AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And Agatha?”
“Nicholas, I’m afraid we both know the truth about her. She never gave of herself. She was selfish.”
“You take that back,” I spat.
Hearing her spoken about in a negative manner tore at my soul. I hated Nathaniel for that.
“Nicholas, you are a saint. You are one of God’s chosen vessels and that comes with great sacrifice sometimes. You will feel great love and you will feel great loss. For that I am sorry.”
“I’m old, and overweight, and my bones ache. What way is this to live?” I asked him.
“Oh that,” he said with a bit of a snicker.
I didn’t see him make a move but I felt the change instantly. My gut sank in, my beard disappeared, and my skin hardened. I looked at a silver teapot on the kitchen counter and saw my reflection.
I was me. The young twenty-five year old stud I’d been when I was first brought to the North Pole. My white hair had turned back to dirty blond. I was disheveled a bit, with blonde whiskers on my face, but nothing one of the elf barbers couldn’t fix.
I touched a hand to my chest and felt the strong pecs I had so many years ago. In fact, I was in better shape than I’d ever been. I was lean and strong.
Nothing would replace the sorrow I had in my heart and the sadness that was ripping me apart, but for a brief moment, I was in awe. Shocked by my transformation.
And then Nathaniel was gone. And I was left with my pain and suffering.
Chapter 2
Many years passed before I decided to give love a second chance. To think that I was in full shifter Santa mode when I met her. Nathaniel’s blessing of being forever twenty-five took a temporary vacation at each holiday season. From December 1st until the 26th, my belly rounded out, my cotton-like beard and hair returned, and I felt old.
The world knew my look and it would do me no good to show up looking like a book cover model to deliver presents. I’d probably get pegged as an intruding burglar and get shot. I’d broken bones and had injuries that healed quite quickly but I was in no rush to find out if I could survive a shotgun blast.
So I was decked out in red and white when my sleigh landed outside her home in the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. I went in as usual, with my sack full of toys, and was about to slip a couple of presents under the tree when I was her.
She was unbelievably gorgeous. She was asleep at a small dinette table, her blue pajama gown draped down to the floor and her face resting on the table, providing a paperweight for some sort of letter. Her long red hair hung down like drapery waiting to be pulled aside to allow a glimpse of her stunning face.
Her Christmas tree was small and bare. Only one present sat beneath it.
I crept closer to her, careful not to wake her, and glanced at the paper beneath her chin. It read: Dear Santa, I leave you tree cookies but I get hungry so mama say I eat one. So now I give you too. Love, Madison.
And there were the two cookies on a small dish set apart from the letter.
I looked beyond the dinette and saw a small wood-burning stove and atop it was one pot. A quick glance told me they didn’t have much money to eat. Oatmeal had been dinner. Oatmeal with some kind of crushed nuts sprinkled in.
My heart melted.
Madison had gone to bed hungry just to give me two cookies. I ate them because to
leave them would be a sign of disrespect, especially after a little girl had gone without just to leave me a gift.
As I snacked on the second cookie, the woman opened her eyes. And even in the dim lantern light I could see her sparkling green eyes, like emeralds that had been kissed by the sun. They glowed. And they were fixed on me.
She gasped.
“You’re him.”
We talked for a few minutes. She never told me how difficult her life was and that was what won my heart. She was a proud woman and even when she knew I could help her, she never begged or let me know how badly they were struggling.
Her name was Kathleen Flanagan and she was a single mother. Her husband had taken a drunken walk off a cliff one night. She knew pain. As did I. And I knew that had to mean something.
I told her I’d come back to see her on December 27th but she should be ready for a shock.
