
Hadley nodded and the two Littles hugged each other tight.
“Alright, our little Christmas angels, do you want to go decorate cookies now?” Finn asked.
Both girls nodded at rapid speed. The men led the girls over to the cookie table and waited as they each stood in line to get a cookie shape. Once they had one, they brought a plate over. Each plate had a cookie, a glob of red and green icing, and a small cup of sprinkles. Finn laughed as Hadley quickly gave hers to Mindy.
“What color are we making your star, Peeps?”
Hadley pointed to the green icing and handed him the knife.
“Do you want to try?”
She shook her head. Finn understood. She really didn’t like to be sticky and she was already doing so many new things, getting icing on her skin might be something that caused her to go into sensory overload.
“Okay, Peeps.” He smeared the green icing on the cookie. “Do you want any red on it?”
Hadley pointed at the tips of the star.
“Oh, we’re making a fancy star?”
She nodded. Finn took a minute just to observe how free and innocent she looked with the twinkling lights in the background. The light gave her a bit of a halo and she looked every bit of the Christmas angel she was.
Her brow furrowed and she put her hand over his, spurring him to put the icing on her cookie.
Laughing, he complied. “Sorry, Peeps. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you, baby. I love you.”
Three taps to his chest brought another smile to his face.
“You’re my best girl,” he said, holding out the cookie. “You did such a great job.”
Her face lit up but instead of taking it, she clapped. Finn was so damn thankful when she didn’t get embarrassed about it. She was making so much progress.
Thank you.
“You’re welcome, baby. We might need to eat it quickly so we can get to the stables for duty.”
She nodded before opening her mouth. Throwing his head back, big guffaws of laughter bellowed out of him. He broke the cookie into pieces before feeling them to her so she didn’t get any icing on her. He knew in reality, he’d decorated a cookie instead of her, but he’d do anything to keep that smile on her face.
Finn held Hadley’s gloved hand as they walked out to the stables. “If you get too warm, you can take your gloves and jacket off in the stables, but if your group comes outside at all, I want you to put them back on. It’s very cold.” Finn was thankful the stables were heated.
Hadley nodded.
“I’ll be on coat and glove duty, so you can just hand them to me,” Leo, Mindy’s Daddy, said.
“Thank you so much, and thanks again for staying with them. I know it made Hadley feel better.”
Hadley nodded in agreement.
“No problem. I’m excited to meet the world famous Rudolph!”
“Me too! I bet his nose is so bright it lights up the whole Ranch!” Mindy added.
Hadley moved her arms around in a certain shape.
“Hadley agrees. She thinks it will light up the whole state of Montana!” Finn filled in.
Hadley’s curls bounced as she agreed.
“The whole state?” Mindy squealed.
“The whole state,” Finn confirmed, causing big smiles to break out on their faces.
He walked Hadley into the heated stables and gave her a kiss on the forehead and then the mouth. “I love you, I’ll be back soon.”
She gave him a big squeeze before he headed off to find Master Travis.
“Hey, is she here?” Master Travis asked.
“Yes, she’s with Mindy. She’s got her cards and I’ll be back really quickly,” Finn said.
“No worries, we’ll take good care of her. Miss Samantha from the preschool is actually going to come down and help some of the Caterpillar Room Little ones, so she said she would pull Hadley into her group, and I’m sure Mindy as well.”
Finn’s eyes burned with tears of gratitude. Rawhide Ranch really was like a family and they’d taken such good care of his baby. “Thank you, Travis.”
“No worries, and good luck tonight.”
Finn blew out a breath. “Thank you.” Leaving the barn, he walked across the snowy grounds, and back to the Christmas party.
Sadie waited for him inside one of the smaller rooms.
“Hi! My Daddy has everything ready for you. Are you so nervous?” she asked, bouncing foot to foot.
“I am. So nervous. I think I might throw up.”
The Little giggled so hard her bow shook. “That would not be romantic.”
“I remember the feeling well,” Derek said, walking in wearing a Santa suit. “I was very nervous to ask this one to marry me as well,” he explained.
“I said yes, though,” Sadie reminded, trying to encourage Finn.
“You did and I have a been a lucky man ever since.”
“Thank you for doing this,” Finn said gratefully. “Thank you for doing all of this. I couldn’t have pulled it off without you all.”
Derek laughed. “Are you kidding me? A chance to be Santa again? I live for this.”
Moses entered the area wearing red long johns and holding a Santa beard. He handed it to Derek.
Finn watched as the man’s hands formed shapes in the air, recognizing Moses was communicating using ASL.
Derek chuckled and nodded, “Yeah, he always complains but we all know Jared secretly loves playing Santa. Thanks for bringing the beard.”
From previous conversations, Finn knew Jared was Erika’s husband and the head of Derek’s legal staff.
“What happened to your elf costume?” Sadie asked.
Moses signed again. “Well, you make a terrific elf, Moses,” Sadie praised, wrapping her arms around his waist to give him a huge hug.
When she released him, she giggled. “Moses said he’s glad to be out of the costume. He said it’s hot as… well, I don’t think I should repeat what he said.”
Moses sent her a mock glare and she giggled as she helped her Daddy adjust the beard to fit his face.
“Ready?” he asked Finn.
“You have the ring?” Finn asked him.
Derek patted the toy bag he was carrying. “I do.”
“Alright, let’s do this,” Finn said.
“I think maybe you should fix your face first. You look like Daddy after we went on the tilt-o-whirl three times in a row.”
“Sadie!” Derek scolded.
“Sorry, Master Finn, but you look a little green.”
Finn laughed and rubbed his face. “Thank you, little one. I’m just really nervous.”
“You shouldn’t be. It’s clear Hadley loves you to the moon and back.”
“My Little one, although a bit blunt, is right. That Little girl does love you very much.”
Finn thanked them for their kind words and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans.
“Let’s do this,” he said. This time the words sounded far more confident.