Page 18 of A Raging Merry Christmas
“Jodie.”
“We need to start hanging the lights in the trees. They go from the field that’s the overflow car park all the way up. Then we have to decorate the trees around the house. Then we need tobuild Santa’s grotto and the elf village. We’ve also got to put the ornaments out for the sleigh path and the ones that light up. There is the outside of the Hall to decorate and also Rivendell and Ewok Village.”
“And the rest,” Christian stated as he carried two reindeer that lit up.
“There’s only seven of us,” I said, looking horrified.
“Eight, I’m helping, well, supervising,” Jodie replied with a grin. “That stack of boxes there. They contain the lights for the trees on the driveway to the Hall.”
I looked at the pile and blanched. They were piled sky-high. This was going to be a nightmare. Harley rode around the corner, followed by Grey on snowmobiles pulling trailers.
“I’m not traipsing back and forth in the snow moving these boxes,” Harley said, and I saw he’d already placed ladders in the trailers.
“If you want to load up, we’ll let Cody and Christian get the rest of the garden decorations. I’ll fetch two more snowmobiles,” Jodie suggested and disappeared before anyone could agree or disagree.
This was going to take hours, I realised. I swapped grim glances with Klutz and Gauntlet. We’d thought we were getting off easy, but we all forgot how much Phoe decorated.
“Hey, wasn’t Mac in charge of lighting up the walkways and the sleigh path?” Klutz suddenly asked.
“Yes, he fuckin’ was. Ring him,” Gauntlet answered.
“Mac’s stuff has already been put to one side. He’s on his way,” Jodie responded as she parked another snowmobile.
“Ain’t gonna help much,” I complained.
Jodie disappeared again, and I looked up as I saw a group of Hellions approach. Eddie was in the lead. With her were eleven others, boys and girls.
“Eddie, we don’t have time to mess about today,” Harley said as he lifted a box.
“Oh, we know. We’ve come to offer help… for a price,” Eddie stated, looking at us with a sweet smile.
“Yeah?” Klutz asked, and I almost groaned aloud. Why did he bite?
“Well, I know where all the candy canes, chimneys, trains, silhouettes, Santas, penguins, and blah blah go. We can do all of them and save you tons of time,” Eddie replied.
“How much?” I demanded.
“There’s twelve of us, and this will take us a few hours. It’ll take us at least a morning. I think that’s worth one hundred bucks each,” Eddie stated.
“Twenty,” I bartered.
Eddie threw back her head and laughed. The Hellions joined in. I was wondering whether I should be paying them because, for once, they weren’t fighting.
“Good luck getting everything done within a week,” Eddie said, and they began to leave.
“Fifty bucks, Eddie, and not a cent more,” I offered.
The Hellions gathered together and discussed my offer before agreeing.
“We’d have gone for thirty,” Ami, Cowboy’s girl, added sweetly.
“They agreed fifty; too late now,” Aiden, Gunner’s boy, stated.
I glowered at him, and the little shit smirked. He might not share Gunner’s blood, but he had Gunner’s facial expressions nailed.
“Do it properly, or there’ll be no fifty bucks each, nor will there be presents,” I threatened. Several of the Hellion’s blanched, but Eddie held my gaze, the blasted child.
“If we didn’t do it properly, then Santa wouldn’t know to come to us. That’s why we decorate so much for him, so he knows he’s welcome here,” Eddie explained with a sideways glance atsome of the younger children. The eight- and nine-year-olds still believed.