Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy, I will try and make sure that this note is short and sweet and I will do my best to bring you the next chapter sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this chapter and the character of Isla.

Please Read and Review.

Glory Days

Chapter 9-Family Politics

Aveline goes to the hospital sparking the family into chaos and Isla gets advice from Martina and a hefty voice of manipulation from Roxy. Again some episode and events change.

Something was wrong with his daughter.

It was in his bones keeping Joey awake at night when he desperately wanted to sleep. The nights were getting dark and the weather colder and it seemed like things in the house were getting darker and colder as well.

Isla on the surface seemed to be fine but Joey knew his daughter more than he knew himself and he knew when something was bothering her. She seemed to be thinking more and spending more time on her own and her eyes seemed to shift from his mother to his sister more often and when Aveline was having a tantrum one morning over the amount of water Isla had simply put down her fork and walked into the living room in such a blatant display of rudeness that it stunned in sister into merciful silence and left Joey rather shocked.

It wasn't that he didn't try to get her to talk to him but whenever he found that he had five minutes to do so something was always getting in the way. It was the price that came with being the man of the house in such a large family. Since his Dad left (and if he was being honest a good time before that) he had been the one running the show. And it was getting shittier and shittier. He loved his family he really did but would it kill them to go a day without something happening?

The latest drama had been that his Mam had finally decided to ask his Dad for a divorce. She had do so in the local church which was such a Mam thing that Joey had, had to stifle his laugh. His Dad on the other had had not been so amused and had stormed round the city until he found all five of them on their own and told them that the woman that he had left to fend on her own was taking back her own life and what were they going to do about it? Did they not understand the tiny details that made up the complicated colours of that relationship?

A clue. No.

Nobody had a clue what made Nellie and Freddie Boswell come together and then explode and then come together again. But Joey knew what his answer on the subject of a divorce was.

Good.

Jack mostly agreed with him. He too was still old enough to remember the screaming matches, the banging, the tart in the living room as if she belonged there. He remembered the shouting through the letter box and the day his Mam had told them his Dad had left and wasn't coming back. Jack mostly agreed that a divorce was the best thing. He didn't like it—after all the Catholic faith had been a cornerstone of their lives since they began them—but Jack understood and more to the point didn't need it all explaining and for that Joey was extremely relieved.

Billy was much the same. He had moaned in his Billy like way about being from a broken home but had shut up and not mentioned it again. Whatever was going on in Billy's world the divorce of his Mam from the Dad that flirted in and out of his life was not important.

Adrian was different.

Adrian loved their Dad. Always had but Adrian over the course of the last few months as autumn turned into winter had hardened somewhat. He was fiercely loyal to their Mam (Roxy had not been wrong when she had said that the Boswell Boys were completely Mummy's boys) and though he was more than happy to keep his opinion to himself he couldn't help the self deprecating sneer that came to his face whenever his Dad and Lilo-Lil were mentioned. There was no doubt in Joey's mind that his brother would push for a reunion between his parents but that was Adrian all over—he was a romantic at heart and if he could put their Mam and Dad back together then there was nothing stopping him from going out in the big wide world and finding someone other than the sex mad Carmen—and finding someone that he could actually do it with as well.

But then there was his sister.

Aveline.

And there in lay the problem.

Aveline was against anything that disrupted the status quo. She was having a crisis with her modelling, a crisis with the fact that any doors that had been open to her in London were firmly shut in Liverpool and a she was a complete and utter Daddy's girl in the same way they were Mummy's boys. Aveline did not want the divorce and that resulted in a few sulky days where his Mam was close to snapping and everyone was eating their toast in silence.

And then it got worse.

Because she got sick.

And that as bad as it sound drove Isla right out of his mind.

She left school that day feeling cautiously happy. Isla thought that tonight she might tell her Dad that her Mum was back. It was clear that he cared enough to want to know what was going on and now Aunt Aveline seemed to have gotten over whatever it was that she was upset by it worked out quite well.

Just as she was turning down the street she saw a red car pull up and she paused as the window rolled down and she—Roxy—her mother was there.

"Hello Love"

"Hello"

"Do you want to come back to my house for a bit"

"Not really"

If Dad found out that she had been taking lifts of her long lost mother he'd hit the roof like a firework.

"Alright. But where do you intend to go?"

"Home"

"No point, none of them are there."

"Oh and you'd know would you?"

"I would actually. I came to see your Dad. I knew it wasn't fair on you the burden of keeping this a secret and I wanted to tell him. But I saw them all get in their cars and left. Looks like your Aunt has had another one of those famous moments of hers and your Nan's overreacted"

"Why what's happened?"

"My guess she's been told she's a shit model and she's come back and not come out of her room. Your Dad's fallen over trying to make it all alright, she's milked him for all he's worth and an ambulance has been called. That sound about right?"

It did actually but Isla wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.

"What do you want?"

"Just to spend some time with you darling. I want you to meet your brother and my new husband, to spend sometime together. I want us to be a family. I need us to be a family"

Isla dithered.

"Not today. If you want to drop me off somewhere do it at the DHSS"

"The—the what?"

"You heard"

"Alright then. Get in"

To her credit she did drop her off at the DHSS but Isla had, had to listen to a long speech about how better of she'd be if she was living with her mother—but there was no pressure to do so. It might have been easier to not believe it had it not been the fact that her entire family had gone to the hospital and nobody had remembered that she didn't have a key to the house.

