Kelly. 1- Angels and a little child
At ten months old, Liam Fenton Hardy was at the stage where anything that made a noise caught his attention. So on Christmas Eve, the day before his first Christmas, the rustling sound that came from within his mummy and daddy's bedroom was more than a cause for investigation.
Liam crept into his parents' room and looked around curiously, colourful paper littered the floor and his daddy sat in the middle of the mound, a piece of cello-tape stuck to his trousers and another piece stuck in his dirty blonde hair, but at the sight of his crawling son he smiled "Hey baby, what's up?"
"Bah bah booboo" Liam babbled as he clambered onto his daddy's lap.
"Yeah, look at all the colours, are you going to help daddy wrap mummy's present up, then we can send it to Father Christmas, with his Angel helpers"
Liam grabbed a piece of gold wrapping paper and placed into his mouth. "No darling, not nice, tastes yucky" Joe murmured as he extracted the offending paper from his son's mouth. Liam, even at only ten months old, was showing signs that he was going to be, as Kayley, Liam's mother had put it, 'Just like Joe'.
Kayley Knight, brown-haired and with brown eyes, grinned as she grabbed her coat off the back of her chair. She laughed as Louise Carter, her red-haired and hazel-eyed friend, continued to rant about her boyfriend, one of her and Joe's best mates, Tim Thompson.
"He's being extremely secretive this year, Kay. Last year, he at least hinted, this year he won't even tell me if it's jewellery or clothes, or a C.D. I've being going out with him since I was fifteen and I'm nineteen know, Kay, his fashion hasn't changed, he'll have me wearing a brown waistcoat and a pair of jeans or something, you've seen the way he dresses."
Kayley smiled at he friend. "C'mon, I mean, Joe keeps smiling at me and hinting that he knows what Tim's got you, I think you're safe though, Joe and Jack went with Tim when he bought the present and at least the two of them together will have at least told him, Joe was brought up around fairly modern parents so you should be safe. Anyway look, there's Sammy"
Samantha Greene and Jack Ryder had been going out for four years and were best friends with Tim and Louise. Joe and Kayley had come to the gang ten months ago when they where at the hospital--Joe and Kayley had been in the waiting room after rushing Liam in when he had stopped breathing. The six of them had become a pretty tight-nit group and it was rare you saw any of the couples without the other four.
This Christmas Joe, Kayley, Liam, Jack and Sammy where going over to Tim and Louise's place to celebrate Christmas.
What they had done was split the cost of the Christmas dinner between the three couples, it was doubtful that any of them would drink any alcohol with a young child there, that and none of them where 21.
Sammy smiled at the two girls as they hugged. "How are the men then?" she asked
Kayley grinned "Joe's got a bit of a cold nothing serious and Liam is as curious as yesterday."
"Tim's being all secretive about my Christmas present, he usually hints but this time he's not said anything," said Louise.
Laughing, the three women set off to get Christmas dinner.
Joe sighed as he finished wrapping the presents for Kayley. He still had some college work to do, but that could wait, he wanted to spend some time with his son.
Glancing down at the fair-headed child, Joe had to wonder just how he had been blessed with such a child. Liam was the spitting image of himself, dirty blonde hair and sparkling sapphire blue eyes, he knew that his parents would have loved him, but still, he couldn't change the past, no matter how much he wanted.
Liam reached up and clasped his tiny hand in Joe's as he pulled himself into a standing position. Smiling, Joe watched his son and marvelled at how tiny his son was.
Liam had been premature by a month, but doctors had declared him healthy and after two days' stay, he had been released--only to be rushed back in again after five days after he stopped breathing. It was then that the doctors had found a hole in Liam's heart. Joe counted himself lucky that he even had Liam, he was sure the Angels had worked some form of magic, because Liam had been better after an agonizingly long surgery that had lasted nine hours, in which time Joe and Kayley had met Jack, Tim, Louise and Sammy who were at the hospital visiting an elderly relative of Jack's, who was suffering from a diabetic coma.
As he held Liam, he glanced at the Angel ornament that was on the fireplace. It has been given to him by Jack's mother as a birthday present for his nineteenth in April. She had called it a 'Guardian Angel', it was said to look after him in the rough times and the good.
"You know something, little one?" Joe murmured to his little boy "I reckon it's time we sent the presents off with the angels. So that Santa can deliver them tonight for everyone to open tomorrow."
Liam giggled and bouncing slightly, he reached his arms around his daddy's neck and Joe picked him up. Walking to the Christmas tree, he placed the presents there and smiled at Liam, "Now why don't you go and play with Mr. Woobsey and I'll give the presents to the angels."
Liam Hardy watched silently as one by one the angels took the presents from behind the golden curtain. Once they where all gone, Joe smiled at him.
Joe smiled as he placed the Christmas presents behind golden curtain that was covering the bottom of the tree. Putting the presents there ensured that Liam could enjoy the thought, that the Angles, Santa, the reindeers and the elves would bring the Christmas to life tomorrow, but most of all Joe hoped that Liam could eventually understand, another type of magic…family.
Later, Liam was in bed, his dreams filled with angels all dressed in white and a man, all in red except for his beard that was white. He wondered briefly, if these were the angels his daddy spoke about.