CHAPTER 32

We are sitting in the stiflingly warm and crowded school hall. There is a general hum as the parents and grandparents chat as we wait for the nativity play to start.

"How many classes participate in this?" I ask as I look around the large crowded room.

"The two reception classes, which is where Maisie is and the two Year 1 classes" she says. She leans towards me, "I don't think the concept has changed much since I was here. The teacher is like the narrator, then the older kids have the main roles, you know speaking parts and then the reception kids make up the numbers and have non-speaking roles. Sometimes they give some of the reception kids little speaking parts but not often, then they all sing at various parts during the play, then next year the reception kids will have the bigger roles because they will be in Year 1 and the new ones will be the ones making up the numbers".

"Will Declan be in this?" I ask as I try and figure things out.

Eva shakes her head, "No, he is in year 2 now" she whispers.

I nod and wait, Sandra is sitting on Eva's other side and she leans across Eva to speak to me, "It doesn't seem like five minutes since I was here watching Eva perform" she says.

I look at my wife affectionately, "Do you remember what part you played?" I ask.

She lets out a little snort and nods her head, "Yeah, when I was in reception, I was a sheep, I think mum still has the picture of me dressed up as a fucking sheep somewhere. I was wearing black trousers and a white t shirt and I had these ears and my nose was painted black and we all had to go baa. When I was in Year 1, I was the shepherd who spoke to the angel and to this day I can still remember what I said. 'What can we give him, we are just poor shepherds?' And I definitely know mum has a picture of me with a tea towel on my head dressed as a shepherd" she says.

The general hum in the room drops as Valerie Langham walks out on stage and greets everyone.

"Good afternoon and thank you all for coming to see our annual traditional nativity play. Looking around I can see some of you who I remember participating right here over the years, and now you are watching your own children perform, which makes me feel quite old". There is a general bubble of laughter at that comment, and she pauses a moment to let it subside before she continues "Can I remind you to turn your mobile phones off please. Also I would like to say, please remember these are very young children and I would ask that you don't laugh if anyone forgets their lines or does something which isn't part of the story, thank you".

She moves away and we watch as a little girl comes on screen and sits down in the centre of the stage, we watch her as she sits pretending to sew, she looks at the audience and then suddenly smiles and waves before she remembers what she is doing. Then I see a boy dressed as an angel come striding out. I hear Eva gasp and I look to see Maisie walk out on stage with them, I wonder what part she is playing but Eva has worked it out.

"I don't fucking believe it, Maisie is the narrator… but the teacher always does that" Eva hisses.

I watch closely, and wait, and sure enough Maisie goes to the side of the stage and standing on a box so she can be seen, she starts to speak. She is reading from the paper in her hand which has been made to look like a scroll. I feel myself smiling with pride as she reads slowly, loudly and clearly.

"Once upon a time a long time ago there was a lady called Mary, and one day Mary was at home when suddenly an angel came to see her". She stops speaking and the boy playing the angel speaks and says his lines about Mary being chosen.

"They've never done this before, it's always the teacher who is the narrator" Eva whispers.

"They obviously think Maisie can do it" I say proudly. When Maisie finishes her first part and is waiting while the others do their bit she scans the room and when she finds us she smiles at us and gives us a little wave.

We watch as she waits while the scenes change and the different children come on stage to do their part of the story and then move away to allow the next ones on. All the while she walks us through the Christmas story. I am filled with pride as I watch Maisie fearlessly narrating the play, this is a huge thing for a child as young as she is and she is handling it beautifully. You can hear a pin drop when she talks. She stumbles over her words a few times and has difficulty with a few of the longer words but she sounds them out and breaks the words up as I showed her to do and she carries on and there was only twice where she looked a bit worried, as she couldn't seem to read certain words but she didn't panic she simply glanced to the side and Miss Moore, Maisie's teacher immediately stepped into view and Maisie pointed at the word and she whispered what it was in her ear. I realise immediately that she had been there all the while just in case Maisie needed her.

