So, I accidently started something with Winter Frost.

 

Winter Frost was never intended to be more than a short story. It was my release valve, the thing that let me breathe. Readers, however. You readers. It's been very well received. Probably because this last year has been full of grief, and we all needed someone to pop the lid off that pressure cooker.

Maybe also because I put the best, and some of the worst, of the women in my family in there. Ria is a mix of the best of the best, the kind of woman we wish we could be. She was inspired by real people living hard things, and she triumphed, even though she lost everything.

But maybe not everything. Because of you, she'll crawl out of those ashes and live. Ria will be a part of my frost giant's lives. Now, because you're invested, I have to continue her story.

Here's a piece of Ria in Greenleaf Snow Angel Plum/Mother of Ice and Frost (haven't decided on title).

Excerpt:

The next morning at breakfast Viggo said, “I’m thinking about teaching Ria to drive.”

Garth grunted at him and kept on eating potatoes and sausage.

“I heard Bob the barkeeper is looking for a car for her.”

Fern glanced at the boys as she pulled biscuits from the oven. She’d heard all about Ria. The girl had lived in the same apartment building as Fern. She’d escaped with her grandma and grown a giant pumpkin in an old wheat field. With the community’s help, they’d turned the pumpkin shell into a home for the teen and her sickly grandmother. It was the talk of the town.

Fern hadn’t known the girl was a mage. She wondered if Viggo liked her. He was certainly checking up on her a lot.

It was Frode who asked, “Is she your girlfriend?”

Viggo looked at him seriously. “No, but she needs help. Everyone’s keeping an eye on her, because it’s just her and her grandma, who’s sick. She’s got dementia, and that’s rough. They don’t have much money, and Ria still has to go to school.”

Hakon smiled approvingly. “That’s my brother.” He looked at Frode. “We take care of our neighbors.”

Frode wrinkled his forehead. “But she’s not a neighbor.”

“Your neighbor is anyone who needs you, squirt,” Viggo said condescendingly. “Besides, Garth’s the one who likes her.”

Garth choked, then glared at his brother.

Viggo gave him a cheeky grin as he got up to fetch the biscuits.

“Does she need anything? Should I send some biscuits for her? Milk?” Fern looked around, wondering what else she should send.

“I think they’re pretty good on groceries, but you could send a couple of biscuits and a jar of honey, maybe. She eats like a bird,” Viggo said thoughtfully. “Also, the neighbors keep sending food. Everyone likes her, and they want to get a look inside her pumpkin. It’s pretty cool. She grew her own furniture and stuff.”

“Take some pictures next time you’re there,” Hakon suggested. “Fern will like that.”

“Why don’t I just bring her along?” Viggo suggested. “You said you needed some ingredients, right, Fern? Nuts for the cookies and toffee you talked about?”

Everyone perked up. Dessert was serious business.

“I guess I could.” She glanced at Hakon to see if he objected. It wasn’t exactly excellent use of her time to buy single ingredients on a weekday.

“Good idea!” he said enthusiastically. “Take your time and buy some clothes, too. You haven’t replaced all the things you lost.”

She’d picked up a couple of things from the bulk store when she’d gone shopping that first day, but he was right. “I guess I could do some early grocery shopping.”

“Yeah, then we don’t have to,” Viggo muttered under his breath, relived. Clearly, he was not a shopper.

Suddenly, everyone had a list.

“What about school? I thought it was an in person day,” Fern said as she got her things ready.

“We’ll just do the online assignments. We can catch up with our friends later,” Viggo said.

Garth didn’t object.

Fern stared sadly at the ruble that was once her home. She hadn’t seen it since she’d moved in with Hakon’s family, and it was heartbreaking. She’d just paid her rent for the month, too.

There was a lawsuit, so maybe she’d get her deposit back one day. There was no point in digging through the rubble, though. Her things hadn’t been valuable, and were long gone.

Garth nudged her, distracting her from her sadness. “Ria’s place is coming up. It’s pretty cool.”

Ria lived a couple of blocks from the wreck of their apartment. Her pumpkin house sat on the edge of a wheat field, a puff of smoke emerging from the pumpkin’s stem. A vine curled charmingly around the pumpkin, and as they got closer, Fern saw it was a gutter to collect water.

A path of trampled snow led to the front door, which someone had snow-blown, and there was plowed parking right next to it. The neighbors really were taking care of them.

The pumpkin door opened at Viggo’s knock and hearty hello!