Yuletide Blend Read online

  “We shouldn’t underestimate Aunt Rowena,” my mother warned with a shake of her finger. “Nor Rye. Are you sure that Santa Claus didn’t look a little familiar?”

  “No, Mom. I’m fairly positive that Rye didn’t go to all that trouble to dress up as Kris Kringle just to talk to me in some annoying cryptic fashion.”

  For once, I sounded like the only adult in the room. I’ll be honest and tell you that it was rather gratifying. I was even going to take my newfound independence a step further. There were some unresolved issues that needed to be agreed upon if we were all going to trust one another.

  “Mother, you were seriously in the wrong to blackmail Ted into helping you this past month,” I chastised, carefully setting the empty coffee pot into the sink to wash later. “You played on his feeling of admiration for that mannequin—”

  “Beth.”

  Sweet angel of mercy, the grey candlestick has gone and given the plastic doll a name. I’m putting my paw down if those two decide they want a kid. With my luck, it’ll be made of metal.

  I must admit, Ted had thrown me off my mature train of logic. We all stopped talking and stared at him, where he was waiting for us by the door. He immediately displayed one of those straight, endearing smiles of his. My heart fluttered at the romance of it all. He’d given his beloved mannequin a name. How could I not follow through with my promise now?

  Only you would somehow chalk up giving a mannequin a name as romantic. Others would be calling an ambulance to take him straight to the loony bin.

  “You played on Ted’s feelings for Beth,” I amended, not happy that my mother had chosen such a devious route. “That was underhanded and uncalled for. We’re a team, Mom. It’s how we’ve worked in the past, it’s how we get things done, and it’s how things are going to stay as long as I have anything to say about it.”

  I think I like this side of you, Raven. Go ahead and take charge. That way, there’s someone to blame when this whole thing blows up.

  “Leo, you should probably know now that I told Mindy we’d watch Cupcake when she went on vacation in January,” I said, not knowing how much longer I could keep that news to myself when Leo was pretty much privy to every single thought in my head. She’d called last Wednesday when Leo had been at his weekly poker game, and I had used an itsy-bitsy spell to camouflage my memory from him. The magical influence of the elements I’d drawn on had been bound to weaken sooner or later. “Leo?”

  A quick glance over the island and across the living room/dining room area where Leo had curled up on his bed revealed that his whiskers were twitching every which away upon hearing my announcement. Well, he’d just have to get over it. These were the things we do for friends, and Mindy’s small request revealed her trust in me.

  “It’s only for four days while she and Larry take a long weekend for themselves,” I stressed, needing Leo to be on board with the whole cat-sitting thing.

  “Ted was helping me out on a few things,” my mother defended herself. She’d been sitting on one of the stools at the counter, but she was presently making her way to where Ted awaited us by the door. “He does it for you all the time. Right, Ted?”

  “Ted was Nan’s companion, just as he is mine. He was never yours.” I grabbed my thermos and made my way around the island. We were waiting for Heidi to join us before heading out with a planned route. “He wasn’t created to do your bidding. He’s got a mind of his own, a heart full of affection, and loyalty to the Marigold family. We should cherish him, not abuse him with demeaning chores.”

  You’re right, Raven. We should cherish the gifts in our lives, and I’m going to start by getting into the spirit of the season. I won’t let news of Cupcake’s impending visit ruin my holiday. As a matter of fact, I’m going to use the upcoming visit as a way to sharpen my mentoring skills.

  I was afraid to ask Leo why he’d taken on such a bright and cheery attitude. For once, I ignored his confusing insight and focused on my mother.

  Then it hit me.

  “Leo, you cannot use Cupcake as cannon fodder in your ongoing battle with the local squirrels.”

  Who, me? The thought never crossed my mind more than once or twice.

  I would have to come back around to that conversation before Cupcake’s visit. Right now, my mother was the loose cannon we needed to contain.