I watch her enraptured; I don't really watch the rest of the play as such, as my attention is focussed solely on Maisie. Throughout the play, songs are sung, and I am sent back in time to my own childhood when I hear, 'Little Donkey', 'Away in a Manger', 'While Shepherds Watched…' and 'We Three Kings'. By the time the play comes to an end and the final song is sung, we watch as the entire cast assembles on stage and takes a bow to the applause of the audience, then Maisie walks out with a different bigger scroll and stands at the front. Everyone goes quiet and waits for her to speak.

"Thank you for coming to see our play and Merry Christmas to you all" she says and she turns the scroll around to reveal the words 'Merry Christmas!" written on it.

The room breaks into spontaneous applause once more and I can't control myself as I surge to my feet clapping loudly. Eva and Sandra join me and Maisie looks towards us and grins at us, soon the whole room is on their feet giving a standing ovation.

Afterwards we wait and when Maisie comes out to us she looks up at us hopefully, "Did you enjoy it?" she asks.

We both nod, Eva is beside herself with pride. "You were brilliant Maisie, why didn't you tell us you were telling the story?" Eva asks.

Maisie grins, "It was a secret! Miss Moore said not to tell you, so it was a surprise when you came" she says.

Just at that moment Miss Moore herself appears and walks towards us and greets us warmly, "I'm glad I've caught you, we are all really proud of Maisie the way she took on the task of narrating the play, but we all felt she could do it. It wasn't a decision taken lightly, and right up to the last minute Maisie was given the option to back out and say no if she felt she didn't want to do it, and I was prepared to step in but she was determined she wanted to do it and she did it brilliantly".

Eva nods, "I was so shocked, as I had just said to Gideon that the teacher always does the narration" she says.

Miss Moore nods, "Yes, normally that is the case, as we don't usually have a child of this age so able to take on that role but Maisie was so involved and enthusiastic about the whole thing and because she is so exceptional we felt she deserved a role in the play to highlight that and encourage it". She looks around and we see Valerie Langham hovering obviously waiting to talk to us.

"Before you go, we would like a word in private" Miss Moore says quietly.

Eva nods and reaches for my hand, Sandra who is also listening reaches out for Maisie, "You come with me Maisie, while your mum and Gideon go and talk to your teacher" she says.

We go inside and we are led into Maisie's classroom, "Don't look so worried Eva, there is absolutely nothing to worry about, this is all good news" Valerie says with a smile. "We just wanted to give you an update on how things were going and to tell you that Maisie is progressing so rapidly that we have taken the decision that starting in the New Year one day a week we will be moving Maisie to work with some of the older children. We have never done anything like this before so we are all learning and our main concern is obviously Maisie. If Maisie doesn't like it or feels afraid or worried she will immediately be put back in her own year group, but we feel Maisie would benefit from more stimulation so initially we thought she will work with year 1 and we will take it from there, all the staff are aware of Maisie's exceptional gifts and are eager to encourage her to fulfil her full potential. She is quite simply an exceptional little girl, I won't lie it has been hard to make sure we are giving her what she needs and make sure we are not holding her back as we are not really accustomed to having someone of her intellect in the classroom at this stage and so it has been a steep learning curve for all of us. It is a sad fact we are more attuned to helping children at the other end of the spectrum with learning disabilities rather than the outstanding abilities Maisie has continually shown. We have called in the professionals who assessed Maisie and they have given us pointers and a whole curriculum and specialised lesson plan has been designed specifically for Maisie, to stretch her and fulfil her needs".

Eva stands with her mouth open, "I don't know what to say" she says eventually.

Valerie smiles kindly, "Well, we are conscious not to draw too much attention to her and single her out as being different, whilst making sure we are giving her what she needs. We wanted to update you on what was happening, and I suggest at every half term we meet again and we can discuss how things are progressing and you could offer your own feedback on how Maisie feels and if she is happy with the changes which we are gradually implementing, does that sound alright to you?"

We both nod but before we can reply she is speaking again. "I haven't heard any negative feedback from you so far, so I am assuming Maisie is happy and hasn't shown any concerns or worries about school?" she asks.

We both shake our heads again, "No, when I listen to Maisie read and sign the book to say I have done so I always leave feedback for Miss Moore, as well as simply saying I have heard her read". I say.

