"Mum?"
"Yes, sweetheart." Katy inhaled deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. "What can I do for you?"
"Do you think Santa would know if I changed my mind about what I want for Christmas?"
"Depends… what have you changed your mind about?"
"I want a PS5." Ruby announced hopefully.
"Yeah, it's definitely too late now." Katy informed her bluntly. "No chance Santa can sort that one out."
"But Santa can sort everything."
"Not that." Her mother replied. "He has to outsource electrical presents. I think Sony have the franchise."
"What does that mean?" Ruby frowned at her.
"It means that the elves can't do the circuit boards. They have to get someone else to do it. They need more warning for electrical presents."
"Oh…"
"Sorry, babe."
"What are you doing?"
Katy sighed, lifting her arm as Ruby dropped onto the sofa beside her and burrowed into her side. "Texting Aunty Shirley… Tina's home."
"Did you ask Grandad Jack?"
"Ask him what?"
"If he could stop Tina getting in trouble."
Smiling at her daughter, Katy pressed a kiss to the top of the nine-year-old's head. It was at times like this that she was reminded that Ruby really just was a little girl who needed protecting from all the terrible things that were going on around her. Considering what to tell her, she chewed the inside of her cheek.
"It's not really up to Grandad… "
"But Tina didn't do it, did she?"
"Of course she didn't, sweetie." Katy promised, kissing her head again. "We know Tina and we know she wouldn't do that."
"So why do they think she did?"
"It's complicated."
Ruby screwed up her nose. "Should we call Ritchie?"
Katy laughed. "Maybe… I'll have to speak to Tina and Aunty Shirley first, though."
"Do it now."
"Ruby…" Her mother laughed, but was prevented from having to follow through with her daughter's orders by the sound of the doorbell. Disentangling herself from the little girl, she headed to answer it. A smile twisted her lips as she realised who was on the doorstep. "Jay, you alright?"
"I need some help."
"With what?"
"The 'fridge has broken and Honey's community thing is gonna have to be cancelled 'cos all the food is ruined." Jay explained anxiously. "We need to do something."
Katy rubbed her forehead. "D'you know anyone who could cater? We'll pay from the bar accounts… I said I wanted to donate something."
"I'm sure we could get some advertising for R&R in."
"Don't be silly. It's Christmas and Honey's right… we should be giving back to the community."
"You're the best, K, you know that, right?" Jay asked, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. "Big Nigel's wife does catering, right? He owes me a favour so I should be able to get a bit of money off."
"Sounds good to me." Katy smiled at him. "Let me know how much and who to pay and I'll transfer the money."
"Thank you, so much!"
Leaning in the doorway and watching him jog back towards Bridge Street, Katy shook her head slightly. By the time she returned to the living room, Ruby was already writing up a script of what she needed to say to Ritchie and the twins appeared to demand they were allowed to go to the Community Christmas day.
The rest of the afternoon passed peacefully. The children were perfectly happy to watch Christmas films and play with their toys and kittens, while Katy did her best to encourage Tina to come round and take her mind off things for a while. Her friend was reluctant, claiming that she needed to stay with Gray and Shirley and work out how to clear her name.
"You do realise that Santa is just Mitch in a terrible costume, don't you?" Roxy asked, nudging her niece with her shoulder as they stood and watched the children queuing up to speak to him.
"Yeah, but don't tell them that. Ruby's got a whole list of corrections to her original letter. She asked whether it was too late for Santa to bring her a PS5 earlier."
Roxy laughed loudly. "Thank god Amy's over all that."
"Make the most of it while you can," Ronnie advised softly, "you don't realise how wonderful it is until you don't have that innocent excitement in your life."
"I'll miss it when they're too old." Katy admitted. "Look at their little faces."
The three Mitchell women watched Ruby, Matthew and the twins staring at the lights and decorations in awe. They all smiled, Katy subconsciously running a hand over her stomach, as they remembered Christmases where there had been so much missing from their lives.
"You staying out for these photos Honey's put together?" Ronnie asked, pushing her arm through her daughter's as they wandered after the children who, armed with their presents from Santa, were dashing towards the sweet stall.
"Yeah, we probably should… I gave her a few so it would be nice to see whether they used them."
