Winter Legacy -3.1-

Cupid grew up on his own outside in the yard all alone. Although for Cupid being alone was not a bad thing, he was no more than a toddler and not a loner at all, it was just that with so many people trying to rain attention on him, he hardly had any time for himself.

Regan found her grandson outside and brought him into the warm house. "Oh my." She mused looking into Cupid's deep green eyes, they were the prettiest eyes she had ever seen. Clearly they were Rudolph's eyes, just a lot more intense. "Bedroom eyes, I'll have to keep my own eyes on you when you become a teen." She didn't even try to think about the possibility that when her grandson's teenage birthday rolled around she may not even be alive.

Leia soon took her son from his grandmother and proceeded to teach him how to walk. The boy looked so much like his father it was painful to look at him. Although she played oblivious, she was far from naive to the fact that he husband didn't love her. But she loved him with all her heart and she'd made up her mind that she would be damned if he left her for another woman. She had already decided that if Rudolph left her she was taking Claus with her, she would not be the only unhappy Winter woman.

The next morning a beaming Navidad sauntered into the dining room carrying a steaming plate of pancakes.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Rudolph asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Navidad winked.

"Oh my God! You got some didn't you?" 

Rudolph was quite amused by his brother's smug smile, finally! Although he was not telling Ice about this, he hated losing to his older brother, but he hated losing a hundred dollars to to Ice even more. "Aww, widdol Navi is now a man."

"Shut up Rudy. Well, I'm going to propose to her."

"Say what now?"

"Yeah, I love her. You know, that feeling that makes you want to spent the rest of your life with...no wait, you don't." Navidad kicked away from the table and just missed the punch his big brother aimed at him.

Regan was sitting in the living room staring out the window absently, she was anxiously awaiting her turn to play with Cupid.

"Say baseball!" Claus laughed when the toddler stuck his fist into his mouth. "You are going to be a sports star, when you get big enough Grandpa is going to buy you a baseball to get your started."

"Ba?"

"Ball."

Leia had taken to following her husband around, she was afraid that if she let him out of her sight for a second he would disappear and she would never see him again. More than once she had been tempted to ask him if there was another woman, or to demand to know if he loved her. Leia sighed, she was too old for this, she began to wonder how she got herself into this whole marriage fiasco. Oh yeah, sleeping with a younger man, being careless and getting knocked up.

 

Meanwhile, Claus had taken a trip to his sister's house and was taken aback by the three pretty little girls who greeted him. They were different in one way or the other. 

Snowflake could have been a clone of her mother, she had Snowie's hair and brown eyes and even those pouty lips. Coco had her father's black hair and dark skin, but Claus wondered about those bright green which she shared with Cupid. Chanel looked just like her mother and older sister, but she had strange violet eyes, Claus couldn't even begin to wonder where those eyes came from.

Snowie's house was a hive of activity which reminded Claus of his own house all those years ago. Just like that the man's mind wandered to the past and he started to see flash back after flash back of what he and his wife now refers to as 'the good ole days'.

"Wow, three girls." He told Snowie, "You win."

Snowie smiled at her brother. "Come now Claus, it's not that bad." Suddenly Snowie's smile flipped upside down. "Claus, I may not see my daughters be teenagers."

"What do you mean?" Claus was rooted to the spot, his heart hammered inside his chest. Then he saw Snowie's mouth moving but didn't hear the words. Ten minutes later his brain registered the sound of his sister's voice, her words nearly stopped his heart.

"Claus, I went to the doctor today, I've got cancer."

Regan wondered about her husband when he came home and went wordlessly went to the shower then flopped onto the couch. She was about to question him when suddenly Navidad pulled his girlfriend, Latarsha, into the living room, dropped to one knee and opened up a black box. Regan heard herself squealing along with Latarsha.

The two of them got married right away, both were eager to start their lives together. Regan looked at her husband, he wasn't the least bit moved by his son's proposal and marriage right there in the living room. Something was seriously wrong, she had never seen Claus like this, not since they were teenagers and he'd found out that his father may have been involved in his mother's death. 

When Cupid started wailing upstairs though, Claus jumped up and quickly mounted the stairs, but Regan got to the crib first and lifted the tot, she immediately handed Cupid to Rudolph and ordered Claus to their bedroom.

Rudolph quickly changed into his regular clothes and tended to his son, he needed Cupid to go to sleep right now. After a warm bottle the boy's eyes began to droop. "Uh oh. Potty time big boy." He took Cupid to the bathroom, by the time he got back upstairs his son was fast asleep.

From a window upstairs Cupid saw Sylvia strolling toward his house, he skipped down the stairs and swung the door open, then he pulled Sylvia into a warm passionate embrace. They were going to dinner then dancing.