  “I’m serious, Mom. We do things as a team, and Ted is now his own person. He’s a member of the team by his own choice. I made him a promise to utilize a transformation spell on Beth when Mercury goes into retrograde this coming February. If you want to be part of this team, then you can help make sure that we get the spell done right. After all, you made him a promise to bring Beth to life, too.”

  “Fine,” my mother said in acquiesce, though she appeared a bit put off that I’d taken away her leverage. “Let’s just see to finding this missing reindeer, shall we? Although I must say that you’re making it difficult by not collecting those samples we needed from the petting zoo in town square.”

  “Who needs those types of samples when we have Leo?” Heidi exclaimed, having caught the tail end of our conversation. She was dressed similarly to my mother, although Heidi’s winter outfit was baby blue to match the color of her eyes. Her blonde curls were tucked into a ski cap while her gloves were hooked to a small belt attached to her waist. “Look! Aren’t these the cutest things ever?”

  Raven, for the love of all things magical, do something before my beloved Heidi takes another step closer with those…what in Hades are those things?

  “Leo, I present to you these tiny Ugg winter booties,” Heidi exclaimed, kicking off the snow she’d tracked in on the interior welcome mat. It didn’t take her long to slide her fuzzy socked feet out of her boots. “This way, your paws stay nice and dry on our search.”

  Leo’s minor weight problem prevented him from scurrying down off his bed before Heidi reached his location with her collection of four tiny insulated high-top moccasins. I definitely gave her credit for being quick on the draw, because it was only mere seconds before Leo’s paws were covered with matching leather booties. Heidi lifted him down off the windowsill so that he could try them out.

  My mother’s fit of laughter until she was wiping the tears from her eyes didn’t help Leo maintain any dignity. He was lifting each foot as if he were wading in water, causing Heidi to clap in excitement.

  “See? Don’t they look and feel great? They’re actually made for babies. What do you think?” Heidi asked with a smile, unable to hear all the inappropriate words that my mother and I were catching in between Leo’s questioning of his judgement on women. “Are we ready? Let me grab the oatmeal. Oh, and I can’t wait to tell you all about my meeting with Cora. I now have her wrapped around my little pinky.”

  “Oatmeal?” I held up the thermos full of coffee in confusion, deciding to pass on the Cora conversation. The less I knew about that woman, the better. “I have everything we need right here, unless you didn’t eat breakfast. In that case, oatmeal will take way too long. Just grab one of those breakfast bars that I have in the pantry.”

  Tell her to grab the scissors while she’s at it, because I am not going out dressed like this. Look at me, Raven. I look like I’ve gone native with these things strapped to my paws.

  My mother went into another fit of laughter, leaning against Ted so that she didn’t fall over. He didn’t look amused, and he was probably still a bit peeved once he realized that she’d been blackmailing him with empty promises this entire time.

  “The oatmeal isn’t to eat, Raven,” Heidi explained, walking past me and into the kitchen. “You see, my dad used to take me fishing in the summer. He always stressed the importance of having the right bait. The same scenario applies here.”

  Pocahontas? If memory serves me correctly, reindeer don’t care for cats dressed as Native Americans…it’s cultural misappropriation, that’s what it is. Forcing me to walk around in four child-sized moccasin booties will get us nowhere.

  “Yo
u better leave the oatmeal and grab whatever sugar cookies we have in the pantry,” I warned her, thinking about what could very well be the reason Randy had wandered off on his own. “Bobby Hurst was feeding him reindeer his sugar cookies instead of what was being provided by the petting zoo. I thought we could swing by Bobby’s place first.”

  “Why don’t I take Ted, and we can—”

  “Not a chance,” I said, interrupting whatever my mother had been about to say regarding sneaking off with Ted. “Mom, you’re coming with me where I can keep an eye on you. Heidi and Ted can take her car, allowing us to split up and cover more ground. We’ll use our phones to text updates to one another.”

