Prologue
Twenty-Five Years Ago
"Babe!" the man called out to his wife, who was excitedly bouncing their baby boy in her arms as she stood in line to meet the Mall Santa Claus "If you jostle him anymore, then he's going to get a concussion."
The woman sent a glare over her shoulder, her blonde ringlets settling prettily around her face.
"Oh hush" she scolded her husband "Cooper is tough like his mama. Besides, he's just excited as I am for his first picture with Santa."
They looked at their son who was looking at the bright lights and chewing on his fist with a gummy smile.
The man grinned as the woman kissed her son's wild tufts of blonde hair.
The couple started whispering excitedly as they edged closer to the front of the line.
By the time that they were finished with their Holiday photos as a family, it was eight at night and the few remaining stores in the Mall began to close shop for the night.
The woman beamed down at the photos in her hand as the man pushed their sleeping son in his stroller through the mall's parking garage.
"These are going in his baby book!" she said excitedly "Look at his face! He's smiling up at Santa!"
The man chuckled at his enthused wife "I think he's smiling at the twenty foot reindeer."
"Either way" she rolled her eyes "This is the best picture I've ever seen of a baby with Santa Claus! Did you see my sister's annual Christmas photo this year? She had a crazy smile on her face and my nieces were mid-cartwheel when the picture was taken. Our photo is perfect."
The man snickered "Always competing with your older sister."
"She competes with me!" the woman nudged her husband's shoulder with her own "It's not easy being the younger sister with a neurotic detail oriented competitive older sister."
"Speaking of neurotic" he said, wrinkling his nose in thought "Why did we have to take these photos today? Couldn't we have come back tomorrow right when the line opened and got out of here faster?"
"NO!" she said vigorously "Christmas is a week away and we have dinner with my family tomorrow and then your family on Wednesday. With work and Coop, today was the only day we really had time to get this picture done."
She grabbed one of her husband's and started swinging it, walking backwards as they spotted their car.
"Can you believe this?" she said excitedly, looking down at their sleeping son "A few months ago, we were scrambling to find a name for him and now we're taking Christmas photos with him in matching outfits! I just can't believe that this is our life now! I'm the luckiest woman on this planet."
YOU ARE READING
BLOOD MOON
Werewolf"Legend has it there is always a reason why souls meet. Maybe they found each other for reasons that weren't so different after all. They were two souls searching and found a home lost in each other. When souls find comfort in one another, separatio...
