Sooo…the last chapter! I really hope you've enjoyed reading this Christmassy story as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

ROSIE

In a strange sort of way, Rosie found herself having fun doing the cooking. She and Madge's mother worked hard for a couple of hours, making sure that the turkey was stuffed properly, the table was laid, and in particular, that the honey cake was made to Madge's Granny's satisfaction. She tried her best to keep the atmosphere positive, filled with happy chatter about whatever came into her head. Hopefully this would keep Madge's mother from thinking about the burdens that had been placed on the shoulders of her and Madge. Granny seemed blissfully unaware, and was happy enough rocking slowly back and forth in the chair in front of the fire. Plus, with the fire going and warming the house, it was really very cosy inside.

Rosie shut the door of the oven, brushing a strand of dark hair away. "Well, it looks like the turkey's nearly done."

Though Madge's mother smiled, it didn't reach her eyes. "That's good." She stared out of the window. "Have you spoken to your father yet?"

Rosie swallowed. "Erm, no, not yet." She shook her head.

The older woman sighed. "He could at least have phoned his own daughter to wish her a Happy Christmas, instead of resorting to email like usual."

"Maybe he'll phone us all later." Rosie tried to sound as optimistic as she could, but inside, she was feeling extremely uncomfortable. This had nothing to do with her, this was the business of Madge's family. Yet, still, it had been her idea. And she had made Madge be a part of it, even against her will.

"You know, I can't understand how he could just take off on us like that." Madge's mother shook her head. "At least he still has the decency to send money to us every month, even if it doesn't really help that much. But what hurts me the most is that he doesn't even seem to care too much about hurting his beautiful, intelligent wonderful daughter, and to just ignore the emails she sends him about wanting him to come home." Her voice cracked, and for a horrible moment, Rose thought that she was going to cry.

Right. That does it. A sudden grip of determination seized Rosie. She was going to make Madge's mother and granny have the best Christmas they could ever have in such a rough situation, even if it killed her.

"Mum." The words felt weird in Rosie's mouth. "I know it's been a rough time for all of us. But it's Christmas. This is the time where we try and move on as best we can, and instead celebrate the fact that we've got each other. That's the most important thing, right?"

Madge's mother stared at her, a smile making its way across her face. "I'm so lucky to have a daughter like you, darling." She gave Rosie a quick half-hug. "Now, I'll start getting the rest of the dishes together while you help Granny to the table."

Not your daughter, Rosie thought guiltily, making her escape. Hopefully she could make it through the rest of the day without either Madge or her granny noticing that she wasn't actually Madge. Fingers crossed.

"I do like a nice dinner." Granny pushed a roast potato around her plate with her fork and giggled. "Everything tastes so much better when you're hungry, my mother used to say."

"That's just where you're right, Granny." Rosie felt very affectionate towards the old woman. True, she wasn't the sharpest tool in the box, but she was really a lovely, if forgetful, lady. "You know what, I've got an idea about something nice for us all to do this afternoon."

"Like what, Madge?" Madge's mother looked up at her from the table. "Shall we all play a board game?"

"Ooh!" Granny's voice rose in excitement. "Like Simopoly, you mean?"

"Actually," Rosie smiled, "I've got a better idea."

MADGE

"Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived with her mother, father and granny in the town of Twinbrook." Madge began nervously, aware that all eyes were upon her. "Though they didn't have a lot of money, they were happy. Even though the girl's granny had a very forgetful memory, on the weekends, they would all do fun things together as a family, like camping, or catching fish. Then, everything started to change when the granny's memory got worse. On some days she was fine. But on other days, she would stare into space without really knowing what was going on. Sometimes she couldn't even remember the name of her own granddaughter."

Madge felt tears starting in her eyes, but carried on as best she could.

"Then one day, the girl's father left them for his new girlfriend. The girl and her mother tried to carry on as best they could, with the girl balancing school with taking care of her grandma, and her mother working as hard as she could to support the three of them. Though the girl pretended that everything was fine, inside she wanted to run away from it all. But she couldn't."

The whole table was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Tim and Ben were watching her solemnly, mouths slightly open.

"Then one day, just days before Christmas, the girl went to the grocery store to buy the groceries for Christmas." Madge went on, recalling the memory. "The most important grocery item was a jar of honey, needed to make her granny's favourite honey cake. She thought that if she did, it would make everything at least seem all right again. But when she went to get the honey, there was only one jar left on the shelf."

Madge was filled with a rush of nostalgia as she remembered the moment she and Rosie had first met. How, despite everything, she had pretended not to care, and how Rosie had handed her that last jar of honey, even though she had probably needed it for herself. As she spoke on, telling the rest of the story, with some of the details easily edited, she could only think of how lucky she was.

"So, I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I'm happy for the fact that I have a family who loves and cares about me," she finished. "And I'm happy for the fact that I'm a lot more fortunate than most. It's always better to let Fate step in and lend a hand with things, because really, anything could happen. And that's what I'm the most thankful for." Trembling, but with relief, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Well." Rosie's father seemed a bit taken aback. "That was certainly an, erm, inspiring story."

"Now Rosie, wait a minute." Rosie's mother held up a hand. "Though that's a lovely story" –here she gave Madge a proper smile – "it didn't really have anything to do with you, did it?"