  Speaking of phones, mine vibrated in my snow pants. I wasn’t wearing the formfitting style that my mother had on, but instead I was sporting one of those puffy, not-so-stylish pants that made my lower half appear as if it belonged to an abominable snowman. They weren’t nearly as cute, but they were definitely practical.

  “It’s Liam,” I murmured, swiping the button on the display so that I could read his message. My stomach did that pivot move that sent it directly into a nosedive. “Barry Mina’s cousin is currently spending the holidays in North Carolina with his wife’s family. It turns out that he wasn’t the Santa Claus from last night, after all.”

  “Raven, dear, I don’t understand what all the fuss is with this Santa Claus,” my mother said, waving her hand in the air as if I were making a mountain out of a molehill. She then grabbed her black leather gloves from the entryway table and pointed them my way. “You clearly haven’t spent enough time around those displays to know that the actor does his best to get into character. I once volunteered as an elf when you were either three or four years old. Trust me, the man playing Santa Claus probably thought you seemed nice and wanted to impress you with his acting chops. Happens all the time. Relax.”

  “So,” Heidi exclaimed, coming up to stand beside me with a container of oatmeal in one hand and a package of iced sugar cookies in the other. “Where does that leave us?”

  I shot my mother a warning glare when she would have undoubtedly said that this news led us directly back to the petting zoo in town square. We were not sifting through piles of dung.

  “We stick to the original plan and start canvassing the neighborhoods. You and Ted take the main part of town, while Mom and I will take a peek around Bobby Hurst’s residence for any sign of hoofprints.”

  Speaking of prints…

  Leo hadn’t piped in with his one-line zingers lately. Heidi seemed to notice that, as well. We both began looking for him, which shouldn’t have been difficult given that he was basically wearing leather hip waders on each paw. Mom and Ted were looking somewhere behind us, with my mother’s smile widening with humor.

  “Leo, those paw protectors were expensive.” Heidi raised the items in her hands in defeat, staring at Leo in disappointment. He was licking his front paw in satisfaction of a job well done, having gnawed through them in record time. “How did you get them off, and what did you do with them?”

  From Leo’s satisfied squint and the way he sat back so regally, which wasn’t an easy feat, my bet was that he’d stuffed them down the garbage disposal after pulling them off.

  I’ve come to find out that there are just some things that I won’t do for love, Raven. Being humiliated is one of them, no matter how much I adore my beloved Heidi. Now, what did I miss?

  Chapter Five

  “I’m sure that the poor reindeer just wanted to get home,” Wilma said with a frown. She puttered around in her kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from her lunch. “Did you know that Alaska has caribou, as do some provinces in Canada? Maybe he’s wandered off in search of cooler weather.”

  I’d done some research while searching for Randy, and the petting zoo was actually made for wild animals who could no longer survive in the wild due to some incapacity. Barry and Joel Mina had created the refuge initially for bears, using their family’s farm as a sanctuary after finding an injured black bear cub on their property that the mother had abandoned. Upon realizing that the cub would never survive on its own, one thing led to another until word had spread about their undertaking. Eventually, the operation grew into a nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of becoming a full-fledged sanctuary.

  “Actually, the reindeer in question is quite domesticated,” I repeated for the third time this morning. Technically, it was a little after twelve. My stomach grumbled at the delicious scent of pasta. Wilma must have heated up some leftovers, as I didn’t see any of the pans required to prepare such a meal in the dish rack. “The owners of the sanctuary call him Randy, and he’s one of nine other reindeer who somehow ended up on their farm for one reason or another. No one knows for certain what happened to them or how they came to be in Connecticut, but they can’t go back to the wild due to their domestication. They’ve become dependent on Barry and Joel to survive.”

  The reason for my repeated conversations was that everyone had assumed that the caribous in question were being used to turn a pretty penny for the refuge. In reality, those reindeer thrived on being around people. They craved the attention of humans, and they’d come to associate them as providers and protectors. Yes, it was strange, but it was indicative of adaptive behavior. Since it wasn’t the norm when it came to those types of beautiful herd animals, they couldn’t be released back into the wild. But the Minas had found out early on that the reindeer wanted to be around the comforting influence of humans.

