The service was more fun than usual with lots of singing. I saw Sissy during the church service. She was sitting with Donnie and two of her daughters; one of them was pregnant, the one that's Brian's age, and I remembered her telling me about that when I'd been to get my haircut in the fall. I waved at her and she smiled at me and waved back.

Usually after church everyone gathers outside to talk a bit before going home. As we were filing out of the pews, I saw that Sissy was a little ahead of me and called out to her.

She turned around and I squeezed around people to get to her.

"Hello poppet," she said bending down to hug me as I reached her. Hugging Sissy was like being enveloped by a squishy cloud and she always smelled of flowers. I think it was her perfume.

"Merry Christmas, Sissy!" I said.

"And to you darling."

"Adam and Brian told me that you helped them to pick out my presents and I wanted to tell you thank you," I said.

Sissy nudged me gently into the side of the aisle so that people who wanted to could get past us.

"Do you like them, poppet?"

"I LOVE them!" I said with enthusiasm. "It's the best Christmas present ever!"

Sissy laughed.

"Oh well, to be honest, I only gave the boys a few tips; they're the ones who picked it out."

I suspected that that most probably wasn't true, but I thought it was nice of her to pretend.

"And you'll see when you get back to the truck that Santa has popped another load of presents in there for you guys."

"Books?!" I asked, getting excited.

Sissy and Donnie would always buy us Christmas gifts and more often than not, they would buy me books because they knew how much I loved them.

"You'll have to wait and see," Sissy said smiling.

"Yaay! Thank you! I can't wait!" I said bouncing a little with excitement.

"You can't wait for what?" Brian said coming up behind us.

He said hi and merry Christmas to Sissy and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Sissy bought me more books for Christmas!" I said, looking up at Brian.

"I was telling Heidi that Donnie and I have put the gifts for the family in your truck," Sissy said.

"You didn't have to do that," Brian said, even though Sissy bought us gifts every year. "But thank you; that's mighty kind of you."

Sissy patted Brian's cheek in a motherly way.

Brian put a hand on the middle of my back and asked, "Have you thanked Sissy yet for helping us with your present?"

I nodded and Sissy said, "Yes, she has."

She looked more closely at my hair.

"Your hair is looking beautiful, Heidi!" she said, taking my arm and turning me around so she could look at the back. "Who did that for you?"

"Crane," I told her. "He has a new girlfriend now and she taught him how to do it."

Sissy raised her eyebrows and looked at Brian in amusement.

"He's done well. I'd better be careful he doesn't come for my job!"

Brian laughed.

"And your hairclips are pretty; who got you those?" Sissy asked, touching them lightly.

"Guthrie did, as part of my secret Santa gift," I said.

"Well, you have done well, haven't you?"

I nodded.

"And Sissy, guess who's here for Christmas?"

"Who, poppet?"

"Our uncle Pete!"

Sissy's eyebrows shot up at that, and she looked at Brian.

"Your mama's brother, Pete?"

"He's just here for Christmas," Brian said.

"And he gave us lots of money!" I said.

"Hush, Heidi," Brian said, putting a hand on my head.

I looked up at him.

"How come? He did!"

"I know, kiddo, but it's not good manners to talk about money like that," Brian said.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed.

Brian smiled at me to show me that he wasn't mad.

"That's typical of him. He just swans in here after not taking any responsibility for years and pays you all off with money," Sissy said. Her face had completely changed now- she looked and sounded- well, mad.

"What?" I asked, confused.

Sissy looked down at me and then smiled again.

"Oh, nothing poppet. Just ignore me. Why don't you go and see what's in the truck for you, alright?"

"Okay," I said, although I was a little reluctant to go. It seemed like Sissy wanted to speak to Brian about something.

Brian patted me gently on the back.

"Go on, and if you see Adam, tell him I'll be out in a minute," he said.

I did what I was told and went outside even though I was still a bit confused and a little bothered by what Sissy had said. Why had she seemed mad- had I done something wrong?

My brothers were scattered all around outside, talking to various people as was usual after church, but I headed straight for the truck.

