Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Grak
The work on the farm is straightforward, dirty, and satisfying.
I spend the rest of the day fixing up the stables and decorating them, brushing the horses, mucking out the stalls, and reorganizing the tack room.
I also take turns with Ron leading the sleigh rides.
The children seem both excited and scared to see me at first, but the adults have amusing explanations about what they don’t understand.
Some say I’m in an ogre costume. Some say I’m a Christmas elf.
Others tell their children I’m one of Santa’s helpers.
Ron still thinks I’m one of the green men who abducted his grandfather. And I do not have the heart to tell him the truth. This is a first step to accepting me for who I am.
While I’m on the roof of the office, working on repairing the roof, I overhear a conversation that concerns me.
The voices of two men and a woman rise up through the rafters, and the words they say make me pause my hammering.
“She won’t go for that offer, Keith.”
“Thomas, it won’t matter if Ginger approves this deal or not. She only has one-quarter ownership in the company. Mom and Dad will side with us.”
“But May, we can’t sell it out from under her.”
“We can if Mom and Dad like our idea. She’ll change her tune once she gets her toes in the sand in Hawaii.”
The second man says, “It’s a solid offer. I can’t do any higher than fair market value, especially considering some of these buildings are in bad need of repair.”
It doesn’t take my genius abilities to determine these are her siblings talking with someone who wants to buy the Christmas tree farm. I cannot abide another word of this conversation.
I jump down off the roof and barge inside without knocking.
The two that look similar to Ginger both scream and cower in the corner by the fireplace. The third person goes wide-eyed, grabs a fireplace implement, and brandishes it at me.
“Stand back! Who…what are you?”
“Someone who has asked Ginger to make amends with her brother and sister. She will never do that if you intend to sell the farm.”
May seems to be the braver one. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you are clearly delusional. Ginger probably met you at one of her weirdo cosplay conventions. You don’t know this family.”
“Talk to your sister,” I say.
“We’ve tried that,” says the one called Thomas.
I squint at the man and see the fear in his eyes. “You don’t want to sell this place. I can see that in you. But you are too afraid to speak up to your sister.”
Thomas looks away, ashamed of what I’ve pointed out to him.
I look at the one they called Keith. “This land is haunted by green giants. They didn’t tell you that, did they?”
The man with the fireplace implement turns pale. He drops the poker to the floor and mumbles an excuse, exiting quickly.
May looks horrified. “You need to leave our sister alone before I call the police. You have no say in the sale of this farm.”
I puff out my chest. “As Ginger’s husband, I disagree.”
Thomas scoffs, tapping away at his phone. “I’m calling the police right now. This freak is not messing with my vulnerable sister.”
I back away slowly, not wanting to be the cause of a scene.
Ginger will not be happy about this.