At half past four that evening, Alex and Smithy left work and headed home to start their packing. They talked more about the Caroline situation and what they should do about it.
Alex had been trying to push the negative thoughts out of her mind all day and not think about it, but she just couldn't. The more she thought about it the more upset she became. She wasn't upset with Smithy though, she couldn't blame him for it, but she felt lost and didn't know which way to turn.
Smithy had stayed downstairs once they opened their front door. He went into the kitchen to make them both a cup of tea and Alex went upstairs to pack.
Upstairs she was carefully folding and placing items of clothing into a large suitcase, which was laid on their bed. She was thinking about Smithy, her family and this new woman in their life threatening to spoil everything. She was so lost in her angry thoughts, that she hadn't noticed the clothes were no longer being placed carefully into the case, but were now being chucked in untidily.
Smithy walked into the room with two cups of tea in his hands. He saw his wife angrily throwing in their clothes and knew straight away that she was letting his news get to her. He put the cups down on to the bedside cabinet and placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling her round to face him. He held her tightly and she looked up at him apologetically.
"I thought you said we were ok." He said.
"I know I did, and we are. I've just been thinking…"
"Come here." He said as he pulled her down onto the bed beside him. "What have you been thinking?"
She sighed and didn't know really how to explain how she felt.
"We are ok I promise." She repeated. "I've been thinking all day about you, and I wonder if you ever feel like you had to settle for second best when you married me. I know how you felt about Kerry and Louise an…" But before she could finish her sentence Smithy placed his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
"Now do you promise to keep quiet and listen to me whilst I explain this to you?" He asked mischievously.
She rolled her eyes but nodded her agreement. He removed his hand and expected her to interrupt, but she did as she was told and kept silent.
"Yes I loved Kerry and Louise, and yes I was devastated when they died. But I love you and my family more. I have never felt that I had to 'settle for second best' by marrying you, and if you think that then you clearly don't know me very well. I've told you before that I loved you long before we were together. I was never able to tell you how I felt, but when we finally did get it together it was the best thing to happen to me. Do you ever think I only asked you to marry me because you were pregnant?" He said.
Alex thought for a moment.
"I don't know, I guess I have wondered…" She struggled awkwardly.
"Well I didn't. My brother asked me that very question on the morning of our wedding, when I told them that you were expecting. I'll tell you the exact same thing that I told him. You being pregnant was not the reason I asked you, but it was the push I needed. Even though we had only been together a very short while, I'd already been considering asking you. So there you go." He explained as he pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead.
She sighed before replying.
"I guess I have been thinking irrationally haven't I?" She said.
"Come on I'll help you with the rest of the packing, otherwise we will never get there. Do you promise that you won't think about Caroline or her daughter for the next week?" He asked as they both stood up from the bed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly.
"Yes I promise, cross my heart." She said as she made a cross motion across her chest.
"That's better." He replied.
They turned round and quickly placed their clothes into the suitcase again. Within a very quick twenty minutes they were standing at the bottom of their stairs with the case fully packed and fit for bursting. Everyone's presents were packed as well, that was making up the main bulk of their bag. Smithy took the bag from Alex and loaded it into the car.
Everyone else was waiting at the pub for them to arrive. Smithys' Mum had agreed to join them for their break away. They needed to pick her up before they could head to the Seven Bells.
Smithy drove quickly round to his Mums' (her house was on the outskirts of Canley.) and then headed back towards the pub. Once there, everyone cheered as they walked in the door.
"Finally, we were just about to send out a search party." Gina joked.
"Very funny." Alex replied.
"Yeah sorry we're late, but Alex decided to change her shoes three times only to go with the ones she originally had on." Smithy said as he dodged a well earned slap from his wife.
"Well you're here now." Davey said cheerfully. "Well we'd better set off now. Alex, Smithy, we've sorted out between us who is going to go in which car. We are taking Molly Nicola and Cara; you two will take the twins, baby Gina, Pauline and Liz because you've got the biggest car; Ruth, Heather and their partners will go in their car; then Susan, Alistair, David and Sarah are going together. I think that is everyone, or have I forgotten anyone?" He said.
At that moment someone who was sat behind him (and out of Alexs' sight) gave a small cough. Davey stepped aside to let whoever it was through.
"Cameron!" Alex exclaimed with surprise.
Cameron was Alexs' younger brother from her adoptive parents' side. She hadn't seen him or his wife in over a year. They used to own a restaurant in the west end of London, but they moved themselves and their business out to Australia.
The siblings hugged tightly with delight.
"Oh my god Cam when did you get here?" She asked.
"This morning. Katrina and I were planning on coming over as a surprise, and then about a week ago Mum phoned and told us about Gina and Daveys trip away. So we thought we would join you." He explained.
"Well it's great to have you here. I hate to admit it, but I've actually missed you." She replied.
"Well guys this reunion is touching but hadn't we better get going?" Liz said as she made her way to the door.
