Page 33 of Christmas Wishes
“Did Blix make cookies for you too?”
His father laughed and Blix squeezed his hand. Rand liked holding her hand. He tightened his fingers around hers. “Why are you really here? Is it just to get out of sleeping in the sleigh? All of this could’ve waited until later in the week,” he again asked his father. “Come to wish me a Merry Christmas?”
“Yes, but to tell you that it’s time, Rand. It’s time to fulfill your purpose.”
“You banished me.”
“Not entirely. I needed to know that if left to your own devices, that you could make it. That you weren’t lost, that you wouldn’t buckle. I needed you to see that even the simplest and smallest of gestures could make a difference and I didn’t think you’d believe that if you didn’t experience it for yourself.”
“I’m not alone here.”
“No, you’re not. Sometimes it takes a strong woman to help push us in the right direction. And some pretty strong magic. It’s your destiny as my heir to lead the sleigh.”
“Will Blix be able to go back too?” He couldn’t take the chance; take the leap, if she had to be left behind.
“Yes.”
“Santa? How is it that I’m here? I don’t understand.”
“Remember when I went to see your father?”
Blix nodded. “It was about this?”
“Yes. I had to tell him what I was planning and I needed his blessing. It’s not an easy thing to let your child go, either for their own, or the greater good. And yours, my dear, is for both.”
“So, it wasn’t the magic in my cookies?”
“It was definitely the cookies, but more, the intent with which they were made. You love Rand now, as he is. You will love him when he takes over for me many years from now. You gave all of your magic to help my son. How could I not grant you this wish, too?”
“Will we be able to come back here? I like the cabin and being so close to nature. I want to be able to shift when needed. I want to be able to run. I want to stay here, Father.”
“Consider the cabin yours.”
“Why here?” Blix asked. “Why this place, this town?”
Santa smiled. “Bernie. He’s a shifter. Bear. He used to work security at the toy factory. He was my best friend, as Tomas is Rand’s.”
“Bernie?”
“Yes. He’s not magic and when he retired from security, we set him up with the tree farm.”
“And Heidi?”
“Elf. Once upon a time. She fell in love with Bernie, though to this day I’m not sure either one of them realize what blooms between them. After a thousand years, you’d think they’d catch on.”
“So they’re not the humans I thought they were. It was a trick to get me to let down my guard, to open my eyes.” Rand wanted confirmation, but his father simply shrugged. “What about the trees? Heidi wondered how Bernie got trees to grow this far north.”
“She’s forgotten, but we added a little bit of magic to the seedlings.”
“So, she doesn’t remember the North Pole or that she was an elf?”
Santa shook his head. “No. Her heart remembers something, a spark, but being born in and living at the North Pole? No.”
“Did she choose this?”
“She wanted to be near Bernie and when he left, she asked if she could go, too.”
“What about Stanley and Lila?”