We never bothered to lock the doors of the truck when we were at church- or really anywhere around Murphys; who would want to steal our ratty truck anyway? I found my present in the truck bed and then climbed into the cab of the truck because it was warmer in there. I knew my brothers wouldn't mind if I opened Sissy's gift to me before any of the rest of them opened theirs. I carefully unwrapped my gift from Sissy. She had bought me two books: 'Five Children and It' and 'Charlotte's Web', neither of which I'd read yet. I sniffed the pages- I still to this day love the smell of a new book. I decided I would read 'Charlotte's Web' first and nestled back in the middle seat of the cab to read.

I'd only read a few pages when the door to the truck was suddenly pulled open and then Daniel said, "Here you are!"

"She's here!" he called into the car park, and then a few moments later, I felt the bottom of the truck sink down under the weight of my brothers climbing into the truck cab. Adam and Brian slid into the cab on either side of me.

"Here you are- we were wonderin' where you'd got to," Adam said, turning the key in the ignition.

"Sorry- I came to read because Sissy bought us presents and I knew that mine would be books because she always buys me books," I said.

Noise from the truck bed made me turn around and I saw my other brothers in various stages of ripping open their presents from Sissy.

"That was kind of her; we'll have to call her and Donnie and say thank you," Adam said, pulling out of our spot in the church car park.

"I already did, and Brian did as well," I said.

"Another thank you as a family won't hurt," Adam said.

Adam was and still is meticulous about our manners, especially in public. He always says he isn't going to have anyone in the community say that the McFaddens are rude or ungrateful.

"What books did you get?" Brian asked.

I showed the two books to him, and then read the back covers to him and Adam.

"Have you read these?" I asked him.

"No, don't think I have. But you know I'm not the biggest reader. Crane will probably have read them."

"Crane's read everything!" I said.

"You favor him like that," Adam said.

"Bri?" I asked, suddenly.

"Mmm?"

"What did Sissy mean about Uncle Pete?"

"What? Oh, nothin'. I don't even remember what she said."

"I do," I said. "She said something about Uncle Pete and swans and responsibility and paying us off. She sounded mad. Is Sissy mad at Uncle Pete about something?"

I saw Adam and Brian exchange a quick glance over my head.

"No, she's not, Heidi. Don't worry about it- Sissy didn't mean anythin' by it." Brian said, mildly.

"She sounded mad though, don't you think?"

"No, not really."

"Are you excited about making the chocolate log with Uncle Pete when we get home?" Adam asked.

I looked at him pointedly.

"You're trying to distract me, Adam," I said, in a matter of fact tone.

Yes, I was young, but I was wise to my brothers' tricks.

Adam turned briefly to look at me and then he looked at Brian and the two of them started laughing.

"I am not!" Adam said.

"Yes, you are. You and Bri do it when you don't want me or Guthrie to think or know about something," I said.

"Well gosh darn it, Adam, I think we're sprung here," Brian said, still laughing.

"Seems like it," Adam said.

"Are you going to tell me why Sissy seems mad at Uncle Pete then?" I asked.

"She's not mad," Adam said carefully. He seemed to be really considering his words. "It's more that she would have liked Uncle Pete to stay with us…"

"For good, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well she won't need to worry about that soon because I'm going to ask him to stay," I said, confidently.

"What do you mean?" Brian said.

"I'm going to ask Uncle Pete to stay with us for good," I repeated. "He's family and he's having a fun time and I love having him here, so I'm going to ask him to stay."

Over my head I caught my brothers exchange another glance.

"What is it? Why are you doing that 'look' thing that you guys do?" I said.

"Lord, you're precocious today," Adam said.

I wanted to ask what 'precocious' meant but I more so wanted to know why my brothers seemed uneasy at me saying that I wanted Uncle Pete to stay, so I ignored it and vowed to look it up in the dictionary later on.

"Don't you want Uncle Pete to stay?" I continued.

"Uncle Pete would be welcome to stay," Brian began.

"If he wanted to," Adam finished.

"But Heidi, Uncle Pete isn't the type of person to hang around," Brian said again.

"But we're his family!" I said, echoing what I had told my other brothers in the truck on the way to church earlier. I couldn't understand why family wouldn't want to be around each other.

"Yes, but all people are different, Heidi, and stickin' in one place isn't what makes Uncle Pete happy," Adam said. "If he really wanted to, he would have stayed before."

There was some clatter in the truck bed and Brian turned around to thump on the back window to signal to my brothers they should settle down. I turned around to see Crane moving so he could sit in between Daniel and Ford who looked like they were horse playing around.

"But Guthrie and I were really little then and maybe he doesn't like really little kids, but now we're bigger. All of us are bigger."

