A Beatley Christmas

Chapter Eleven

    Lee forced a smile as she opened the shoebox. She also tried to act surprised, like she hadn't expected to get shoes. Zak and Jason looked as though they were attending a funeral instead receiving presents, looking at their shoes with disdained expressions.

    "Oh, thanks, Uncle John," Lee said, smiling. George and Olivia were giving each other pained looks. They had bought the Starkey kids shoes too. What was up with all the shoes?

    "You're welcome," John nodded. "When you don't know what to buy people, get them shoes!"

    Lee, Jason, and Zak all laughed in a forced way.

    "Well, that's the last of the presents," Ringo said as Barbara started picking up all the wrapping paper that was strung throughout the living room. "I'd say we had a good Christmas, huh, kids?"

    "Yeah," Lee said, nodding and grinning at each of her aunts and uncles in turn. "Thank you."

    Paul looked at Linda. "Well, I suppose we should gather up the little Macs and get them into the car."

    "Is James doing all right?" Olivia asked, picking up empty plates.

    "Last time I check up on him, he was sawing logs," Linda said, laughing lightly. "But, yeah, that was quite a scare." She looked at Dhani, who had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, still shivering. He had insisted on opening presents with the rest of them instead of resting. "You're okay?"

    "Great," Dhani said, giving her a thumbs-up.

    Lee looked across the room and saw that Julian looked pained, looking off at nothing in particular. He appeared to be fretting about what had happened, but Lee couldn't understand why he looked so glum when he was practically a hero.

    Ringo stood up, dragging Jason up with him. "Come on, guys. Time to roll up."

    "But why?" Zak griped.

    "Because it's time to leave. We can only pester George and Liv so long before they get testy and boot us out."

    Lee started packing up her gifts into a giant Barnes and Noble bag. Her brothers always moved like slugs, so she knew that they wouldn't really be leaving anytime soon, but that didn't mean she couldn't get a head start by getting her things in the car.

    "Need help?" Stella asked.

    "You can help if you want," Lee said, shrugging. "I've got some more stuff laying around here somewhere . . . "

    "These shoes?" Stella asked, gesturing to them.

    "Uh . . . yeah," Lee said, hesitating. "Those shoes."

    They made their way out to Mum and Dad's minivan, putting the things in the back. Lee slammed the trunk shut and turned to Stella, who was fingering her dark hair.

    "You still worried about that?" Lee asked. "I'm sure your parents won't have a problem with it. I mean, seriously. Think about all the risky things they've done."

    "Yeah, you're right," Stella said thoughtfully. "I'll miss you, Lee."

    "I'll miss you too, Stell," Lee said, smiling. "We'll see each other sometime between now and next Christmas."

    "I'd hope so," Stella laughed.

* * *

"See you next time, James," Dhani said as the McCartneys loaded up in their van.

    "Yeah," James said, still looking quite cold, but a little more in spirit. "Next time I'll have plenty of stories about knocking things over in Walmart."