Ronnie narrowed her eyes. "Which photos?"
Katy grinned wickedly. "Just a few beautiful Christmas shots of the family."
"You better not have given her the snowman one."
Laughing, her daughter shrugged innocently. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"Katy!"
"I'll see you back out here at about six." The younger woman promised, blowing her mother a kiss and called for her daughters. Her eyes lingered on Gray's house, wondering how things were going and whether she'd be able to persuade Tina to come and join them at the festivities later. "Don't be late!"
Katy hurried the girls through tea, before making sure they were wrapped up warmly and ushering them back out onto the Square. Ruby grinned as she realised that Jack, Amy and Ricky were headed in the same direction as they were and immediately latched onto her aunt. Grinning fondly at his elder daughter, Jack looped his arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head as they wandered slowly in the direction of the crowd that was gathered, listening to the choir singing.
"Have we missed it?" Jack asked Kathy, motioning towards the large screen that had been put up specially.
"Nope, it's just about to start, I think."
"Jack." Ronnie appeared with Matthew, Roxy and Glenda, smiling warmly at her ex-husband.
He grinned back at her. "Ronnie."
Rolling her eyes, wondering what was going on with them, their daughter stooped to tie the laces of Sophie's trainer. Since Jack and Denise had broken up, Katy had assumed that her parents would stop sneaking around and get back together properly. Apparently, though, they hadn't got the memo about that one. Jack's excuse was that he couldn't rub Denise's face in it, but Katy didn't buy it for a second.
"Who're they?"
Katy followed Jessica's finger and realised that they'd started playing the photographs on the screen. "I… I think… look there, on the end? That's Grandma Dot."
"She looks young."
"Mmm…" Katy nodded, squinting at the picture. "I think that photo might have been taken when I was a baby…"
"If you were born at all at that point." Jack teased.
They all smiled sadly, Katy feeling tears pricking at her eyes, as a photo of Peggy raising a glass of champagne behind the bar of the Vic appeared on the screen. Catching Ben's eye across the street, she smiled at him, earning herself a slight nod of his head in return. Katy swallowed thickly, squeezing Ronnie's hand as it found its way into hers.
"Oh no!"
Katy burst out laughing at her mother's horror as a photo appeared on the screen. The dreaded snowman picture had apparently made the cut after all and Ronnie was less than happy about it, although the rest of her family found it hilarious.
"Why is Grandma so fat?" Jessica asked, displaying absolutely no tact at all.
"I was not fat, I was very pregnant with your Uncle James." Ronnie told her in offence. "Your Mum and Aunty Roxy thought it would be really funny if they dressed me up as a snowman and there wasn't much I could do about it."
"I think you look adorable, darling." Glenda informed her, smirking slightly as she patted her eldest daughter's cheek.
Making a disgruntled sound, the blonde couldn't deny that she wasn't deliriously happy when the photo changed and Katy smiled fondly, explaining to her daughters that the woman on the screen was their Aunty Pat.
"Why are they all dead?" Jessica asked innocently.
"Because…" Katy faltered for a moment. "Because they were all a lot older than we are."
"Abi wasn't." Ruby pointed out. "Or Chantelle."
"No." Her mother conceded, looking warily across to where Karen, Mitch and Bernie were standing, hoping they hadn't heard. "But sometimes terrible things happen and sadly people die before they're supposed to."
"Like when we thought Grandma and Aunty Roxy were dead?"
"Mmm…"
"Does it happen to lots of people?" Sophie asked, blinking up at her mother worriedly.
"Round here it seems to." Glenda muttered under her breath, earning herself a scowl from her granddaughter.
Katy shook her head. "You don't need to worry, sweetie. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Ronnie was about to open her mouth when the last picture to appear on the screen caught all eyes and a hush descended over the crowd. Ian's face smiled down at them, the words 'RIP Ian Albert Beale' underneath it. The date of death, December 25th 2020, caused everyone to turn and look at the man in question, wondering what was going on.
"We didn't put that in there!" Honey's confused voice rang out clearly in the quiet.
"He has really pissed someone off." Katy said, shaking her head and gathering her children. "Merry Christmas, Ian."