A/N: Somehow I forgot to update a chapter last weeks. I was convinced I've done that... I'm really sorry and I bring you an update now. :) Hope you'll enjoy.
CHAPTER 21
It was only in the morning that Darcy realised that there was a problem with Shirley's presence. Her eyes fell on the tree, the gifts under it, and it dawned on her, that not only they didn't have absolutely anything for her, but they didn't even have a chance to buy anything as all the shops were closed. It wouldn't be fair to make her watch how the boys were opening theirs, only not to get anything herself. She was aware there was pretty much nothing, what they could do, but she hated the thought of how bad it would make her feel.
She watched such a situation whenever her mother came. It was breaking her heart to see the expression on Cody's face, when he watched how his older brother got a gift from their grandmother and realised there was nothing for him. The worst thing was, that no matter what she did or say, there was absolutely no reaction from her mother.
"You've got two grandsons so either bring something for both of them or don't bring anything at all." she said just on the previous day and had no doubts it fell on deaf ears.
That she favoured Aiden, Darcy would probably be able to forgive, but not that she showed it. She really didn't want one of her boys to be jealous of the other, and she was afraid that it was exactly what it was leading to. How was she and her husband supposed to make their sons feel equal if another person showed something else? This time, however, she was able to at least buy one more thing to Cody, so he would have the same amount of gifts as his older brother. Her mother's attention she couldn't secure, but at least there was Mrs. Manning, who would surely love to take care of her younger grandson.
Her attention was drawn to Shirley, who let out a sob and mumbled 'Mama'. During the night she was coming to the girl a couple of times, when she was calling out for her mother. Darcy wasn't the person she wanted, but a caress or a hug, even from her, was enough to calm her and let her sleep at least for a moment before she would wake up once again. She crouched in front of her and caressed her hair, which didn't lose much of its deep red colour it had after a bath. Clutching to pillow, she looked even smaller and more vulnerable than normally and Darcy could feel her heart twinge. She was so young, so little and already carrying a burden of unpleasant experience. She had absolutely no idea what this child had been through and the truth was, she didn't know if she actually wanted to be aware of that. The bruises on her body, the fact she was limping a little while walking and how weak and lithe her body was; the sole thought made her shiver.
She glanced up, when she felt someone's gaze on herself and noticed her husband, watching her carefully. He smiled, when she caught him and approached, wrapping her arms around her as she stood up.
"I know that she's not our daughter and some people would say that we don't have to do this, but we don't have anything for her for Christmas… She's spending the holiday with us, and it's not fair…" Darcy spoke in a hushed voice, so she wouldn't wake the girl and moved to prepare a coffee for both of them, while Bobby took a seat behind the table.
"You're right..." winced Crash as he didn't realise it earlier, either. "I think we'll just have to get something for her tomorrow."
"For who?" sounded Wilma Manning's voice, startling them a little; her eyes followed their gaze and widened upon seeing the sleeping girl. "Oh my God, who is this little one?"
"It's Shirley, she'll spend the Christmas with us. I'll explain everything to you when Darcy's mom is up."
It was no surprise that Carrie D'Angelo didn't react even a little bit like Bobby's mother. The two women were as different as it was only possible, and it was surely just another reason why they completely couldn't get along, and it wasn't any different this time. While Wilma was surprised, but very curious as she knew her son well enough to know, that there had to be a very good reason for him to bring this child home, Carrie was obviously displeased. It was her rather loud statement about it, that made Shirley wake up.
Just a glance at the girl was enough to know that she felt somewhat lost. She raised herself to a sitting position and looked at two older women with an obvious fear in her eyes just before she started to cry. Darcy didn't hesitate to approach her as quickly as possible, taking her into her arms. The girl immediately clung to her, hiding her face in the woman's neck. Even when Darcy managed to calm her down, she wasn't eager to move away from her, resting her head on her shoulder.