"Well, yes it did, in a way, because, erm–" Madge tried to speak and grew flustered.

"Shall we move on?" Rosie's dad asked, already looking towards Ben. "I'm sure everyone's got a story to share."

"Wait!" Madge interjected, forcibly, yet a bit shaken. "I told you that story because I, I mean, Rosie–"

"Rose, what's wrong?" Uncle Bruce piped up, looking worried. "Are you all right?"

Madge sucked in a deep breath. It had to be done.

"I'm not Rosie."

Her voice came out in a near whisper, yet reduced the whole of the table to silence.

"You're–what?" Rosie's mother looked utterly shocked.

"I'm so sorry." The words came out of Madge in a rush. "What I said in the story was true. I mean, I was, I am that girl, and Rosie was the one who gave me the honey. We look so much alike that people thought we were sisters."

Aunt Minty was shaking her head in disbelief, yet Madge swore she saw something like a twinkle in the woman's eye.

"So, love, who exactly are you?" she asked in a concerned manner.

"I'm Madge," Madge replied, in a shaky voice. "Rosie and I agreed to swap Christmasses because we decided it would be a way to make our holidays better. If she cheered my mother and granny up, and made them forget their problems just for once, then I'd come over here and make your Christmas routine less, well, forced." To her horror, she felt a tear slipping down her cheek. "I tried my best to make sure that you all wouldn't know it was me. But it doesn't matter now. Everything's ruined." She sniffed, and wiped her eyes with her hand.

Rosie's mother sat stock still for about ten seconds, gazing at Madge with her hand over her mouth. Suddenly, she sat up.

"Rosie was right." She said this quietly, as if it was something she'd only just realized. "And you were right."

Rosie's father looked at her as if she was crazy. "Darling, what are you talking about?"

"It's all been my fault." Her voice became more determined now. "I've been so caught up with my own ideas about how the holiday should be run, that I've forgotten the way it should feel. And with what Madge has said just now, I think she has a point. It's time for us all to just relax and be thankful for what we do have." She glanced at Madge, and gave her a slight smile. "It's just a pity that it's taken the two of you to help me realize it. But for that, thank you."

"So, what do we do now?" Tim asked, already bored with this sudden turn of events. "Are you still going to take us to play ball in the park?"

Madge laughed, and it was as if the spell of tension around the table had been broken.

"How about we all go down to the park?" She winked at Aunt Minty. "I have a family activity that I think we would all enjoy."

As the voices of carol singers filled the air, Rosie turned around to see Madge, grinning, making her way towards them hurriedly, most of her own family in tow. As soon as she reached her, Rosie hugged her friend tightly, both of them laughing.

"So it looks like the plan worked." Madge stated, staring around at the snow-covered park, just meters away from where they had met a few days ago and been mistaken for sisters. "Thanks for calling me to let me know you were here."

"I think that my side of the plan worked too, don't you?" Rosie glanced over to where Granny was now standing, awestruck and joyful at the row of carol singers, and where Madge's mum was now chatting away to Rosie's family."Once your mum got over the shock of me telling her that I wasn't actually you, she seemed all right with it."

Madge nodded, and was about to launch into her side of the story at Rosie's, when she was interrupted by Aunt Minty and Uncle Bruce heading towards them, from the other side of the park.

"Well, what a happening!" Aunt Minty shook her head, but winked at them. "You two girls pulled off a seemingly ridiculous, but at the same time, very smart plan. Madge, your mum told me just before that she's having a really great Christmas. Even though you weren't exactly there for it."

Madge giggled, then noticed Rosie, her aunt and uncle sharing a secretive look.

"What?"

"it's not charity or anything, really." Rosie turned to face her friend. "The truth is, I, um, already told these two about part of our plan."

"What?" Madge couldn't keep the shock out of her voice. "You told them?"

"No, but listen." Rosie continued. "When you get back home, you'll find a surprise waiting for you." In the form of a Christmas tree and a few presents we chose for you all ourselves, she added silently. "Oh, and one more thing."

Madge felt her jaw drop as Rosie pressed a wad of Simoleons into her hand. One, two, three–

That was at least eight hundred dollars right there.

"Rosie, I–" Made tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"We all chipped in." Rosie went on, all three of them beaming at Madge. "Well, us three. The money is for you, your mum and Granny to get yourselves out of Twinbrook for a week and go somewhere nice for a holiday. Watcher knows, you deserve it." She grinned.

Madge flung her arms around her friend, trying hard not to do something stupid, like burst out crying. How she deserved a friend like Rosie, she'd never know.

"Look!" Granny shuffled up to them, doing a movement like a little dance. "So many notes, listen to them ring out! Beautiful things, they are." Slowly, she focused on Madge, her mouth twitching into a smile. "Dear Madge. So happy."

She remembered my name.

Right then and there, Madge couldn't think of any better present she'd rather receive.

"Happy Christmas, Granny."

And as she and Rosie stood in the snowy park, as the carol singers sang on, and the snow drifted down like white confetti, Madge felt the tiniest wave of hope tug at her.

Somehow this year, she knew, everything would turn out all right.

Well there you go! I wrote the last part of this story in a tiny bit of a rush as I'm going on holiday OS tomorrow and I wanted it done before the new year, but hope that you liked it all the same. Feel free to leave a review if you like, and have a wonderful, safe rest of your holiday. I love you all!