Christmas on Reindeer Road

by Debbie Mason

  “You’re not a guest. You’re being invited to join. We voted on it last week. I can’t tell you how hard it’s been keeping it a secret.”

  “I don’t understand. Why am I being allowed to join?” Abby was accepted into the Sisterhood when she’d started the foundation in her aunt’s honor. Liz Findlay had been one of the founding members of the Sisterhood.

  “Are you kidding me? Look what you’ve done in only a matter of weeks for the seniors in town. I would’ve nominated you but Winter, Elsa, and Ruby did.” She grinned. “They said they like how, when most millennials are telling seniors to move over, you value them and their opinion.”

  “Maybe I should’ve asked them what to do about Oliver and Brooks.” She looked around as they walked deeper into the woods, their flashlight beams bouncing off the snow-covered ground. “Aren’t we going to the standing stones?”

  Deep in the woods to the right of Honeysuckle Farm, there was a circle of seven standing stones. The stone circle had been the inspiration behind Abby’s Outlander tourist attraction. They looked just like the monolithic groupings Claire Fraser was reputed to have used to travel back in time. Several were over seven feet tall, with a couple standing four feet high and just as wide. The standing stones were the meeting place of the Sisterhood, or so she’d thought.

  “No. Tonight we’re meeting at the hot springs. Why else did you think I told you to bring your bathing suit?”

  “I thought they danced among the stones naked but that guests were allowed to wear bathing suits.”

  Abby was still laughing when they reached the hot springs. Several women were already in the water. Ice lanterns circled the springs, casting the area in an eerie glow, made eerier by the steam rising from the women sitting in the water.

  The older women called out their hellos as Mallory and Abby piled their clothes with the others on the tarp. Shivering, Mallory climbed carefully into the water, smiling her thanks at Granny MacLeod but avoiding her outstretched hand. She knew better than to let the older woman touch her with her bare hand. The last thing Mallory wanted to know was what her future had in store for her. She didn’t think she could take more bad news. Both Abby and Sadie had been the recipients of Granny MacLeod’s gift.

  “We’re so glad you came tonight, Mallory,” the mayor said. “Abby has probably already told you, but we’d be honored if you would join the Sisterhood.”

  “I’m honored that you want me.” She smiled at the women smiling at her. “Is there some kind of initiation ceremony?”

  “She thought you were going to make her dance naked under the moonlight and pledge her fealty to Mother Earth,” Abby said.

  The other women laughed and then Winter explained, “We’re a group of women who are trying to reconnect with Mother Earth and the old ways. It’s time as women that we raise each other up rather than bring each other down. Like my ancestors, the Cherokee and the Scots, we need to respect the elderly and not push them aside. We no longer value their opinion and that’s a mistake. We can learn from those who’ve walked the path before us. That’s what you do, Mallory. And that’s why we want you to join us.”

  “You’re a healer, Mallory Carlisle. You always were,” Granny MacLeod said, and everyone turned to look at her.

  “She’s not touching your hand, is she?” Elsa Mackenzie asked.

  “Trust me, you know when Granny MacLeod is prophesying. She gets a weird look on her face, and her voice drops to a creepy monotone,” Abby said. “No offense, Granny MacLeod.”

  “None taken, dear.”

  “Granny! Granny, where are you?” A voice called from somewhere in the woods, a beam of light shining through the bare trees.

  “Sadie, is that you?” Abby called out.

  “Yes, it’s me. Where are you guys? I thought you were supposed to be at the standing stones.”

  “We’re at the hot springs.”

  There was some cursing and branches snapping before Sadie stepped into the clearing.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming home until Christmas Eve,” Abby said, pulling a worried face at Mallory.

  “She left the bairn’s father,” Granny MacLeod said.

  “About time, if you ask me,” said Elsa Mackenzie.

  A couple of the other women, including Abby, agreed. Mallory did, too, but she kept her opinion to herself. She didn’t think Sadie needed everyone piling on.

