New Year by Bonnie Dee Read Free Book Online Page A

and laughed and dodged around trees and behind bushes. Baby was crazy with excitement, barking and racing after them.
    But, as they say, it’s all fun and games until somebody pokes an eye out. Our battle lasted maybe two minutes before the older boy hurled a snowball as hard as he could, Anna ducked, and it nailed the little one in the face. Haynes wailed as if he’d been hit by a two-by-four and collapsed on the ground. Baby ran over to sniff at him.
    I fished the kid out of a drift and peeled away mittened hands in order to check out the damage. His face was bright red, but nothing was bleeding. “You’ll be okay. Fighters get hit sometimes, and they have to shake it off. You ever watch wrestling?”
    He nodded, scrubbing the tears from his eyes.
    “Who’s your favorite?”
    “ The Tower of Terror.” His little voice was wobbly, but he’d stopped crying.
    Anna joined us and squatted beside me. “Everything okay?”
    “Sure. Haynes is a real trouper.” I helped him to his feet.
    The older boy was skulking nearby, breaking the ice in a bird bath and pretending he hadn’t had anything to do with the incident.
    “Hey, Gully,” Anna called, “why don’t you come over and tell your brother you’re sorry.”
    He cru nched another shard of ice. “It was an accident. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
    “Nobody said you did, but it’s polite to say you’re sorry .” When he continued to sullenly scowl, she said warningly, “Gulliver…”
    “Sorry,” he muttered.
    The front door opened, and Cousin Chloe stepped outside. “What happened?” she called. “Is everything okay?”
    Anna rose and yelled back, “It’s all right. Haynes got hit in the face with a snowball, but he’s okay.”
    Chloe nodded. “ Thanks for playing with them, getting some of their energy out. But, boys, you need to come in now. We’re going to meet Grandma and Grandpa for lunch.”
    “I don’t wanna. We’re having fun,” Gulliver whined.
    “Yeah.” Haynes backed him up.
    “We’re going to Holiday Wonderland and see Santa,” their mom coaxed.
    Both boys evaporated like smoke, racing away and kicking up a powder of snow in their wake. I grabbed Baby’s trailing leash before she could run into the house along with them. She reached the end and jerked to a stop.
    I nudged Anna with an elbow. “Santa. You want to go sit on the big man’s lap too?”
    She punched me in the arm. “Don’t make dirty jokes. Santa’s sacred.”
    “I didn’t say anything. It’s just your filthy mind.” I scooped up some snow and threw it at her.
    She retaliated , and we were off again, running and playing like kids.
    Anna tackled me to the ground and scrubbed a handful of snow into my face.
    I flipped her onto her back and pinned her. “Say uncle. No. Say ‘Santa’s my daddy.’”
    She squirmed and fought and laughed until she was breathless, but finally gasped out a weak, “Uncle! You perv.”
    S atisfied, I grinned and let her up. Her hood had fallen back, and her hair was matted with snow. She brushed it with her fingers while I lay beside her, making a snow angel.
    “Your angel looks like a devil ,” Anna said.
    I sat up and looked, and sure enough, there were two lumpy spots like horns on my angel’s head.
    “So, what’s on for today?” I asked.
    “ The cousins are spending the day with Aunt Patty and Uncle Jack, who just got into town. Then they’ll all come here for Christmas Eve dinner. This afternoon, it’s just you and me and my parents. Maybe we can watch a movie to fill the time.”
    “S ounds good. Hey, you were good with the kid,” I said. “Got him to man up and apologize without making a big thing of it.”
    I thought how like a mother she’d sounded when she’d made Gulliver’s name a warning. Did Anna even want to have kids? Did I? Would I make a good dad?
    Anna clapped her gloves together to break up the clots of snow. “And you got Haynes calmed down right away, distracting him like that. You seem to