Christmas Magic

by Jenny Rarden

  Cover

  Title Page

  Christmas Magic

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  Jenny Rarden

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  RR Books

  Copyright Information

  Christmas Magic, Copyright © 2015 by Jenny Rarden

  All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

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  Published by RR Books, December 2015

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  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

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  Cover and Interior Book Design by Coreen Montagna

  Dedication

  To my husband, Scott,

  who supports me in every way possible,

  and my son, Josh, who is my greatest joy.

  Christmas Magic

  “IT’S TIME, SON,” Luke’s father, Donald, said as Luke stood and began to pace. “I’m handing over the reins—literally and figuratively—to a new generation.”

  Luke wasn’t sure what to say. He paced some more, raking a hand through his hair as his mother watched with worried eyes. His father looked calm, happy…at peace with his decision.

  “I…I won’t have any idea what to do,” Luke argued, shaking his head. “You can’t just expect me to step in and fill your shoes, Dad.”

  “Luke—” his mom started, but she quieted as his father stood, stopping him with his hands on Luke’s shoulders so he could look him in the eyes.

  “Son, do you think I had any clue when your grandfather retired?” His dad chuckled, shaking his head. “I was scared to death too. But you can do this. Your mother and I have faith in you, Lucas. You just have to have faith in yourself.”

  After a moment, Luke nodded, huffing out a breath. “Faith. Right.”

  He could do this. Really, he was born to do it, right? The men in his family had been doing it for nearly a thousand years. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still scared out of his wits.

  After all, his father had just christened him—Lucas Taylor—the next Santa Claus.

  “Did you hear?” Whitney whispered to Sadie and Lia as she skipped into the dollhouse workshop.

  Out of all the elves at the North Pole, Whitney was one of the few who looked remotely the way humans thought elves looked like. All elves did, in fact, have pointy ears, but most of them weren’t child-sized. Whitney was short enough that she could easily pass for a teenager if she dressed the part. She and Lia were Sadie’s best friends, married to two other elves—Evan and Blake—who worked in one of the other workshops.

  “No… Hear what?” Lia asked, setting down the paintbrush she’d been using to decorate the roof of one of the small houses.

  “Donald Taylor is finally retiring,” Whitney replied excitedly, her eyes wide. “Can you believe it? After nearly a hundred years!”

  Sadie’s heart thudded in her chest. Donald Taylor, as he was known three hundred and sixty-four days of the year, had been Santa Claus for longer than she’d been alive. Lia, Blake, and Evan had each been around to see Donald’s grandfather as Santa, but Sadie and Whitney had only known Donald as Saint Nick.

  “L-Luke is taking over?” Sadie stammered, feeling her cheeks heat at the thought of Donald and Nancy’s gorgeous son.

  Whitney nodded, her grin growing. “Maybe you can pull a Cinderella and finally meet your prince,” she said with a wink.

  Lia nodded her agreement.

  Sadie shook her head. Luke was…North Pole royalty, while she was a simple, lowly elf. He would pick someone whose background, whose family name, was in line with his. Angelica Shepard, the daughter of his father’s right-hand man, maybe. She was a member of his family’s inner circle—their families had been friends for hundreds of years, after all—and she would make a proper Mrs. for one of the most important men in the world.

  No, no matter what her friends thought, Sadie couldn’t imagine Luke would ever spare her a second glance, other than the general politeness Santa and his family extended to all the elves of the North Pole.

  “We should get back to work,” she mumbled. “Christmas is only a week away.”

  The next few days were crazy. Luke’s father held a big meeting in the center of town, announcing that the rumors were true and he was stepping down. Luke had spent the last two days going over every written word in the North Pole library, learning all he could about what his new job entailed.

  He was lucky, he supposed. The reindeer knew the routine by now. They should… They’d been around as long as Santa Claus. Christmas magic was a wonderful thing. Three hundred and sixty-four days a year, he would be Luke Taylor—a normal human who looked twenty-five years old. One day a year, he would transform into the older, white-haired, bearded man with a belly that jiggled when he laughed and cheeks a rosy red, so well-known to children everywhere.

  He wasn’t the only one affected by the magic. Like his family’s line, the elves aged so slowly that some were nearly four hundred years old. The magic allowed them to live in the frigid temperatures year round. The summers were a balmy thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, while the winters dipped to negative forty degrees. For those in Santa’s village, winter meant heavy coats, while summer meant shorts and swim trunks.

  That wasn’t the only magic here at the North Pole. Everyone moved a little faster than the rest of the world. With as many toys and gifts as the elves had to produce each year, extra speed was the only way it could be accomplished. When Luke was a child, the closer it got to December, the more he’d liked to go up on a hill overlooking the town and sit and watch the activity down below. The elves looked like ants scurrying around, their arms full of gifts and decorations or their hands waving animatedly as they told one story or another to their friends. And their ears… As a child, they had fascinated him. The tips were pointed, just like in all the stories, and from rumors he’d heard, they were extra sensitive. No one—not even Santa Claus—knew the reason for that. It was just something that was thought of as normal. Other than their ears and the fact that they could move at four times the speed of humans, there was virtually no way to tell the elves apart from their full-human counterparts. So if an elf was needed somewhere in the world away from the North Pole, they could blend in, as long as they kept their ears covered and moved at a human pace.

