Thank you to everybody who read and reviewed And Then They Were Five, your responses were amazing and totally overwhelming. Sorry this follow up has taken so long but if you've read my stories, you'll know I like to get them finished before I start to post them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and hopefully it will answer a few questions from the previous story.
"Samuel Andrew James, you'd better not be doing what I think you're doing," Molly called from the kitchen, listening to the giggling coming from the hallway. As if coping with school holidays wasn't hard enough, she was trying to get the house ready for a guest and prepare a shopping list for Lucy's birthday party next Saturday. Add to that, her final OU assignment had to be emailed to her mentor by lunchtime tomorrow. "If I come out there and find out you're at it again, I'm telling you, there'll be big trouble and I mean BIG trouble!"
"I'm not, honestly Mum." Sam's innocent tone didn't fill her with confidence, especially as it was followed by an uncontrolled giggle. The fact that Pip was with him and also giggling uncontrollably was not a good sign. The boys could get up to more mischief than even the little bleeders on their worst day.
The sound of Lucy's voice joining the soundtrack coming from the hallway brought Molly to her feet. "Bad boys, big tubble, big tubble." She sing songed as she trundled her truck across the hall and through the kitchen doorway almost ploughing Molly down. "Bad boys Mummy. Sift way" as she rammed Molly again to get her to move out of the way. She could be very single-minded and nothing got in her way when she had a plan which it appeared she did.
Stepping to the side, shifting out of the way as requested, she let Lucy pass her in to the kitchen. The giggles were still emanating from the hallway as Molly stepped through the door. Well, Sam hadn't been lying when he said he wasn't doing anything but he had certainly had a hand in the current situation. He was sitting on the bottom step, watching a red faced giggling Pip sitting astride Manny, hands clutching the poor dog's collar as he rode him around the hallway. Manny, short for Mansfield named after their colleague due both to his ginger hair and the vast quantities of sausages (well any food really) he could eat, was the family's St Bernard.
When they eventually got around to discussing pets Charles agreed with Sam, it needed to be a 'proper' dog, not one of those yappy ankle biters. There was no way he was taking a Chihuahua for a walk in public and so the hunt began. They had visited the Animal Shelter every weekend for months, looking on the websites and checking out any that looked even remotely suitable. Then, one week last October, there he was, a gorgeous ball of fluff, sadly given up for adoption because he was getting too big. It seemed fitting that he should join their pick 'n' mix family and so, five became seven. The seventh member of their family was currently in the kitchen giving out plaintive cries, trying to attract attention.
Torn between admonishing Sam and Pip or going to rescue Kitty, Molly turned on her heel, calling over her shoulder, "I'm not finished with you two yet and Pip, get off that poor dog!" "But he likes it Mum." replied Pip, his giggle accompanied by a gruff bark. Kitty did indeed need rescuing. She was currently being hoisted in the air by Lucy who had her arms wrapped around the cat's middle leaving her back legs dangling on the floor. The aim presumably to transfer Kitty from her quiet corner of the kitchen to the wooden truck presently parked by the sink.
They had been adopted by Kitty on the same day they brought Manny home. Charles had let the big dog out into the back garden when they got home and left him to explore his new territory. They had left the back door open so that he could come in when he was ready. The boys had been watching over him, enthralled by their big friend. What they didn't see was the tiny grey kitten who nipped into the house and settled herself under the kitchen table where she managed to stay hidden until the family sat down to eat. Unfortunately, walking across Charles's bare feet was not the best way to introduce herself. Molly still chuckled at the memory of a 6'2" trained killer screaming like a girl, pushing his chair back with such force it fell over and declaring, "If we've got mice, we're taking the dog back and getting a cat!" Discovering it was a cat, albeit a very small one, he decided it must belong to one of the neighbours and, back to his calm organised self, dragged the boys, dog and kitten from door to door enquiring if anybody had lost a ball of fur. Molly had refused to go with them, instead staying at home with her fingers crossed keeping an eye on Lucy who kept looking under the table shouting, "titty!" By the time they returned an hour later the kitten had been named and the James family now had a dog and a cat.
Grunting and shuffling, Lucy manhandled the cat into the truck, giving her a sturdy pat on the head. "What're you doing with Kitty, Lucy locket?" "Do wart. Bad Titty!" Lucy had grown into a sturdy little toddler with a surprisingly deep voice. The cat, taking advantage of Lucy's distraction had made an escape bid, sadly not getting far as her tail was taken in a firm grip and she was pulled back into the truck. "Be dud, Titty. Do wart." The cat, obviously realising she risked injury if she tried to escape again, chose to settle herself in the truck and accept her fate. She was going for a walk apparently. Manoeuvring the wooden truck around Molly's legs, narrowly missing the kitchen table, Lucy stumped her way back out of the kitchen. Shaking her head at the antics of her family, Molly dropped back down in to her seat at the table, she couldn't believe how much the children had grown in the past 18 months.
When Molly had joined the family, following the deaths of Beth and Andrew, the household had been in mourning. The children hadn't understood what was happening only that their mum and dad had vanished. Sam too was going through a difficult transition, moving from living with his mum to living with Molly and his dad.
The first few months had been difficult for everyone as they settled into their new roles in the family. Molly had applied for and been granted a conditional discharge with effect from 1st February which meant she had to return to Catterick for a month, trying to organise her down time so that she could be with the children. Charles had applied for a training position at the Specialist Weapons School, Warminster which was only 40 minutes commute time from Bath. Sam had returned to school and seemed to be dealing with his mum's absence well. They soon found out that wasn't the case when he began to have nightmares.
