Gifted Connections 4

“Of course,” Greg said gruffly as he patted Alex’s head fondly.

Chapter 6

I was emotionally drained by the time they left. Will left shortly after that, carrying a sleeping Alex. Alex had finally opened his gifts after taking a small break from helping Harry, but he continued to ‘peer’ into Harry’s head to make sure his dreams weren’t disturbing him. It had taken a lot out of him, and I knew with my and Jace’s help, we could have made it more comfortable.

Maybe over time, we could even heal him completely. I wasn’t going to feel any ill will towards Harry because of who his mother was. The more time I spent around Greg and Hazel, the more I liked them, too. Ella had already forged a bond with Hazel. I had a feeling those two would be thick as thieves soon enough.

“Let’s go to bed before Santa comes.” Megan stood with a smile. “Thank you for everything tonight, guys. We’ll see you in the morning. Maybe around ten-ish.”

“That sounds good,” Remy smiled before he went to pick Ella up. She had just fallen asleep on him.

“I’ll take her,” Kade volunteered. “I know you guys want to watch your new movie. Plus,” he said with a mischievous grin. “I know Santa won’t come if we don’t hurry up to bed.”

Remy smiled at him before handing him off.

“Are you guys still up for a movie?” Gavin asked as he gave me a questioning look as the door closed.

I wavered between dragging Remy off to bed or enjoying the last few hours of Christmas Eve with everyone.

“Please?” Jemmy pleaded. “We can even help you pull out all the gifts while we watch the movie. I really want to watch it.” She shot Troy a smirk. “It has Eva Carver in it.”

Troy shot back with a look of annoyance.

“Really?” Jaxson perked up before he plopped down in Megan’s newly vacated seat. “Count me i

n!”

I felt like I was missing something, and from Jemmy’s gleeful expression and Troy’s closed expression, I had a feeling I was going to find out soon enough.

I looked over at Remy, and he gave me a nod. “Sierra, can you get the movie started? Let’s head down and get the rest of your gifts.”

“I’ll grab the wagons,” Noah stated.

“Do you think we should hold off on giving them some of their presents?” Jace said skeptically. “Everyone truly went crazy this year.”

“I agree.” I laughed as I went to help Jaxson get our folding wagons. “Alex’s birthday is in a couple of weeks. Ella’s is in April. Kade’s is in June, and Micah’s is in February.”

“We’re giving them all of their gifts,” Remy stated in a tone that brooked no argument. “This is all our first Christmas together. It should be one to remember.”

“Sounds right to me,” Troy stated resolutely.

“Okay let’s go.” I set the wagon up.

We went down the hall to a locked room at the far end. A lot of the families had rented rooms for this purpose. They didn’t want to store their gifts where their children may stumble across them. The rooms were bare, with just long tables in the middle and a few chairs.

We loaded up the wagons, and it took a few trips, but we finally got it all. On our last trip back, we noticed someone had turned the lights off, so only the Christmas tree illuminated the living room and kitchen. It didn’t take us long to arrange the gifts around the tree.

“Are you hungry?” Remy asked as he gathered me close. “You didn’t eat your plate from earlier.”

“Actually,” I said with little thought, “I am.”

“I’ll fix you a plate, save me a seat,” Remy lightly smacked my butt as I went into the living room. I shot him a look full of promise as I grabbed a blanket from the blanket ladder we had.

“The movie’s starting,” Jemmy said in a high-pitched sing song voice as she sat down and gave Troy a smug look.

“Am I missing something?” I asked in confusion as Jace stood up to pause the movie.

“Since Jemmy loves to lord things over people’s head,” Troy broke in, “I just want to make the disclaimer that I once had a short, brief dalliance with Eva, the main character in this movie.” Troy sighed as he ran his hands through his short dark hair.