“And in case you had any doubts about your role in all of this, Nicholas gets to choose his mate. Elven, human, or hybrid, his lifemate is granted the same long life as the Nicholas. So, there’s that, if that helps the two of you make a decision,” Reba announces.
Looking up at Eldrin, I ask him, “Is this what you want? You want to be freaking Santa Claus?”
He’s choosing his words carefully, trying not to influence me. It’s adorable, mainly because I came here, to these woods, under the influence of several individuals.
“I never envisioned myself as Nicholas. My fellow elves have done me an enormous honor. I can’t say I want it or don’t want it.”
Turning back to Reba, I still feel the heaviness in my heart that I’ve been living with a half-elf this entire time and didn’t know it.
“I feel as though I’ve been treated like a puppet on a string. I wish you would have just told me when you met me,” I tell her.
Tears shine in my best friend’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Clara. That I never told you the truth was my biggest regret in all of this. I’m so sorry. It’s just that humans don’t usually react well to being told that magical elves are real.”
I cock my head and give my friend a small smile. “Have you seen my Legolas collection?”
Reba sighs heavily. “I should’ve trusted you with the truth.”
“And I understand why you didn’t,” I say. I wrap my friend in a hug. We still have a lot to talk about, but I’m not going to lose my friend over it.
Also, time is ticking.
Pulling away from the hug, I turn to look up at Eldrin. He clutches me to him possessively.
He slants his face down, so his eyes are at the same level as mine. “What’s it going to be?”
El knows he’s got me. He knows that I can’t go back to my humdrum life after that. I want a life with him and with my friends, whatever that looks like. I can’t be mad forever, and I don’t have any more time to think it over before billions of kids are due some gifts under their trees.
Okay, fine. I’m over it. Because there’s nothing I love more than my giant elf other than Christmas.
A long life with both?
I take his hand in mine and say, “Let’s go deliver some presents.”
Epilogue
The North Pole
Ten years later
Eldrin
My wife skates up next to me on the rink and sees me eyeing my children’s hideous outfits.
“You may not consent to me dressing you as a department store Christmas elf, but our children have no choice. Let me have this,” she says to me. And how can I refuse?
It’s Christmas Day, my day off. My family has their heart set on ice skating, a popular tradition in North Pole Village.
Today, four pairs of striped legs are whirling and twirling around the ice pond with me, our friends, and my Queen of Christmas. The terrible striped stockings on our half-elf children were all Clara’s doing.
“Be sure they’re dressed in proper elven garb for Christmas dinner,” I grumble. Clara squeezes my backside before skating off again.
My Clara has adapted to live at the North Pole even better than I expected, now that my exile is over. Four children are a handful when you’re also Santa Claus all year round. Still, we do pretty well with the help of, well, literally thousands of happy elves.
Reba and Deacon are a help, too. At the moment, both of them are out on the ice, pulling our smallest ones along bit by bit as their little legs learn how to maneuver. Our two oldest children are teaching their mother how to spin, and I can hear Clara marveling at their abilities on the ice.
It was pure joy to watch my wife stand in awe at how early our little ones learned how to walk and talk in the beginning. She’s never lost her sense of wonder at our magical world, and seeing all of this through her eyes has made my role as Nicholas that much sweeter.