Molly had been home for the weekend. Gina and Max were still in residence helping out with the little ones for the time being. Charles should have been home but had been delayed for some reason. The children had all been in bed for several hours and the adults were relaxing in the snug when they heard the thud, followed by shouts. Molly was first into the boys' bedroom. Guided by the nightlight she discovered a sobbing Pip sitting on the floor rubbing his bottom, " bugger, bugger, bugger." and a contrite Sam curled up into a ball in the top bunk, sobbing, "Sorry, I'm sorry Pip, I'm sorry." Trying to decide which boy to comfort first she was relieved to see Gina nip into the room and scoop up Pip. Dilemma solved, Molly scaled the side of the bunks and clambered in with Sam, taking him in her arms. "It's okay sweetie. It's okay. Can you tell me what happened?" "I had a dream. Daddy's gone to be with mum in heaven." Huge tears rolled down his cheeks. "I was crying and Pip tried to climb up and give me a hug but he slipped. He's hurt and it's my fault. Will Pip and Lucy go away now too?"
Drawing him in against her body, wrapping him tightly in her arms, she tried to unpick what he'd told her. Addressing the most immediate concern she reassured him, "Pip's fine, I think he's just going to have a bit of a sore bum for a while. Why would he and Lucy have to go away?" "Simon says swearing is bad and if you swear you go away. Mum swore at him, she called him a bloody bastard, and now she's gone to heaven like Aunty Beth and Uncle Andrew. Dad was swearing last night about a squaddie and he's gone." His slender frame shook in her arms. If she ever got her hands on that 'bloody bastard' she'd make sure he went away. Rubbing a soothing hand up and down his back she calmly tried to put his mind at rest.
"Your mum isn't in heaven Scamp, she's in America. She went on a plane." She didn't want to tell him he could talk to her or that he'd see her soon as Rebecca had been very reluctant to maintain any contact with her son. "I'll help you write a letter to her tomorrow." Kissing him gently on the cheek she brushed his damp curls back.
"And your Dad will be home soon, he just got held up in a meeting." Bringing his face up so that he was looking at her and could see she was sincere, she continued, "You know swearing doesn't really make people go away don't you? I swear all the time and I'm still here. Simon was just being a weapons grade co… complete idiot." She caught herself just in time. "Okay? We're all here with you, so if you have any more bad dreams, tell me okay." Manoeuvring to the edge of the bunk she dropped agilely to the floor before bestowing a kiss and pulling the covers up over his shoulders.
Rebecca's absence from her son's life had been the cause of several arguments in the James house. Charles wanted to go back to court and cut off all remaining access, citing abandonment. Molly playing Devil's advocate had posed that what if Rebecca wanted to contact Sam but for one reason, or one person or another wasn't able to. She felt they should keep their options open for Sam's sake.
At the beginning of February when Molly finally came home to stay, Gina and Max had returned to their home in Lake Garda. They had been greatly missed but Molly had started, what became a regular event. The whole family gathered around the kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon and Skyped with them and with the Dawes family. Pip and Sam loved the Skype time and Lucy would bounce excitedly and squeal whenever Dave came on the screen which perturbed Charles a bit. "I swear her second word is going to be Dave,", her first being mama.
Things had settled down and at Easter the little family had travelled over to Italy to see Gina and Max. While there, Charles had raised the question of marriage. "It would be good if we all had the same surname." "Is that the only reason you want to marry me?" Molly had pretended to be rather indignant, loving to watch him squirm.
Knowing that she wanted nothing more than to marry him, she had relented and they'd decided on a summer wedding in Bath. It would be a simple registry office wedding with close friends and family followed by a reception back at the house.
Brought back to the present by a bump and a voice shouting, "man down, man down", Molly was once more on her feet. If this resulted in another run to the A & E she's do away with the little bugger herself and save them all the hassle. Skidding to a halt at the bottom of the stairs she was amused to see Pip hanging upside down below the big dog, his legs still wrapped firmly around his steed. "How…" she began before noticing Pip had a length of cord, was that a tie back from the dining room curtain, fastened from one ankle to the other, around the dog's stomach, securing him in place, which meant instead of falling off he had slid to the side and under Manny. Tears of laughter falling from her eyes, she dashed them away and went to the rescue before the big dog decided to sit or lie down. Sam rolled on the floor clutching his stomach, being no help at all while Pip kept wriggling and giggling. The sound of wheels and flash of fur alerted her to the arrival of Lucy who squatted on her haunches, looked at Pip and asked seriously, "sappened?" before shaking her head, muttering, "big tubble" and trundling on her way.
Finally releasing Pip, god knows who had tied those knots but she refused to cut it because it was a tie back from the dining room, Molly looked at her watch. Shit it was only 10:53. "Right, enough. Into the snug and watch a DVD until lunch, then we'll head to the park this afternoon and LUCY JAMES PUT THAT BLOODY CAT DOWN" The only response she got was a shriek from the cat and a grumpy, "Bad Titty n'way" as Lucy, minus cat and truck stomped past her into the snug. "Lilo Sich, Sam" she called on her way. The Lilo and Stitch movie was currently her favourite.
Pushing back her hair, Molly was turning to head back to the kitchen and her list of jobs when the doorbell rang and chaos reigned once more with Manny barking as he ran for the front door. Grabbing him by the collar she hauled backwards, he was almost big enough for her to ride, and wrenched open the door with her other hand. Her first view from her semi bent position was a pair or camouflage clad legs and regulation army boots, moving upwards over well-honed muscles to meet a pair of dark brown laughing eyes. "Need a hand there darling?" Releasing the door and the dog, she lunged forward, throwing her arms around him and dragging him in. "My hero" she laughed.