"Yes that has been very helpful, especially when you commented that once again the books Maisie was reading seemed to be too easy. We immediately rectified that, you do realise she is now reading books children in year 5 are reading?" she says.

We are both slightly astounded at everything we have heard but grateful that the school is bending over backwards to make sure Maisie gets everything she needs to thrive.

Eva suddenly looks up as if an idea has occurred to her, "What about putting her with Dec, I mean I know he is in year 2 now but maybe having a familiar face in the classroom might help?" she says.

Valerie nods thoughtfully, "Plus Declan has special needs and it might have a positive influence on him and his behaviour if he thinks he has his young niece to take care of" she says.

As we leave we tell Sandra what has been said and she glows with pride. We move away and as we do so, I see Maisie looking intently at a girl over the other side of the playground with her parents and grandparents. The grandparents seem vaguely familiar and then it hits me who they are, the girl is Libby, the one who bullied Maisie because she had never been to the Red Lion pub. I realise they have recognised me as well as they are watching us.

I lift Maisie up on to my shoulders and she giggles loudly as we walk down the road. When we get back home Maisie goes to get changed while Sandra goes into the kitchen with Eva, I follow as I would like to know what is going on with Monica, Vic and Kyle.

"Did you go and see Monica and Vic last night?" I ask as I step into the kitchen.

Sandra nods and her face looks grim, "I did, Vic is devastated. It's knocked him for six, poor Kyle is blaming himself for mentioning it, but as I told him, he had to else it would have eaten away at him and made him ill. Monny hasn't stopped crying since last night, and I think she even phoned in sick at work today, which isn't like her and I'm sure this close to Christmas didn't go down well".

"It was a shock to us all" Eva says quietly as she busies herself putting on the kettle. She turns to me, "I told gran what happened with Maisie this morning and how we have set the no raised voices rule, she is going to tell everyone and she agrees with us that it's the right thing to do".

"Good" I say quietly.

Eva looks at her gran once more, "Is this going to spoil Christmas?" she asks.

Sandra shakes her head adamantly, "No it's bloody not, even if I have to bang their bloody heads together. This is your first Christmas with Gideon and no bugger is going to spoil Gideon's first Christmas with us, especially that arsehole Jack fucking Harrison" she says firmly. She turns to me, "Are you seeing your family at all over Christmas?" she asks.

I nod, "I am, we are all going up to Manchester on Boxing day and spending the day with my mother and my siblings… and I believe she has invited my dad and grandmother, so that should be interesting" I say with a wry smirk. I turn towards Eva who is passing me a mug of tea, "Thank you Angel" I say as I accept it from her.

"Tez said, to ask you… if you wanted to, to invite your family down here for New Year. We normally have a party New Year's Eve. It's just family and close friends but we all have a good time, and we wanted your family to know that they are all welcome to come and join in and see the New Year in with us".

I smile at Sandra, "Thank you, I will certainly ask them, but please don't be offended if they don't come, my father isn't exactly the party type, but we will definitely be there" I say as I sip my tea. "What is happening Christmas day, I'm a little hazy on what is happening?" I ask as I look apologetically at Eva who rolls her eyes at me and I know that this means she has probably told me what is happening and I have forgotten.

Sandra laughs, "Well to be fair I was going to ask you the same thing. Normally in previous years, Eva brought Maisie to us Christmas morning and Monny, Vic and the boys all came over and they opened their presents at ours and we all spent the day together. Now we can do that just like we always do if you want to but I didn't know if you wanted to be on your own seeing as it's your first Christmas together, and then come round later on for your Christmas dinner?"

I glance at Eva "Well I don't want to be the one to destroy any family traditions, and considering Maisie's presents are all hidden at your house it would seem to be logical to stick with what works, after all if it aint broke don't fix it" I say with a smile.

Sandra beams at me and I know instantly that is what she was hoping I would say. I glance at Eva "Ok with you Angel?" I ask.

Eva grins, "absolutely" she says.

I am excited about this Christmas, I really love being part of Eva's family and I have been looking forward to Christmas this year purely because I expected to spend time with them. Christmas with my father and grandparents was a grim affair with no joy and happiness and in our younger days we always knew that at some point we were going to be abused as my uncle never failed to miss visiting us on Christmas day. I feel myself go cold at the thought and I shiver.

