“The men of snow are drawn to the place their special someone resides.” Brooks’ rough voice echoed in the quiet kitchen as he stirred cookie batter in a bowl. “Go where you’re drawn to.” Brooks continued his advice,“It’s faith and belief that will help both of you in the end.”

Will sat on the stool and stared at his mentor. Will narrowed his eyes at Brooks. “You found your believer in the beginning of the year. You’ve already converted to human with your blond hair and green eyes. I’ve got ten days left before Christmas Eve. I have no idea where else to search. I’ve been to the Mall. I’ve been to all of the night clubs, snowballs,” he swore. “I’ve hung out in so many gyms that my car smells like a sweat socks.” He rubbed his pale temple. “Maybe I’m destined for the New Years sun.”

Brooks slammed the bowl on the countertop. “Enough with this avalanche! No man of snow that lives in The House of Snow gets taken by the New Years sun!” Brooks ran a hand through his blonde hair. He took a deep breath. “A lot is riding on us, Will. We’re Santa’s prototype men of snow. We’re the first of our kind. If we give up to the New Years sun than Father Christmas may forego the risk of making his secret service men of snow. That puts him at a risk too morbid to think about. We can’t let that happen. We’ve all got to succeed at this or Christmas will forever be changed because Father Christmas may be dead.”

“What are you so angry about?” Charlie scuffled into the kitchen. “I heard you argue all the way down the hall.”

“I’m sorry,” Brooks offered. “I just…I care. And when one of my men of snow waves a white towel, I get a little grouchy. Will, you need to keep up the search. You’ll find her.”

“Will’s giving up the search?” Charlie wore the same clothes he had on yesterday. His black and white striped hair messed up and his brown-blue eyes swollen from sleep. “I wished I could feel some female love too.” He admitted as he leaned a hip against the countertop lined with fresh baked goods.

“I can’t even get a good cookie.” Charlie and Will joined in.

“I make them for the women and children. Not you men.” Brooks defended his cookie making with humor in his voice. “You have enough on your plates anyway.”

“Tell me about it,” Charlie scoffed. “Kate hates me. I’m half changed and half not. She can’t decide if she wants to believe in me or the magic. It’s freezer-burn I tell you.”

“You are looking scary these days.” Will joked.

“Only you guys can see the colors, she still sees me as an albino.” Charlie shook his head and leaned over his elbows on the counter. “I hate being in limbo. My body feels torn between hot and cold. My skin changes from pale to something darker. My heart skips to life with her around and stops every time she leaves me.”

“Have you shown her the letter?”

“No,” Charlie answered. “She won’t even let me tell her about men of snow. I tried the other day and she cut me off. I’m not going to show her the letter when her level of belief in it is what keeps me alive or kills me. Right now, she’d probably kill me.”

The room quieted.

With ten more days until Christmas Eve, Will felt the weight of Charlie’s words too. At least Charlie had found his special someone, the woman who wrote the letter to Santa requesting companionship.

“She’ll come around.” Will offered.

A couple of the other guys had found their women. Brooks had found Anna. Winter had found Elizabeth.

“Just don’t give up.” Brooks picked up the bowl and spoon again. “I’m confident that all of us will be smiling on Christmas.”

“Right,” Charlie nodded and left the room.

Will watched Brooks spoon batter on a cooking tin. “Guess I’ll drift off…somewhere.”

“Go with the gut,” Brooks’ voice followed him out of the house. “She’s out there somewhere. They all are.”

Will picked up his pace to begin his morning jog. He loved being out in the wild, well, as wild as the city got. He turned the corner and headed towards his favorite natural jogging path. There were many areas to run on the west-side of Bellevue. He knew because he helped the parks and recreation department throughout the year with development. This path was his favorite. A small trickle of fresh water ran along the dirt path and into a small creek. The trail reminded him of North Island, home. Today it had a layer of ice, but the sound of it soothed his mind. Humidity restored his optimistic mood.