  The reindeer were a lot like Luke’s family, only…different. Similar to whoever was Santa Claus, for every day but one, they looked and acted human but with all the magic of the North Pole. Bobby, Dalton, Max, Owen, Josiah, Dylan, Ryder, and the only female on the team, Chloe, worked in various jobs, including the greenhouse, helping to grow food for the village. Then one day a year, they transformed into the reindeer to guide Santa’s sleigh, going by the names in books and songs: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen for the men, while Chloe became Vixen. Cooper, the last member of the team, was Santa’s personal assistant. On Christmas Day, his nose lit up when he transformed into Rudolph.

  “Luke,” his mother said, pulling him out of his musings as he paged through another book. “You need a break. It’s time for dinner, sweetheart. Come eat.”

  Luke tugged on his hair in frustration. He still felt unprepared, but his mom was right. He needed a break. Closing the book, he stood and smiled, following her out of the room.

  Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck, Sadie hurried along the path, on her way to Lia and Blake’s house for dinner. It was two days be
fore Christmas—Christmas Eve Eve?—and she’d been awake for nearly twenty-four hours. Santa’s list of children and their gifts seemed significantly longer this year—not to mention a lot more complicated—and she’d been putting in extra hours to get everything completed in time. Because Blake and Evan had finished a few hours earlier, they’d volunteered to cook dinner for Lia, Whitney, and Sadie when they finally finished. Sadie had insisted that the girls go home to their husbands a few hours before, while she’d stayed to make sure the last dolls were ready for the final dollhouse.

  She was so caught up in her thoughts that she wasn’t watching where she was going, and she didn’t notice the man coming her way until she slammed right into a hard chest. He gave out a small grunt and quickly pulled his foot out from under hers.

  “Oh my gosh!” Sadie took a step back, feeling her face heat, even in the cold air. “Are you okay?”

  A deep voice chuckled softly. “I’m fine, truly. Are you all right?”

  She finally raised her head to look at her victim and gasped. “Oh!” she squeaked, feeling her heart thud in her chest.

  She’d run into Luke Taylor.

  “Miss, are you all right?” he asked again, his gorgeous smile slipping into a frown as he reached out. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

  “N-No, I’m fine,” she promised, the warmth from her cheeks spreading as embarrassment and awe filled her.

  He was beautiful—tall, with dark-blond hair peeking out from under the knit cap he wore, and his piercing blue eyes seemed to look into her soul.

  “I’m Luke,” he said, before his own cheeks turned pink. He quickly stammered, “I-I guess you know that.”

  She nodded dumbly, any words she might have spoken frozen in her throat.

  He cocked his head and waited a moment, but when she didn’t speak, a sparkle entered his eyes and he smiled warmly. “What’s your name?”

  “S-Sadie,” she stammered. Her heart was pounding so hard, she swore she could hear it. “I… I’m s-sorry. I need to go,” she said in a rush, afraid that if she stayed, she would blurt out how cute she thought he was and embarrass herself further.

  “Wait,” he called as she rushed away.

  Sadie pretended not to hear as she turned the corner and continued on her way.

  After the beautiful girl—Sadie—left Luke alone on the snowy path, he debated going after her, but his mind was a whirlwind and his emotions felt raw. The moment she’d looked up into his eyes, his world had spun out of control. He’d never felt anything like it…like nothing else mattered but her. He hadn’t even known her name. How was that possible?

  He finally shook himself out of it and turned back to make his way home. He needed to talk to his mother. If anyone could help him make sense of what he was feeling, it would be her.

  Inside the house, he removed his coat, hat, and scarf as he toed off his boots, leaving everything in the hallway to dry, before making his way to the kitchen, where he could hear his mom.

  “There you are,” she said as he stepped into the kitchen. “That was a short walk. Everything okay?”

  Sliding onto one of the stools at the counter, Luke scrubbed his hand over his face before replying. “I’m…not sure,” he said honestly. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

  She grabbed a mug from the cupboard and then ladled a cup of sweet-smelling hot cocoa from the pot on the stove. After adding a few marshmallows, she set it down in front of him before taking a seat beside him, all without saying a word. She waited for him to speak, not rushing him.

  “I…met someone,” he gushed, unable to hold back any longer. In hurried words, he told her about the encounter with the beautiful elf. “Her name’s Sadie. She’s got red hair, but it isn’t just red. There were about a hundred different shades, which highlighted her gorgeous green eyes—the color of evergreens. Her skin’s a pale cream, but she blushed when she saw that it was me, and she just glowed.” He couldn’t admit to his mother that he wanted to see how far the blush extended. “She was beautiful,” he finished lamely. “But it was more than that. It was like my world just…shifted. I wanted to know everything about her, to share everything about me and my life with her. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

  “Oh, Luke…” She sighed, and when he looked over, there were tears in her eyes. “You met your soul mate.”