  “Join us in the springs,” Winter suggested.

  Sadie demurred. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

  “It’s probably better for you and the baby if you don’t, Sadie,” Mallory said.

  “We should get out anyway. It’s about time we light the yule log,” Elsa Mackenzie said. Then she explained that each of them, Mallory and Sadie, too, should write whatever they wanted to get rid of on scraps of paper and burn it in the yule fire. Then they’d write their hopes and dreams for the future to fill the void. Some of the women would spend the night at the stones waiting for the sun to come up.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re not sleeping under the stars tonight,” Sadie told her grandmother, who slipped as she was coming out of the water. Sadie reached for her, grabbing her by the hand.

  A gasp went up from some of the women when Granny MacLeod began to speak in what could only be described as a creepy monotone. “On the day of hearts, you will experience both an all-consuming pain and an all-consuming love. A man will come from the shadows and deliver you from the pain. But be warned, he will bring you more. He isn’t who he says he is. You’ll be forced to make a choice. Follow your heart or risk that which is most dear to you. This I see, so it shall be.”

  Sadie sighed. “Wonderful, Granny. Thank you so much. You just made my night.”

  “I didn’t see you getting arrested for kidnapping again, did I?”

  “No, Granny,” Sadie said, pulling a sweatshirt over her grandmother’s head.

  “That you were carrying a bairn?”

  “I don’t think it’s physically possible to get pregnant when you already are.”

  “Well, that’s good, then. What did I say?”

  “Nothing good, Granny. Nothing good.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Abby said to Sadie later when they sat around the fire writing down what they wanted to let go of in the coming year.

  “So says the eternal optimist. How is unimaginable pain, a man who isn’t who he said he is and is going to bring me more pain, plus a chance I’m going to lose everything I hold dear, not that bad?”

  “It sounds kinda like last summer. You get a little bad mixed in with a whole lot of good.” Abby smiled and patted Sadie’s baby bump.

  “I suppose, but right now, this whole lot of good comes with a daddy who—” Her eyes went wide when a man called, “Sadie! Sadie, where are you?”

  “I can’t believe it. It’s Drew. He must’ve followed me,” she whispered, looking panicked.

  Mallory glanced at Abby. This couldn’t be good. Abby nodded and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Hunter.”

  Mallory knew how frightened Sadie must be when she didn’t argue. “Sadie, go stand with your grandmother, Elsa, and Winter behind the stones.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Hold off Drew until Hunter arrives,” Mallory said, picking up her flashlight and a big stick. She’d stood between abusive parents and scared little kids. She’d stood between abused women and abusive men. She wasn’t afraid to stand between Drew and her best friend.

  Abby stared at her as she disconnected from Hunter. “Don’t do anything crazy, okay? Hunter’s calling—”

  Drew crashed through the trees. “Where is she? Where’s Sadie?”

  “We thought she was with you in Charlotte. What happened?” Mallory said as she walked toward him. He looked beyond her, sweeping his flashlight over the bonfire and standing stones.

  Mallory shone her flashlight in his eyes. “Drew, answer me. Why did Sadie leave you?”

  “Get tha
t thing out of my eyes.” He took a step toward her. “Why do you think Sadie left me? What did she say?”

  “She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. You’re here, and she’s not.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Have you been drinking?”

  “None of your damn business. Get out of my way.” He shoved her hard, and she stumbled.

  Abby stepped in front of him. “You’re trespassing, Drew. Get off my property.”

  “Piss off.” He went to shove Abby but Mallory got between them and pushed him back. He stumbled, his arms pinwheeling as the momentum took him backward. He fell, grunting and groaning as he rolled down the steep incline to crash into a tree. Hunter ran into the clearing with Wolf at his side, glancing over his shoulder at the sound of approaching sirens.

  “I see you didn’t need me after all.” He smiled at Abby, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He looked around. “Everyone okay?”