"What on Earth is this child doing here?!" repeated Carrie with her eyes moving between her daughter and son-in-law.
Bobby was the one to explain the whole situation. While he continued speaking, it was clear that Wilma understood him perfectly and her gaze told him that she believed that he had done the right thing. Carrie, on the other hand, seemed to get more and more sceptical as his explanation progressed and the snort she let out, when he told them about his decision to take her with him, made it clear what she was actually thinking about it.
"Of course you have brought her. I bet you didn't even care to call Darcy and ask her what she thinks about it." she said and Bobby's jaw muscles immediately clenched.
Despite the temptation, he didn't say a thing. He was very close and he was sure, that if it wasn't for his wife, he would regret the words, which were about to leave his mouth. She knew him well enough, though, to intervene and placed a hand on his shoulder, what he was aware meant that he should let it go. What he didn't expect was that she actually spoke up.
"He didn't have to call me, Mom. Even if he had, I would have agreed, of course!"
"I really believed that you are smarter than that, Darcy. Somebody has to be crazy to bring home a child, who you know nothing about!"
"What was I supposed to do? Leave her out there to freeze?!" snapped Bobby, unable to hold himself back any longer and immediately received a furious glare from his mother-in-law. "Perhaps you don't have even a little bit of conscience and wouldn't have problems leaving her out there for a certain death, but I would never be able to do that."
"Bobby…" the way Darcy spoke his name sent him a very clear message that she wanted him not only to calm down, but preferably leave it to her. "Perhaps we are crazy, but this girl has absolutely nowhere to go. It's even difficult to find a foster family for her now, during Christmas and after everything she has been through, she deserves to have some peace in her life."
"Maybe, but it doesn't mean that she needs to get it here. You've got your own children, you should focus on them instead of giving all your attention to some strange one."
"Says a woman, who gives her whole attention to her older grandson, while she doesn't even care to acknowledge the presence of the younger one!" snapped Wilma this time and this seemed to completely add insult to injury for Carrie.
"You don't have to listen to me, do whatever you want to. Don't be surprised, though, when you realise that you've got more problems out of all this than it's worth it." she said angrily before she turned around and went to the room, where she was staying. A moment later she came out of it once again, pulling her bag behind herself. Everyone looked at her in surprise, and she didn't even look at them, when she stopped in front of the door. "If I am not going to get any respect here, I will not stay here any longer." she stated, waiting for a few seconds to see if anyone was going to try to stop her.
There was no reaction on anybody's side, though, and realising that it wasn't going to come, she opened the door and simply left. All the Mannings exchanged surprised glances; this was the one thing, that they definitely didn't expect. Knowing how stubborn she was, they rather expected her to act the same way that she was around Cody, acting like she didn't even notice Shirley, as well as reminding them of her opinion all the time. Her leaving was something, what neither of them saw coming.
"Well…" spoke Wilma, breaking the awkward silence, which fell in the room and looked at Shirley. "When it comes to my opinion, I doubt she's going to bring you problems. She seems to be absolutely terrified and I wouldn't be surprised if she kept clinging to you during the whole time, which she's going to spend here. But, the only thing I can say for sure about her right now is that she's got quite a fitting name. I can see what her parents had in mind, when they named her Shirley, although I doubt they expected her to turn out to be such a cute little red-head."
"Her mother's hair-colour was exactly the same, so I believed they could expect that. Or at least her mom, as there is no sign of her dad altogether. He might have never been present in her life."
They heard footsteps and all turned in the direction of Aiden's bedroom. Both of the boys were staying there this night, so they could use Cody's as another guestroom as placing both of their mothers in one room was completely out of question. Up to that point, the thought of the boys' reaction to Shirley's presence didn't cross her mind. It was the biggest mystery and both, Bobby and Darcy felt nervous about it. They remembered very well how jealous Aiden was about Cody, when the younger boy was born and it was only after some time, that they managed to show him that there was no need for that. But even despite their attempts to show them, that there didn't have to be any competition for their attention between them and that neither of them was more important than the other, there were still moments when this one feeling emerged. This made them quite afraid what they were going to be like around Shirley.