  “I-I read about that in one of the books, a-and I-I’ve heard the stories,” he managed to say through his nerves and excitement, “but I didn’t think it was real. How… I mean…” He wrapped his hands around his mug, letting the heat warm him.

  “Sweetheart, you know there’s no good explanation for Christmas magic. Once you were officially named as the new Santa, the moment you saw her, she became the one for you. It’s destiny.”

  “Wh-What if she doesn’t feel the same?”

  His mother looked knowingly at him. “She will. Trust me.”

  He started to ask her how she knew, but a tingling up and down his spine distracted him.

  “It’s starting, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Looking up at the clock, Luke knew she was right. The transformation into Santa Claus was beginning.

  When he nodded, she beamed, wiping away a tear. “I’ll go get your father.” She paused at the doorway and turned. “Oh, and Luke? I know she’ll feel the same because a long time ago, that girl was me. One look at your father, and I knew.”

  Then she was gone, leaving Luke to the beginning of his change.

  “It’s time!” her mother called. “Sadie, come on! Your father’s meeting us there. We have to go now if we don’t want to miss it!”

  It was Christmas Eve, and Luke—no, Santa Claus—was getting ready to leave the North Pole with his reindeer. Sadie hadn’t seen him since they’d literally run into each other, and her stomach was in knots. She wasn’t anxious for the new Santa’s first trip around the world. Her friends had assured her that once he and the reindeer took off, he would know exactly what to do—part of the Christmas magic, apparently.

  So no, it wasn’t about that. She was simply nervous about seeing him again. She hadn’t told anyone about their crashing into one another and the feelings that had suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. She knew he wouldn’t see her out in the middle of the crowd, and he would look different than he normally did, so she wouldn’t be seeing Luke. She’d be seeing Santa Claus, and the elf part of her was so excited about that fact that she couldn’t help but hurry to finish dressing and catch up with her mother.

  “Sorry,” she said a minute later as she rushed to the front door of their cottage. “I couldn’t find my other shoe.”

  Her mom chattered away as they walked down to the stables, where the reindeer would be hooked up and waiting for Santa.

  “This is so exciting, Sadie,” her mother said with a squeal. “Just think of how many children are going to wake up in the morning and find their stockings filled and presents piled under the tree! And to be able to see a new Santa take off for the first time? It’s so wonderful.” She sighed happily.

  When they arrived, her mom led her around to where Sadie’s father was waving from the spot he’d saved at the edge of the gathered crowd, which was buzzing with excitement.

  The atmosphere around the stables was electric. The longer Sadie stood in the middle of the crowd, the more excited she felt. People were dressed in their Christmas finest—it was a sea of red and green, bright pops of color against the white backdrop of snow. The chill in the air couldn’t compete with the sights and smells of Christmas. In this hidden valley at the North Pole, they were surrounding by evergreens, their branches heavy with snow. They gave off the woodsy scent that, combined with the chimney smoke from the neighboring houses, infused in her pores until it was part of her. Christmas music rang out from hidden speakers, everything from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” to “White Christmas” and more. It was a true feast for the senses and almost overwhelming as her gaze was drawn toward the front of the crowd, just outside the
doors to the stable.

  Santa was speaking quietly to the reindeer, going from one to another until he reached his sleigh, where he leaned down to check the reins connecting it to the reddish-brown Dasher and to Dancer, who had two small spots of white on his right foreleg. After a moment, Santa froze and stood up straight, his eyes scanning the crowd. They finally settled on Sadie, and while she saw Santa Claus—the older man with white hair and a beard, a jiggly belly, and rosy cheeks—behind the spectacles perched on the end of his nose were Luke’s blue eyes. His heated gaze made her insides feel squishy, and she swallowed hard, unable to look away until one of his personal elves made his way up to Santa and tapped his watch.

  Santa nodded once, raised a hand and waved to the crowd, and then climbed into the sleigh. Grasping the reins, he whistled and then called out loudly, “Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!”

  Everyone held their breath as he cried, “Lead the way, Rudolph!”

  Before Sadie could blink, he was gone in a flash of Christmas magic.

  The crowd cheered long after he had flown away. Looking around at all the happy faces, complete with rosy cheeks and big smiles, she knew everyone was as excited as she was to see all the toys and gifts their hard work had produced being taken away to be given to all the good little boys and girls across the world. It was their purpose and gave their lives meaning. To see it come to fruition was their greatest reward.

  “Come on, Sadie-girl,” her dad said, patting her shoulder gently with one hand while his other arm wrapped around her mom’s waist. “They’re serving up cocoa and cookies in the great hall. Let’s go celebrate this joyous day.”

  Sadie smiled at her parents, giving one last wistful look to the stables.