  “All good. Mallory took care of it,” Elsa said.

  But that story changed when Gabe arrived moments later. He crossed his arms when each of the women swore that Drew was drunk and had tripped over his own feet.

  That might’ve worked had Drew not been crawling up the incline yelling, “Arrest her! She tried to kill me.” Apart from being covered in snow, dirt, and leaves, he seemed perfectly fine to her.

  Gabe looked at Mallory with an eyebrow raised. “I didn’t try to kill him. He was going to push Abby, and I stepped between them.”

  His lips quirked in the glow of the firelight. “And he ran into your hands?” he said, repeating what she’d said happened with Dirk McFee that day at the tree farm.

  “Yes. Yes, he did. Do I need to call my lawyer, Chief Buchanan?”

  “She’s already here,” Eden said, stepping out from among the trees. She was a member of the Sisterhood too. Mallory had heard someone say she was running late.

  “You don’t need a lawyer, Doc. Even if he wanted to press charges, he couldn’t. He’s got too many witnesses willing to testify against him. Besides that, I believe you. I can smell the alcohol off the guy from here so he has his own legal issues to worry about.” He sighed when Owen appeared. “Owen, you mind taking him to my car? I want a word with Mallory.”

  “Maybe Mallory doesn’t want a word with you,” she said, despite being relieved that he believed her.

  “I understand why you wouldn’t. I’m sorry about last night. I crossed the line. I stopped by to apologize to you and the boys and to try to explain what happened. They said you were out. They were at my place when the call came in. I hope you don’t mind that they’re staying with the boys.”

  “If they wanted to, it’s fine with me.”

  “They told me, Doc. They told me Marsha’s agreed to pay for boarding school and that they’re leaving after the holidays.”

  She looked away, fighting back tears at the sympathy in his voice. He, more than anyone, would know how she felt.

  He took her in his arms. “I’m sorry. I wish things could be different.”

  He was apologizing for more than just last night and for Oliver and Brooks leaving; he was apologizing for what could never be.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  It was Christmas Eve Day, and Mallory wasn’t feeling the least bit Christmassy. The boys were more excited about packing for boarding school than they were for Santa’s arrival. She’d made one last desperate attempt at her Christmas plan. But they hadn’t been interested in joining her to deliver gift baskets to the housebound seniors.

  Beside her on the passenger seat sat one last basket. She pulled up the list on her phone. All the seniors had been checked off and accounted for. As she pulled out of the apartment complex, her car headed for Mountain Road as though of its own accord. It was inevitable that she would find herself on this road. She just hadn’t expected it to be today.

  Boyd had been trying to make things right since the night he’d shot Gabe. She’d thought she’d forgiven him but at Winter Solstice, as she sat in front of the fire writing the list of everything she wanted to let go of, she realized she hadn’t.

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Not after all those years of feeling unloved and unwanted. It didn’t help that Oliver and Brooks had chosen boarding school over her. It served to magnify those feelings. And then there was Gabe. But she didn’t blame him for not fighting for her. He had another more important battle to win.

  Her car bumped along the rutted road, causing her to second-guess herself at nearly every turn. And then the memories came, and she couldn’t turn back if she wanted to.

  Ten minutes later, she found herself pulling in beside her father’s truck. The cabin looked the same as she remembered. She sat in the car, watching the tendrils of wood smoke rise up to the purple sky. The setting sun was almost invisible as it slid behind a blue mountain shrouded in clouds. She didn’t have time to waste. She’d promised Teddy that she and the boys would be at church. Teddy was a shepherd in tonight’s nativity play. Yesterday she’d helped him with his costume.

  As she got out of the car, she spotted the rusted pink swing set. She had a distant memory of her father setting it up on her sixth birthday. She left the basket on the front porch and went to sit on the swing. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there or how long her father had been watching her.

  “I’ve got the tea on. You wanna cup?” he asked, leaning against the porch rail.

