“Maybe the sort of welcome a good-for-nothin’ brother gets when he doesn’t even tell his family he’ll be home for Christmas? Where’s your car? What did you do, bus here with the rest of the tourists?” Her jewel-toned eyes flicked from side to side, and Jasper’s heart sank. He knew what she was looking for. “Oh. It’s... just you, then?” she asked, her voice smaller.
“Yeah.” Jasper didn’t want to see the look in her eyes as he admitted it. He stood up, slinging Cole over his shoulder. The little boy whooped with excitement. “Just me— and a suitcase full of presents! What do you think, buddy? Can your old uncle Jasper come stay for Christmas?”
“Yeah! Presents!” Cole jiggled happily on Jasper’s shoulder, then tugged on his ear. Jasper turned his head obediently to catch the boy’s whisper. “Can we go flying, too?”
Jasper stared into his nephew’s innocent, blue-black eyes. Inside him, his dragon shivered, but he couldn’t let his feelings show. Not in front of Cole. He grinned, and winked at him. “Go flying? You betcha, buddy.”
Opal sucked in a breath. Jasper didn’t blame her. Right now, she would be wondering whether, in a few days’ time, he’d ever be able to fly again.
He sighed. Whatever grim suspicions she was harboring, she was right to be worried. And she deserved more than him pretending everything was okay.
Jasper grabbed the handle of the suitcase he’d dropped when Cole launched his attack, and trundled over to his sister. She glared up at him, but her frown didn’t hide the tears in her eyes.
Guilt lanced through him, double-edged: one for his human side, and one for his dragon. And a hell of a lot for his sister.
“Hey,” he said softly, putting one arm around her. She elbowed him grumpily, but didn’t pull away. “It’s all right.”
“No, it’s not,” Opal grumbled. “You’re turning twenty-five this Christmas, and if you’ve come here alone, that means— you’re going to have to choose...” Her shoulders slumped and she glanced up at Cole, who was busy making airplane noises and stealing Jasper’s hat. *And whatever you choose, I lose part of my brother.*
Jasper’s smile cracked, and he pulled his sister into a bear hug. “Hey, it’s all right. I’ll still be here.” Some of me, at least. Oh, hell. What am I doing to myself? To my family?
“What’s wrong?”
Jasper winced. He shouldn’t have said that out loud. Now Cole was leaning over his shoulder, peering into both adults’ faces.
“Are you in trouble, uncle Jasper? Mommy, is he in trouble?”
Jasper watched his sister take a deep breath and force a smile on her face. “Oh, he sure is! So much trouble. And you know what people get for Christmas when they’ve been bad, right?”
A grin cracked across Cole’s face and he threw his head back with a mad cackle. “Me!”
“That’s right! You get Cole in your stocking!”
Jasper stifled a snort-laugh. *You realise that joke’s going to get old fast, right?*
*Going to get old? It’s been the number one, top Heartwell Family joke since September. It’s so old, it’s got wrinkles. You have a bit of catching up to do, little bro.*
She smiled at him, but her eyes were still sad. Jasper’s chest hurt and inside him, his dragon shivered again. Harder this time, like it wanted to shake loose from him.
He didn’t blame it. Whatever happened this Christmas, one of them would end up... gone.
“Can uncle Jasper come with us to the big tree and and and you can have a coffee and I can have a cookie?” Cole implored, hanging sideways off Jasper’s shoulder so he could stare imploringly at his mother. “Pleaaaaase?”
Opal snorted and flicked his nose. “I can have a coffee, huh? You sure know the way to your mommy’s heart. Okay. Jas, you want to dump your stuff in the car and we can head down to the square?”
After a bit of load-swapping, where Jasper made sure he was carrying all of Opal’s shopping bags, and his suitcase, and his firecracker nephew, and his sister didn’t have to carry anything, Opal led the way back to the car. It was already laden down with a day’s shopping, but Jasper managed to wedge his suitcase into the trunk.
His mouth watered as he peeked into a canvas bag full of holiday groceries. “You planning to feed an army, sis?”
Opal snorted. “A four-year-old dragon shifter, which is basically the same thing. You remember how much we ate at his age?”
“And more every year after...” Jasper cracked open the lid of a chiller box. “He’s only going to get bigger— ooh, leg of lamb? My favorite!”
Opal slapped his hand away. “You mean, my favorite. I didn’t even know you were coming, remember?” She shut the trunk with a thud and shot him a sideways glance. “And, not gonna lie to you, bro, I kind of wish you weren’t here. You still have—” Her voice broke, but she pushed through, scowling at the car. “You still have five days—”
“For what?” Jasper checked that Cole was still distracted by the display in a nearby shop window, and stepped closer to Opal.
She narrowed her eyes. “You know what.”
“Opal, I’ve spent the last five years traveling the world, trying to find her. If she even exists.” Jasper pulled his woolen hat off and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I’ve tried matchmaking services, blind dates, double dates, online dating, everything I could think of, in hundreds of cities, and I’m— I’m tired, sis. I just want to spend Christmas with my family.”
Opal’s eyes softened. “You know we’re always here for you.” She squeezed his arm. “Whatever happens.”
“Thanks, sis. Now, let’s go get that coffee. I think I’m going to need one, too.” He grinned at her. His face felt stiff, but— he’d made his choice. And it was the right one. Wasn’t it?
I want to spend Christmas with my family. Even if it’s my last Christmas as myself.
Opal called Cole back over and Jasper braced himself as the little boy tackled him.
