Page 47 of Star Bright
The little drakling’s eyes snapped green fire. “Youaskedwhat gift I wanted for Christmas.”
Now Vash understood why Darcy had said the holiday was complicated.
“You wouldn’t want to see home again?”
“The sky of our hearts is infinite.”
Ah, the truth from between a fledgling’s fangs.
“It’s late, Atsu. We’ll talk about this again in the morning.”
The little one rolled over with a grunt, pulling the blanket over his head.
Complicated indeed.
Chapter 16
The big, overly bright lobby was silent as Darcy crept back in. It didn’t look like any Christmas she’d ever seen, and it was definitely no holiday destination wedding in the Caribbean, but somehow it was even more wild and beautiful. She slipped the three wrapped presents under the pretend tree and stood back, biting her lip.
It was just a little token, she told herself. Something anyone would do for a family stranded out of their place and time and comfort zone. Just because it meant more to her didn’t really have to mean anything.
And conveniently she could just blame it on Santa Claus. They wouldn’t know any better.
She turned to sneak out again. But of course he was there.
Vash gave her crooked smile. “You caught me.”
He strode toward her, veering at the last moment toward the tree, and tucked three small boxes beneath the dangling ornaments.
Three? To her humiliation, her eyes prickled with tears. She didn’t even know what was in the extra box that must be for her. Maybe it was horrible. Maybe it was macaroni art or a friendship bracelet or…
Who was she kidding, she would adore any of those.
She gazed at Vash, trying to keep the misery off her face. It was Christmas Eve, after all, and she’d fully expected to be miserable and alone.
Annoyed with herself, she gave him a tight smile. “Sorry I had to dash. This doesn’t even count as a bad storm around here, but the snow just keeps falling, and I need to keep an eye on things with Ug.”
“Of course. This afternoon, Yadira mixed up something called cinnamon buns that will be baked tomorrow morning. We’ll save one for you.”
The only part of her more at risk than her heart were her coronary arteries. One cinnamon bun wouldn’t kill her. Watching them fly away with the rescue ship though…
No, she wouldn’t torture herself ahead of time. “I would love a cinnamon bun.”
And she wondered if he heard the words she didn’t say: I would love you.
But he was stranded and still grieving, and she was technically a closed worlder with no official status among the galactic citizenry. There were interstellar rules and the ghost of a dead mother between them and all the wishing in the world didn’t change the fact that every day was complicated.
But when he held out his empty hand, she reached back. And when he pulled her close, she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes while she breathed with the heavy beat of his heart.
“Just so you know, I told Yadira you would never try to replace her mother. That no one could. That being hurt and angry doesn’t have to be healed all at once.” She sighed. “I don’t know all the right words to say, even with this translator in my head.”
“Time and talk,” he murmured. “That’s what our therapist said. But you and I don’t have much of that left, do we?”
She gazed up at him. “And it was still more than I ever would have dreamed of asking for,” she whispered.
She tilted her face up to his, and his kiss drifted down light as a snowflake and warm and sweet as cider.
Could she be glad and sad at the same time? So very complicated.