  This search is pointless, Raven. Any tracks that the antlered brute left behind were covered with a fresh dusting of snow last night. I say we head back to the tea shop where we can all indulge in our favorite addictions, and take the rest of the day to contemplate our own fragile existence. I can only take so much of being cooped up in your rolling death trap. Add in the oh-so-very special company of your mother, and I’m ready to take a hit off the tail pipe. It’s like being sealed inside a cardboard box with a swarm of annoying wasps.

  The new layer of snow wasn’t even a half inch, so I didn’t buy that we couldn’t track Randy if we came across his path. The problem was that the town square had been kept clear enough for the festivities. Randy could have easily kept walking on the road without leaving a trail for miles. As for any piles of steaming brownies left in the streets, I’m relatively sure they would have been run over by vehicles enough times that there was nothing left to find.

  Don’t even consider it, Raven. We are not driving miles out of town on the side of the road in search of tracks that wouldn’t be visible without getting out of the warmth of the car. Do you know how long that would take? We’d all die from pneumonia before we made it back home.

  One didn’t get pneumonia from being outside in the cold weather when you were dressed properly. On top of that, we’d be able to make do with a pair of binoculars…not that I owned a pair.

  See? Discussion over. I’ll go let your mother know that our special allotment of bonding time is over.

  “I’m sure that the reindeer is fine wherever he’s gotten off to,” Wilma declared with a nod. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “I’m on my way over to Elsie’s house, but I’ll call Eileen should I see anything out of the ordinary. Did you know that Elsie still can’t find her favorite pair of reading glasses? She’s been driving me crazy these past two days.”

  “I can pick her up a pair from the boutique,” I offered, knowing Mindy kept a stand of eclectic reading glasses in almost every color. A hot flash washed over me, mostly because I was still wearing my snowsuit in a house that had to have been set to eighty degrees. “Mindy is having a holiday sale. Two for the price of one.”

  “I tried that,” Wilma complained, clearly irritated with her best friend. She shooed me through her kitchen and into the living room. “I even bought Elsie those pink ones that she’s been eyeing for the last month. All I hear is that her old ones fit perfectly over her hearing aids, and the new ones don’t feel nearly as comfortable.”

>   Wilma’s phone rang, causing her to detour to the side table next to the couch. She still had a landline, which proved that she was very set in her ways. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t sure that either she or Elsie owned a cell phone.

  “I was just about to put on my coat,” Wilma said into the receiver. Right at that moment, someone knocked on the door. She sighed in irritation. “Elsie, hold on a second. Someone’s at the door.”

  The fact that Wilma wasn’t getting to watch her afternoon soap operas was definitely wreaking havoc on her day. Seeing as I’d managed to put my boots back on while she’d been on the phone, I stood up and answered the door for her.

  Wilma and I both jumped when the local school cheerleaders began to belt out an overwhelming loud rendition of “Silent Night”, one of them holding a basket for donations. I’d heard that they were caroling this year to raise money for new uniforms. It was a good thing that I’d stuffed a few dollar bills into my coat pocket.

  “I’ve got your back, Wilma,” I said after the girls had finished singing, figuring it was time for me to head out anyway. We still had a few houses to visit in hopes that someone saw something, though we’d probably still end up going for a drive on the outskirts of town in search of hoofprints. “Go talk to Elsie. Just remember, call Eileen if you see Randy anywhere.”

  Wilma thanked me, though she was muttering something about her soap opera as she closed the door behind me. My mother had stopped the girls before they began to veer down the sidewalk to the next house, asking if they’d seen the missing reindeer. They all claimed that they were keeping their eye out for him as they caroled throughout the neighborhoods, which just solidified our next step.

  “We need a set of binoculars, Mom.”

  No, we don’t. We already agreed to a staycation involving a fresh pipe filled with Honduran Organic catnip for the remainder of the day, remember?