“I think you win best present this year,” Kaid said smiling.
“Oh, he definitely does!” Janie agreed.
A round of welcomes and hellos sounded from the kitchen, and it was apparent someone else had arrived.
“Kaid!” Daniel called from the kitchen.
“Yo!” Kaid answered.
“Help me get Avaleigh’s food over here? She’s got so much food over at our place we could feed everyone just from that.”
“She make that cornbread dressing I like?” Kaid called.
“You know I did,” Avaleigh yelled in answer. “And the mashed potatoes and the slimy peas and crunchy things!”
“I’m a’coming, then!” Kaid said, hurrying down the hallway to go help Daniel. “Damn, I love them slimy peas and crunchy things!” he said to himself as he left the living room.
There was knock at the door at the same time it opened. “Merry Christmas!” Vince called out, stepping into the doorway and holding it open for Natalie to enter.
“Merry Christmas!” Everyone called.
“We brought the booze!” Vince announced. He allowed the screen door to fall shut behind himself as he followed his wife into the room and shoved the front door closed with his shoulder because his arms were holding a box filled with liquor and wine bottles.
“Then you are certainly welcome,” Bane said. “Come on, let’s find a place to put that down.”
Vince looked at Natalie to be sure she didn’t need him to help her and Christian get situated first.
“Go ahead, I’m fine,” she said.
“I’ll grab Christian’s carrier from the truck in just a minute,” Vince said.
“No hurry,” Natalie answered.
“I’ll get it,” Jobe volunteered, getting up from the couch.
“Thank you, Jobe. It’s unlocked,” Vince said.
Jobe headed outside to get the baby carrier, and Vince followed Bane into the kitchen to set his box of liquor down.
Maverik and Everly both made a beeline for Natalie, each sitting on one side of her and anxiously waiting for her to unbundle Christian so they could see him.
Everly hugged Natalie. “Missed you. Where you been, girl?” she said.
“Missed you, too! Been working extra shifts at the hospital so I could have tonight and tomorrow both off. Wanted to be sure I have the whole holiday off,” Natalie answered, unwrapping the scarf from her son’s head and chest and taking his coat off of him. He wore a fleece onesie that said ‘My First Christmas’ that was made to look like a Santa suit. His golden blonde hair was puffed out from his head like the mane of a lion, and his deep chocolate brown eyes were sharp, watching everyone and everything.
Natalie spoke to him. “There’s my big boy. That’s all better without that coat keeping you from moving, huh, little man?”
Christian snapped his eyes to his mother’s and grinned at her, drool running down his chin as he squenched up his nose with his smile and cooed at her.
“I know! It’s just so amazing. Look at all these things to see!” Natalie said to him, sitting him on her lap so he could look around better. He was still facing her and squealed and slapped his hands at Maverik when Maverik tickled his chin and asked him what he wanted from Santa.
“He’s got a long list,” Vince said, coming back into the living room.
“I bet he does!” Maverik answered. “And you tell Uncle Mav what Santa don’t bring you. I’ll take care of that part,” Maverik said conspiratorily.
Christian laughed that deep belly laugh that babies do, while watching Maverik talk to him.
“I mean it, I do!” Maverik said. “You want to see the Christmas tree? Come here and I’ll take you over to it.” Maverik held out his hands, and Christian leaned toward Maverik. Maverik took Christian from Natalie, smiling at her, and started toward the Christmas tree talking the whole time to Christian about all the wonderful things he could see.
“Can’t believe he loves that male like he does,” Vince snarked, being sure to say it loudly enough for Maverik to hear.
“He knows I got his back, Lion!” Maverik snapped from as close to the tree as he could get.
“I’m sure you do,” Vince answered, shaking his head.
“I got yours, too,” Maverik said, looking over at Vince sincerely.
“I know. And I got yours,” Vince answered, looking back at Maverik with the same sincerity.
Jobe came back in with the baby carrier and a couple of baby blankets. “These were in the carrier, I thought you might want them,” he said.
“I do. Thank you very much, Jobe,” Natalie answered.
Vince got up and took the carrier from Jobe, walking over to set it up out of the way inside the play pen.