"That's not the reason he- " Adam began.

"I'm going to ask him and I bet you any money that he'll stay," I said, interrupting him.

Again, my brothers shared a look over my head which I caught.

"Stop doing that!" I said, feeling frustrated.

Brian put a hand on my knee.

"Don't get upset now, Heidi."

"Why don't you believe me that he'll stay?" I said, feeling frustrated.

"Look, it's Christmas day, so let's just concentrate on havin' a really fun day. We'll go home and you can help Bri and Uncle Pete cook and bake that chocolate thing and we'll have a nice afternoon and evenin' and we can talk about this another time," Adam wasn't mad, but his tone held authority.

It was Christmas day after all and I didn't want to be upset or mad or frustrated on today of all days so I said okay and then I allowed my brothers to change the subject by asking me more about my new books.

/

The rest of the day was really fun. Uncle Pete had begun cooking Christmas lunch and that meant that Brian had less to do which I think made him relieved. Adam and Crane took my other brothers outside to get ranch chores done quickly. Ford and I helped Brian and Uncle Pete in the kitchen make the rest of the meal for the afternoon, including making the chocolate log. My brothers kept making appearances in the kitchen trying to steal food and it became a running joke. I wasn't hungry at all because Uncle Pete had let Ford and I lick the spoon and the bowl in which we made the chocolate log.

We ate near to the end of the afternoon. The table was laden with a ridiculous amount of food which I thought even our family would never be able to finish, but my brothers proved me wrong. There wasn't half the amount of leftovers I thought there would be. We pulled crackers and wore the funny tissue paper hats that come inside and groaned over the silly jokes inside and bartered over the cheap plastic gifts inside.

After eating we left all the dishes still on the table- Adam said we could deal with it later- and migrated into the living room, all of us in various states of a food coma. Uncle Pete and Brian drank more beer, but Crane and Adam said they felt like they were so full they would never eat or drink again. Crane, Ford and Daniel played music and Brian joined in on his harmonica. We sang songs and played games into the evening, just generally enjoying each other's company. I sat next to Uncle Pete all evening. He told us stories about him and our mother as children and about their parents and grandparents too. It felt special because they were things we'd never heard before, not even Adam and Brian.

Guthrie and I's bedtime was 7.30pm- 8pm in those days, but usually we were sent up to shower and get ready a bit earlier. Because it was a special day, Adam didn't even say a word to us about going upstairs until a full hour later.

When he told us to go upstairs to get ready for bed and he'd be up to read to us soon, I said, "Can Uncle Pete read to us tonight?"

"Yea, can he?!" Guthrie said.

"That's up to Uncle Pete," Adam said.

"Uncle Pete, can you read to us tonight?" I said, turning my head to look at him.

Uncle Pete pinched my cheek.

"Sure thing, princess."

Guthrie and I said goodnight to everyone and went upstairs and took quick showers, and got ready for bed. Uncle Pete read to us on my bed and I snuggled into him. Cuddling into Uncle Pete had a different kind of feeling; he was bigger- not in a heavy way- Uncle Pete was in good shape, but he felt more solid somehow. I couldn't quite explain it.

Usually when we'd been read to, Adam or Brian would leave our room to let us fall asleep if we hadn't already. Guthrie was completely zoned out when Uncle Pete finished reading, but I was still awake.

"Uncle Pete?" I said, still cuddling into him.

"What princess?"

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he wanted to stay with us, but somehow, I couldn't quite get the words out. I mean, I knew that he would want to stay this time, but I also had that niggle in the back of my mind- a warning sort of because of what my brothers had said. I didn't think I could stand it if he said no.

"Never mind," I said.

Uncle Pete tried to disengage from me to stand up, but I clung onto him.

"Please can you stay until I fall asleep?" I said.

Uncle Pete hesitated.

"Please?" I said again.

"Okay," Uncle Pete said, sitting back down on my bed.

I fell asleep quickly but awoke in the night. When I was a kid, I was usually a good sleeper and if I did wake up, then I could fall back to sleep very soon after. If I couldn't, then I'd go into Adam or Brian's bed or sometimes Crane or Daniel. But this time, all I wanted was Uncle Pete. I crept downstairs and slipped into bed with him.

Thanks so much for the reads and reviews on the past couple of chapters. Hope you're all well and healthy.