Okay, sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter! I hope you'll like it!
I want to thank my reviewers: NelliethePieAngel, lilNellBell, Sparrowbeth, Sweet Lunacy and Swenet4ever! You are all amazing! Thank you for your support! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd!
Chapter 35
It was Christmas Eve and the Barker family was getting ready to go out for a walk and have dinner. Nellie had dressed Johanna in a very cute white dress with pink ribbons and she wore a nice red dress. Benjamin was finished getting dressed when he saw them and he smiled.
'Wow…my girls look amazing!" he said to them as he kissed them both on their cheeks.
"Thank you, Ben. The same goes for you." Nellie told him smiling as she was fixing her hair in a half ponytail. He smiled at her and picked up his daughter who giggled at her father.
"Hello, darling." He said to her as he kissed her forehead.
"Daddy…" the baby girl whispered as her attention caught his tie.
He laughed along with Nellie and started walking out of the room.
"Nellie? I'll be waiting at the parlor. Take your time." He said to her as he exited the bedroom.
"Okay…" she said as she continued fixing her hair.
Benjamin walked to the parlor and sat there watching the tree they had decorated earlier with Nellie.
"Look…look at the tree, sweetheart….isn't that nice?" he said to the baby trying to catch hr attention but she was too preoccupied with his tie to care. He laughed and shook his head as he sat on the couch. A minute or so after he sat there was an insistent knock on the door. Confused he sat up and walked to the door. He adjusted the baby in his arms and opened the door. There just outside the shop was standing Lucy with a present in her arms accompanied by the famous judge.
"Hello, Benjamin." She said to him with a fake smile on her face.
"Hello…what are you doing here?" he asked eyeing them suspiciously.
"I just wanted to see Johanna and give her this present for Christmas. Am I not allowed to?" she asked him, looking at the baby in his arms who was looking at her curiously.
"No! I mean…of course." He said uncomfortably.
"Won't you tell us to come in, barber?" Turpin said to him, rolling his eyes.
"Yes…yes, come in." Ben said subconsciously holding Johanna tighter in his embrace. They entered the shop and Lucy looked around at the decorated parlor with a face of disgust.
"Can you believe that I was living here?" she said to Turpin who just smiled at her.
Benjamin felt his anger rising but he bit his tongue from speaking his mind.
"Johanna? Come here, dear. I have a present for you." Lucy said without much enthusiasm mind you.
Ben reluctantly gave her the baby and looked at them. Lucy saw his wedding ring and her eyes widened.
"You married her then?" she asked incredulously.
"Of course I did. Four days ago." He said calmly, eyeing the judge who was looking around the room curiously.
"Oh…well. Johanna let's open your present darling." She said, but the baby wiggled in her arms and whimpered.
"Daddy." She said as her eyes got teary.
"She's talking! You never told me she's talking!" Lucy said glaring at him as she tried to calm the moving baby, who was trying to reach her father.
"You never came to ask." He told her harshly as he tried to take the baby from her.
"No. I'll hold her." Lucy said slapping his hands away.
"Give her the damn present, Lucy." Turpin said impatiently.
After a while the baby calmed but she kept looking at her father pleadingly. Lucy opened the present and showed it to her.
"What is that?" Ben asked looking at her.
"It's a dress. A very expensive one of course." Lucy said to him.
"She's growing up fast, Lucy. No reason to spend your money buying her expensive clothes. She won't wear it for a long time." Ben said calmly but his ex-wife just glared at him.
"Do you always have to criticize everything I do?" she asked him as she stood up from the couch. Benjamin didn't answer her, he just looked away. Lucy looked at Johanna again and started rocking back and forth.
"Why are you so dressed up? Going somewhere with the baker?" Lucy asked him with an ironic smile.
"Yes, actually I am. I'm just waiting for her to get ready." Ben said to her with an equally sarcastic smile, making the judge come closer to her and put his arm around her waist provocatively.
"Interesting." Lucy said with a fake sweet smile as the baby started wiggling again.
'Hush, Johanna. Be good." Lucy scowled at her.
"If you talk to her like that she'll keep doing that." Ben said to her as he wished to take his daughter from her hands but tried to resist, not wanting to anger the woman.
"It's your fault. She has no discipline." Lucy said to him angrily as she rocked the baby a little too hardly for Ben's taste.
"She has perfect discipline." Nellie said from the doorway as she was ready to go.
"Oh! It's our little Cinderella. You decided to appear, dear?" Lucy said to her angrily and the baby's eyes widened when she saw the person that she knew as her mother.
"I was not hiding in the first place." Nellie said to her while Ben smiled at her retort.
Johanna wiggled even more and put her arms out for Nellie and uttered a word that made the color leave from Lucy's face.
'Mommy!" she said desperately and Nellie took her from Lucy who was standing still with her eyes wide as saucers.
"Come, darling." Nellie said to her and the baby snuggled close to her chest.
"She…she…thinks you are her mother?!" Lucy said at last loudly, making Turpin wince.
"Yes, she does." Nellie said calmly, looking at Ben who nodded his head.
"What about me, Benjamin?!" Lucy said turning around to face him and he just smiled sheepishly at her.
"It's not my fault. Nellie's taking care of her and is with her the whole time. Don't complain." He said to her shrugging, making her even angrier.
"Then I have no reason to be here then! Let's go!" she said to the judge who nodded his head and took her by the arm.
"I can't believe you have taken this…this whore as your wife! Are your standards so low!?" she asked him angrily as she stopped in front of him with her hands on her hips.
"You know nothing about her!" Ben said to her in a low voice, glaring at her.
"I know everything I need to know. When you were with me you didn't even look at her and now you are glued together." She hissed at him.
Nellie looked down at her words and knew that she was right. He never looked at her when he was with Lucy.
"Leave." He said to her in a whisper, looking at her with furious eyes.
"What? You don't like listening to the truth? She was nothing until you decided to look at her! She was just a slut and she will always be one!" she said to him with a cruel smile. The next moment a loud slap was heard and she was sent back a couple of steps and into Turpin's arms who was speechless at Benjamin's move.
Nellie gasped while holding tightly onto Johanna and Ben looked at Lucy with hateful eyes.
"How dare you?" Lucy said to him angrily.
"Get out of here. And take him with you too. You deserve each other. You know nothing about my feelings or about Nellie. If you come near us again I won't be responsible for my actions." He said to her in a hoarse voice while pointing at the door.
Lucy glared at him and then at Nellie as was she was rubbing her red cheek.
'Let's go, darling. We shouldn't have come in the first place." Turpin said as he dragged her out of the parlor and exited the shop.
When the door closed, Nellie looked up at Benjamin and saw that he was breathing heavily and looking at the floor.
"Ben…are you all right?" she asked him softly as she came closer to him with Johanna snuggled in her arms.
He looked up at her and stared into her eyes.
"I love you." He said to her in a soft voice.
"I know you do, sweetie. I don't care what she says." Nellie said to him smiling, cupping his cheek in her hand. He nodded his head and kissed her softly on the lips.
"I can't believe you slapped her, Ben." She said chuckling.
"Well, she insulted you." He said as he helped Johanna into her coat and then Nellie.
"Thank you." She said to him and he just smiled at her.
"You're welcome! Now come on! We won't let her ruin our evening. Let's go, sweetheart." He said as he took Johanna and Nellie took his arm. They walked out of the house and headed for their restaurant, leaving everything that happened that evening behind them.
End of chapter 35
Author's note: Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review! I'd love to know what you think!
Oh! And Merry Christmas to everybody! :)