She'd never needed one before because someone had always been in.

It was the nature of the Boswell world.

And now it was changing.

She wondered as she got out the car just why everything was changing—if it was the chaotic nature of life like her Dad said or if it was the presence of her mother who dropped her off and drove away without looking back. All she knew was that life had looked a lot simpler and easier a few weeks back.

Martina had been savouring her cup of tea when Isla Boswell dumped herself down in the seat (sending Mr Wilson's blood pressure sky-rocketing no doubt—and not in a good way—though Martina was sure that there was no enough vallum in the world to make that man relax) and gave a long sigh.

"Dolphins not doing it for you anymore?"

"Martina. Do you believe that people deserve forgiveness?"

Martina put down her tea cup.

"I suppose I do" she said honestly. "But it depends on what they are doing"

Here she shot Mr Wilson another look and he sat back down looking furious.

"Who are you thinking of forgiving?"

"My mother. But I don't know if I should. And I can't go to Dad about it he's putting out fires left right and centre at the moment." She said this with such a sad air that Martina had to grip the edge of the desk to keep her nails from cutting through the skin of her palms in fury. Honestly. That family.

And then she registered what Isla had said.

"Your mother?"

"Yeah"

"Been thinking about her a lot have you?"

"Sometimes"

Again there it was, the sad elusiveness that made her look like all she wanted to do was spill her guts out but she couldn't stop herself.

"Martina. Have you ever had a secret that you wanted to tell so badly but if you did then a person would get into trouble for it? May even hate you for it?"

Martina blinked. There was something here that she did not like. She could not put her finger on it but she knew that it was dangerous. There was a reason that Isla was looking at her as if she held all the answers and looking back at what was to come next she would forever kick herself for not asking the question that unbeknownst to her the six year old desperately needed someone to ask.

"Do you want to talk about your mother?"

But it didn't even occur to her to ask the question. And even if it had she was sure that she wouldn't have asked it anyway.

It was not her place.

So instead she asked another question.

"How did you get here?"

"I got…I got a lift"

"From…?

She shrugged.

"And the rest of the clan?"

"Gone somewhere. I don't know where. I think the hospital Aunt Aveline's had a breakdown or something—I don't know cause I don't have a key so I've not been home"

Martina drummed her nails on the desk.

"Come on" she said finally. "I'll give you a lift back"

And Sod Mr Wilson she thought viciously.

It was Jack who mentioned it.

"Hey do you think Isla went to grandad's again?"

Joey paused.

"Fuck"

"Forgot didn't you" Jack said sagely. It was not a question he could see the look on his big brother's face.

"I am a terrible Dad"

"No your not. She's a smart independent kid, she'll be with grandad don't worry."

"She's upset about something"

"Kids are…remember when we were kids and Liverpool lost—Christ we used to go around moping for days"

That was true.

"Do you think—"

"You and Isla have a great relationship and you are not the same as our Dad who never remembered who his kids was, were they were or cared come to think of it. So Isla's having a bad day. Or a bad week. Lots of kids do. She'll come and talk to you about it at some point and then she'll be haggling you for white chocolate before the end of the day"

Joey laughed.

They got back home to see a nice blue car outside the house.

"Oh shit" Jack said rapidly crossing himself. "It's that DHSS woman what is she—Joey why are you dicking about with your hair?"

"What—I'm not" he said shutting the mirror.

Jack said nothing.

"I'm all for your finding a woman brother. I mean it's about time and all but seriously her?"

"Shut it"

"Joey—"

"One word and Mam finds out that you lost your virginity with Martha Rodgers in the church confessional"

Jack went white.

Martina was leaning against the car door with an expression that did not bode well. Next to her was Isla scuffing her shoes and looking dangerous close to tears. If Joey had been concerned before he was now very concerned.

"Hey kid"

"Hey Uncle Jack. Can I come in?"

"Course you can it's your house isn't it?"

Isla said nothing and Jack shot Joey a confused and concerned look but opened the door and Isla scarpered in.

She did not say one word to Joey.

"Thanks" he said absent minded. Martina raised an eyebrow.

"Oh wait a minute Mr Boswell. You and I are going to have a talk"

"Now is really not the right time—"

"Make it. Because your daughter is struggling and nobody seems to care. Least of all you"

Joey stared at her.

"Do not imply that I do not care"

"Really well here's a radical thought—don't let your child get into a car with a stranger and come to me then because she's been locked out of her own house because you won't let her have a key"

Joey would digest what she said another time.

"Just go" he said finally. "I just…seriously what was I thinking? How did I think you and me were something that was going to work in the long run?"

Something like hurt flickered across her face but she took another step forwards.

"Do not push me Mr Boswell"

"Don't bait me then Martina"

They were nose to nose now.

He was furious, how could she come into his life, completely upend it and then yell at him like he was at fault.

And she was still so fucking beautiful.

It might have been that, that made him do it.

It might have been the need to burn of the emotion coursing through him.

Or he might just be mad.

Because as she opened her mouth to no doubt yell at him again he did something, very, very, stupid.

He covered it with his own and kissed her.

And there you go, so let me know what you think.

Next Chapter-Freddie is arrested, there is a truce between Alexandra Yizzel and Isla Boswell, Martina does not know what to think and Roxy plans to put a terrible plan into action.