Read A Nantucket Christmas for Free Online Page A

creatures, what happened when he got to the island? If what his father said was right, porpoises couldn’t breathe on dry land, so how did Santa get up to the chimneys of the houses? It was hard to understand how the world worked, especially on an island.
    A funny
yip
interrupted Maddox’s thoughts. Looking down, he saw a yellow puppy tugging the laces of his daddy’s sneakers.
    A lady with gray hair and earrings shaped like Christmas trees rushed over. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized pleasantly. She picked up the puppy and held him in her arms. “This is Chips,” she told Maddox and his father. Holding the puppy’s paw, she waved it in a hello gesture. “We’re taking Chips to give to our granddaughter for Christmas.” Seeing Maddox’s face, she asked, “Would you like to pet him?”
    Maddox nodded solemnly.
    “I’ll put him on the floor. You can play with him. Be careful, he bites, well, not actually
bites
, he nibbles, he’s got his baby teeth, and he’s only two months old. He doesn’t mean to hurt.”
    James set Maddox down on the floor next to the puppy. Maddox held out his hand. Chips licked it and wriggled all over. Maddox patted the puppy, then scratched behind his ears. Chips turned circles and flopped over onto his back, exposing his fat white belly. Maddox rubbed it and Chips wiggled in ecstasy, kicking his hind legs as if he were riding a bike. Maddox giggled.
    “Here.” The lady handed Maddox a short rope. “He loves to tug.”
    The second Maddox took the rope, Chips snatched the other end in his sharp white puppy teeth and yanked so hard he pulled it right out of Maddox’s hand.
    “Hey!” Maddox yelled, reaching out to capture the rope, but Chips ran away. Giggling, Maddox chased after him. They went only a few steps when Chips tripped on his own feet and somersaulted head over heels, never once letting go of the rope. But Maddox caught up with him and clutched the rope, and the boy and the puppy began to tug. It was so much fun. Maddox laughed and laughed. The puppy let go of the rope and actually jumped onto Maddox, who was on his knees. Chips sort of latched onto Maddox with his puppy paws and began licking Maddox’s face all over, as if Maddox tasted delicious. Maddox fell over on his back, delirious with happiness as the puppy’s wet pink tongue slurped his eyelids, his cheeks, and once right up his nose!
    “Maddox, darling? Why are you on the floor?” His mommy stood at the top of the stairs, clutching the railing, pale and anxious. “Are you all right?”
    The older lady quickly bent down and lifted Chips off Maddox. “Hello,” she said to Kennedy. “I’m sorry, I was just letting Chips play with the child. I’m afraid I’m rather boring for the poor puppy.”
    His mommy smiled. “That’s so kind of you. Maddox would love to have a puppy. I’m just not sure I could deal with one now …” She put her hand on her belly.
    The older lady nodded her head. “Wiser to take your time. You can always get a puppy later.”
    Maddox glanced back and forth between the older woman and his mommy, who seemed to be communicating without saying all the words.
    James hefted Maddox into his arms. “Look,” he said, pointing. “We’re almost there. I see the lighthouse. Soon we’ll be nice and warm, and Nicole will serve us a delicious meal.”
    “Goodbye,” the woman said, waving Chips’s paw.
    Maddox’s daddy said, “Kennedy, let me help you go back down the stairs. You shouldn’t have climbed them by yourself, not with the boat rocking so much.”
    Supporting Maddox with one arm, and Maddox’s mommy with the other, his strong daddy carefully escorted them down the steps to the main cabin. They were almost on the island!

9
    Kennedy was so blissed-out she was miserable.
    After their arrival yesterday afternoon, her father had helped James carry in the bags. To Kennedy’s surprise, the room at the back of the house behind the kitchen had been transformed into a