Page 39 of Harley

Oakley

How bad could a nativity play be? Today had been drama-less, and I felt relieved. Every single child had behaved, even during the snowball fights outside.

Presently, we sat in the drawing room staring at a makeshift stage. The Hellions were performing a play.

Harley had told me that Rock, Texas, Manny, and Slick were responsible for this. But Harley kept sniggering, which meant I was warned something would happen. Minutes later, my mouth dropped open as Isla made her opening statement.

“I’m Mary, and married to Joseph, and I’m knocked up,” Isla said.

A low moan escaped; this was going to be painful.

“And here we go!” Harley muttered.

By the time we got around to Joseph giving Mary Rohypnol, I was in complete shock, and the old ladies were hitting the bottle again.

Forty minutes later, Harley pushed me into the drawing-room, where every single woman was getting completely drunk. The brothers had been banished, and Drake was bellowing in anger in his study.

Harley told me there would be sleigh rides soon. Those with children would head to Santa’s village. Those who didn’t could still take a ride but bypass stopping at the village. Instead, we’d pass through it and continue on the twinkling route.

I considered all possible issues. But it turned into a beautiful twenty minutes, and I loved it. It’d been so romantic. Harley and I had snuggled under a thick mock fur blanket with our hats, scarves and gloves on. We had completed this walk on the toboggan last night, but it was more magical in the sleigh.

Harley wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I cuddled in snug as he pointed out things that I’d missed the previous evening. It was beautiful. The moon was high in the sky already, the stars sparkled, but we could see clouds moving in.

Snow began falling towards the end, and Harley tucked me even more firmly against him.

“This is amazing, I’ll not forget this,” I whispered. “Not ever.”

“It’s something special,” he agreed.

We lapsed back into silence, and I smiled. I’d remember this until I died. That was for sure. This was the complete opposite of the chaos from earlier. Harley’s hand grasped mine, and I clung on tightly. Just for tonight, I could pretend everything was okay.

???

“He’s up the chimney?” I asked Harley, who’d collapsed into giggles in the corner. He, Cody, Jodie, Serenity had all stuffed their hands in their mouths as they tried not to laugh out loud.

Jodie managed to nod and snorted as we looked towards the fireplace in the drawing room.

“Oh shit, should we stop them?” I questioned.

“Nope. Everyone’s watching. The Legacies will give Dad a hell of a fright, but Mom won’t let them light the fire.

Jodie and Serenity had just told us about Santa’s helpers. I was glad I’d missed that, although I’d had giggles when Jodie explained that the old ladies had made all those in costumes parade in front of them.

I’d decided to go with the flow. The entire family, the club, the old ladies, and the children were all certifiably insane. There was no point in trying to buck the trend. Instead, I’d just sit back and watch.

The latest antic was Drake stuck up the chimney after attempting to be Santa.

We’d been sitting in the corner when Drake had called out. He’d gotten wedged.

Harley had stopped me helping Drake and sent Jared to fetch everyone as Drake yelled for help. The Hellions had followed their parents, and now we all sat in silence as Drake threatened his son.

“Shit, Dante, he knows my name. Is that Santa?” EJ asked.

Harley doubled over in laughter as EJ glanced around the room wide-eyed. Lindsey made a wind-up motion, and EJ and Dante nodded.

Both boys looked ecstatic.

“Dante Chance Michaelson. Get some adult help right now!” Drake yelled shrilly.

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