by Lynn Crain
“What does that mean?”
“Just ah, Tess.”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And that would be?” Angie quirked her eyebrow at her best friend. She held the locket open and ready.
“All right, I made love to that gorgeous man in front of a fireplace. We made love in the kitchen and in his shower and at least once in his bed.”
“Kinda got around, didn’t you?”
“Ang, it wasn’t nearly enough,” Tessa said and buried her head in her arms.
Angie scooted close to her friend. It was now or never. She pressed the locket into Tessa’s hand and forced her thumb on the picture. “It will be soon.”
“Angie…what have you done?” Tessa dropped the locket as if it were a hot potato.
“What you should have done a week ago.” Angie tossed her with a solemn look. “I’m not stupid, Tess. I’ve known since we talked why you were staying. And I won’t have it. You deserve to be happy. Hell, we both do.”
“Angie. I can’t do this. I just can’t. It’s so unfair,” she said, sobbing.
“You can and you will. I won’t have you staying because of me. You love him and you need to be with him.” Angie hugged her friend fiercely. “I will find someone. When the time is right for me. You’ll see.”
* * * *
Thousands of miles away, Jedrick sat down with a thud, rubbing his chest in fascination. His heart began to ache. The summoning locket had been touched. Tessa called him. Jumping up with a whoop he ran to Santa’s office.
“Can I borrow the sleigh?”
Santa looked up, a huge smile upon his face. “You’ve been summoned?”
“Yes!”
“Of course, you can. You better tell your mother before you go. Remember, you have to travel under the cover of night.” Santa rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Ask your dad for a cloaking spell just in case.”
“I will, sir.” Jedrick dashed out the room and toward his parent’s lab. Bursting through the door, he wasn’t surprised to find them both hunched over the latest in microcomputer circuitry.
“What’s up, son?” Bevan asked, his scope glasses still on his face.
Janice slowly placed hers on the bench. “She called.”
“Yes,” Jedrick stated simply. “She called.”
“Are you sure?”
“Janice, the boy is sure. Can’t you tell by his face?”
She looked hard at her son and knew immediately. His color had returned and his eyes sparkled with the magic that only an elf in love could have. “Yeah…I can tell. Are you sure?” She directed the question to Jedrick.
“Very, Mother.”
Bevan put his arm around his mother’s shoulder “See. I told you it would be all right.”
She reached up and patted his hand. “I know you did.”
“Father, I need a cloaking spell. Santa wants me to have it just in case.”
“Sure…let’s see…come here.” They both pored over a spell book for a moment. “That one should do, son. Here let me give it to you.” He touched his son’s forehead momentarily. “Got it?”
“Yes, Father, and thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Go get your young lady.” He waved his son out the door.
Jedrick practically ran out the door.
* * * *
“I hope that this is the right thing,” Janice whispered.
“How many times have I told you, Mother, he isn’t the one we should be worried about.”
She turned to look at her husband. “Who, then?”
“Well, we do have five other children to consider…which one should I start with?”
“Bevan! I’m serious.”
“I am too. Ardan hates his human side so much I truly think it’s going to get in the way of his happiness. Cuinn can’t decide what he really wants to be, so he dabbles in design here and I’m afraid that he’ll want to go live in the human world. Aingeal likes sex way too much and God only knows where she is most of the time, except spending far too much time with the Eskimos. And Merna and Maddox are hell on wheels now and they are only seventeen.”
“I never said they’d be perfect.”
Bevan leaned toward his wife. “And why not, their mother is.”
Janice squealed. “Oh no, you don’t. And you wonder why Aingeal likes sex so much.” She put her hands out to defend herself.
“I never said she didn’t get it honestly. Come here, wench.” He pulled her head towards his, seared a kiss on her lips and Janice knew they would get very little work done the rest of the day.
* * * *
Jedrick donned his parka in record speed and was in the sleigh before any one could blink an eye. “Come on, boys, she summoned me,” he yelled at the reindeer.
As soon as they were airborne, he put the weather bubble around them to keep them from the elements. The reindeer were quite quick in their task and within a few minutes they were perched on the top of Tessa’s house while still maintaining their cover. Standing by the chimney, he knew it was now or never. Laying a finger on the side of his nose, he jumped straight in and thanked the gods that his elven magic allowed him to walk through fire. Crouching at the bottom, he inched forward and stood brushing himself off.
* * * *
“Wow,” Angie said, eyeing the guy who emerged from their fireplace without a burn mark on him. She took a quick glance at Tessa. “You going to introduce us?”
Tessa sat there with her mouth hanging open. She could swear that he’d never looked better. Jedrick stood before them in what could be described as a poet’s shirt and jeans. The blue shirt was embroidered with such intricate patterns she felt almost mesmerized by it.
“What? Is it too much?” He rubbed his hand down his front.
“No. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful,” she murmured.
“You think so?” he questioned, a wide smile on his face.
“Earth to Tessa, Earth to Tessa,” Angie waved a hand in front of her friend's face.
Tessa shook her head to clear it and turned to her. “Angie, this is Jedrick.”
“Jedrick, this is my best friend Angie Hudson. I need to let you know that she tricked me into calling you.”
Angie attempted to stand straight and still, quite a feat in her slightly tipsy state. “I might have tricked you, but you’ve been so damn miserable since you came home that I decided to take pity on you!” She scowled at her friend for a moment before continuing. “I am very honored to meet you, Jedrick. Can I see your ears?”
