I loved snow, but for some reason I could only focus on the cold radiation from the window in Doctor Page’s office. Lambert and the doctor were discussing something, but my mind was on the young couple we’d been introduced to last week: a pretty stallion and his handsome griffon wife.
“Oh? You didn’t tell me about that.” the doctor said with a laugh.
“Hmm?” I asked, mentally rejoining them.
“Your fishing trip,” the doctor answered.
The memory tugged at the corner of my mouth, making me realize I’d been scowling. “Yea, that was our one month celebration. He caught more by chasing them down than I did with a fishing pole.” I started to say I was planning a camping trip in the spring with Lambert, Rumble, and Thunderlane, but closed my mouth. The stack of soon-to-be signed legal forms would cancel those plans.
The doctor gave me a moment, silently prodding me to say something, but eventually looked back to Lambert. “I think Sea Breeze and Granger would like spend some time with you. They have a lovely home on the coast, I’m told. You could fish all you want there. If things work out.”
Lambert fidgeted, then looked to me. I tried to look happy for him. They were a sweet couple. I’m sure they’d make a picture-book family. “That sounds fun!” I said with a forced smile.
“Doctor Page,” Lambert said, looking back to him. “Can I give her that gift we talked about?”
“You brought it?” the doctor asked, a little surprised.
Lifting his wing, Lambert revealed a little, brightly wrapped present. I recognized it as one he’d put under the Christmas tree last week. My mind drifted to wondering if I should give them Lambert’s “Santa Hooves” presents I had hiding in my room, but quit the thought. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. I had at least a few days left with him.
“It’s yours to give,” the doctor said as Lambert stared at the gift in his grip. “Just remember what we talked about.”
Lambert nodded. “I was going to give this to you on Hearth’s warming morning, but I want you to have it now.”
I knew something was going on, but for now I focused on the gift that seemed so important to Lambert. Peeling away the tape, I opened the wrapping to reveal a gorgeous red scarf. “It’s beautiful,” I said, unfolding the crimson silk.
Something solid fell out from the folded cloth. Catching it without looking, my heart stopped when I realized what I was holding.
“Lambert... Did you mean to give me this?”
He nodded. There was a fear in his eyes I’d hoped to never see again.
“I-” words failed me. Eyes squeezed shut, I silently clutched his mother’s brooch to my chest while forcing myself not to cry. It seemed unnaturally heavy as I guessed at its meaning. “Are you asking me to be...”
Again, Lambert nodded. “Would you?”
Nodding instead of saying yes, I fumbled to put on the brooch and scarf. “How’s it look?” I asked.
Bright eyes and fluffed feathers answered me. “Can we go home now?”
“Yea. Let’s go home.” Standing, I gave Doctor Page a smile. “I hope you don’t mind us calling this session short.”
“Not at all.” Doctor Page tore the documents in half with a satisfied grin before dropping them in the waste can. “I’ll let Sea Breeze know Lambert’s no longer available.”
“Thanks.” For some reason, I felt bad. They had really taken to Lambert.
The doctor must have read my thoughts. “This just means they’ll find a foal that needs a loving home, instead of one that already has one.”
“Thank you,” I said again, giving him a smile before leaving the room.
The snow was falling heavy when we stepped outside the office. It muffled the voices of caroling ponies into a distant melody and cast the winter day into an early dusk.
“It’s really coming down,” Lambert said, wading through the snow. A snow bank twice his height gave him pause.
I had to snicker when a wing-aided jump sent him over the mound of snow by twice the distance necessary. “Don’t know your own strength?” I asked as he recovered from the hard landing.
Lambert tucked his wings away with a, I meant to do that, air. “I thought it was higher than that.”
Plodding through the snow, I knelt next to him. “You want to ride?” It’d been a good two months since he’d needed the security of hiding, but piggyback rides just for fun were still common. He’d be too big soon enough, I was going to enjoy this while I could.
“So what you want to do with the rest of the day?” I asked after he’d settled on my back.
Lambert hummed for a moment. “Thunderlane’s parents are still coming over, right?”
I nodded. “Rumble and Gold too. It’ll be a little crowded in the house for the next two day, but it’ll be nice.”
Silence fell between us for a moment, the sound of snow crunching beneath my feet and distant carolers filling the void comfortably.
“Can we make hot coco, and go caroling?”
I grinned. Lambert’s discovery of lactase-enzyme pills had made him slightly obsessed with all things milk-based. “I think we could talk them into that. Maybe we could even take Bulk’s Christmas present to him while we’re out.”
epilogue
Mary stalked through her own house like a thief in the night, trying not to wake anyone as she gathered the gifts she hidden in her closet. Behind her, Thunderlane slept peacefully.
Finally gathering the little stack of presents, she kissed the sleeping stallion on the nose before venturing downstairs. Her eyes stayed on the floor as she moved quiet as a mouse down the steps, having memorized which steps squeaked. At the bottom of the stairs she looked back up, but froze, not sure of what she was looking at.
The massive reindeer standing in her living room tucked something under the tree. His ear twitched, then swiveled towards her. “You’re a quiet one,” he said looking towards her.
Mary’s feet instinctively slid into a fighting stance even as she still held the boxes. “Who are you?”
The reindeer struck an exaggeratedly proud, tall pose. “Santa Hooves, of course.”
“Sure...”
He gave her a wise smile. “Don’t believe me?”
She stared at him.
He chuckled. It was a disarming laugh that forced Mary to smile along with him. “How about this then?” His antlers sparkled with magic as a letter formed from nothing. “One of my counterparts asked me to deliver this to you.”
Mary hesitated, but gave in to curiosity. Letting her guard down, she held Lambert’s presents with one arm, then took the letter as he floated it towards her. Her heart skip as she saw ”To Mary” written on it, it was her grandmother’s handwriting.
She looked up to ask how he got it, but she was alone in the room.