Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving, and the weather was perfect for this time of years. Cool nights, mild days with lots of sunshine, and the colors of fall are at their peak. I’m continuing with Naughty Rudolph. Today we’re back inside Mara’s head as she faces another consequence of her hasty decision to enter the contest without reading the fine print. Enjoy!
“I haven’t mentioned Callie’s latest request from Santa to Nell, although I did talk to Saul about it. His solution was for me to get married. What do you think of that?”
Married? To whom? Was he thinking of marrying Hazel? That would be worse than not dealing with it, and if Callie discovered Hazel was the new mommy Santa had brought her … but he’d said he was done with Hazel. I opted to skip saying anything about pending nuptials and concentrate on what he’d said about Callie’s behavior. I could identify with that.
“I got teased, too and acted out in my own way. Kids can be cruel. Children follow the examples set by adults, and lately those haven’t been the best. I try to get my students to treat each other with respect, but every now and then, I fail.” I took a mouthful of liqueur. It was now or never. “Rudy, we have a bigger problem than her letter, and it’s all my fault. If I’d read the entire contest form … this wouldn’t have happened. I believe Callie sees me as her Christmas mommy. The evening I arrived, she said something I didn’t understand. She said, ‘Santa got it right.’ Then, she told Cora her special present had come early. How are we going to tell her the truth? That I’m not her Christmas wish. That I’ll be leaving in nine days. How are we going to explain that to her without breaking her heart?” And mine.
He rubbed the back of his neck and paced.
“I suspected something like that had happened, and I was hoping you would have a solution. I was going to mention it tomorrow. Have you ever come up against anything like this?”
Tomorrow? he was going to wait until Christmas Eve to deal with this catastrophe?
I huffed out a breath. “No. I’ve dealt with kittens, puppies, dragons, and baby brothers, but no one has ever requested a mother or a father, although I did wish for them myself before the Howards adopted me.”
He stopped pacing and stared at me. I could almost see that imaginary lightbulb popping on above his head.
“Then that’s the answer. You can adopt Callie.”
I flinched as if he’d hit me, the pain of the impossibility leaving me weak.
“Be serious. I can’t adopt your daughter.” I spoke sharply, not sure whether to be hurt or angry. “What if you do decide to get married? What will your wife say?”
Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.
Living the Dream 
I am kind of hoping Callie gets her Christmas wish. I love how they are trying to figure out how to fix this. I hope they come up with the right answer. Great job!
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They’re working on it, but there’s about to be another slight problem.
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It seems that things keep getting more complicated. And goodness, they’re going to run out of time too. Not much time here to come up with the perfect solution.
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They will find it, but there are still a few bumps in the road.
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