Hope held her stomach as she roared with laughter. Beside her, Olivia was gasping and turning bright red. On her other side, Adam was wiping away tears as he chuckled.
The day of the school nativity had finally arrived, and Hope, Adam, and Olivia were in the audience full of the kids’ family members. Earlier, Hope had spotted Adam’s parents sitting further back in the hall. Meanwhile, on the stage, the nativity played out in all its chaotic glory.
“Why does baby Jesus want gold?” one of the wise men demanded. “He’s a baby. What’s he gonna do with it? Shouldn’t we give him a teddy bear or something?”
Hope snorted. “The kid’s got a point,” she muttered to Adam.
“The donkey bit my butt!” a shepherd wailed.
Olivia howled with laughter. “I can’t breathe…”
The archangel Gabriel spontaneously shifted into a lion cub, which spooked the donkey (not a shifter) into running off, braying loudly. Mary and Joseph gamely tried to continue saying their lines, but one of the wise men had given up and wandered off. The former angel turned lion cub leaned into the manger and hauled out the baby Jesus by a leg, dragging him across the floor.
“Yikes. I’m glad they didn’t use a real baby.” Adam winced.
The doll’s leg came off and the lion cub dropped it. Then the little cub simply stared at it, his jaw hanging open in shock.
Olivia now had tears running down her face. Adam handed her a tissue, and she snorted with laughter. At least the two of them seemed to be getting on.
Hope made a serious effort to calm down before she ruptured something. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took some deep breaths, trying to ignore the surrounding uproar. Okay, it was working. She opened her eyes and turned to Adam. Their eyes met. Their lips twitched. And… they were giggling again.
“I broke baby Jesus!” The lion cub had shifted back into a little boy. A totally naked little boy who was sitting on the stage, looking horrified.
“I can’t… I can’t take any more,” Olivia panted. “My stomach hurts.”
“You do this every year?” Hope asked Adam.
Adam snorted. “Yes, but I think this year has been extra… special.”
Emmett, the third wise man, was giggling hysterically as he watched the chaos. Bella was now prancing around the stage in reindeer form. A reindeer in a sheep costume that she apparently hadn’t shed when she’d shifted.
“Bella was supposed to be a sheep?” Hope asked. That would have been so cute. She hadn’t known that. Auntie Joy had taken care of the costumes and had been sworn to secrecy since Bella had wanted to surprise them.
“Yup.”
The naked boy’s mother rushed to the stage and slipped a large T-shirt on her son, who was still screaming that he broke Jesus.
One of the shepherds, a girl from Emmett’s class, picked up the doll—by the hair—and unceremoniously dropped it back into the manger.
“Behold, I brought you a sheep,” the girl said, and then tossed a toy sheep into the manger.
Adam was holding his sides, practically doubled up with laughter, and Hope felt the tears running down her face.
“What?” the girl asked at the teacher’s hiss. “But I can’t remember the exact words.” Another hiss from the teacher. “Well, he’s got his sheep. What more does he want?”
“Hey guys! Turns out we’ve got some room at the inn, after all,” the innkeeper announced, striding back onto the stage.
“Get back here!” A teacher hustled the innkeeper off the stage. “Your part is over.”
“But it was a really small part!” the boy yelled. “And don’t you think they’d have made room for a baby?”
Hope desperately needed to stop laughing before she passed out. At this rate, the play might actually kill her.
“How… much… longer…?” she managed to get out.
Adam shrugged helplessly. “No idea.” He paused to chortle, as one of the sheep started doing a little tap dance. “I’m not responsible for this insanity. Not this year. I arranged the party, and other teachers took on the nativity.”
“Why do I have to be a stupid tree?” a small girl yelled and stamped her foot. “I should have been the angel. I wouldn’t have ripped Jesus’ leg off!”
A howl erupted from the angel now wearing a T-shirt. “But I’m the angel!”
“You broke the baby Jesus!”
“I didn’t mean to!”
“Mama says that I’m an angel,” another tree piped up.
“My daddy says that you’re a demon child,” a boy dressed as a star announced.
In the audience, one man sunk a little lower in his chair as a woman glared at him.
The choir, that had been patiently waiting to sing, gave up and streamed off the stage without uttering a single note.
One of the trees was now doing yo-yo tricks. Another was chasing a shepherd across the stage.
Hope tried to drag air into her lungs, but if this nativity didn’t end soon, she might burst a blood vessel.
“Shut up!” Mary yelled. “I wanna finish the play.”
Everyone ignored her.
“Fine then.” Mary screamed at them all. “I’m taking the baby, and I’m going home.” Scowling at everyone, she reached into the manger, tossed the toy sheep across the stage, and grabbed the doll.
“Hey!” Joseph snatched at the doll. “We still need that.”
“No one is doing it properly!” Mary wailed, tugging at the doll.
“We’re not finished!” Joseph yanked back.
Hope knew what was going to happen. She just knew it, and yet she was powerless to prevent it.
