Santa's Daughter (1st bk of Santa Series) (Completed)

Chapter 10 (Edited)

My hair was turning white, as it started to get past 7pm, and I wanted to have some peace and quiet. I got into the kitchen and sat down at the table, closing my eyes with a sigh. My head pounded, as if someone started to hit two hammers at it.

"Mary?" Mom asked, a few minutes later, coming into the kitchen, from the living room.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Hi, Mom," I said, rubbing the back of my neck, in a sheepish manner.

"Are you alright?" she asked in concern.

I shrugged my shoulder, not knowing what was wrong with me. "Tired, I guess," I said. "But, other than that, I'm fine."

She nodded her head, before she placed her hand in her pocket and pulled something out. "I got something for you,  Mary," she said, looking at the small pouch, longing filled her eyes. "It is from your father." She reached for my hand and placed a small pouch into my hand. The small pouch felt cold, as if there was something in there, that has been left in the freezer for so long. The small pouch was red in color, making me think of my father's sleigh.

"What is it?"

"Open it. And you will see."

I did as she told me to do and opened the golden thread. I poured some out into my hand to see that it was... "...snow?" I asked, looking at her in confusion. Why would she have snow when it had just started snowing an hour ago?

Mom smiled, as if it was something that she longed to see again. Her eyes turned darker, while her thoughts turned sad. She cleared her throat and sighed, shaking her head from her sad thoughts. "It is snow from the North Pole," she explained. "It will never melt, even in the summer."

"Oh." I fiddled with it, loving the softness and such of it. I looked up at her, frowning. I wanted to ask the question that I had been wondering about, since this morning. I didn't know where I was born, and I wanted to. "Mom, where exactly was I born?"

She looked startled by my question, but she didn't laugh at me. She understood that if I asked the question, then I wanted a complete answer, even if it was silly, like tying a horse to a tree. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head, no. "I thought I was born at the North Pole," I replied, shrugging my shoulder. I placed the snow back into the small pouch, and I placed the small pouch into a bigger pouch that I wear around my neck. It had herbs and stuff in it, if I really needed them to help the horses.

"Actually, you were born here. You were born on this land," she said, gesturing around the house. "Your father thought it would be for the best, since he would be missing out on your birth."

I looked up at her, surprised. I didn't even know that would be possible. However, I did know that my father would miss out on my birth because he was the one that sent presents to every child in the world. "What? How?"

She smiled, a full blown smile, making her look younger than she was. "You know Doctor Min Ying, right?"

I nodded and smiled, thinking about our friend and Vet. "She is our Vet, and she is also my teacher." I was going to become a Veterinarian, when I was older, and Dr. Ying has been training me to be one. I was going to be a good Vet, because of my ability to talk to animals and such.

"She helped me give birth to you."

"So, is she an Elf, also?"

Mom nodded her head. "Her real name is Minnie, and she has been a close friend of mine. She had asked to come down with Frankie when we were going to move back to this place." She shook her head and laughed a little. "It was a shock, because she had been crushing on another Elf that stayed up there."

"Oh." It was the only thing that I could think of to say. I mean, what else could I say? There was some stuff that I didn't even know was possible. I mean, there has to be more to me that I don't know about right? I guess I'll find out, but it was a good thing that I remember my father.

Mika came in and sat down by my feet. She stayed silent and looked around, her tail going across her feet. Her ears were pricked as if she was paying attention to something else and not us. However, her left ear did flick back to us, letting me know that she was paying attention.

Mom sat down besides me and cocked her head. "So how did you like the new recruit?"

"He seems to have no confidence in humans, even the ones that had not hurt him," I replied. "So, he's going to be a little more trouble than some of the horses that we had worked with."

She smiled, but it still didn't reach her eyes. There was a sense of longing in them, and I knew deep down, that this might be our last Christmas together. "You are going to be a fine Veterinarian," she said, reaching out and squeezed my shoulder, reassuringly. She sighed and stood, smiling down at me. "Come on, and let's make something to feed our guests," she said, changing the subject.

I sighed with relief and nodded, glad that she had changed the subject from what we were talking about. I followed her into the living room, and I could still feel the snow from the North Pole on my hands.

Something about the snow made me think that it wasn't just ordinary snow. It was as if there were magical properties to it. But, that's crazy. Right?

***

"Who's hungry?" Mom asked, while we went into the living. She folded her arms across her chest and stared at the guests who had just been lounging around talking.

"We are," they said in unison.

"Alright, if you want to see us work-" Mom started to say.

"-then go into the dining area, and look over the counter, while we work," I finished.

"Man, how can you two finish each other thoughts?" Madison asked, shaking her head. "I'll never get used to that."

"'Cause we can," we said in unison, smiling.

We started to laugh, even though Frankie didn't laugh with us.

I couldn't blame him. He didn't know the about the joke that had been going on for a long while.

Tyan didn't get it at first. However, after being here for about three months, she got that both of us do stuff and think so much alike. She had told us that we were like twins, and she wasn't the first one that had said that.

John cleared his throat, making all of us look at him, confused. "Is it alright if... uh... Mary can skip making dinner for tonight?" he ask, looking away from us. He rubbed the back of neck, sheepishly.

Mom and I looked at each other, frowning. We were both wondering what was going on, because John never called out to be alone with me. So, this was a new experience for us.

A smirk appeared on her face, but she didn't say anything about what had happened. Her eyes danced with laughter, probably saying that he liked me.

However, that was insane. He couldn't like me like I like him. Could he?

"Sure." I turned to look at him and shrugged my shoulder, acting indifferent. My heart started to beat a little faster, because I didn't know what he was wanting to do. I could feel my cheeks heat up a little bit, but I had a natural blush as it is, so it wasn't that noticeable.

"If you go and look at the horses, then use the passageways, please," Mom called out, while we left the living room to go to the kitchen.