"What's wrong?" Eva asks, I look up and see she is next to me, her hand on my arm and she is looking at me with concern.

"Nothing, I was just remembering past Christmases and I realised that I am looking forward to Christmas for the first time ever. Christmas was never really a happy time for me growing up" I say. Eva understands immediately what I am getting at and she wraps her arms around my waist and gently squeezes.

"Well, I just hope that the issues mum and Vic are having don't spoil this one" she says.

oooOOOooo

Five days later…

"Merry Christmas baby!"

I hear the words whispered in my ear and then I feel a small sweet kiss, first on my earlobe then my neck, my cheek and finally my lips. I am not certain if I am awake or asleep and dreaming what is happening to me. I open my eyes to see Eva straddling me and pressing another kiss to my lips. She grins wickedly at me as our eyes meet.

"Hmm" I moan as my hands come up and restlessly caress her. "Good morning and Merry Christmas Angel! What a wonderful way to wake up on Christmas Morning" I say. I feel her shift slightly and now I am fully awake, alert and painfully hard. I thrust my hips upward to let Eva feel just how happy I am and she shifts again once more which excites me even more.

"Eva" I hiss and I grip her hips.

Eva leans down and whispers in my ear, "I want you, but we are going to have to be quick as we don't have long before Maisie will be waking up and trust me Maisie on Christmas day is… challenging. You think Dec is hyperactive, Maisie definitely gives him a run for his money at Christmas!"

She grins at me and I don't need telling twice, I lift her night shirt off and as I see she is totally naked underneath I nearly come on the spot.

"Well now" I say as my eyes roam over her body.

I lift my hips and Eva pulls off my boxer shorts, and before I realise what is happening she is lowering herself down on to me. This shocks me to say the very least and that shock evolves to worry that I am going to hurt her.

"Fuck, Eva are you ready for me?" I ask with concern.

She nods, "Oh god yes" she moans and with that she starts to move.

I close my eyes and let her take complete control, she is setting a decent pace and like this I am lodged deep inside her, I feel my heart rate and breathing increase as I thrust upward with my hips and meet her movements. Each time I do so she moans and it is rapidly sending me over the edge.

"Eva…Christ I'm going to come" I gasp. I try and control her movements but she is moving with purpose and then I feel it, I feel her as her control starts to waver and she grips me like a vice.

I stop trying to dictate the pace and let Eva take over once more. We meet each other thrust for thrust and although this is going to be a quickie in the literal sense, I know Eva is going to get as much from it as I will.

"Gideon" she moans and I feel her fingernails dig into my chest, "Oh god, Gideon" she calls out.

"Christ Eva I'm going to come" I pant and I thrust upwards once more and as she reaches her own climax I grab her hips and ram upwards once more and hold myself deep inside her.

"Fuuuck" I moan as I shoot my seed deep inside her.

Eva collapses on me and I wrap my arms around her holding her tightly to me. I'm still lodged inside her and I can feel both our heartbeats pounding against each other and I have never felt so connected and close to another human being as I do to Eva at this moment.

She tries to lift herself up and I hold on to her, "No, just stay like this with me a bit longer" I say and she relaxes once more, her head resting against me and I stroke her hair absent-mindedly.

"I love you" I whisper to her and she squeezes me.

I feel her move and she presses a kiss to my chest.

"I love you" she replies.

(EVA)

I'm not sure what possessed me to wake up Gideon the way I did this morning, but I was like a woman possessed. I was desperate, the need I felt consumed me and I literally leapt on him.

He didn't seem to complain about being woken up in that manner. The sex with Gideon is always phenomenal, he is such an unselfish lover, he always considers me. He is always conscious of my feelings and my pleasure and even when we fuck hard we are still making love as the emotional connection between us is tangible.

I am lying sprawled on top of Gideon, he is holding me to him, he is still inside me and he has his arms wrapped tightly around me and I know that neither of us want to break the connection we have right now and we really don't want to move and get up.

I sit up a little and run my fingers over his chin, he hasn't shaved for a few days and he has a couple of days growth, "I like this, it makes you look even more ridiculously handsome" I say and he grins at me.