A high pitched scream traveled through the air and caught his attention.

A second scream turned his morning jog into a sprint.

The woman shrieked, “Let go! Leave me alone.” She screamed again.

Will barged through the brush. He saw a man at the bottom of a tree. A woman in the tree tried to swat the man away with a shoe. The man reached up and began to climb the tree after the woman.

“No, no! I don’t know who you are. Leave me alone.” She glanced around. “Help!”

Will used his momentum and tackled the man to the ground. They rolled.

A rock slammed into his side but he held to the larger man until their momentum ended and the man lay on top of him, limp. Will looked at the man and realized he was out cold. The man’s forehead bled over his eye where he had hit something with the fall.

Will shoved the limp body off. He held the ache in his side and grunted as he climbed through the flattened brush. When he got to the bottom of the tree, he panted and wiped the sweat from his brow. He laughed. It was hard to get a man of snow to sweat in the winter.

He looked up to see a woman with dark hair and vibrant hazel eyes. She wore a torn wedding gown and her face had cuts. Her hands shook and her vale tangled in the branches.

“Are you okay?” Will asked. “That man won’t hurt you anymore.”

The woman stared at him for a moment longer, and then she began to cry. “I don’t know what to do. I’m so confused. This…” her voice trailed.

“Wait, no, no,” Will panicked. “Don’t cry yet. We need to get out of here. That guy is just knocked out. If you want to leave, this is the time.” Will reached a hand up to her. “I’ll help you. My name is Willow. My friends call me Will. Give me your hand.”

The woman sniffled and reached towards him. She squealed when her veil caught in the branches and tugged at her hair. She reached up and somehow released the veil from her head to let loose incredibly long coal black hair. The strands covered her shoulders all the way down to her waist. When she reached for him again, her hazel eyes widened and she yelped.

She fell forward and landed in his arms.

Pain shot through his chest, started his heart. He doubled over and set her on the ground before his strength disappeared. When he gasped for breath, the air traveled through his windpipe and opened his lungs. He closed his eyes and groaned.

“Are you okay?”

Fingers tingling to life, he nodded. The magical kinetic energy in his body transformed.

“What is it? What can I do?”

This woman was his special someone. When a man of snow came in contact with the one who wrote the letter that had brought him to life, he started the transformation to human.

“You look hurt. Did you get hurt when you rolled with that man?”

“No, I’m,” Will clenched his jaw against the pain. “I’m okay, give me a minute.”

She nodded, brushed her hair from her eyes and let go of him. As soon as she put all of her weigh on her feet, she squealed and stumbled. “My ankle,” she yelped. “It hurts.”

Gaining strength, Will straightened. “Can you walk on it?”

She shook her head and bit her lip.

“Okay,” Will shook off the sudden energy rush to stand. He stretched the muscles in his sides and back and reached for her.

“What are you doing?”

“I can carry you.”

“Where?” She looked at him with those big hazel eyes and shook her head. “You can’t carry me too far, can you? You’re hurt.”

“We’ll go to my place.” He offered. “It’s right around the corner.”

She shook her head again. “But I don’t know you.”

“Does that man back there know where you live?”

New tears sprung in her eyes as she nodded. “I think so.”

“Okay, okay, don’t cry yet.” He wrapped his arm around her again. “Not yet, let’s get out of here, okay?” He reached behind her knees and lifted her with care.

She blinked and nodded. “Okay.”

His side stung with the added stress of her body weight, but he figured he could handle her. He was strong and in great shape. He took pride in his body. He’d worked hard every day with weights and ran every morning. Even though, he never gained size like he’d wanted, and he still looked like a teenager on the verge of maturity, he was strong.

He took care to not jar her as he picked a fast pace that he figured he could keep until he returned to The House of Snow.

Her hair contrasted with the bright white wedding dress. A natural tan painted her skin. She had curves that any man could appreciate. When she tried to stand before, he noticed her petite height. He liked that too.

