Page 87 of Clause & Effect
Charlie Horse.
And beneath that in typed ink.
Mrs. Claus.
EPILOGUE
STETSON
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Shhhh, she’ll hear you!” I hiss, hiding Hope under the shadow of the giant piece of Santa chocolate model we just had to make for grandpa because it makes her laugh.
Grandpa.
My dad has been very proud of his title as Santa and as father—and then he became Grandpa Nick and good God you’d think the man had lost his mind.
It’s when it really clicked for me.
He lost the love of his life in Mrs. Claus, he gained me—and with that, he also gained Charlie and Hope—he gained double, triple the love, so was it all worth it? That temporary loss? I know he still has his days where he misses her, how could he not?
But then I see him with Hope, and I see my mom in her too and I think maybe, just a little bit of Christmas magic was involved.
“Shhhh, daddy.” Hope giggles. “Mama’s gonna hear, she get mad when you eat all the cookies before Christmas!”
The truth is, I just make Hope think I ate all the cookies, I like it when Charlie gets angry, when she chases us and laughs when we get caught. I love hiding in the pantry because I know she’ll always find us.
And I still love the thrill of the chase.
“I can hear you breathing!” Charlie calls out. “Show yourselves!”
Hope shoves me, total traitor, towards the door, and runs deeper into the back while Charlie faces me down. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
“Cookie?” I hold one of the fresh snickerdoodles out and wink.
She rolls her eyes. “Those are for your dad, and he has a date!”
My face falls. “A date? As in with a woman?”
“No, Rudolph and him got close, yes a woman!” She smacks me on the chest. “She’s from the real world of humans on earth who have jobs that don’t include magic and creepy elves and— no, offense Henry”, his face falls as he stands by the door with his cell phone flashlight on. Bless him, he’s the only elf that looks like he should actually be haunting during Halloween, I think it’s the point on his ears, but the kids love him, it’s a sore subject whenever he’s forced to wear his elf hat instead of his favorite Minecraft beanie.
“Whatever.” He sighs. “Santa’s on his way, you know retirement has made him scary punctual these days.”
And just like that the bell rings.
I pull Charlie in for a kiss. “Alright let’s go meet this woman.”
“Be nice.” She pats me on the stomach. “Plus, you have a busy week ahead of you.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Did you check the list?”
“Twice.” I wink. “But I may have forgotten to delete that naughty thing you did last night, Henry looked over my shoulder and?—”
She gasps. “No wonder he’s been acting weird!”
“He didn’t see all of it but I’m pretty sure he’s never going to stare at that sleigh the same way again.”
