Healing the Broken: A Kindred Christmas Tale Read online

  Tsandor felt his heart give a strange little jump.

  “Do you want me to guess what it is?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “No, honey. Just come with me. You’ll see.”

  Wiping his hands on a paper towel and leaving his ornament to dry, Tsandor got up and followed Ms. Lola, wondering what was going on.

  She took him out of the playtime area and around to the front of the constant care house. At first Tsandor thought the surprise she meant was inside the house.

  Then he saw who was standing in the front yard of the house, looking at him.

  “Patro?” he whispered, coming a little closer. “Sarah?”

  His father grinned at him and Sarah smiled that beautiful, warm smile that reminded him so much of Maman’s smile.

  “Come here, Tsandor,” Patro said. “Sarah and I have come to take you home.”

  At first Tsandor couldn’t believe it. Then he remembered what Shad had told him—that he would see his father and Sarah really soon. And then Ms. Lola had said she had a surprise for him—was this it? Was it really exactly what he had been wishing for?

  Joy overwhelmed him and he ran to them as fast as he could and threw himself into their arms.

  * * * * *

  Sarah laughed for sheer joy as she and Sazar held each other and Tsandor tight, in a big, family hug.

  “Sarah! Patro!”

  The little boy was wriggling like a puppy he was so excited. But after lots of hugs and kisses he settled down enough to ask a question.

  “Is it true?” he asked, looking from Sazar to her and back again. “Am I really going home with you guys? Really-really?”

  “Really-really,” Sarah assured him, smiling.

  “It’s true, Tsandor.” Sazar’s pale eyes were suspiciously bright. “You’re coming home with us and you’ll never have to live here at the care house again.”

  “And…we’ll all be together?” Tsandor persisted, as if wanting to be sure.

  “We’ll all be together—one happy family,” Sarah promised. She felt a lump in her throat as she hugged the little boy tight. She’d felt a pull towards Tsandor from the first moment she’d seen him—almost as though she was meant to be his second mom. It felt right to hold him tight—as right as it felt when she hugged Sazar.

  “What are we going to do now?” Tsandor demanded, wiggling like an eager puppy again. “Where are we going to go? Are we going to go home?”

  “I thought first we could get a Christmas tree,” Sarah said, smiling at Sazar. “Can we?”

  “I think they still have a few for sale at the open market,” he remarked, smiling back.

  “And we’ll need some ornaments to hang on it,” Sarah said. “And then I think we’d better get some ingredients to make Christmas cookies.”

  “You mean the red and green kind?” Tsandor made a face. “Because I don’t know if I like them.”

  “Those are the boxed kind,” Lola said, speaking up from the side yard where she’d been watching their reunion with a wide smile on her face. She shrugged apologetically. “I’m afraid they’re not very good.”

  “You have to make them yourself for them to taste right,” Sarah said decisively. She smiled at Tsandor. “Would you like to help me? I have to warn you—it might get kind of messy.”

  His little face broke into a grin.

  “I like messy!”

  “I do too.” Sarah hugged him and pressed a kiss to his hot little cheek. “I have a lot of Christmas traditions to teach you and your dad because Christmas is tomorrow.”

  “Is that when the elderly overweight male goes to every house in the world in one night and brings presents?” Sazar asked, frowning.

  “Exactly.” Sarah grinned. “Come on—let’s go. We have a lot to do to get ready.”

  They put Tsandor down and held his hands between them as they left the grounds of the constant care house forever.

  Sarah had a warm feeling, like a glow deep inside that radiated outward as they went. She wondered briefly if Malinda, Sazar’s first wife, could see her holding her son’s hand from wherever she was. She wondered if Malinda could know how much she cared for Tsandor and Sazar and how badly she wanted to be a good wife and mother.

  Then, for a moment, she had a brief flash of a slim, blonde woman standing beside someone else—another woman but one whose face was so beautiful it was hard to look at.

  Was it Malinda and the Goddess? Somehow, Sarah thought so. And both of them were smiling at her encouragingly.

  I’ll take good care of Tsandor, she promised them silently. I’ll love him like my own, I promise I will! And I’ll be good to Sazar too.

  I know you will, my daughter. That is why I chose you, the voice of the Goddess murmured in her head. I will bless your union with Sazar with many other children but you and Tsandor will always remain close. And you and Sazar will grow old together in harmony and love.

  Then the brief flash was over and Sarah was left to blot the tears out of her eyes and smile at her new family. For the first time in longer than she cared to remember, she was going to have a happy Christmas—a family Christmas with the two new men in her life and she would never, ever let them go.

  Epilogue

  “So you’re his Fated Mate? What does that mean?” Kat asked as she watched the kids running around the open park land of the Mother Ship’s common area. Because of the season, the intensity of the green sun at the center of the Mother Ship had been lowered enough to permit snow to fall and the result was magical.

  Everywhere kids were laughing and playing, making snowmen and throwing snowballs. In the center of it all, covered in the densest blanket of snow and undisturbed, was the Sacred Grove—the temple sacred to the Goddess. A few of the priestesses could be seen peering out from the snow-covered branches of their grove and smiling as they watched the kid’s antics.

  Sarah, who had been born and raised in Florida, was amazed by the gorgeous sight. She’d often wished to see snow as a child but this was her first experience with it. It made everything seem perfect and right and indescribably beautiful.

  “Well basically it means we’ll live to a ripe old age and then die at the exact same time,” she said, trying to draw her mind back from the snow to answer Kat’s question. She wasn’t about to go into the fact that Sazar could also drink from the more sensitive parts of her anatomy and give her multiple orgasms by doing so. That was a little too embarrassing to share, even with her good friends.

  “That’s wonderful! Sazar must be so happy he doesn’t have to worry about losing you the way he lost his first wife,” Sophie said softly.

  “We haven’t talked about it much but yes—I think he’s really relieved.”

  Sarah smiled as she watched her new mate sip hot cocoa and talk with Commander Sylvan and a few other Kindred warriors who were gathered by one of the many picnic tables set up around the perimeter of the common area.

  “Right now we’re just getting used to being mated and being a family,” she added as Tsandor threw a snowball and ran away laughing when Shad threw one back at him. “But I have to tell you—I’ve never been so happy. Not since I was a kid myself.”

  “It shows.” Liv smiled at her. “You’re positively glowing.”

  “And what’s that on your finger, doll?” Kat raised an eyebrow at her, looking at Sarah’s hand.

  “Oh…” Sarah blushed and laughed, looking down at the pear cut diamond solitaire on the ring finger of her left hand. “Sazar gave me that last night after we tucked Tsandor in bed. Kind of as a Christmas present slash engagement gift. He said that the other warriors told him Earth women liked them and he wanted me to be happy.”

  “I’m guessing that’s not the only present he gave you, hmm?” Kat laughed and nudged Sarah in the ribs. “You don’t have to tell us—we know how it is when you’re newly bonded.”

  “Oh, well…” Sarah felt like her whole face must be red but just then Liv put her fingers to her temples.