"I won't shave then" he says simply.

I kiss his chin and he pulls me back down onto him once more.

However, it is inevitable that we will have to get up and get moving as I can hear movement coming from Maisie's room. I pat Gideon's chest.

"I can hear movement, I think Maisie is waking up. So as much as I would love to lie here all day, we need to get up and we need to do it now" I say.

I feel him reluctantly release me and I lift myself off him. I feel him slide out of me and I feel a sense of loss, I roll off him and after giving him another kiss I climb out of bed and slip my robe on and I poke my head out of our bedroom and seeing the coast is clear I move swiftly to the bathroom.

A few moments later I feel Gideon behind me, squeezing himself into the shower with me. We more or less manage to behave ourselves and concentrate on getting clean although there was significantly more touching and caressing than I think was warranted for just washing purposes, not that either of us was complaining.

When we eventually exit the bath room and make the short journey across the landing to our bedroom I hear Maisie moving about in her bedroom.

"We really need an en-suite in our bedroom" Gideon whispers and I turn and stare at him in surprise.

"How?" I ask.

He shrugs, "I don't know, but the fear of Maisie catching us as we wander either to or from the bathroom makes me want to look into it" he says.

We get dressed and as I leave the bedroom Gideon is standing at the top of the stairs looking at the layout and thinking.

"What are you thinking?" I ask.

"An extension" He says simply and my mouth drops open.

"An extension?" I repeat.

He nods, and pats the outside wall, extend out this way over the driveway, the downstairs would be a garage and then we could knock down the separate garage, making the garden bigger, we could have a door leading into the main house at the bottom of the stairs, then here there would be another door leading to another bedroom up here, which would leave the box room next to ours at the end there free to convert into an en-suite for our bedroom and perhaps a store room as well" he says.

I try and visualise what he is describing and I can see it but it would mean an awful lot of disruption while it is done.

We go downstairs and while I am in the kitchen Gideon continues with his redesigning, "We could even bring it all the way back here, and make the kitchen bigger as well if you like?" he says I stare at him in shock as we have just had our kitchen re-done.

I think he sees the shock on my face as he smiles, "It's just an idea, we can discuss it some more at a later date" he says.

I busy myself putting on the coffee machine when we hear running feet.

"Mummy, daddy it's Christmas! Maisie yells as she bursts into the kitchen still in her pyjamas and is bouncing and jumping up and down in front of us.

Gideon picks her up and kisses her cheek.

"Good morning Maisie and merry Christmas, you need to go and get dressed" he says.

She wriggles out of his hold, and vanishes from the room.

"So how do we do this?" he asks.

I push a mug of coffee towards him, "Well in previous years I just say something like come on Maisie lets go to gran-gran's and see if Santa has delivered your presents. We said Santa left them there as it was easier for him than leaving them at the flat" I say with a shrug. I don't tell him that it was mainly to disguise the fact I couldn't afford to get Maisie much. Mum and Gran always bought her a bit more and with the boys there opening their presents it was never really an issue. "Perhaps after this year though we should have them here for her to open, start a new tradition?" I add.

"I think it's a lovely idea having everything at your gran's house" Gideon says as he sips his coffee.

A short while later after Gideon has called and spoken to his mum and dad and wished them a Merry Christmas, we are making the relatively short walk across the park and on to the estate. There isn't a soul about. It's a bright cold day, with a touch of frost.

I watch Maisie running ahead as I walk with Gideon my arm tucked through his. I hear him sigh contentedly.

"This is nice" he says, I don't think he is talking to me as such, as he is almost saying it to himself. But I choose to answer him anyway.

"It is, and it still feels a bit like a dream" I say.

I feel Gideon pause and I slow and look up at him, "What?" I ask.

The look he gives me is intense and filled with love, "I love you so much" he says as he cups my face with his hands.

"I love you too" I reply and leaning against him I rise on to my tip toes and press a small kiss on his chin.

"Are you coming?" Maisie yells impatiently and we both smile and carry on walking.

