Two figures snooped around the lit-up Christmas tree decorated with a combination of bought and homemade ornaments. They were whispering to each other, pointing their counterpart toward different bags and boxes with a slowness. It was that sound combined with muffled giggles that pulled Abigail and Alaric out of the kitchen.
Alaric laughed. "Hey!"
Lizzie and Josie jumped.
Abigail put her hands on her hips. "What are you two doing?"
Lizzie held up a box. "We want to open presents."
"We'll open all of the presents under the tree tomorrow." Gently, she took the present from Lizzie and put it back to where it was before. She sat down between them, smiling in hopes of bringing ones back to their faces. Pulling them into her lap, she said, "On Christmas."
"Can we open just one?" Josie looked wide-eyed from Abigail to Alaric. "Please?"
Alaric shook his head. "No, honey."
Josie walked toward him. "Why not?"
"Because we have to wait for Santa to come."
Lizzie's silence was the opposite of Josie's. It teetered on angry and was accompanied by an expression that they knew as she stood up. So, before it took over completely, Abigail took one of her hands into both of hers.
"I still need help wrapping Daddy's present." The words drew Lizzie back to her. "Will you help me?"
"Can I pick out the bow?" Lizzie asked. "And put it on too?"
"Of course!" Abigail led her to the stairs, taking Josie's hand along the way. "Josie, will you help us?"
Josie nodded. "Can I pick out and put on the gift tag?"
"Yes, you can." Abigail looked over her shoulder at Alaric who had slumped onto the couch. "Now, you, stay here. We will see you at naptime."
Josie and Lizzie's room had not missed out on Christmas decorations. A little tree sat in the corner, bought on a whim their first Christmas and the first of the decorations always put up. Mini stockings, stuffed with a stash of candy Abigail and Alaric were not supposed to know about, hung with as much care as the ones on the mantle. There was even a snowy village of dolls living on top of their dresser. The rest of them were either made by them or were picked out by them, and almost none of them matched. But, still, the way everything came together was perfect.
"'But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.'" Alaric closed the book he'd had since childhood before placing a kiss on their foreheads. "Alright, girls. Sweet dreams."
Josie smiled. "One more story."
"And Mommy reads it this time," Lizzie requested.
"Okay. One more." Abigail scanned the books readily available. "But then a nap because we're going to Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stefan's."
"Uncle Stefan says the palace is the safest place in the whole world."
"And Uncle Stefan's right," Alaric said. "But remember, never open the palace doors for anyone but Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Caroline, and Uncle Stefan, okay?"
"And Seline."
Looking from the girls to Alaric, Abigail pressed her lips together. "Let's read 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'"
Although Abigail and Alaric had only been assigned to bring two sides, one dessert, and the presents from their family to the other guest for Christmas Eve dinner, the kitchen had been taken over by their task. She finished the last of it all while he watched, moving things in and out of the oven and on and off the stove and into a cooler that would get it all to the boarding house.
"You know, that last story was a little on the nose."
She faced him. "Well, I thought it was subtle."
"We've gotta talk to them." Sighing, he shook his head. "I don't want them thinking that Seline is safe."
"We did. I-I don't know what else to say. I mean, it's like they never registered that they were in danger." She looked down at her feet for a long moment before crossing over to him. "Look, it's Christmas. We're going to eat more than we should, play games, put the kids to bed, and then we're going to drink until our friends and family seem somewhat normal. That's what I want today to be."
The kiss he gave her was both firm and tender, just as his words, "It will be."
With her head on his chest, she said, "We'll try talking to them about it again once we move."
"At least Seline organized everything." At the look on her face, he stepped away from her. "Too soon?"
"Uh, yeah." One of their phones rang, and when she picked it up, she realized it was his. "It's Caroline."
"Hand it over." He answered it on speaker. "Hey, Caroline. Abigail is getting everything ready so we can head out when the girls wake up."
"A very alive Damon, who claims you and Matt killed him and buried him in a shallow grave last night, walked through our front door with that psycho American Idol reject about an hour ago." Caroline scoffed. "Why would you try to pull something like that? He made a literal deal with the devil!"
Alaric furrowed his eyebrows at his phone. "He deserved it!"
If Abigail had been the one to get a drink with Matt, she would have been the one to kill Damon. Caroline must have known that. And that must have been why she didn't call her.
"What do Damon and Sybil want?" Abigail asked.
"To ruin Christmas, I don't know." Caroline didn't sound surprised at all that Abigail had been the next one to speak. "They promised to leave the kids alone, so I was thinking you could add the tuning fork to your Santa bag."
"We don't have it," she said. "She stole it from us when she escaped the Armory."
"Then let's steal it back," Caroline said as if she shouldn't have had to. "It's probably in the trunk of her car."
Alaric took over their responses, "It disrupts her psychic power and it hurts like hell. She wouldn't carry it around with her. She probably has it stashed where she's staying."
"Well, good thing she wants to be my BFF." All of Caroline's annoyance moved away from them with the statement. "She told me about the huge house with a big pool in a neighborhood filled with rich, sleazy men that'll give up their whole house for a song. She said something about a pond."
"We lost a bid on a house in a neighborhood called the Pond Estates outside of Grove Hill. There's not actually a pond, but it tracks." He did not let her ask the question that they knew she would. "And going there sounds like a job from a couple who doesn't have kids."
Instead of a goodbye, Caroline said, "I'll call Bonnie."
He dropped his phone on the counter. "Guess it's a good thing Jeremy didn't come home."
"I still wish he was here." Closing her eyes, she shook her head. "I wish we were at the lake house with the girls and my parents, Elena, Jeremy, definitely your mom, maybe your dad..."
He wrapped her up in his arms, the sleeves of his red sweater contrasting against the white fabric of her dress. "I know."
"If Elena was here, Damon wouldn't be doing any of this." She stepped away from him. "I, uh, I'm going to go finish wrapping gifts."
