She stopped walking. “What does that mean?”
Jaxon placed his hand on her arm. “We need to keep moving. If everything is perfect this evening, my father will be much easier to live with.”
Crap. She didn’t like the way that sounded. “He’d never do anything to physically hurt you or your mother, would he?”
“What?” Jaxon appeared shocked. “Of course not. He might take away the keys to my car, but he’d never lay a hand on either of us.”
And now she felt like she needed to apologize. “Sorry. From my perspective he’s a little scary.” She wanted to add unbalanced, but that wouldn’t help the conversation.
“He is fierce. As he should be. And might I remind you, your father is the one who greeted me with an ax.” He grinned at her, and it was a real smile.
The tension she’d felt earlier receded. “You have a point. Now what’s the big reveal?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
They continued down the path and caught up with the rest of their family members at a table set for dinner next to a giant evergreen decorated with navy and silver glass balls that sparkled in the lights. A life-size sleigh was parked by the tree. And wait a minute. “Are those reindeer?”
“Yes,” Jaxon said. “Rudolph was booked but we managed to bring in Dasher and Dancer.”
The majestic animals had velvety brown fur and big amber eyes, not to mention impressive antlers.
“Can I pet them?”
“See that basket of carrots?” Jaxon pointed at the silver metal basket sitting under the Christmas tree.
If she wasn’t wearing heels, she would have run to the basket. Instead she walked over, grabbed two carrots, and headed for the reindeer. They raised their heads and sniffed the air as she came closer.
“Hello, there.” She held a carrot out to the closest reindeer, which he accepted without hesitation. While he chewed, she ran her hands along his neck and side. His fur was thick and soft. The other reindeer stamped his front right foot and looked at her expectantly. “Sorry.” She moved around and gave him a carrot, petting him in the same manner. “They’re beautiful.”
Bryn’s grandmother approached. “They are lovely.”
“You have an enchanted forest with reindeer,” Bryn said. “Do you have Santa Claus stashed nearby?”
“No, he’s a little busy this time of year,” Jaxon said.
“Too bad,” Bryn said.
“If you’ll wash your hands and come to the table, dinner is about to start,” Lillith announced.
Okay, she had just run her fingers through the deer’s fur, but where was she supposed to wash her hands. She glanced around.
“This way.” Jaxon led her to the back of the giant evergreen to what looked like a water fountain. There was a crystal soap dispenser which she made use of and then she rinsed her hands.
“Was this here before the reindeer?” she asked.
“No. My mother had it installed this morning.”
“Wow.” Bryn couldn’t think of anything else to say. She was about to have Christmas dinner, complete with reindeer, at Westgate Estate. She fought the urge to giggle. A year ago she would have been 80 percent positive Ferrin would poison her food. Now she was about 80 percent positive he wouldn’t.
Keeping her thoughts to herself, she followed Jaxon back to the table and ended up sitting between him and Lillith. That worked. Her grandparents sat across from her while Ferrin sat at the head of the table. Asher lay in a bassinet by Lillith. He seemed to be captivated by a snowman mobile spinning in lazy circles.
“Thank you for coming this evening,” Ferrin said. “I’d be lying if I said I’d ever imagined this situation, but Jaxon and Bryn do seem to be a good match.” He raised his wine glass. “To new beginnings and a happy holiday.”
Bryn raised her water goblet while the adults raised their wine glasses. Jaxon copied her move. After the toast, Ferrin pressed a button on a small remote and a maid appeared from behind a tree pushing a cart down the slate path. In no time at all, dinner was served.
Lillith kept the small talk flowing while they ate. The food was amazing, and everything ran smoothly, which was strange. After a dessert of Christmas cookies, Ferrin said, “Let’s move on to the next part of the evening.”
“What’s next?” Bryn asked Jaxon.
“I’m not ruining the surprise,” he said. “Come on.”
They walked deeper into the forest and ended up at what looked like a frozen pond. There were benches with ice-skates lined up on them.
Bryn pointed at the glass like surface. “Did you use your breath weapon to create an indoor skating rink?”
“No,” Jaxon said. “We, or rather some Green dragons and an Orange dragon, used technology to create it, while making sure it wouldn’t hurt the trees.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Bryn said.
Jaxon shot her a look. “Was that pun intentional?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you know how to skate?” Jaxon asked.
Before this whole shape-shifting dragon business, she’d skated as a human. Or rather she’d tried to skate and spent most of her time falling down. “Not really, but I’m sure I can learn.” She looked down at her dress. “I’m not sure this is appropriate ice-skating attire.”
Jaxon pointed at a small tent-like structure off to the side. “My mother stocked the dressing room with clothes for you and your grandmother.”
At the moment, her grandmother emerged wearing a cream and navy cable-knit sweater and navy pants.
“Wow. Your mom thought of everything.”
Ten minutes later, Bryn realized she might’ve been wrong about the whole skating thing, as her feet went out from under her, yet again, and she landed on the cold wet ice with a thump. Thank goodness for the wardrobe change or she would’ve flashed Jaxon and everyone else half a dozen times by now. Speaking of Jaxon, he stood there, the picture of grace and ease on the ice, doing his best not to laugh and failing miserably. “Instead of smirking at me, help me up.” She held out a hand.
He glided over on his skates, like he was floating on air, and grabbed her hand. She fought the impulse to yank on his arm so he’d fall down, too, and instead allowed him to pull her to her feet.
Once she was standing she pointed at her skates. “Maybe the blades are defective.”
Jaxon pointed at his parents and her grandparents who were skating effortlessly on the far side of the ice rink. “They don’t seem to be having a problem.”
“Instead of mocking me, why don’t you teach me how to skate?”
“That won’t be nearly as much fun,” Jaxon said. “I think you’re pushing too hard. The idea is to glide, kind of like you fly, but use finesse, rather than strength.”
“That’s not my strong suit,” Bryn muttered.
Jaxon held out his hand. “You can do this.”
She took his hand which, oddly enough, felt natural, and pushed off, using half the force she’d used before. Huh. That did seem to work better.
“Push and glide,” Jaxon said.
“Right.” She didn’t glide quite like he did, but with him holding on to her, she managed much better and they actually made it around the entire pond.
“In honor of you making a complete circle without falling down, I think we should stop and have a drink.”
“Works for me.” Stopping while she was ahead seemed like a good plan.
He helped her off the ice to the bench where Bryn had left the boots Lillith had supplied with her outfit. After changing back into normal footwear, she felt much more relaxed. Shoes were not meant to have metal blades on the bottom of them.
In the middle of the bench was a carafe of hot cocoa, a small container of marshmallows, and two cups. Jaxon poured and then pushed the bowl of marshmallows toward her. “Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” She added three big marshmallows to her cup. For the moment, all was right in her world, which was strange because she was with Jaxon at Westgate Estate. Rather than think too much about it, she blew on her cocoa and then took a sip. It was velvety chocolate goodness.