We arrive at Gran's house just as mum and Vic are crossing the road with the boys. Declan hurtles towards us and greets us full of enthusiasm, and Reece also has a wide grin on his face and he looks happy as he too comes up for a hug and wishes us a Merry Christmas. I look at Kyle and he gives us a small smile, but it looks forced and brittle. But you can cut the tension like a knife between my mum and Vic and it makes me sad, they are making an effort to put on a front but it is obvious all is not well between them and probably won't be until we get the DNA results sorted. I make a point of hugging my mum and wishing her a merry Christmas, and then I turn to Vic and giving him a hug, "Merry Christmas dad" I say and I feel his arms tighten around me as I say that.

"Same to you Evie" he says gruffly, before he greets Gideon warmly.

I have noticed Gideon, once he had exchanged greetings with my mum and Vic he has made a beeline for Kyle and has his arm around his shoulder and is walking with him and talking quietly to him as we all make our way to the front door.

"Daddy" Maisie calls and I see Gideon give her his full attention, as she pulls on his hand to walk faster.

The front door opens before we reach it and my gran stands there a wide grin on her face and her arms stretched wide. My heart lurches as this sight is so familiar to me, every Christmas this is what greets us when we arrive. Gran wearing a Christmassy t shirt, standing at the door with her arms open ready to engulf us all in a loving hug and a huge genuine smile on her face. I see my granddad appear behind her wearing his silly Santa hat and Maisie squeals with delight as she sees him.

After the melee of greetings and chorus of Merry Christmas, we all head inside. The boys and Maisie head straight for the living room where gran puts her tree up and where they know they will all find their presents.

The smell of cooking turkey fills the house, and I take in a deep breath. The familiar sights, smells and sounds all part of everything that is my family, and this year I get to share that with Gideon.

I search for my husband and see him talking to Granddad, he now has a Santa hat in his hand too, and then granddad throws one to Vic who doesn't hesitate when he catches it and he puts it on, making Maisie and Declan squeal with laughter. That is another of our silly traditions for as long as I can remember, granddad and Vic always wear a Santa hat while everyone opens their presents. I'm not sure why, it's just something they have always done and it seems granddad is getting Gideon to participate in that tradition too. I watch my husband as he puts on his hat. I pull out my phone and snap a picture of granddad, Gideon and Vic all standing there together.

"Hey Maisie, what do you think?!" Gideon calls and Maisie immediately turns to look at him and she points and laughs at him.

"Daddy is wearing one too!" she shrieks.

Watching Maisie and the boys open their presents is always the highlight of Christmas for me, and this year Maisie is beside herself when she sees the bicycle that we bought her, now we have the garden which she can safely play in I was happy to let her have one. Declan has also had a new bike from mum and Vic and we watch the two comparing them.

Reece is overjoyed at the Stoke City football strip that we got him and he thanks us both profusely as he holds it almost reverently. We got Kyle a gift card for Game so he could go and get some X box games that he wanted and Gideon had also got him some bits and bobs for his photography. As we knew Dec was getting a new bike we had bought him a helmet along with a few other bike related things.

Gideon's idea of the gift certificates for the spa at The Grange where we got married for mum and gran went down really well, they had both loved it there when we got married and had both said they would love to come back another time and check out the facilities. Granddads and Vic's eyes nearly popped out of their heads when they saw the season tickets for Stoke City and they stared at them, almost drooling over them. The fact that Gideon had also made sure to get Vic a family ticket too wasn't lost on Reece or Declan.

Gideon and I weren't expecting anything after everything that Vic and Granddad had done at the house while we were away on honeymoon. Yes, we had paid them, along with everyone else who had helped but as Gideon had said they had gone above and beyond for us. So, we were surprised but delighted to get a large package. When we opened it, we saw our favourite picture which Kyle had taken of us on our wedding day, he had captured the moment when newly married, Gideon had stopped kissing me and had his forehead resting against mine and we were staring into each other's eyes. It was so intimate and filled with love and we had said we were going to see about getting an enlarged version of it and getting it framed, but my family had beat us to it. They look at us anxiously but that disappears when they see just how touched and genuinely pleased we are with it.

"Thank you so much, this is having pride of place in our living room" Gideon says as he stares at the photograph.