“You can do this,” Nick prompted. “I believe in you.”
Nick’s belief was like a ball of warmth in his stomach that grew up and out, illuminating Ethan’s mind.
“Okay. Um, Collin wished for his mom at Christmas.” He held out one hand. “And Valerie wished not to be alone for Christmas.” He smashed them together. “Therefore, Valerie needs to be Collin’s mother and live with us forever.” He stared at his palms, pressed together and holding in place. His fingers laced together like a family joining as one. “Valerie needs to be my wife.” He all but whispered the last part. Peace, like a blanket, settled over him. He lifted his eyes and looked from Kringle to Kringle. “I need to marry Valerie.”
“Woah!” Quik held up a hand. His eyes ticked from side to side as he did the computations. “Okay, that could work.” He turned to Lux for verification.
She was already nodding. This Kringle was one step ahead of all of them today. She snapped her laptop shut and pulled out a walkie-talkie.
Nick moaned. “Not again.”
Quik pounded him on the back. “You can’t deny the Kringle family is efficient.”
Nick looked like he’d rather eat yellow snow than live through what came next.
Ethan didn’t care. He wanted his son back. “I wish to marry Valerie as soon as possible.”
Nick threw up his hands. Glitter erupted out of his palms–one red and one green spray. They twirled and twisted around each other before colliding and turning into gold, reigning down on their heads.
Ethan brushed off his right shoulder and stared at his left hand. “No ring.” He held it up for the others to see.
“I like your trust in Christmas Magic,” Nick pounded him on the back, sending glitter sprinkling to the ground. “But you still have to ask her.”
Lux pointed at Quik. “Go get Jacob and Lauren.”
He hopped in the sleigh, his face alight. Prancer leaned into the harness, a sprinter at the starting line. “On Prancer!” he yelled, and they were gone.
Ethan’s head swirled. “Lauren and Jacob?” he asked. Last year’s Christmas wedding on the church steps suddenly made much more sense. He turned to Nick. “That wasyou?!”
“It was all of us,” Lux defended Nick.
Ethan snapped his fingers. “The lady with the white hair…?”
“My sister, Frost,” Lux filled absently in as she texted.
“She’s pretty. The other one? Layla?” He snapped his fingers. “That was it. Layla.”
Nick lowered his eyebrows, looking every bit the overprotective brother. “What about her.”
Ethan enjoyed getting under the wish granter’s skin. “She was nice.”
Nick glared.
Ethan chuckled. He had nothing to worry about. Ethan’s heart was firmly under Valerie’s tree, where he intended it to stay.
“Sure, the church is available,” Lux said into the phone. “But, Stella, ...I don’t think a public wedding is Valerie’s style. I’ll ask.” She looked expectantly from Ethan to Nick. “Any ideas, gentlemen?”
Nick tapped his chin in thought.
Ethan thought about when Valerie was herself, the happiest and content. The stage–she’d killed it there. The only other time he’d heard her sing was – “The Christmas room.” He grabbed Nick’s arm. “In her uncle’s house. She decorated it and called it The Christmas Room. That’s where we should be married.”
Jingle bells rang out, and the sleigh stopped next to them. Lauren glared icicles at Nick. She threw herself out of the sleigh and at the wish granter with a ferociousness that had Nick stumbling backward.
“Hang on!” he said. “I had no idea that the wishes were connected to Ethan when I granted them.” He circled Prancer, trying to keep the reindeer between him and Lauren.
“You promised no more Christmas wish disasters.” Lauren pointed at him. “And now my brother is in some kind of Christmas ribbon mess!” she yelled across Prancer’s back.
“In his defense,” Lux called from where she was busy texting, “I don’t think he can help it. His magic is all over the place.”
