Dreaming of a Witch Christmas by Mindy Klasky

Author:Mindy Klasky [Klasky, Mindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Res Ipsa Press

Two nights later, I was ready to celebrate the winter solstice. The longest night of the year. Yule.

Outside, snow bucketed down, and it was hard to see the street a dozen yards away. Tradition said we should burn a Yule log, brightening the long night and welcoming the sun god back from his long winter’s rest. Alas, neither David nor I was up for a fire on the hearth, not while we still fought insurance companies over the consequences of the last flames we’d watched together.

But we had lights on our Yule tree, tiny white bulbs that made our sun-shaped ornaments sparkle. We’d turned on the candle-shaped lights in our front windows as well, sending a message of peace and rebirth to anyone who happened by on the street. It was a perfect night to spend with loved ones, cloaked in introspection about the past year, looking forward to the future.

I had mulled some wine on the stove, heating our mugs with boiling water before I added the spicy drink. David had roasted a leg of lamb, tossing in a mix of root vegetables as the meat sizzled in the oven for the last tempting hour. After we’d feasted, I put together a plate of Melissa’s most tempting holiday treats—Cinnamon Smiles and Nutmeg Knots and a handful of Sugar Suns—and carried it into the front parlor.

I joined my husband on the couch. As David slipped his arm around my shoulder, the radiators clanged to life, adding to the cozy, insulated feeling. “Mmm,” I said, as his fingers did something distracting to the soft skin beneath my ear.

“I could get used to this,” David murmured.

His lips were warm and soft, and the scrape of his beard against my cheek made me think about how he looked in the morning, tangled in our sheets. I was ready to take his hand, to lead him upstairs and test whether the image in my mind matched reality, but he gently pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” he said. For a moment, I thought the huskiness in his voice was lust. But then I realized it was something else—remorse. Or maybe regret. Chagrin?

“For what?”

“When we met, I could support you. Support your Academy. I owned property, and I was stable and steady and nothing was going to stand in my way. That’s all gone now.”

I leaned back enough to look into his serious brown eyes. Green glinted deep within them, a hint of the emotion that constricted his voice. “What are you talking about?” I cajoled. “When we met, I was a flighty librarian who didn’t have a clue about the powers I possessed. I was an emotional wreck, a liability as a witch, and I had no idea what I wanted in life.”

I thought that would get me at least a smile. When it didn’t, I settled my left hand over David’s heart, flexing my wrist so the lights from the tree caught my silver wedding band. “Hey. My point is, we’ve both changed. And we wouldn’t be together if we hadn’t.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.