Page 34 of Holiday Grief

“Yep, millions. So, Santa might not come here early tonight. We might not get to see Rudolph’s glowing nose, but even if we don’t we’ll still have fun looking,” Jasmine said.

“Yeah, so much fun,” Claire quickly agreed.

Jasmine’s gaze searched his out as though checking what she’d said was okay, but since Adam didn't want her thinking of herself as a second-class parent, if they were together then they were raising Claire together, he averted his gaze back to the road.

“So home it is. Then we can look for Santa’s sleigh, put out our milk and cookies—”

“And carrots for the reindeer,” Claire inserted.

“Right, and carrots for the reindeer. Then it’s into bed for you, little pumpkin.”

“Can't we watch another movie?” Claire begged even though it was already past her eight o’clock bedtime.

“Nope. We watched one with dinner,” he said in his firm dad voice.

Before Claire could even think about putting in a complaint, they were driving past another house with a stunning display, this one a white mass of snowmen, and his daughter was too busy oohing and ahhing to worry about anything else.

Ten minutes later, he was pulling into his driveway. Adam had barely parked the car when Claire was wriggling and trying to get out.

“Hold on, squirmy little worm,” Jasmine said as she unbuckled herself then reached over to unbuckle Claire. As soon as she was free, his daughter was scrambling out of the car.

“Over here, Jassy! This is where Daddy and I laided last year,” she called out.

“Pumpkin, don’t lie down till you put your coat on,” he reminded his daughter as he helped Jasmine out of the car.

Grabbing all three of their coats, Adam slipped his on, then held out Jasmine’s so she could slip her arms into it. Wrangling his over-excited five-year-old into her coat was a much harder task, but eventually, he zipped her up, and she immediately flopped down into the snow, lying flat on her back so she could gaze up at the sky.

“Come on, Jassy,” Claire ordered, patting the ground beside her.

“I'm not sure Jasmine’s up to getting down on the ground yet, pumpkin, she’s still healing.”

“I can do it,” Jasmine said.

Doubtful but not going to stop her, instead, Adam helped Jasmine sit down on the cold, snowy ground, then stretched out on the other side of Claire, looking up at the clear sky. It had been snowing earlier and Claire had had a ball running around trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue and making snow angels, but now the snow was gone, the clouds had cleared, and it was a magical winter night.

With his two girls beside him, his daughter chattering non-stop about Santa, his sleigh, reindeer, and the glow of Rudolph’s nose, and Jasmine chattering back just as excitedly he had everything in the world he’d ever wanted.

“Daddy, Jassy, look!” Claire screeched, jumping to her feet. “Red light! It’s Rudolph’s nose!”

The complete and utter joy on Claire’s face, the peaceful and content smile on Jasmine’s, both made this by far the best Christmas he’d ever had.

Chapter Eleven

December 24th

9:18 P.M.

“Finally,” Adam huffed out a sigh and leaned against the wall outside Claire’s room.

They’d finally gotten a super overexcited Claire into bed and off to sleep. It had only taken about five stories to get her finally drifting off as her overtired body and mind finally gave out despite her excitement.

Jasmine couldn’t wait to see the little girl’s face tomorrow morning as she ran downstairs to see what Santa had left for her.

It was the first Christmas since just before her sixteenth birthday that she was actually looking forward to. Those two Christmases she’d spent as Bobby’s prisoner had been pure hell, and she’d spent most of the day curled on her mattress sobbing. Then the last six she’d spent alone in her house, too ashamed to let her family back into her life.

“Now to get you into bed,” he said as he scooped her up.

Her arms automatically curled around his neck. “I'm not sleepy.”

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