Page 42 of Fated Midlife Christmas
It was a few days before Christmas, but this was the biggest celebration of the season for the Sisterhood. Amanda smiled as she took off her coat and greeted everyone. “Kendrick, how are you feeling?”
“Hale and hearty!” he said, lifting a glass mug of mulled wine. “I hear we have to thank you for some of that.”
“No, no.” Amanda had replayed her time with Lars the previous day repeatedly. What they’d accomplished was intriguing on an intellectual and educational level, but her bear kept reminding her that she was interested in those moments for other reasons, as well. “Lars was really the one who did it all.”
“I don’t know.” Lars was seated near the fireplace next to Griffin. “I think if there was another incident like that in Salem, you could handle it.”
“How about you, Lilith?” Amanda didn’t want to discuss their balancing session anymore, mostly because it meant she had to talk about Lars. She knew he’d be there today, since Maeve and Kendrick had invited him and the dragons to celebrate the solstice with them, but she was determined to remain calm and composed.
“Oh, I’m fine, I guess,” Lilith said with a longing look at the kitchen door. “Chelsea still won’t let me in the kitchen, though. She wants to make sure I’ve fully recovered.”
Ewan was next to her on the loveseat. “It’s a good idea for all of us to take it easy for a day or two, no matter how hard that might be.”
“I’m just glad that all this means we don’t have to move,” Griffin said with a grin. “Finding a new location and then dragging all of our stuff around can get kind of old.”
“Things are once again stable enough here that you shouldn’t have to think about that for a very long time,” Lars assured him.
Maeve came out of the kitchen. She put her hand on Kendrick’s shoulder as she surveyed the room. “Oh, good. You’re all here. I’ve got a little something I’d like to say.”
Everyone gave her the floor.
The High Priestess smiled benevolently on the gathering. “I just want to tell you all how glad I am that we can be here to celebrate the solstice together. The holidays—no matter which ones you celebrate—are all about family and friends, and we’re very blessed to have both.
“The solstice is a time of transition,” she continued, her face glowing with pride and peace. “Our lives change all the time, and while we don’t always appreciate it in the moment, this is our chance to reflect on how far we’ve come and where we’re headed. We celebrate the Sun coming back into our lives and promising spring, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, a reminder that even inthe darkest days, all is not lost. On this, the longest night of the year, I hope we can all remember that brighter days are coming.”
“Here, here!” Kendrick cried, lifting his mug.
Everyone applauded, and Maeve waited patiently for the noise to die down. “We’ll eat soon, but for now, you’re all invited to put your intention for the new year on the Yule tree.”
The kids were the first to get a chance at the little strips of paper and colorful bits of string used to tie them onto the tree when they were done.
“What should I wish for?” Sage asked Tina.
“A wish is something we hope will happen to us, but an intention is something that we want to make happen. It’s a little different.”
“Oh. Okay. Hm.” Sage tapped her finger on her lips as she thought, and then she eagerly began writing. After a minute, she looked up. “Can I do more than one?”
Tina laughed. “You’re ambitious! Go right ahead.”
“Do I have to tell anyone what I write?” Arden asked.
“Only if you want to,” Jace replied.
“Do you remember all the crazy things we used to put on that tree when we were kids?” Kristy murmured to Amanda as they watched the children. “One year, I wrote that I was going to be a famous actress and all my friends would watch me on TV. A bit has changed since then.”
“A bit,” Amanda laughed, knowing that Kristy wasn’t the kind to be in front of the camera. She was funny and lovely, but she didn’t crave that kind of attention. “I’m sure most of my intentions never happened. They were exciting at the moment, but then I’d forget about them by the time school started back up.”
“It was always fun to dream.” Jamie had joined them now, and she tipped her head to the side as she fondly recalled those old days. “We still get to, though. The kids are done. Let’s go.”
As Amanda watched Jamie go get her little slip of paper, her heart clutched in her throat. What would her intention be? Tina had told Sage it wasn’t exactly the same as a wish, and she was right, but the only thing on her mind felt more like a wish than anything Amanda could actually make come true. She gritted her teeth. Jamie was right. They could still dream, and it was an unwritten rule that no one looked at anyone else’s intentions without their permission. She quickly wrote it out, rolled it up, and tied it to the tree.
“Amanda.”
“Lars.” Her heart was still in her throat, and now her lungs joined it. The deep, spicy scent of his cologne blended perfectly with the festive fragrance of the house. Her body came alive instantly, and he wasn’t even touching her. She cleared her throat. “Um, did you get to write yours?”
He pointed to the tree, where a small roll of paper wrapped in deep blue thread hung way up near the top. “It’s a lovely tradition.”
She could feel a sharp, panicky sensation directly in her heart and solar plexus chakras. It was a bad time for her body to remind her that even though she’d helped balance the ley lines, she herself was still off kilter. It made her want to make up an excuse to go check on something in the kitchen. The massive cluster of people throughout the main living space of the house made it impossible.
