Page 15 of I Had a Threesome With Santa Claus

Holly eyed her. “Just how old are you and Santa?”

Ellie laughed and put a plate of pancakes in front of Holly. “I think I’ll leave you wondering on that one dear. No need to see all the magic.”

Holly harrumphed and took a bite of her pancakes. They tasted exactly like the ones her mom had always made on Christmas morning. “So how did you and Santa meet then?”

Ellie took a seat across from her with her own plate and smiled. “Oh, now that is a tale. After my father passed, I had to find work where ever I could. I had done many odd jobs, but when I met Nick, I was a serving girl at a tavern. This was four or five years after losing my father. The tavern keeper had sent me out on some errands that morning. I was returning from the laundress when a horse cart just about ran me over, making me spill all the clean clothes into the muddy street. The cart didn’t even stop, and I was near to tears as I began picking up the now muddy clothes from the street. I didn’t know what the keeper was going to say-I just knew she was going to be furious with me.

“Then from around the corner came a huge brute of a man; he had a full head of bright red hair and a beard to match. To my surprise, he began helping me pick up the clothes and asked if he could help me carry them. It had been so long since anyone had shown me any such kindness that I burst into tears. I was so embarrassed, I snatched the cloth out of his hand and ran all the way back to the tavern, leaving him standing there in the street. I wish now that I had turned around so I could see his face-I can only imagine what he thought watching this scrawny tavern girl run off without so much as a word.” Ellie laughed a little, lost in her memories

“What happened next?” asked Holly, taking another bite of her pancakes. “Did he run after you? Was your boss mad at you?”

“No, he didn’t run after me that night, and yes my boss was furious.” Ellie said. “It was another two weeks before I saw him again. After the laundry incident, I had to work twice as hard-the cost of redoing the laundry came out of my pay-so I was rarely out of the tavern. Then, one day, I was outside scrubbing the entryway when I heard a kind voice ask me if there were any rooms available. I turned around and there he was, the same man I had run away from. He had the kindest blue eyes and such a gentle smile. I stuttered that I wasn’t sure and that he’d have to go inside to ask my boss. He thanked me and went in to procure a room.

Luckily we did have a room available for the young trader who had been staying in another tavern that had everyone sleeping two to a bed. That night, he stayed down in the common room until everyone had gone to bed and it was just us girls were cleaning up. I had been scampering around avoiding him all night, but he was finally able to flag me down, I was the only one near him and couldn’t very well say no-the keeper would have had my hide.

“He asked me if I had gotten back home safely that day after the cart incident. I nodded shyly. Then he asked if the clothes had been ruined. I told him no-we were able to get the mud out-I just had to pay the laundress out of my wages. His face scrunched up right upset then. ‘But it wasn’t your fault’ he said. I told him it was, I should have watched where I was walking. I then told him he must excuse me. I needed to finish the tables, else the keeper would have a fit. Well, he went up to bed then and must have tossed and turned all night.

“The next couple of days, I scarcely saw him since he left early in the morning and didn’t come back until late at night. Then, one day, he came in hauling behind him a scrawny man I didn’t recognize at first. He marched the man right up to me, and then I realized who it was; it was the cart driver who’d nearly run me over! Nick forced him to apologize and made him repay my lost wages. I couldn’t even believe it. Right then, I knew I was in love. He needed to leave soon and instead of doing his business, he had scoured the town each day to find that cart driver. For the next several nights, he stayed down in the common room and talked to me as I worked.” Ellie pushed Holly’s forgotten plate towards her, as she took a drink of milk. Holly started and looked down at the plate of half-eaten pancakes and quickly took another bite.

“When it came to his last night there I was devastated. I didn’t want him to leave. I had been lonely for so long and here was this kind, handsome stranger who paid attention to me. He told me he had business up north he had to attend to but he would come back in a few months, after Christmas. He asked me to wait for him and I told him I would. The other tavern girls told me he’d never come back. I was so smug when he did come back, a week after Christmas. I left with him then and we’ve been together ever since. That was my last Christmas alone.”

Holly sighed as she thought of the romance of their story. “That was beautiful. I can’t even imagine the courage that took to leave everything you knew behind to go with someone you barely knew.”

“It really wasn’t that hard,” Ellie admitted. “I’d been lonely and unhappy a long time. When I met him, I just immediately felt safe and I knew I’d be okay if I stayed with him.”

Holly smiled; it was the same way she felt upon meeting both of them. They just felt safe, and her anxiety melted away when she was with them. But she knew she couldn’t stay. She had dreams and goals of her own. She wanted her own love story. This was just temporary, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about having to wake from the wonderful dream.

Footsteps shuffled down the hall, and Ellie and Holly turned their heads as Santa’s large frame appeared in the doorway. He was still shirtless, but he had pulled back on his gray sweatpants. He came up behind Ellie and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head.

“I hope you two saved some pancakes for me, I’m starved,” He rumbled in his deep baritone that Holly could feel in her toes.

Ellie smiled. “Of course I did dearest. They’re on the tray by the stove. I’ll get you some milk.”

Santa loaded up a tray with several pancakes and took the seat next to Holly. As he ate Holly took the opportunity to better inspect the tattoos that covered his chest and arms. A thick band around each forearm looked like a black and gray Christmas sweater pattern. Vines of mistletoe, boughs of holly, and intricate snowflakes wrapped around each bicep. More snowflakes dotted his back and chest, interspersed with intricate stags and poinsettias. On closer inspection, she realized the vines traveled up his arms and neck, connecting across his shoulders..

“I didn’t expect Santa to be covered in tattoos,” Holly said to him.

Santa laughed. “No most people wouldn’t I suppose. You see all these snowflakes?” Holly nodded, “Whenever I do a very special kind of deed on Christmas, or use my magic to help someone who is deeply deserving another one appears on my skin.”

“What about these?” Holly pointed to the intricate sweater-like designs on his forearms.

“Those,” he answered, “were given to me when I vowed to become Santa. They are a reminder and a symbol of what Santa is meant to be and my promise to uphold that.”

“And the others?”

“The vines mark how long I’ve been Santa-they grow every year I continue this job. The holly appears when I have protected, or saved someone’s life. The mistletoe appears when I have helped someone fall in love. The stags represent times I have helped people who will go on to change the course of history. Lastly the poinsettias represent the children I have helped to bring into the world.”

“And they just appear there?” asked Holly.

“Yes,” said Santa. “they began to appear after I took on the role of Santa. I treasure them greatly. They allow me to see the impact I have had on the world. The remind me why I love being Santa and why I wanted to take the job in the first place.”

“So you aren’t the first Santa,” Holly clarified.

Santa laughed his jolly laugh. “No, I am not the first Santa, and I doubt I’ll be the last. But I hope to continue the job for many years to come.”

Santa finished his pancakes and washed them down with a glass of milk. He leaned over and kissed Holly’s forehead before collecting her and Ellie’s dishes to clean up. Holly thought about the implications of all the tattoos. There were several sprigs of holly.

“So, Holly,” he said as he washed the plates, shaking her from her contemplations. “Are you ready for me to take you home? Or would you like to stay longer?”

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