“My name is Will.” He panted and tried to smile.

Her smile lit up the day. “I’m Nichole,” her voice sounded low and a little rough. “Nichole Partridge.” She added in that sexy tone. “Thanks for your help.” She bit her pretty little bottom lip again. Tears pooled in her eyes but didn’t fall. “I…he’s…that man…”

“It’s okay. We can talk later.” He focused on sure footing in the silence. When he climbed the porch of The House of Snow, Charlie opened the door. The man of snow smiled.

“You leave for a morning run and come back with a bride.”

“What?” Brooks circled out of the kitchen with Anna beside him.

Will walked to the back of the house and turned to the left. A small sit space held a couch, table, and rocking chair. He set her down on the loveseat and smiled. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass.

“I’m Brooks.”

“I’m Anna, welcome to the family. I love your wedding dress.”

“No!” Will darted across the room to give Nichole the glass of water. “She’s not…I mean…I found her in a tree on the path. We didn’t…I didn’t. Some guy was…well, it wasn’t pretty.” Will explained. He sat next to Nichole and brushed her hair off her face.

“A tree?” Brooks asked.

“Oh my,” Anna exclaimed. “Dear, how’d that happen?”

Nichole’s fingers knotted together. Will looked at her and saw the sadness appear. Tears pooled and he nodded. “It’s okay. You can cry now. You’re safe here.”

She leaned into him and let go of her emotions.

“Brooks,” Anna ordered, “cookies and milk.”

“I’m on it.” Brooks rushed to the kitchen.

“Charlie,” Anna ordered. “Get a blanket out of the closet.” When Charlie left, Anna helped Brooks set the cookies and milk on the table in front of them. Charlie came in and Anna laid the blanket over Nichole as she continued to cry. “We’ll leave you two alone.”

Anna left. Charlie followed and Brooks offered help if they needed it.

Will leaned back on the sofa to catch his breath. He held Nichole to his chest while she shook with emotion. He brushed her soft hair with his fingers and closed his eyes.  His body temperature increased as he sat there with Nichole. He lifted his hand to look but didn’t see any color form on his skin. He couldn’t believe that he’d just pick up the woman Santa created him for in a pear tree on a natural path anyway. Will took in a deep breath and sat with Nichole until she stopped shaking.

After a few more minutes, she spoke. “Will,” her voice sounded quiet.

“Yes, Nichole, it’s okay.” He continued to stroke her soft strands of long hair.

“My Uncle will come for me. That’s who that man was. I hit my head and couldn’t remember, but now I do. He’ll come for me and make me marry a man I don’t want to marry.”

Tension grew in his body.

Her head shook on his chest. “Steve doesn’t love me. He wants my inheritance.” She hiccupped. “My Uncle doesn’t care that we’re not in love. He…he…” she began to cry again. “He’ll come…and make me…”

“Shush,” Will consoled. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Bruce clattered in the back door and made Nichole jump. Will tightened his arms around her for support as he watched the larger man of snow drop his load of wood on the floor. Bruce stood covered from head to toe in mud. Not unusual for Bruce.

The man of snow was a gardener, after all. Bruce and mud went hand in hand. His bright white smile contrasted the dark brown earth. “Hey,” Bruce greeted. “Got married while I was gone?”

Nichole made a sound that made Will think she was laughing.

Will leaned up and over to see her smiling as she stared at Bruce. He supposed Bruce looked like a mud creature slash powdered sugar snowman.

“Found her in a tree already dressed.”

“I’m Nicky,” she said.

Will looked at her, Nicky?

“Bruce,” he offered.

“Bruce,” Brooks bellowed. He stormed into the room. The big man of snow’s body tensed with anger as he gestured at Bruce. “How many times do I have to tell you not to come into my kitchen looking like a mud cake? Go outside and rinse off with the hose while I clean this mess up.” Brooks went to the corner cabinet.

“I’ll help,” Nicky stood.

