When She's Merry: A Risdaverse Novella by Ruby Dixon

Author:Ruby Dixon [Dixon, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ruby Dixon
Published: 2022-12-04T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter

Eleven

DEVIN

After yet another round of cake, we take turns opening presents. To my surprise, Liesje has also made me a hat. Hers is knitted and the one I made for her was crocheted, but we have a good laugh at the fact that we’re thinking along the same lines. I wear mine and Liesje puts on the pom-pom disaster I made for her atop her head and fusses over the potholders I made. I can tell she’s pleased even if she says she has no use for them.

Sinath is delighted to get “horn warmers” and puts the cheery tassels I made for him on the tip of each horn. He’s equally thrilled with his “matching” sock, which makes Liesje break out into laughter.

Liesje presents Sinath with a long, sweeping scarf, one that seems far too long and time-intensive to be made in the last few days. When I give her a questioning look, she just shrugs. “Seemed like a shame for it to go to waste, and this fool probably heads out into the snow a lot.”

“Not if this fool can help it,” Sinath tells her agreeably. He winds the thick scarf around his neck and then gets to his feet, hugging Liesje. “It’s perfect.”

She blinks repeatedly and then swats at him. “Go sit with your woman. I’m too old for you.”

With a smirk, Sinath moves toward me and sits at my side on the floor. We’re crowded near the small tree, since Liesje’s place is still full of boxes and things she hasn’t bothered to unpack. I don’t mind, though. There’s something cozy about snuggling inside the small, crowded house with friends while the wind howls outside.

Then it’s time for Sinath’s gifts to be given out.

He watches with ill-disguised excitement as we unwrap present after present from the general store. There’s a self-heating bowl I’ve been eyeing, three different kinds of candles and soaps, spices of all kinds, a packet of seeds to grow flowers, and a bolt of fabric that changes colors randomly. For me, there’s a few skeins of bright, soft yarn, and I clutch them to my chest with happiness bubbling in my heart. “How did you know what to get us? This is amazing.”

Sinath grimaces and rubs his ear. “Uh, you probably don’t want to know.”

“Is it creepy?”

“I mean, define creepy?” He smiles, but it doesn’t go to his eyes.

Liesje flicks one of the crocheted tassels on the end of his horn. “Just tell her so she stops worrying. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Well…” He glances at Liesje and then back to me. “I bribed the male that runs the general store to let me search his security feeds for your bio-signatures. If you paused over something, I bought it. It seemed like the best way to get you things that you wanted as gifts.” His big, silly grin fades as he watches me. “Did I do badly?”

I just keep clutching the yarn. In another world, in another life, that could be intrusive. But it’s also

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