“Where’s everyone else?” Vince asked.
“Kaid is helping Daniel bring over the food Avaleigh made,” Jobe explained. Then he lowered his voice. “She made something called slimy peas?”
“Oh, man, yes!” Vince answered. “With those little French fried onions on top. It’s kinda like green bean casserole, only better. You got to try it,” Vince said.
“Doesn’t sound very good,” Jobe said.
“Trust me!” Vince encouraged.
“Alright. I’ll try a little. But anyway, Mr. Goldy is upstairs getting ready, and Ms. Sadie is in the kitchen making our part of the food. Delilah’s helping her, and everybody that’s not in here, is in there. It’s kinda moving back and forth between here and the kitchen.”
“Where’s Valerie?” Vince asked, looking around.
“She’ll be here in a bit,” Maverik answered.
No sooner than he’d said so, Maverik could hear her voice in the kitchen and everyone in there greeting her. She came into the living room wearing her favorite Christmas sweater and her new boots Maverik had bought her.
“You didn’t call me to tell me you were heading over,” Maverik said.
Valerie kissed him and handed him his phone. “Yes, I did. You just didn’t hear it ringing from where you left it in our kitchen.”
Maverik grinned. “Oh, well, yeah, I guess I might have heard it better if I’d have brought it with me.”
“Ya think?” she asked, smiling and kissed him again, taking Christian from him.
“Hello, Christian,” Valerie cooed. “Aunt Valerie and Uncle Maverik bought you the best present this year!”
Christian grinned at Valerie and leaned over to try to chew on her chin. A little hand tugged on her pants, and she looked down to see Hellen standing there with a cookie in her hand.
“Hi, baby,” Valerie said, looking down at Hellen.
Hellen held her hands up for Valerie to pick her up.
“Here you go, Christian, let’s go see Daddy while I hold Hellen,” Valerie said, handing Christian over to Vince. Valerie reached down and picked up Hellen. Immediately the little girl snuggled into her mother, burying her face into Valerie’s neck. Hellen was as mischievous as Havoc, but she was bonded with her mother something fierce! Both twins were, but Hellen more so. She only showed her soft side to her mother; otherwise, anyone would have thought she was as strong as Maverik — only time would tell, but she probably was. Valerie hugged Hellen to her tightly, rubbing her back. “I love you, sweet girl.” Hellen smiled and took another bite of her cookie with her head resting on her mother’s shoulder.
“Hey, man!” Vince said snuggling his son, receiving him from Valerie.
Christian struggled to turn around to look at the tree again, so Vince took him over there.
“Since he’s occupied, I’m going to see what all Avaleigh and Ms. Sadie made,” Natalie said, getting to her feet.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Kaid walked over and looked through the window panes in the top of the door. “Eustace!” he said, opening the door and standing back so he could enter. “Glad ya’ll could make it,” Kaid said, closing the door behind Eustace and Maria.
“Thanks for the invitation,” Eustace said in his slow,
careful way of speaking.
“Merry Christmas,” everybody called out.
“Hey! What are you wearing?” Vince asked, as Maria took her coat off and handed it to Kaid.
Maria blushed. She held up her hand while Eustace stood proudly behind her. “He asked, and I said yes,” she said, holding her hand out for everyone to see her engagement ring.
All the women rushed to see her ring, oohing and ahhing over it. Vince, still holding Christian in his arms, fought his way through the women to hug Maria. Not only did she work for him, but she was a trusted friend. “I’m happy for you, Maria,” he said, hugging her tight.
“Thank you, Vince,” Maria answered.
Vince reached out his free hand to shake Eustace's. “Congratulations, Eustace. You got a good woman,” Vince said.
“The best,” Eustace said, shaking Vince’s hand and looking lovingly at Maria.
“This ring is gorgeous!” Valerie said. “Did you pick it out yourself, Eustace?” she asked.
“Kind of. But Everly helped me with it,” he said, concentrating on pronouncing every syllable properly and succinctly.
Everly smiled at Eustace. “I was pleased to help. I’m so happy for you, Eustace.”