Anna gasped from the hallway. “You’re dress!”

Nicky stopped, looked down at the blood on her dress, and patted the wet spot. “It’s not me.” She shook her head. “It’s not…” she looked up with wide eyes.

“What?”

“OH My!” Nicky rushed to him and fell to her knees. “It’s you, Will, why didn’t you say anything.” She tore off a piece of her wedding gown and pressed it against his side.

Will hissed at the pain and began to laugh. When he looked at Brooks, he caught the big man of snow’s wink. Will looked down onto his special someone. He stroked the long hair off her worried brow. “I’m bleeding,” he laughed again.

Nichole glared at him. “Are you delirious? This is bad!” She tore another piece of her wedding dress off and sponged his side. She lifted his t-shirt over his head and said, “You might have to go to the hospital. This cut looks deep.”

Will couldn’t stop smiling.

She looked at him and glared again. “What?” She looked around the room at everyone’s smiling faces. Her fisted hands went to her hips and she yelled. “Why are you all looking at me? He needs help.” She moved to rip her dress again.

Anna stepped up and held Nichole’s hands. “The best thing you can do for him right now is leave this room.” Anna’s voice softened. “If you don’t, Will will lose more blood.”

“What? Are you all crazy?”

Will locked eyes with her. “I’ll be okay, do as Anna says.”

“But…I don’t want to.” Tears pooled in her eyes again. “You said I never had to do anything I didn’t want to do.” She pleaded. “You promised.”

“Do this for me. It’ll be a few minutes. I’ll be fine.”

She looked around the room, confused.

“Will is like my brother,” Bruce said from the doorway. “None of us want any harm come to him. I could use the help with the hose. It’ll just take a second.” Bruce offered.

With a few more encouraging statements from him, Nichole walked out the door. He felt his heart slow as he relaxed into the couch. He heard Anna call to Brooks for her med kit. Will closed his eyes when she touched his skin.

An unfamiliar sharp pain in his side jarred his mind awake. The alien throb in his chest brought his eyes open. He moved his dry tongue in his mouth as he looked around. He hadn’t moved. He still sat in the kitchen. He turned his head to see Nichole, his beautiful special someone, asleep. His heart pounded a slow rhythm against his chest. He reached over and smoothed a piece of her coal black hair off her cheek.

She came awake and looked at him. Her slow smile flipped his heart. “Hi,” she drawled sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and stretched from her position with a yawn.

“Hi.” He traced the curve of her neck with his finger. “You stayed.”

“Of course.” Her smile widened. She blinked more awake as she leaned closer to him. “You promised I could do whatever I wanted.”

Will chuckled and then winced.

“Take it easy.” She placed a gentle hand over his side. “Anna put five stitches in your side. You had a nasty piece of broken glass we had to get out. Why didn’t you say something to us earlier?”

“We?”

“Well.” She blushed. “Your family is very protective of you.” Her smile dropped.

“What? You look so sad.” Will ground his teeth and adjusted so he could see her better. He hated that his injury kept him from holding her, but he didn’t hate the new feeling of pain. He was alive and couldn’t be happier.

“My family…” she hiccupped a sob. “I just couldn’t believe my Uncle would…”

“Come here.” Will wrapped his arms around her. The sting in his side worsened, but he couldn’t let her sit next to him and be so sad. “I’ve got something that might cheer you up a little. At least I hope it will.”

She leaned away from him and wiped at her tears. “What?”

He pulled the small tube from around his neck and looped it over her head. He settled it around her neck and smiled. “You look good wearing my future.”

Her eyebrows drew together as she fingered the vial. She fussed with the lid to pop it open. When she pulled out the small scroll and read the words, she gasped. “How did you…?” She looked at him. “Nobody knew I wrote this.”

“I’m a gift to you from Santa”

“I don’t understand. How can this happen?” She touched his cheek. “You’re eyes are changing color. Your hair is darkening.”