"Awww is ickle Lizzie feeling all left out?" Alex mocked playfully with a childish tone. Liz didn't say anything but chose to glare instead. "Don't worry, I'd miss you lots if you weren't here." She added as she placed her arm around her younger sisters' shoulders.
"I should hope so." Liz replied.
Once outside, everyone climbed into their designated cars. Gina strapped Molly and Nicola into their car seats as Cara got herself in. Gina then sat in the front passenger seat herself. Davey turned on his ignition and turned his car onto the main road, leading the convoy of family members to their destination.
It would take at least three hours before they would get there. It took them just over an hour to get through the busy streets of London. Finally they made good progress as they headed further north.
Smithy was driving their people carrier. Alex was now feeling very tired after being on the road for two and a half hours. She had fallen asleep peacefully and woke up once they were within five miles of their final destination. She was excited to see that outside it was snowing.
"How long have I been asleep?" She asked as she blinked sleepily.
"Not long, not quite an hour." Smithy said.
Alex looked behind her and saw that Liz, the twins and baby Gina had fallen asleep as well.
At quarter to ten Davey turned the car into a very large driveway. The driveway led to a grand wooden cabin. Alex was amazed at what she saw. The cabin sat on top of a hill which was sheltered by pine trees. It was still snowing but not very heavily.
They all piled out of the cars in a bit of a sleepy heap. Gina stiffly stood up out of their car and it was pretty obvious that she had fallen asleep as well and had only just woken. Cara helped Nicola out of her seat as Gina tried to stir Molly who was still hard and fast asleep. As she did so Molly began to cry. She hated being woken once she was in a deep sleep, she felt disorientated and scared.
"Shhh." Gina soothed as she lifted her and hugged her tightly.
When she came round a little more she hugged close to her Granny, and Gina walked over to be beside Alex.
"So what do you think?" She whispered.
"Mum… I'm speechless… it's absolutely gorgeous and perfect." Alex replied.
"Well come on lets go inside before we freeze to death." Gina said as she led everyone inside.
Once inside they could all see that it was even more beautiful than the outside (which nobody could believe was possible.) It was designed in a fairly old fashioned way. The living room was open planned and huge compared to what they had all been expecting. It had a very large open fire to keep them warm and there were five squashy armchairs and two settees positioned in front of it. An oak spiral staircase sat in the middle of the living room just behind the chairs. The kitchen was further into the middle of the cabin. Like the living room it was very large, more than big enough for everyone that was there.
The guys brought all of the bags and suitcases from the cars and plonked them in the centre of the dining room which was just off the kitchen.
"Right well I think if we all go to our rooms and sort our selves and the kids out first; we can then just come and go as we please." Davey said as he stifled a yawn.
"Sounds great." Alex said as she stood up from the table where she had sat with a cup of tea in front of her.
They sorted out who was going to be going into which rooms and then they started to unpack. All the kids were put to bed whilst the adults headed downstairs for some r and r.
"Well this is a fantastic place. Thanks to you both for coming up with such a wonderful idea." Ruth said.
"Well we realised that this year has had it's up and it's downs, so we thought that it was important that we all spend this Christmas together; but we also wanted to celebrate all of the good things that have happened this year." Davey replied looking at Gina, clearly thinking about their relationship and marriage.
As the night wore on, and as morning drew ever closer, one by one they disappeared to bed until it was just Alex and Gina left up.
"Will you help me put the presents under the tree?" Alex asked, pointing at the bags of Christmas gifts that had been left by the door.
"Yeah sure I will." Gina replied as she pulled her self up from the armchair she had been resting in.
A Christmas tree had been erected and decorated brightly in a corner of the living room; all that was missing was the gifts. Alex placed them under box and parcel at a time. She came across her present to Gina and decided to give it to her then instead of waiting until later that morning.
"Mum I'm glad that I've got you on your own because I want to give you yours now." Alex said as she handed Gina a large well wrapped box.
"What is it?" She asked as she began to peel away the paper.
"Well open it and find out." Alex replied mischievously.
Once Gina had unwrapped all of the decorative paper she revealed a plain white box. Alex began to explain when Gina lifted the lid off.
"Do you remember months ago you mentioned that you wish you had more pictures of me growing up? Well it got me thinking, so with some help from my sister and my mother we designed this photo album for you." She said as Gina opened each page to reveal a young Alex at a different stage in her life. "It starts at when I was about three months old and goes right the way up to quite recent." She added.
It was Ginas' turn to be speechless. She felt overwhelmed as she looked down at her daughter as she stared up from the pages with a smiley cheeky grin.
"Oh Alex, this really is beautiful." Was all she could say.
"I hope it's ok for you, I mean it's not a lot or anything." Alex replied modestly.
"It's more than just ok darling. It means a lot to me." She said with tears in her eyes.
"Happy Christmas Mum, we certainly deserve it. Now if you don't mind I'm away to my bed because I feel exhausted." Alex said as she hugged Gina.
"Yeah me too. I'll see you in the morning." Gina replied as mother and daughter parted to their beds.