Eustace smiled and nodded at Everly while putting his arm around Maria, pulling her close to him.
“Ho Ho Ho!” a deep voice boomed out on the porch.
All the kids’ eyes got huge. Remi slid from the couch to stand on the floor beside Janie, looking around, not quite sure what to do with himself.
“Ho Ho Ho! I think I have the right place! Where is everyone?” the booming voice said.
Everyone that had been in the kitchen crowded into the living room. Remi looked up and saw Daniel and Avaleigh standing there with all the other adults, watching the kids.
“Papa? Is that…?” Remi asked, his eyes wandering over to the door.
“I think it might be,” Daniel answered. “Maybe you should go open the door and be sure.” Remi ran over to the door, peeking through the windows behind the couch as he went. “It is! It is Santa! I can see him!” Remi said excitedly. He grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open. There was a large man in a red suit scratching his head and facing the yard, his back to the door.
“Santa!” Remi shouted.
Santa turned around. “Well! Ho Ho Ho! I thought I was in the right place! There you are, Remi GreyStorm. I was thinking I might have been lost for a minute there!”
Remi looked around at Avaleigh and Daniel. “He knows my name!” he said wondrously.
“I know!” Avaleigh said.
“Do you think, Remi GreyStorm, that I might come in for a little while and have a bit of eggnog before I finish my deliveries this evening?” Santa asked.
“Yes! You can come in,” Remi said, moving back from the door to let Santa enter. “Can’t he, Uncle Kaid?”
“He sure can,” Kaid answered.
Santa came into the living room, with his green velvet sack of toys over his shoulder and ‘Ho Ho Hoing’ with every step. He took a seat in Delilah’s rocking chair since it was closest to the tree and would make for better pictures and looked around at all the kids. “So, is there anyone here who might want to tell me what they wanted for Christmas?”
“I do!” Remi said excitedly, running to Santa and climbing up on his lap.
Brandt was having no part of it. He’d started whining the minute the loud, booming Santa had entered the room. Bane had taken him from Janie and was calming him, telling him it was okay. He was still watching Santa worriedly, but was no longer threatening to cry. Daisy was waiting her turn, standing beside Santa. Havoc had climbed out of the play pen and was circling back and forth behind Santa scoping him out, trying to decide if he trusted him or not. Hellen was standing stone still in the middle of the room beside Valerie where she’d shimmied until her mother put her down, staring at Santa like he was her prey. Every once in a while, Havoc would peek around one side or the other of Santa’s back and make eye contact with her, then fade into the background again.
Analise watched Santa come into the house and had been amazingly calm about a large man in a long, white beard and a bright red suit and hat entering the room. She watched, completely unaffected as Remi listed everything he wanted and reminded Santa that he should know this already because his Mama sent an email right after Thanksgiving.
“Yes, she did. And I got it. I did. It’s in my workshop at home. I’m just making sure that there’s nothing that’s been added,” Santa said, patting Remi’s head.
“How about Mama and Papa come take a picture with us, too?” Santa asked.
“Okay, but I got a question,” Remi said.
“What’s that question, Remi?” Santa asked.
“How come you use reindeer to fly your sleigh? They ain’t very strong, ya know. And down here, they might get hunted for Christmas dinner. You ought to be using Dragons. Dragons are stronger,” Remi said, ticking his reasons off on his little fingers, “they’re bigger, they’re much more smarter, and if anybody tried to shoot them, they’d just breathe fire on ‘em, or freeze ‘em,” he said, looking over at Delilah, who smiled at him nodding. “Makes good sense to me.”
“You know? That makes good sense to me, too. I’ll have to have a meeting with the elves and see what we can work out,” Santa answered, trying not to laugh too hard at Remi’s idea.
Parents, uncles and aunts snapped pictures and laughed.
Remi, satisfied that his idea had been heard, climbed down and allowed Daisy to have her turn. “I want Scooby, a big one,” she said, softly. “And Bant wants a ball. He likes balls.”
“Well, I can definitely do that. Can you smile for your Mommy and Daddy to take a picture?” Santa asked.