“What is your heart telling you?”

“Will, I…” She shifted away, shook her head. “I don’t understand. This isn’t real. Men can’t change like you are, right now.”

“It’s magic, Nicky. I’m changing into your ideal man and I’m turning human so I can give you a happy life full of love and companionship.”

“No.” She backed out of the room. “You’re crazy. Something happened. Your family drugged me or something.”

“Nicky.” Will moved too slowly to stop her from running through the House of Snow to the front door. When she swung the door open, the man from the woods stood on the other side of the threshold.

“Brooks,” Will called as he forced his feet to move faster. “Bruce, Charlie, anyone.” Will went to grab Nichole by the arm but her Uncle yanked her through the door first.

“No,” Nichole screamed. “Let me go!”

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic, Nichole. You can’t skip out on a wedding so easily.” The large man dragged her towards a black sedan. “Come on.”

Will dove for the man and knocked all of them to the ground. He thought pain his friend until his eyesight flashed white light with the impact. He found he couldn’t move and his side burned. He looked down to see new blood.

The man stood over him, fist ready to launch.

“Will!” Nichole scrambled to his side. She leaned her body over him for protection. “Leave him alone. He hasn’t hurt anyone.”

Brooks and Charlie called from the house. Their footfalls came fast.

Nichole’s body weight lifted off him. “Let me go!”

Will looked up to see her Uncle smile at her attempts to hit him. “Now, now, little one, it’s time to get married.”

“I’m already married!” She screamed.

Brooks stood tall next to the Uncle. “Let her go.”

“I don’t know what she’s told you but, she’s declared incompetent of making her own decisions.”

“The hell I am!” Nichole argued. “You tried that in court, but it didn’t work. Nobody will believe you here either.” She struggled.

“I told you to let her go.” Brooks stood his ground.

Charlie’s arm came around Will to lift him off the ground.

Will found sweat on his brow. “She’s already married to me.” He ground out.

The Uncle laughed. “Right. When did this happen?”

“She’s my responsibility now.” Will straightened away from Charlie. The new painful sensations made him grunt and support his weight with his palms on his thighs. “Drift away old man.”

“You’re a little guy, aren’t you?” The Uncle mocked.

“A little guy with big friends.” Will glared. “Let her go.”

A moment passed between them.

Nichole stomped on her Uncles toe. “You’re fired!”

That stopped the Uncle cold. “What?”

“You’re fired!” Nichole repeated.

Will hooked an arm around her when she leaned into him to support his weight. “Take it easy,” she crooned. “He can’t touch me now.”

“You’re mother…”

Nichole glared at the older man. “She made me promise to keep you around when she died. I made that promise Uncle P, but I don’t have to stick to it. Not when you’re such a money grubbing jerk. I’m sure mom didn’t know who you really were, or she wouldn’t have made me swear.” Nichole moved away from him to stand between Brooks and her Uncle.

She put her fisted hands on her hips. “I believe in Will more than I believe in anything about you. Sure, you were there for me when my mother died. But you turned on my love and tried to make me do things I didn’t want to do. I’ve been here all day and was reminded on how a family should be.” She looked at Will. “And now I see what a real,” she looked back at her Uncle, “jerk you are! It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”

“I think you should leave.” Brooks encouraged.

The man turned and reluctantly climbed into the car. “This isn’t over.”

“Yes it is!” Nichole yelled.

Will stood up as tall as he could by her side.

When the car disappeared, he cradled her face with his palms. His heart beat harder in his chest. His side throbbed with pain and his smile stretched wide across his face. “You’re really something, you know that?”

“You have green eyes” She smiled. “I love green eyes.”

“Fudge,” Charlie swore. “Another one matched and I’m still in flux.”

~~

Thanks for reading “A Partridge in a Pear Tree.” I hope you enjoyed it.

The first Men of Snow novel is now available on kindle:

Click here to buy “A Secret Gift“

~~

I liked this story