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Candi showed up at River's around six on Christmas morning, curious about Darci's excited phone call, demanding she come to River's, right away before her boyfriend’s family was up and about.
River let her in, wearing only a pair of black sweat pants. He was grinning broadly.
“Oh my gosh. Are you two together?” She squealed. River nodded. Candi gave him a bear hug.
Then she saw Darci, sitting on River's tan leather couch, surrounded by Christmas stuffed toys, and wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt that were obviously River's. In her arms was a tiny pink wrapped bundle.“Candi! Look what I got for Christmas!”
“I thought you got River for Christmas,” Candi said in a snippy voice, flipping her long golden brown hair back. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed? Vampire and all.”
“I can make it for a while longer,” River said and grinned.
Darci just wrinkled her nose at Candi and held up her pink bundle. Darci peeked into it.
“A baby? But she's so tiny.” She looked at Darci in astonishment. “What is she?”
“She's part Nixie. River rescued her from a dumpster, and gave her to me. And I'm going to keep her. She's my daughter now. Mine and River's.” The couple exchanged a long glance.
“Can I hold her?” Candi yelped. “And what have you named her? Can I help pick out the name? You're not going to tell Dad, are you? You can’t trust them with knowledge of Others!”
Darci and River burst into laughter. Candi landed on the couch next to Darci with a bounce and Darci gave her the baby to hold. The three began to talk, all at once.
****
“OH, THAT IS SO SWEET,” chimed a tiny voice from the small balcony above River's living room. “She's going to be very loved, isn't she?” The speaker was a tiny woman, with fluffy white wings, tiny gills and a gilt halo upon her flossy blond hair.
“Oh yes, very loved, Bitsy. And I'm a grandmother, at last!” A taller angel, with smooth golden brown hair like her daughter Candi’s spoke, gently wiping her happy tears away on the sleeve of her white robe.
“Oh, what a joyous day!” A white haired grandmother angel spoke. “Our children and grandchildren, together and happy at last.” She looked fondly upon the little family hovering over her new adopted grand daughter. Candi was holding the baby and there was a lively discussion about names going on.
“I'm just–overwhelmed!” The petite angel sobbed. “I was so afraid my daughter was lost to a cruel fate. A dumpster!” She gave a tiny shudder.
The grandma angel encircled her in her arms. “There, there,” she said. “I know exactly what you've gone through. I watched River lose his health and almost his life.”
They exchanged glances.
“My own Darci–why, you don't even want to know the horrible things she’s gone through! But that is all behind us, now. And she’ll keep getting better, that vampire elixir will help her scarring.”
“Yes,” said Bitsy. “This is a new beginning. For all of them.”
“And for us!” Grandma spoke quite tartly. “Now we can begin enjoying our Afterlife.”
The smaller angel fluttered on still unsteady wings, the better to hear the conversation. She returned to the other angel with a blissful smile on her face.
“They're going to call her Noelle.”
The angels remained, spending Christmas morning with their beloved family.
****
“THIS IS THE HAPPIEST Christmas ever.” Darci said. “I only wish Mom could be here.”
River looked at her. “Somehow, I think she knows. Our loved ones are rejoicing with us.”
Darci nodded, her eyes shining and Candi draped an arm around each of them. “Yes. Our family is rejoicing together.”
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THE END
