Page 123 of Scrooged for the Holidays
“Believe it or not, it popped right up on the map before I could even try to come find it.” She looks just as surprised by this information as we all are.
“Itwhat?” Sam asks, his eyes narrowed.
Greer meets his gaze, her cheeks turning a soft pink. “It was on the map in my car’s GPS.”
Another ripple of energy pulses through my being, as if the town is saying “you’re welcome” again. It’s reassurance that she’s meant to be here.
Kai steps closer to her, his fists clenched at his sides. He wants to touch her but isn’t sure if he should ask to or not. “However you got here, I’m glad you’re here, Princess.”
“I am as well, love,” I say.
Greer’s lips curve into a quiet smile before she looks at Sam once more. He’s staring at her as if he’s seen a ghost, his black aura emanating around him. Greer’s aura is shining as brilliant as ever, but as she looks at Sam, waiting for him to speak again, an echo of fear bleeds through its layered colors. I’m about to smack my fellow guardian upside the head when he takes a step toward her and touches the side of her cheek.
“I’m happy you’re here, too.”
The fear leaves Greer, and her muscles ease, her smile back and brighter. Sam drops her hand, and she bites her lower lip, her eyes hooding as she holds up the small gift bag.
“I have to admit, I did kind of beg the town to let me in because I had something to give you.”
Elysian Pines answered her, too. I hear Kai and Sam thinking the same thought. My pulse beats hard in my throat, and for me, I need no further evidence that Greer will stay here with us, inwhatever capacity she chooses to for as long as she wants. It’s not a feeling I have—it’s thatknowingagain.
My aura pulses in answer, my skin prickling. If I didn’t have control over it, I think it would have burst forth from my being like Sam’s did at the rink and Greer’s did yesterday in the bedroom.
“You got us a gift, love?”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Sort of—more something I wanted to replace.”
I take the bag from her, our fingers brushing as I do. Sparks skitter up my arm, and by the clearing of her throat, she felt them, too.
I open it up and gently take out the present wrapped in tissue paper, handing the bag to Sam. I unwrap the small item and find an angel ornament with a cherub face and delicate wings. My brow rises as I hold it up by its ribbon.
“You got us an angel, Princess?” Kai asks, his lips twitching.
She ducks her chin. “To replace the one I broke in my room. It’s not the same, but it was the best I could find the day after Christmas. Everything was pretty picked over.”
I’d nearly forgotten about the broken ornament. When I went to her room like a lost puppy shortly after she left, I saw the broken angel and thought it was an accident. I’d mended it with my grace, and that was that. The fact that she replaced it shows her growth.
I also find it sweet that she believes this gift is the reason Elysian Pines let her find it again. Find us again.
I hold the angel in my hand like a cherished prize that I know the three of us will keep forever. My gaze locks with Greer’s, her once-cold glare now warm and gentle.
“Thank you, love. It’s perfect.”
“Really?”
Kai holds out his hand, and I give him the gift. He looks at it, the boyish grin I love tugging at his lips. “I like it. It kind of looks like Sam.”
Sam narrows his eyes at him, and Greer giggles—not a laugh, a giggle. The three of us turn our attention to her, and she smiles a smile that’s wide and real. It’s more beautiful than any gift she could ever give to us.
When she sees how we’re looking at her, though, she erases it from her features.
“No.” I move closer to her. “Do that again.”
Her eyes widen at the commanding tone of my voice. “Do what?”
I trace over her lips with my pointer finger, the air between us pulling tight with delicious tension at my touch. “Smile like that again.”
Her lip quirks, and one of her brows rises smartly. “Did you really just tell a woman to smile?”
