Chapter Nineteen

“Come in, come in! Merry almost Christmas!”

“Merry almost Christmas!” Mira said, laughing as her mom and stepdad caught her up in a combined hug.

Wade watched from the outside, getting a kick out of how Mira practically disappeared into their enthusiastic hug. All he could see of her now was a pouf of chestnut ponytail and a tiny scrap of cashmere sweater.

After several back-to-back days of watching Marsh devalue her, it was good to see a place where she was appreciated the way she deserved to be. Of course, from how fondly Mira had spoken of her family, Wade had guessed it would be like this.

His family was close-knit, too, but since his parents had started doing so much traveling, it had been a while since they’d had a big, traditional family Christmas like the ones they’d had when he was a kid. He didn’t begrudge his parents the chance to see the world, not at all, but he had to admit that he’d missed this a little. It was good to be part of this kind of celebration again, even if he was more on the outskirts of it.

“And you must be Wade,” Mira’s mom said, finally separating herself from her now-disheveled daughter. “I’m Susan. This is my husband, Cliff. It’s very nice to have you with us.”

Her welcome was warm and genuine, but Wade didn’t think he was wrong to detect a note of uncertainty there too. From her point of view, he was a very last-minute addition to her dinner table, and she had to wonder what about him had made Mira fall so quickly.

For a second, all he could see was Boring Wade, with a bottomless drawer full of lumberjack shirts (it wasn’t his fault they went well with all the woodworking) and a history full of reasonable, responsible decisions. Maybe he was the kind of guy a mother would want her daughter to date, but was he the kind of man she could see sweeping that daughter off her feet?

His polar bear reared its head.

Remember what your mate told you , it said, its eyes glittering with a fierceness Wade didn’t see in it very often.

He did remember: the rhythm and the dance. He’d believed her when she’d told him that he had—and needed—both. He was Mira’s choice, and he loved her too much to insult that choice or assume she would pick badly.

He could turn into a polar bear, which was pretty cool. He could work with wood, which was a gift and an art he still loved. He could entertain kids and save them from rampaging reindeer. He was done assuming that he was too steady to be interesting, and he was done assuming that steadiness was secretly bad.

He shook Mira’s parents’ hands, one after the other.

Mira looked a lot like her mom, with the same graceful features and wide, dark eyes. But the family ties were just as obvious with her stepfather, just not as biological: they instantly fell into a well-worn joke routine with each other that ended with easy laughter. Everything here felt warm and comfortable and homey.

Wade was happier than ever that Mira’s bonus would come through. Now that he’d actually met her parents, he would hate to think of them struggling or being unhappy.

He followed Susan and Cliff into the living room.

“Brace yourself,” Mira whispered.

In another second, he could see why. After multiple days hip-deep in a Honey Brook Mall Christmas, he would have said that no amount of holiday decorations could possibly surprise him. Nothing could ever feel like overkill again, right?

This ... challenged that assumption.

Multicolored lights bedecked every available surface. They twined around the mantel (weaving in between the already-hung stockings), climbed up the doorframes, framed the TV, and—of course—wrapped around every inch of the tree. Years of Mira’s homemade decorations hung on that, interspersed with red and green and gold bulbs that reflected the light and made it even more dazzling. A tiny porcelain Christmas village was laid out on a gleaming mahogany table, with some of the villagers whirling around on a frosted glass ice rink.

“This was always my favorite part,” Mira said, tugging him over to watch the villagers spin. She lifted one up and showed him the magnet on its feet. “There are different magnetized tracks they spin on, so I would swap them around sometimes so they’d skate in different places.”

Mira ran her thumb over the small, chipped figurine, like it was a beloved pet, and then she gently put it back down to skate away again.

She took a deep breath to steady herself.

Wade thought he understood why she needed it. Even though her parents’ future was settled now and everything had worked out the way it should, this happy ending for the Allenbys still meant enormous changes. Susan and Cliff would sell their house. The home life Mira had grown up with was about to vanish. It wouldn’t take all its memories with it, but he could see why there would be a bittersweet ache to it all the same. After all, he was happy his parents were enjoying their golden years traveling, but hadn’t he just been thinking about how he sort of missed their Christmases together?

He put his arm around Mira and held her a bit, letting her pull herself back together. Luckily, Susan and Cliff had gone to the kitchen to get them drinks, so they had a minute.

“I’m fine,” Mira said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m being silly.”

Wade shook his head. “You’re not. This is hard.”

“But I keep thinking I’d feel better if we knew the Christmas Village would come back.” She let out a short laugh. “See, that’s silly.”

He shook his head again. He still felt bad about it, too. He hoped their plan for bringing it back next year would work.

Mira continued: “I didn’t realize it until now, but it reminded me of home.” She waved her hand at all the exuberant holiday cheer surrounding them. There was no fake snow or ear-splitting carol-oke, no irritations and no Marsh, but it was still Christmas cranked up until the volume knob came off. “You can see why. I guess some part of me always knew that I’d be losing this . This move is going to be better for my parents, definitely, and life changes, and you have to deal with it. But in the back of my mind, I must have thought ... well, at least the Christmas Village would still be here.”

Now it wouldn’t be.

