Chas had made sure everywhere was ready for Aaron's party that Saturday. She had whizzed round the house tiding and cleaning as she went, leaving behind neat rooms that would be seen in the pages of Home Weekly magazine. She found living with a man who didn't clean up after himself and a toddler like the Tasmanian devil cartoon, very tiresome to clear up after, especially now that she was back at work full time. Chastity wanted her home to look immaculately clean and tidy for when the mother's of Aaron's friends arrived to drop their children off for the party. She didn't want to give them anything else to gossip about. They already had enough to on knowing she was unmarried with a child, despite being with the father of her child for nearly five years and being a full time working mum. They all looked down at her because she wasn't a married, perfect stay at home mum like them. So that was why she had woken up at six am to get started on the house work.
Three hours after Chas had woken up and had already completed all of the house work in record time, Gordon wondered down the stairs with a wide awake Aaron on his hip and Mickey mouse toy clutched in the toddler's hand.
"You're up then.2 Chas commented as she passed Gordon in the hall. "Thanks for the help this morning." She added sarcastically.
"Sorry," Gordon shrugged. "Where're you off to?"
Chas scoffed. "To get myself all made up and looking presentable." She told him, gesturing to her unkempt black mane of hair and lack of make up, dressed only in her pyjamas.
"Aaron needs a bath thought. . . " Gordon told her.
"And . . . " Chas snapped. She was sure her partner could manage bathing their son while she got showered and dressed herself. "You know what to do." She added before disappearing upstairs.
Gordon rolled his eyes at the younger woman's patients. He took Aaron through to the lounge, dumping him on the sofa in the front of the tv and turning it on to the children's channel before he went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee to help kick start the day. When he finished his first cup, he began pouring a bowl of Cheerio's and milk for Aaron, placing them on the table before calling him through.
"Aaron. . . Aaron! Cereal." Gordon called through to the lounge.
The dark haired toddler came running into the kitchen straight after being called, still in his pyjamas and Mickey mouse in his hand. The two year old launched himself towards the table and was determined he was going to climb on to the chair himself with no help while his dad stood back and watched. Gordon made himself some breakfast and took it to eat at the table with Aaron, taking his time as he watched the sports channel on the tv in the corner.
"Er! Why isn't he bathed yet?" Chas exclaimed when she stepped into the kitchen, smelling of sweet perfume and dressed in her best clothes. She gone with a dark pair of jeans, teamed with a pink chiffon top and black round toed heels. Just because she was a mother, it didn't mean she had to dress all frumpy and old, she could still find time to take care of her appearance.
"He's still eating his breakfast!" Gordon snapped still watching his sports channel.
"No he's no, he's playing with it, making a mess!" Chas cried, picking Aaron up underneath the armpits to place on her hip before turning towards the stairs. "You can clean that mess up! And get dressed before they come!" She called over her shoulder.
She quickly ran Aaron a small bath, bathing him as quick as she could, and blasting her hairdryer through his hair as she sat him wrapped in a towel on the edge of their bed. Usually she would have encouraged Aaron to dress himself but there just wasn't enough time for him to take half an hour getting his clothes on as he struggled to work out each item of clothing. She quickly dressed him in his new outfit, always proud of how smart he looked before taking him downstairs to waist for his quested to arrive. She was pleased to see that Gordon had taken it upon himself to clean up the breakfast things before getting ready himself.
"Go play in the lounge while mummy gets the food reday." Chas told her son before heading into the kitchen to re-heat a few dishes and set the other's out. She had spent all previous night cooking and preparing a few recipes that her cousin Marlon had kindly given her. The food was going to be just as good as the other mother's party food that was served at children's parties and hopefully even better!
At half ten, guests began to arrive. Seeing as they had only known most of them for a few months, it was the first time many had been round theirs. Due to Gordon's promotion at work and new pay role, the older man had wanted to move to a better part of Hotton, meaning the other side of the town, where most looked down their nose at Chastity. It also meant Aaron had to go to a different play school, meaning making new friends, which fortunately he had. However, the young woman was relieved when Marlon and Cain turned up to support her. She didn't know if she could manage three hours surrounded by the mother's who gossiped about her at play school.
"So how's the food going?" Marlon asked Chas as she stood in the kitchen, taking a few things out the oven.
"Very good I think!" Chastity beamed as she placed the hot trays of sausage rolls and seasoned breaded chicken bites on top of the oven.
"Smell's good." Marlon commented as he looked over her shoulder at the results.
"Is that you saying I haven't done a bad job?" Chas laughed. When it came to food with her cousin the chef, it was hard to please him. "Fancy giving me a hand getting all these placed on to those serving plates?"
"Sure." Marlon said.
Thankfully Chas had made sure to cook and prepare enough food in case any of the parents decided not to leave their children and the majority hadn't wanted to. Most of the mum's had stayed with their children as they played in the lounge, chatting in the conservatory or dinning room, while a few other's had stayed for a while to make sure their child had settled before dashing off to get some shopping done before they had to pick them up again. Chas was very proud of her display of food on the kitchen table. In the middle she had a huge cake with a picture of a smiling Aaron printed on the icing, surrounded by blue and navy confetti and food presented neatly on plates. A couple of banners were tacked to the fridge, above the doorways and on the windows, while balloons were taped to curtain rails and backs of chairs.
Just as Chastity was about to place a plate of chicken bites on the table next to the crackers and dips, an almighty thud, followed by a haunting scream was heard from down the hall in the lounge. Both her and Marlon froze in the kitchen for a split second before racing through into the lounge to see what had happened, even some of the mums where racing into the room as well.