The first one to come out was Cody and his eyes immediately landed on the girl in his mother's arms as it was the place, where he had every intention of finding himself.
"What is it?" he asked, obviously surprised, staring at Shirley.
"Who, Cody, not what." corrected Bobby and made his way to the boy, picking him up. "And it's Shirley, she'll spend some time with us."
"Why?" was just the first on the list of questions, that followed but it seemed that he took the news without bigger problems.
With Aiden, it didn't go so easy. Even though they explained everything to him as well, with slightly more details as he was able to understand more than his little brother, it was clear he wasn't in the least happy about it. Bobby and Darcy only exchanged glances; they were aware that he had entered the phase, when all the girls with the exception of mother, grandmothers and maybe also Vanessa Hudson, were the necessary evil, who he had to treat with respect. His mood wasn't improved, when he found out that Grandma Carrie was gone, but his eyes lit up a little when his parents announced that the boys could open their presents.
They both ran to the Christmas tree; there were a lot of boxes, smaller and larger, lying under it. Aiden immediately took all the boxes, which were marked with the letter "A", leaving the rest for Cody and started opening them. All three adults watched the boys with smiles on their faces, as they revealed next gifts grinning happily.
"KANGOO!" exclaimed Cody at one point, when he unwrapped the box with a big kangaroo, which was jumping around as they later found out.
"Another one?" was Bobby's immediate reaction and he rolled his eyes. "Mom, his room is already full of kangaroos! Soon he'll have more of them in his room than there are in the whole Australia!"
"Oh stop it, Robert. Look at him; there is no gift, which made him happier than this one!"
Neither of them could deny that Wilma was right; there was no present, which brought a reaction even close to the one, which the kangaroo had. Soon, when they found out how to make the toy jump, the boy started to follow it in the same way, making them all smile. Darcy's eyes were every now and then moving to Shirley, who was still in her arms, and she could see the girl watching her sons carefully. There seemed to be no envy in her eyes or any other sign, that she felt bad about not getting anything but it still made Darcy's stomach twinge a little. She started to wonder, did this child even know, why the boys got presents and if she has ever gotten one for Christmas?
She had her answer soon enough. Later that day, when she was sitting on the couch and resting a little, she was approached by Cody. The boy was holding a kangaroo, which she didn't see him with for quite a while as it seemed to become a permanent occupant of the shelf, although it was his favourite at one point.
"Mama?" he spoke to get her attention and she pulled him onto her lap. "For Shirley..?" he asked, showing her the toy.
"You want to give it to Shirley?" she asked, unsure if she understood him correctly and Cody nodded his head. "Are you sure? If you give it to her, you won't get it back." she decided to warn him, just in case he decided to change his mind at one point.
"Cody sure." stated the boy in a very insistent voice, and Darcy looked in the direction of Bobby and Shirley, sitting on the floor in the corner of the room and playing with blocks.
"Then go and give it to her."
She watched as he got off her lap and slowly approached the two. They both raised their eyes to look at him and he reached out his hands in the direction of Shirley, holding out the toy. Bobby was obviously surprised and he looked at Darcy with a questioning look, but she only smiled in response and they watched how the girl somewhat shyly and awkwardly, took the toy from him, mumbling a quiet 'Thank you'. From that moment, she didn't move anywhere without this kangaroo and they felt happy that at least their son, in a way, found a solution to their problem.
x
One of the first things, which Ethel noticed about her great-grandchildren was how properly they always seemed to behave, and she was very happy to see that when excited, their behaviour didn't really differ from what should be expected of kids their age. She chuckled, when she was walking by the room, where they were spending the night and heard Alex's hushed voice.
"Cassie, wake up! It's Christmas and presents!"