And that was because of him. She wasn’t saying it, and Wade knew she wasn’t even thinking it. If she was mad at anyone for today’s debacle, it was Marsh—and he did bear the lion’s share of the responsibility.

But if Wade hadn’t been a polar bear shifter, the reindeer wouldn’t have panicked. Just because Mira wasn’t blaming him didn’t mean he wasn’t blaming himself.

“We’ll get it back,” he said. “It’s a local tradition. The Arbogasts will come around.”

“I hope so.”

I hope so too , his polar bear threw in. It was hunched over now, and its usually bright eyes were dull with shame. I didn’t mean to scare the reindeer.

Wade hadn’t realized that blaming himself also meant blaming his polar bear. He hated seeing it looking guilty and ashamed. He rushed to reassure it.

It’s not your fault at all. You were fine. It’s just life. Things just go this way sometimes.

That reasoning, he knew, made more sense than blaming himself for something he couldn’t control. He had done his best to stay away from the reindeer to keep everything calm, and Marsh had messed it up.

Okay, so he hadn’t gotten the Christmas Village shut down. That was good, but it wasn’t good enough. Letting himself off the hook still didn’t do anything to help Mira.

So what would help?

Susan and Cliff came back with mugs of eggnog and a platter of cookies.

“Technically, we should save all this for dessert,” Susan said, offering Wade his pick of the cookies. “But at Christmas, I feel like cookies count as an appetizer.”

“I agree,” Wade said, taking a peanut butter blossom.

They all settled down to enjoy their cookies and eggnog appetizer. Petey could probably start a whole successful restaurant chain with this idea, Wade thought fondly—he’d have to tell him about it.

“So,” Cliff said, glancing back and forth between Wade and Mira. “How did you two meet?”

Mira squeezed Wade’s arm. “Wade’s brother was playing Santa, but he won a free trip to Hawaii. He couldn’t go unless someone covered for him, so Wade stepped in. He has a woodworking business in the mall. Actually ....” She ducked back into the foyer for a moment and came back with her parents’ gift. “I know the timing here is a bit of a spoiler for what your present is going to be, but open it anyway.”

“You sure you don’t want us to save it for Christmas?” Susan said.

“Positive. This one is from me and Wade, so you should open it while he’s here.”

Cliff reached for the box and then gave his swollen knuckles a rueful glance. “Honey, maybe you should do the unwrapping.”

Susan kissed his temple and took over without missing a beat.

Luckily, she did a neat but rapid unwrapping job, so Wade didn’t have to endure too much suspense about whether or not they would like it.

“Oh,” Susan said, her breath catching in her throat. “Oh, that’s beautiful . Wade! You really made this?”

“Stunning,” Cliff added, unfolding his reading glasses so he could give the little sculpture an even closer look.

Wade felt his face heat up. “Yeah, I make everything in the shop. I have assistants, but they just handle the selling. I do all the carving and the carpentry.”

“This is incredible.”

“Isn’t it?” Mira said, beaming. She took Wade’s hand in hers. “Everything in his shop is like that, but this was my favorite piece. And I thought you might like to take it with you when you move.”

Susan’s face went still, like she was trying to stop herself from getting carried away by hope. “You got your bonus?”

The loss of the Christmas Village seemed very far away right now. Mira’s smile was huge and bright, and there were no shadows in her eyes. Wade was glad she could enjoy this moment.

“I got my bonus and then some . You guys are good to go.”

“Oh, Mira,” Susan said, melting. She wrapped her daughter up in a huge hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“This will make all the difference,” Cliff said with obvious relief. He kissed Mira on the cheek. “Thank you, sweetie. We know what you had to put up with at that job.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Mira said, rose-colored glasses firmly in place. “I got to meet Wade, after all.”

“So you did,” Cliff said. He gave Wade an appraising glance that, to Wade’s delight, gradually turned more and more approving. “I know it’s early days yet, and I’m going to embarrass the hell out of you by saying anything, but the two of you just seem to fit.”

The mate bond , Wade’s polar bear said, perking up. We do fit together. I like that other people can see it.

So do I. I think I can see theirs, too, Wade thought back, looking at the way Cliff and Susan leaned into each other, still loose-limbed with happiness. They must be true mates too, even though they’re both human.

He liked that despite Cliff’s prediction, Mira wasn’t embarrassed about her stepdad noticing how close they already were. She didn’t seem ruffled at all.

“We do fit,” she agreed. “Wade’s already done a lot for me just by being himself. And—”

Something suddenly clicked in Wade’s brain. He knew how he could help Mira just by being himself.

It was also an absolutely wild plan that the man he used to think he was would never, ever carry out.

But , Wade thought with a grin, good thing Mira’s shown me I’ve always been more than that.

“Wade? What is it?”

“I know how we can save the Christmas Village,” Wade said. “It’ll be a major attraction for guests. And it’ll go perfectly, so they’ll forget all about how the reindeer went wrong.”

Mira’s eyes were shining. “What are you thinking?”

With her parents here, he would have to be a little discreet. That would be good practice for figuring out how they would pitch it to the Arbogasts.

Wade said, “I was thinking about an animatronic polar bear.”