Mary and Joseph were now in a furious tug of war with the baby Jesus, neither willing to give up. Until, suddenly, the doll’s head came off, sending Joseph falling backward. He hit a tree on the way down, beginning a domino effect. The tree costumes were a little awkward to move in, so few of the trees managed to save themselves, all toppling over, one by one.
“You ripped off baby Jesus’ head!” Mary howled, tossing the doll at Joseph. “I hope you’re happy.”
By this point, the teachers had admitted defeat. Several of them stormed the stage to round up kids and usher them away. Parents were still rolling in their seats, in no better shape than Hope.
“Well, I guess I’d better go get my lot,” Adam said, standing up. “I’ll meet you outside.”
“Okay.” Hope watched him go. Once he reached the stage, he called to several of the kids by name and got them off the stage.
“Please tell me we’re doing this again next year.” Olivia blew out a shaky breath.
“Honestly, I’m not sure I can take this every year,” Hope admitted. “For a minute there, I thought I was going to suffocate from laughing so hard.”
“Bella and Emmett don’t seem upset,” Olivia said.
“Well, you know Bella.” Hope fished about on the floor for her bag. “Not much upsets that girl. And Em seemed more amused than anything, so I’m guessing he’s fine.” She cast an eye over Olivia. “And what about you? You seem to be getting along with Adam okay.”
Olivia shrugged. “Adam’s okay, I guess.” She sighed. “I talked with Auntie Anna, and she explained about mates.” She looked down at the floor. “Mum never spoke to us about being shifters and having mates.” She peeked up through her hair. “So, if Adam’s your mate, your true mate, then he’s not going anywhere, right? He’s not going to go away when he’s had enough.”
Hope wrapped an arm around the teen. “Nope. Adam is not going to get fed up with us, Liv. I promise. We can depend on him. I just need you to give him a chance to prove himself.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
Hope smiled. “Thank you.” She stood up. “So, let’s go round up our little monsters.”
***
Adam ushered Emmett outside to where Hope waited with his family. His dad was holding Bella, who still seemed totally hyper.
“Hello, Emmett,” Adam’s mother greeted him. “You did so well with your lines, sweetheart. Very professional.”
“I was a sheep!” Bella announced.
“Yes, you were,” his mother agreed. “A very nice sheep, too.”
“You watched the play?” Emmett asked, his eyes wide.
“Of course, dear.” His mother put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re family now, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The others would have been here too, but they couldn’t get tickets.”
Emmett beamed at her.
Adam glanced over at Olivia. The teenager was watching, her expression thoughtful. He had to admit, her attitude to him had thawed lately, and he hoped he was winning her over.
Hope slipped an arm around his waist. “I like your family,” she murmured.
“And they like you too,” he assured her. “My mother is thrilled to take on a grandmother role.” He shrugged. “Okay, I know she’s not actually their grandmother, and I’m not their dad—”
“Hey, I’m their aunt, not their mum.” Hope smiled at him. “Exact roles don’t matter. What is important is that the kids have family who care about them.”
Adam dropped a kiss on Hope’s forehead.
“So,” he asked, looking around at his family. “Did everyone enjoy the nativity?”
It took a good ten minutes for them all to stop laughing.
“I’ve never been in a nativity before,” Emmett said. He frowned. “It’s not how I imagined it.”
Adam snorted. “They’re usually a bit less…”
“Chaotic?” Hope supplied.
“Nuts?” Olivia added.
“Spirited.” Adam grinned. “There was a lot of ad-libbing going on in there.”
“What happened to the donkey?” Hope asked. “And who thought a real live donkey was a good idea around shifter kids?”
“One of the new teachers.” Adam had tried to dissuade her, he really had, but the woman had been adamant that the kids would love the donkey. Which they had until it had nipped one of the kids.
“What was your favourite part?” Adam’s mother asked Emmett.
Emmett considered it for a moment. “Probably when baby Jesus’ head came off.”
Bella giggled.
“I liked the sheep being presented to Jesus,” Olivia said. “Can’t say that shepherd didn’t do her job.”
“That was my friend Xia,” Emmett told her. “It was her first nativity too.”
“Okay.” Hope pulled away and Adam immediately missed her warmth. “I think it’s time we got the kids home.” She glanced up at Adam. “Are you done here?”
He shook his head. “No, I have to help clean up.” He grimaced. “I think the donkey made its way into a couple of classrooms and left us some presents.”
Hope’s lips twitched. “Do not make me laugh again. I only just managed to stop.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked quietly.
“Definitely.” She leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “And I want your bite, Adam Roberts. I’m ready to be your mate.”
Adam froze. Did she just say…?
Hope nipped his earlobe and then stepped back with a smirk on her face.
“C’mon kids.”
Adam’s dad set Bella down, and Hope took her hand, leading the kids off to her car. Olivia actually waved goodbye to them. Yeah, she was definitely thawing.
Things were looking up.