He didn't need to repeat twice for the girl to react, and they both came out of the room and made their way to their parents' bedroom. They soon walked out, almost dragging their father downstairs, holding each of his hands and got to the Christmas tree. Louise was already up for a while; she was happy she managed to get up before them as they completely forgot to take the presents out of the bag and the kids would be very disappointed if they didn't see any box under the tree. She laughed, when her eyes fell on her still not fully awake husband as he sat on the couch heavily. She had no doubts he was out of bed only because he knew, that their children wouldn't leave him alone until he came there, so they could open their gifts.
Christmas was one of those times of the year, other than their birthday, that she didn't see anything wrong with spoiling Cassie and Alex a little. If she allowed Myles to have his way, they would be getting everything they wanted all the time and most of their arguments were exactly because of him, buying new toys for them whenever they mentioned that they would like something, no matter the price. From her childhood times, she remembered a few kids, who were always getting everything they wanted and turned out to be demanding, selfish people and she didn't want her own children being the same in the future. She wanted them to learn that they couldn't always have everything, as well as she had to teach her husband that satisfying their every whim really didn't mean that he's a better dad.
Only these two times of the year she allowed him some freedom, but preferred not to go gift-shopping for their children with him and while he was occupied in a toy shop, she walked around the mall and looked for something for him. This time she decided to buy him a new cell phone, as Alex dropped his previous one when he was playing and the whole screen shattered into the smallest of pieces, and Myles needed to use a very old one, which he found in a drawer.
It was the rule in their household, that Cassie and Alex couldn't open their presents until their parents did, so they watched impatiently how their father unwrapped the box and smiled, when he noticed its content.
"I love it how you always know what I need the most." he smiled kissing her cheek, what made Ethel roll her eyes. She couldn't say that she approved of all the young people expressing their affection very publicly without any limit, but she couldn't help thinking that they could actually show it a little more at times.
Louise tore off the paper having a general idea of what she was going to find. Myles was somewhat predictable, when it came to choosing a gift for her and he was usually buying her jewellery. This time, she received a beautiful white-gold earrings with sapphires and very small diamonds decorating one side of them. She could hear her grandmother gasp, when she glanced at them.
"Well, I have to say that your husband has an excellent taste when it comes to jewellery. And he definitely knows your preferences, but that I've already assumed after I saw your engagement ring." said Ethel, making her granddaughter grin.
She agreed with this statement wholeheartedly. Even though some of the women would probably found it boring to get jewellery from their husband every year, she was pretty certain that she was never going to grow tired of it. The truth was, that until he proposed, she didn't really have a lot of it – just a couple of earrings and an engagement ring from Carter, which she couldn't say that she loved. She wasn't even aware of that, but when she mentioned what she actually loved in jewellery, Myles truly listened to her and whatever she received from him, she always found very beautiful.
The children were very excited to see that their turn has come and didn't waste a second to unwrap their presents. A dollhouse in the shape of a castle, new ponies to join her collection along with accessories and a zoo to build were soon lying in front of Cassie, while Alex already couldn't wait to work on building a new plane with his dad, playing with his remote-controlled helicopter or a digger. Both, Myles and Louise received a very tight hug and a kiss before they focused on occupying themselves with their new toys.
"I wish I had known about your visit sooner. I would have gotten something for you as well." sighed Ethel, when she and Louise went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She has received a photo album full of pictures of her great-grandchildren and a beautiful set of boxes for spices.
"It's enough you let us stay with you, Grams." said Louise, hugging her grandmother. "Those are the first Christmas that we spend differently than being just the four of us in our house in D.C., and you make them special."
"You have no idea how much it means to me, to hear you say so and to spend this time with you. Although I'm sure that my cookies have their influence on how you enjoy your time here, too. I noticed how quickly they disappeared, when I placed a plate with them on the table!"
Both women laughed and turned back to their task.