“You don’t want me here?” Jedrick looked at Tessa.
“I didn’t say that,” she said, eyes shining.
“Then what’s the problem?” he questioned, moving closer to her.
Tessa hiccupped and squelched what could only be a sob. “I don’t want to leave Angie alone. She doesn’t have anyone either.”
Jedrick took her in his arms. “Just because you’ll live in the North Pole doesn’t mean you can’t keep in contact with your friends. I would never do that to you.”
Tessa pulled back and looked at him. “You wouldn’t?”
“Never,” he whispered and caressed her head. “I want you to be happy. I love you too much to keep you totally isolated if you didn’t like it. Besides, we have email.”
Tessa smiled and threw her arms around him. “I really do love you,” she said, raining kisses along his face and neck.
“I have a bone to pick with you, though.” He looked at her fiercely for a moment, looking from Tessa’s face to Angie’s expectant one. “You told her?”
“Jedrick, she’s my best friend, I had to because we’ve never had any secrets. I tell her everything.”
“Everything?”
“Well…almost everything.”
He sighed. Humans had friends, lots of friends and Tessa’s friends would have to become his. “All right…that seems fair…just don’t go telling every body now.” He turned to t
he small, dark-haired woman. “You want to see my ears, huh?”
“Well, yeah,” Angie answered and squealed when he moved his long hair out of the way. “Can I touch?”
Tessa flinched not sure if she wanted another woman touching his ears…even if it was Angie…this was her elf. “It won’t cause a problem, will it?”
Jedrick smiled back at her. “As long as you hold my hand, it won’t.”
Tessa turned in his arms to look at her friend and whispered. “I want to do more than hold your hand.”
Rich laughter filled the house. “Touch them and be quick. I have things to do.” He turned to Tessa. “And we need to get back to the North Pole. Are you ready for this?”
“Yes…I am so ready.”
“I’m waiting.” Angie impatiently tapped her foot.
“Oh. Yes, almost forgot about you,” Jedrick leaned down. “You’re tiny.’
“Great things come in small packages,” she said indignantly.
“I am very aware of that. But still you are really tiny for a human.”
“You just better lean closer and let me touch those ears.”
He leaned closer and allowed Tessa’s friend to gently finger his ears. Other than touch, he got no feeling whatsoever from the contact. Gripping Tessa’s hand, he squeezed it a little tighter to reassure her.
“Tessa says that your…you know…your,” Angie stammered, at a loss for words. It shouldn’t be this difficult for her since was a nurse, but somehow it was.
“My penis?” Jedrick supplied.
“Yeah…that…does things when your ears get stroked.”
He straightened up and turned back to Tessa. “You have to be in love with the person, Angie. Then every touch is special. Especially on the ears.” Jedrick took Tessa in his arms and the magic began to flow around them while Angie gasped in delight.
“I have got to get me one of these.”
Epilogue
Angie stood next to her best friend, Tessa Winston. She felt happy and privileged that she was even allowed at the wedding ceremony of Tessa and Jedrick Lochlin. Jedrick had the honor of being an elf and her best friend had fallen in love with him. Ang did her fair share of oh-ing and ah-ing when she first saw the chapel, but had somehow managed to add her own special touches so Tessa wasn’t overwhelmed with her decision to leave her old life and best friend behind.
Tessa, beautiful in her white gown and matching veil, stood next to one of the most handsome men Angie had ever known. Although this type of marriage ceremony was not required by elven standards, Angie knew Tessa wanted it as a way to say goodbye to her. The elves loved Tessa enough to indulge her every whim.
Angie would miss her friend and possibly envy her, but she couldn’t deny the woman her happiness. Besides, Angie wouldn’t be alone; she had custody of Nermal the cat. She smiled as her friend turned to give her the bridal bouquet, then stepped back while the couple took one more step closer to the altar. Angie glanced out over the crowd wanting to check out the people who inhabited this very special place.
Of course, there was Santa and Mrs. Claus…it seemed so odd that they wore normal clothes, but then she could understand that this wasn’t your normal situation. All of Jedrick’s brothers and sisters sat down near his parents. Jedrick’s family reminded her so much of what she’d always supposed elves to be like. Although, Jedrick’s father was probably only a little over five feet and his mother almost five-eight, it was plain to see just how much they loved each other and their children. All their children were beautiful, kind-hearted and loving.
Except one. Angie took in a deep breath and stole a quick glance at the man who stood next to Jedrick, his younger brother Ardan.
Ardan’s cool gaze slid over her like she was no more than a fly upon a wall and an irritating one at that.
Angie had nearly gasped when she had first saw the man, his long straight blonde hair and turquoise eyes reminded her so much of the brooding elves she had seen in the movie Lord of the Rings. Every attempt she’d made to be friendly had been rebuffed in a gruff manner. It was only when their sister Aingeal took her aside and explained that Ardan deplored his human side that Angie made a vow.
She would have to do something about his attitude. And prove he was oh-so-wrong about humans. The only thing left was to figure out how.
About the Author
Realizing at an early age she wanted to write, Lynn took the long way to that goal by doing a variety of things like nursing, geologist, technical writer and computer manager. She freelances for various publishers and is the editor/publisher of the emagazine, Xodtica. During her free time she weaves fantasy, futuristic and paranormal tales. She lives in the very hot southwest with her husband, two sons, two dogs, two cats and two snakes named Ghost and Sandune. She is a past board member of the Romance Writers of America and currently belongs to EPIC.