Daisy turned around and faced the room of family members, pasting a huge smile on her face for the picture. All the phones caught the moment and Bane took Janie’s hand and walked her over to Santa. “Can ya’ll get this one,” he said to no one in particular. He stood beside Santa with Brandt in his arms, and Janie stood on the other side, while Daisy sat in Santa’s lap.
Just as she climbed down from Santa’s lap, Daisy turned and asked her final favor. “Leave ‘da toys on ‘da porsh’, please.”
Santa laughed. “I can do that.” He looked up at Bane who was chuckling and stepping out from behind Santa. “She doesn’t want you to wander around inside our house while we’re sleeping. So if you could leave them on the porch, that’d be just fine,” Bane explained.
“I’ll be sure to do that.”
When they were done, most everyone else took their turn having family pictures made with Santa. Last were Bam and his family, and Maverik and his. The whole while Santa was there, Hellen and Havoc circled Santa and would from time to time make eye contact with each other. Maverik noticed and knelt down beside Hellen. “Whatever you two are thinkin’, stops now.”
They were only one year old, but had always, since birth, communicated with looks and signals. Maverik was pretty sure they had a telepathic connection like Maia and Matty did, too.
Hellen looked at her Daddy innocently and nibbled on her second cookie.
“You do not hunt Santa. You hear me, little girl?”
Hellen and Havoc were extremely advanced for their age and had been shifting at will since they were nine months old. In their animal form, the only way to tell them apart was that Hellen was a little larger, with a tuft of silver fur about her face and ears similar to a small mane, most likely from the Lion blood she and her brother got from their mother. Havoc looked exactly like Maverik, his silver wolf identical, only smaller and with golden eyes instead of Maverik’s blue. Hellen nodded slowly and shot a look over at Havoc, who was watching from behind Santa.
“If you smile and take a pretty picture with Santa, it will make Mama very happy. Do you want to make Mama smile?”
Hellen smiled at her Daddy and nodded.
“Very good. And if you’re nice to Santa, he will bring you lots of t
oys. Do you want him to bring you toys?” Maverik asked.
Hellen looked toward Havoc again who was still standing silently behind Santa. Havoc nodded. Hellen looked at Maverik and nodded.
“Then go take a picture and be nice,” Maverik instructed.
Hellen walked slowly toward Santa. Santa watched her coming with a grin on his face. He was all too familiar with this particular set of twins. They were very loving, very devoted children, both to one another, and their parents and families. But any outsider was treated as untrustable, until they earned the twins’ trust. True Wolf behavior, Santa thought as he watched Hellen approach. Then he felt the chair rock slightly as Havoc put his hand on the armrest to climb up.
“Well, hello there, Havoc! Would you like a picture with Santa?” Havoc didn’t answer, but he leaned his head to the side and peeked under Santa’s long white beard. Santa tried to smooth his beard down, but it was too late. Havoc had already seen what he needed to. He grinned and turned around, sitting down on one of Santa’s knees and making room for his sister next to him.
Hellen climbed up with a little help from Bam, who stood nearby waiting for his turn with Analise. She plopped down beside Havoc, and they both smiled prettily for the picture. Then Maverik and Valerie came to stand beside Santa, and everyone took their family photo. It was perfect, and anyone who saw it would have no clue that the adorable toddlers on Santa’s lap had been stalking him only moments prior. They slid off Santa’s lap, and Santa grimaced a bit as Havoc left him, with a few of his real beard hairs stuck in his little hand. Nobody else seemed to notice the bright red hairs caught in the cookie icing making his fingers sticky, but Santa sure felt it. Havoc smiled at Santa once more before he went over to stand with Valerie and wait for Analise to take her photo with Santa.
Bam wasn’t sure how Analise would react, so he carefully handed her to Santa. Analise looked wide-eyed at the man in the strange red suit with all the white hair and grinned at him. She leaned toward Santa, and Santa hugged her to him. “Well, aren’t you a sweetie,” he said, patting her back.
Analise patted him on the shoulder as she tried to hug him. Then Bam and Everly stood beside Santa and had their family picture taken as well.
Vince's Place Page 29
