One Tough Christmas Cookie - Lucy McConnell Page 0,97

put it back together, and you can’t even see a scar because my hair covers it.” Talking kept the reindeer’s gaze on him and not on what Mom was doing.

Mom finished her exam and rocked back on her heels before sitting crisscross on the dirty floor. Billy bit his cheek to keep from saying something about getting dirty. If she wasn’t worried, then he wasn’t going to bring it up. “I’m afraid you’ve fractured your leg.”

The reindeer laid her head down as if the news was devastating.

He patted her neck. “We’ll help you get better.”

Mom considered the two of them, like she was looking to see how a puzzle piece fit in a certain spot. “We’ll have to brace it, and she won’t be able to walk for at least three weeks. Maybe it would be better if we called animal control and let them take care of her.”

Billy wrapped his arms around the animal’s neck. “No. I found her. I promised I’d help. Besides, she can fly. We can’t let someone else take her. They’ll sell her to the circus or something. She has to get back to Santa.”

Mom reached over his back and took his shoulders, pulling him into her for a hug and rocking like she had when he was little. “Okay. Okay.” She stoked his hair, and his frantic feelings of loss abated. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll do what we can. If she doesn’t show improvement in a week, we’ll find someone who can do more than we can, okay?”

“Sure.” A week was for-ev-er.

“What are you going to call her?” Mom asked.

He shrugged. “She has a name, but she won’t tell me.”

Mom moved so she could see the reindeer’s face. She reached out and traced the star on her forehead. “Star?” she asked. “Wait.” She moved her fingers over two smaller lines. “It almost looks like a snowflake.”

The reindeer’s eyes widened, and she nodded her head quickly. Mom laughed at her antics, the sound better than bells on Christmas. Billy’s heart swelled. It worked. The magical reindeer could fix them; he just knew it.

“I think we’ll call her Snowflake.” Mom ran her hand down Snowflake’s neck. “I’ll be back in a minute with some first-aid supplies.” She stood up.

Snowflake nudged his leg.

“And carrots,” he called after Mom. “She likes carrots.”

Mom smiled, lifting both her hands as if she didn’t know what to make of all this. “Carrots it is.”

Billy listened as Mom left, and then he rubbed Snowflake’s snowflake. “Promise me you’ll never go away,” he begged. “Even if Santa comes back for you.”

Snowflake touched her nose to his, and he felt the promise all the way to his snow boots.

“You’re my best friend, Snowflake.” He hugged her as tight as he dared. “You’ll always be my best friend.” He kissed her cheek and took in the earthy smell of her fur. “Nothing’s going to tear us apart. We’re going to have a lot of fun together. And I’ll read you all my favorite books while you’re getting better.”

Mom reappeared, and he clammed up, embarrassed that she might have heard him.

“You know, I used to talk to Buttercup all the time.” Mom worked without looking at him.

The embarrassment wisped away like smoke. “What would you talk about?”

“Everything.” She laid a wooden ruler over Snowflake’s leg and eyed it for size. “I’d tell her about my day at school, my fight with your aunt Barbara. Just about anything. She was a great listener.” She set the ruler in place and began wrapping a bandage around the ruler and the leg. “I’ll bet Snowflake is a good listener too. Her ears are the perfect size for it.”

Snowflake flicked one ear in response. Billy met his mom’s astonished gaze, and they laughed together.

Once the wrapping was done, she pulled a long carrot out of her inside coat pocket. “Go ahead, give this to her for being such a good patient.”

Billy held out the carrot. Snowflake sniffed the air around it before using her lips to draw it into her mouth and crunching loudly. “Can we keep her, Mom?” As much as Snowflake’s promise to stay filled him up, Billy understood that there as a more powerful force in the universe—a mother’s decree.

“Let’s take it week by week, okay?”

“Okay.” He hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”

She ruffled his hair. “Thanks for trusting me with your secret.”

Mitzi helped Billy get settled in the barn with the reindeer for an afternoon of storytelling and healing. She found herself chuckling as she stood at the kitchen sink to wash dishes and keep an eye on the barn.

The reindeer was something special. She reminded her of the reindeer from Sleigh Bell Country, where she’d grown up. Man, it had been years since she’d thought of the reindeer and the wranglers.

Forest Nichollas. The name sent a shot of heat through her belly. She’d spent many hours telling Buttercup about the stupid things Forest did in class. Looking back, she’d probably had a crush on the boy. He’d be a man now.

Turning her thoughts back to her own barn, she contemplated where the reindeer had come from. They were too far from Reindeer Wrangler Ranch for it to be theirs. The harness indicated that she was domesticated, and her way of communicating showed she’d spent a lot of time with people. People who were looking for her, no doubt.

Billy thought she was one of Santa’s reindeer. Her heart ached for all that her son had lost over the last year. Saying no to helping the wounded animal wasn’t even an option. If Mitzi could, she would have given him everything on his Christmas list and more. Between the sporadic child-support checks and her minimum-wage job, she was lucky to make ends meet, let alone spoil her son.

She reflected on their time in the barn and the sound of laughter that filled the air. Maybe this was a good thing. Dad always said animals had a way of healing the soul. Billy seemed like his old self this afternoon. And she’d remembered what it felt like to let go of the clouds and let the sunshine through. Her sunshine.

She turned on an Elvis Presley Christmas playlist and swung her hips to the up-tempo beat.

When the song ended, she blew a kiss towards the barn. “Thanks, Snowflake. You reminded me of the child I was.” Which made all the difference in deciding what kind of woman she wanted to be.

Heaven help the man who tried to come between her and her reindeer.

They were keeping Snowflake, and that was that.

Find out what happens when Forest Nichollas comes to town looking for his lost reindeer in A Nutty Christmas Reunion.

If you haven’t read the Marrying Miss Kringle series, you can pick up with Santa’s five feisty and funny daughters in Marrying Miss Kringle: Ginger.

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This story is an irresistible contemporary romance about a not-so-humble cop who splits his raffle ticket with an unlucky waitress and the actor who falls in love with her.

(An It Could Happen to You retelling with a twist!)

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About the Author

Lucy McConnell has always been a reader and a writer. She writes fantasy, clean romance, Christian romance, historical fiction, and cookbooks under the name Christina Dymock.

When she’s not writing, you can find her volunteering at the elementary school or the church; shuttling kids to baseball, soccer, basketball, or rodeo, depending on the time of year; skiing with her family; wake boarding; cycling; or curled up with a good book.

You can sign up for her newsletter by clicking here and can check out here website here: http://lucymcconnell.wordpress.com/