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Blake sighed dramatically and put the back of his hand on his forehead.
Tilar nodded. “While you’re thinking of that, tell me what you mean by ‘putting up’ a tree? Where are you going to put it? Up where? And what does it have to do with the key and the dress and the red velvet?”
“Never mind any of that,” Blake snapped. “You’re all mixed up as usual. I’ve never understood why Tygerians are so damned literal minded.”
“I’m only half-Tygerian,” Tilar murmured.
Rakkur nodded. “Me too.”
“Oh, shut up,” Blake said.
Mikos frowned. “Omak, when you say, you’ll do all of that cooking and the tree stuff, does this plan of yours entail you actually preparing the food? Because I’ve never known you to go near a cooking stove in my whole life. Do you even know how to cook?”
“Yes, Blake.” Ryan leaned forward in concern. “That does sound a bit ambitious. It’s almost Christmas. Do you even have all those foods available?”
“I ordered the turkey—and a turkey is a bird, Tilar. One that you eat. It’s just a name, dear, so don’t try to make it more than that. Anyway, I ordered the food months ago and the shipment arrived yesterday. It’s in the cooler now. The ham too. And yes, I had all of the rest of the order delivered on the last Nilanium trading ship, except for the beans and okra and the potatoes. All of that’s in the garden, so I just have to have someone pick it for me.”
“But who’s going to cook it?” Rakkur asked softly.
“I am. Who did you think?” Blake snapped back.
“Oh.”
“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of preparing a simple meal.”
“Well,” Mikos said, “It’s not exactly simple, though, is it? That’s a lot of food you mentioned, and I never even heard of half of it. Are you sure you know what to do?”
“They make cookbooks, don’t they? I’m perfectly capable of reading them and figuring it out. Or do you think I can’t read anymore? The directions are right there in the recipe, you know. And they have tutorials on the communicator.”
“But what about that tree you mentioned putting up? You never said what kind of tree. And up where?” “Do you mean to hang it up like a light?” Tilar craned his neck up to look at the ceiling. “It’s a high ceiling. Do you need a ladder? How will you get it to stay up?”
“Oh, just never mind. No more silly questions. I should have known better than to even mention it. Don’t worry, I won’t ask any of you Philistines to help me one bit. Only Ryan, as he’s the sole member of the family I can count on around here. It’s pretty obvious that my husband and my children don’t care about my feelings anymore.”
Mikos apparently took exception to his little speech and decided to assert his authority. “Now wait a minute, omak, that’s just not true and you know it. Besides, I tried to help you with a tree last year, and you told me, and I quote—'Get that ugly ass thing out of the palace. It’s stinking up the room.’”
“Are you speaking of that small, prickly weed from the garden that you dragged in here? The one that smelled like a skunk?”
“I don’t even know what a skunk is.”
“Exactly. So be quiet. I couldn’t believe you seriously expected me to put my beautiful, glass decorations that I ordered and had specially delivered from Earth for the occasion on some scrubby, nasty smelling, little weed from the back yard.” Blake asked with a withering look. He glanced over at Ryan. “It barely came up to my knee. Can you believe it?”
Mikos frowned. “Well, I thought it looked all right. You said you’d decorate it. How was I to know you wanted me to cut down a perfectly good tree from the forest for such foolishness? Besides, we don’t have trees like you have on Earth. We have good Tygerian trees. We have normal trees here.”
“Normal? What’s normal about them? They’re as skinny and pointed as an arrow, only not as attractive. I’d have to tie three or four of the scrubby things together to make a decent tree, and it would still look horrible. No, I’ve ordered a tree from Lycanus to be delivered. It looks the most like a spruce tree I could find on any of the planets close by. It should get here by morning, in fact, and be delivered to the palace. You and your brothers can make yourselves useful and put it up, while Ryan and I are cooking the dinner. Then later, Ryan and I will decorate it. With no help from any of you, I might add. You’d just break my Christmas balls.”
Ryan saw Tilar gave Rakkur a long sideways look, as if unsure whether or not he should laugh. The boys all knew what Blake called his balls. As for Rakkur, Ryan knew from experience that Rakkur was much more versed in the ways to get along with Blake than Tilar was. When he got like this, it was better to stay still and kept your mouth shut. It was the best way to get through it. It was a skill that Mikos had never learned, because he was far too much like his father.
“Then after the tree is up and decorated, we can have the holiday dinner,” Blake continued. “And we won’t wait on the king either. He knows what day it is without me telling him. He gets worse and worse every year.”
“Omak,” Rakkur said, getting up and coming over to sling an arm around his father’s shoulders. “Don’t be mad. Tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.”
Blake leaned against him and sighed. “I’m not really mad, baby. I guess I’m just frustrated. Every year it’s the same, and maybe I do miss some things about Earth at this time of year. I’m an outsider here, you know, no matter how hard I try to fit in.”
“No, never,” Rakkur said, squeezing him hard. “Don’t say that.”
Blake wiped at his perfectly dry eyes, and Mikos jumped up to go over and hug him, too, pushing Rakkur out of the way. Tilar rushed over to wrap his arms around Blake’s waist from behind him, as Rakkur and Mikos kept shoving at each other, about to come to blows. Ryan smiled and rolled his eyes. Blake was surrounded by some of his boys and had all their attention. He even had them fighting over him. If he died right then, he’d no doubt die a happy man.
Chapter Two
