From Snow, With Love...

The Christmas lights danced in five-year-old Lana Blanco's wide brown eyes as she stood at the bottom of the Caldwell's driveway, snow falling gently around her. Her mother had spent an hour curling her dark hair into perfect ringlets and securing them with a red velvet bow that matched her dress. Now, tiny snowflakes caught in those curls like stars in the night sky. "Mama," she whispered, tugging at her mother's coat, "their house looks like a gingerbread castle." And it did. The three-story Victorian home was outlined in warm white lights, with garlands wrapped around every column of the wraparound porch. Each window held an electric candle, and through the frost-touched glass, Lana could see the shadows of people moving about inside. Her father, Professor Antonio Blanco, chuckled and adjusted the plate of her mother's famous tres leches cake in his hands. "The Caldwells do love Christmas, pequeña. Just wait until you see inside." Lana clutched her stuffed reindeer, Twinkles, closer to her chest as they made their way up the winding path. Her patent leather shoes clicked against the cleared walkway, and her heart thundered with each step. She'd heard so much about the Caldwells- her father's new best friend from the university, his wife who painted beautiful pictures, and their son who her mother said was "just a bit older." The massive wooden door swung open before they reached it, spilling golden light onto the snow. Mrs. Caldwell - Katherine, as she'd later insist on being called- stood there in an emerald green dress, her blonde hair swept up elegantly. "Antonio! Maria! And this must be little Lana!" Her voice was warm like honey in tea, and she knelt down to Lana's level despite her fancy dress. "We've heard so much about you, sweetheart." That's when Lana heard it- thundering footsteps from above, followed by a voice that would become the soundtrack to her childhood memories. "Mom! Dad says I can't put the star on the tree until everyone gets here. Are the Blancos-” The voice stopped abruptly. Lana looked up, and up, and up the curved staircase. There, halfway down, stood a boy who seemed to her young eyes like he'd stepped out of one of her fairy tale books. Asher Caldwell was twelve, though to Lana he may as well have been grown up. His dark hair was slightly messy, as though he'd been running his hands through it in excitement, and his green eyes sparkled with the reflection of Christmas lights. He wore a cable-knit sweater that brought out flecks of gold in those eyes, and when he smiled- oh, when he smiled- Lana felt her little heart skip a beat. "You didn't tell me they had a kid," he said, but unlike most big kids who said such things with disdain, his voice held curiosity. He descended the remaining stairs with a grace that seemed impossible for someone his age, and Lana found herself shrinking behind her mother's legs. "This is Lana," her father said proudly. "She may be pequeña, but she's got the biggest heart and the cleverness to match." Asher stopped in front of her, and Lana noticed he had a dusting of freckles across his nose that looked like the constellations her father had shown her in his astronomy books. He crouched down, putting himself at her eye level, and spotted Twinkles in her arms. "Cool reindeer," he said softly, as though sharing a secret. "Want to know something special? We've got eight real ones hidden upstairs." Lana's eyes widened, and before she could stop herself, she stepped out from behind her mother. "Really?" Asher's laugh was like the silver bells that hung on their Christmas tree at home. "Well, they're not real-real. But I've got this awesome collection of glass reindeer ornaments in my room. They catch the light and make rainbow patterns on the walls. Want to see?" He held out his hand- so much bigger than her tiny one- and Lana found herself nodding. His palm was warm when she placed her hand in it, and she noticed he had a small scar on his thumb that looked like a crescent moon. "Can I bring Twinkles?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Of course! Twinkles needs to meet the rest of the reindeer family, right?" His wink made her giggle, and suddenly the massive house didn't seem so intimidating anymore. As Asher led her upstairs, telling her about how each glass reindeer had its own name and story, Lana heard the adults talking behind them. "Well," Mrs. Caldwell said, "I've never seen Asher take to someone so quickly. He usually hides in his room when we have company." "It's those Blanco genes," her father joked. "We're impossible not to love." Lana didn't understand then what her father meant, or why the adults laughed so knowingly. She didn't know that this moment – her tiny hand in Asher's, climbing stairs that seemed to reach the sky, with snowflakes melting in her curls- would be the beginning of a story she'd tell her own children someday. All she knew was that Asher Caldwell's room had glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, that he gave her the smallest glass reindeer as a Christmas gift ("Because everyone needs their own piece of magic," he'd said), and that when he smiled at her, she felt like she could see all the way to the North Pole. That night, as she fell asleep in her father's arms while he carried her to the car, Lana dreamed of green eyes, glass reindeer, and a boy who made the world seem full of magic just by existing in it.