  She nodded. “Yes, please. It’s for you,” she said when he looked down at the basket.

  He smiled. “Thank you.” He was still a handsome man with his bright blue eyes and dark hair. He only had a touch of gray at his temples. “I have something for you and the boys. I was going to give it to you after the service.”

  “I have your present at the house. I thought you’d join us for Christmas dinner. I’d like you to come,” she said when he hesitated. “Owen is welcome to come too.”

  “I think he has other plans. But I’ll be there, thank you.”

  “It looks the same as I remember,” she said as she followed him inside.

  “Hasn’t changed much. Your room’s the same; so is your mother’s. You can have a look around if you want. It’s still your home.”

  She’d forgotten he and her mother hadn’t shared a room. Her mother had needed a special bed. She remembered him taking on two more jobs to be able to pay for it. He’d been a hard worker. She remembered that too.

  She stood in the threshold of her mother’s room, and the memories flooded back.

  “I should probably donate the bed. Her wheelchair too. I’m sure someone could use them,” her father said from behind her.

  “If you’d like, I could look into it for you.”

  He nodded and then walked into her mother’s room. He went to the window and stared outside. Her mother had the best view. He’d made sure that she did.

  His shoulders bowed. “I killed her. That’s why I didn’t fight Owen when he took you away. I kept waiting for him to figure it out and arrest me. Then I started drinking to dull the guilt and the pain.” He turned to look at her, his face stricken. “Even if I’d known that Owen had told them I was coming and that you stayed in foster care instead of being adopted, I wouldn’t have come for you. You were better off without me. You deserved so much more than I could give you. I left you there because I loved you, not because I didn’t.” He turned back to look out the window.

  She slowly lowered herself onto the rocking chair in the corner. She used to sit on it and read to her mother for hours. She’d liked romance novels too.

  “You couldn’t have killed her. You wouldn’t have. You loved her.” The only memories she’d had of him were of a good father and a good husband. It was what made it so hard to understand how he could just let her go.

  “She begged me. She was in constant pain. She didn’t want to live anymore.” He turned to look at her, his blue eyes burning bright. “She said if I didn’t do it, she’d get you to. I couldn’t let her do that to you.”

>   Mallory stood up and went to the dresser, picking up a photo of her parents on their wedding day. So young, so beautiful, so hopeful. “How did you do it?”

  “It took awhile. I stockpiled her pain medication. Not so much that the doctor noticed. Then I mixed her up a cocktail and left it on her nightstand. I didn’t give it to her. I couldn’t. I kept praying she’d change her mind.”

  “You were there though. You held her until she died. I remember. I remember coming home. Owen was here, and so were the paramedics.”

  “I waited until she was gone to call them.”

  “I did the same.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  She told him about Harry. “I wish I had done for him what you’d done for Mom, but I couldn’t. He asked.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t. No one should put someone they love in that position. I understand why they do though. We wouldn’t let an animal suffer.”

  She went to stand beside him at the window. “Thank you for helping her, and thank you for protecting me. Back then, I would’ve done whatever she asked. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to live with myself after.”

  “You were my world. I would’ve done anything to protect you.”

  “I know you thought you were protecting me when you let me go. I have a better understanding of why you did now. I…I just…”

  The gates she’d kept closed on all her emotions for all those years opened. Her father took her in his arms and rocked her as she cried. He was crying too. The room was dark by the time they stopped.

  “Come on, let’s get you that cup of tea. Then I’ll drive you down the mountain myself. It’s starting to snow, and the winds are picking up.” He guided her into the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her. He handed her a piece of paper towel to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.

  “I’ll need to wear sunglasses to church,” she said.

  He smiled, and then, changing to what he probably thought was a happier subject, he asked about the boys and what they wanted for Christmas.

  “To leave me, and they got their wish.” She told him about Marsha paying for Oliver and Brooks to go back to boarding school.