The young woman's heart clenched at the sight of her little boy, sitting in the middle of the lounge bawling his eyes out as blood poured from a cut on his head. Her stomach dropped the amount of blood, making her feel quite sick. What had happened? Gordon was knelt beside him, trying to soothe him but the toddler was having none of it. She scanned the room for signs of an accident but couldn't see any.
"What happened?" Chas demanded from her partner as she too knelt down beside Aaron, examining the round on his forehead.
"I don't know, I turned my back for a second and the next thing I know the little guy's crying and he's hurt himself." Gordon told her, protesting his innocence.
"Well I need to clean this up." Chas told him, matter-of-factly.
Chas picked Aaron up, who was still screaming even in her arms and headed towards the stairs. "Everyone, there's food in the kitchen, feel free to grab some." Chas announced to everyone, "He's just banged his head; we'll be back down in a minute."
"Chas! I'm a nurse at Hotton General do you want me to take a look?" One of the mum's of Aaron's friends, who remembered to be called Annette.
"Could you?" Chas asked. She couldn't bare to see her son in pain.
"Course I can." The nurse said, following Chas upstairs and into the bathroom.
Aaron would not let go of his mum. The three year old kept a tight grip on the young woman as Chas sat him on her lap on the edge of her. Chas tried to soothe the little boy, by running her hand up and down his back and making soothing noises, anything to stop the screams from the boy.
"Hey, Aaron can I take a look at your head?" Annette asked softly approaching the toddler as she crouched down in front of the two on the floor.
Aaron gripped the straps of his mum's top harder, his little fists turning white as he tried to get away from the woman who was just a stranger to him.
"It's okay Aaron, she's not going to hurt you." Chas assured her little boy, trying to pry his hands from her but no sooner did she get one hand pried off of her top, as soon as she turned to the other he would only clutch at her once again.
"Hey look, who's this love?" Chas said noticing the Mickey Mouse toy left on the side of her bed, picking it up and holding it out to Aaron.
Aaron's screams began to quieten down at the sight of his beloved toy, turning into sobs as he pulled the toy towards him.
"Do you think I can have a look at your head now? I promise I won't hurt you." Annette tried once more.
"Go on Aaron." Chas softly said, turning the boy round in her lap so his back was leaning against her, she rested an arm around his waist while using the other to rub up and down his arm. She was surprised she hadn't gotten any blood from his cut on her. She watched as Annette just looked at it, turning on the bedroom light to get a proper look, carefully turning his head this way and that to see it at different angles. By now a mass of bruising on the right side of his forehead was beginning to emerge.
"By the looks of things he's just banged his head, most probably on the coffee table." Annette told Chas. "Where do you keep your flannels and towels? I'll just get some water and clean this up. Hopefully it won't need stitches."
"Stitches?" Chas exclaimed. She couldn't put her poor boy through that. What were the mums downstairs going to think, her child hurting himself at his birthday party?
"Don't worry I'm sure he won't need them, but I don't know until I've cleaned him up a little bit." Annette assured her before she was instructed on where the flannels and bowls were kept for her to collect some water.
"My poor baby." Chas whispered as she placed a kiss on the top of Aaron's head, who was still crying but not as much. She was worried about him. She had heard all sorts about children banging their heads and sustaining serious head injuries.
Annette returned in a matter of minutes, with a bowl in one hand and cotton balls and a flannel in the other. She set them down on the floor by Chas's feet as she knelt down in front of them and dipped a ball of cotton in to the warm water.
"Now, this may hurt Aaron but I don't mean it to, okay?" Annette for warned the toddler who was sniffing sadly on his mother's lap. His wound had stop bleeding a few minutes ago, but now there was still dried blood down his forehead and temple that needed cleaning.
"You're a brave boy aren't you Aaron?" Chas told the little boy who nodded.
The nurse began gently cleaning up the dried blood around the wound, with no problems from Aaron. The toddler sat quietly hugging his toy as Annette cleaned him up before she had to clean the wound up. He didn't like. He started to wiggle away from her, beginning to cry again. In the end, as much as it broke Chas's heart to hear her son in distress, it took Chas holding him still in her arms for Annette to clean the wound and put a few thin strips of medical tape across it. The wound wasn't that big a couple of centimetres long and not deep at all. The nurse assured Chas that head injuries did bleed a lot, more than any other injury sometimes.
"Now he may feel sleepy, and don't be alarmed if he does fall sleep. He can. He will feel tired and it will help him recover quickly if he did bang his head." Annette told Chas. "Only get worried if you cannot wake him easily or any of the following he starts to be sick, gets dizzy, can't walk properly or starts to slur his words okay?"
"Okay." Chas nodded, still holding Aaron in her arms. The toddler had chosen to snuggle up to his mother's neck, playing with strands of her hair with one hand while the other cradled Mickey Mouse.
"However he hasn't been sick yet, or anything else. So I expect he's just got a very bad headache and a nasty bump." Annette said, rubbing a hand up and down the little boy's back.
"Thank you so much." Chas thanked the woman as they began walking back downstairs.
"You're welcome; I am a nurse after all." She assured her.
Downstairs everyone had indeed helped themselves to food, which Chas was pleased to see. She placed Aaron on the floor and took him into the kitchen to get him some food, hoping he felt like eating. She found Gordon in there chatting to a few mums and Marlon.
"How is he?" Gordon asked.
"Fine, no thanks to you. You were supposed to be watching them." Chas told him shortly, out of ear shot of the mother's who just looked at her, in her own home as well.
"I was, like I said I turned my back for a second!" Gordon protested, looking down at his son who was holding on to his mother's hand, a huge bruise and nasty cut on his forehead.
"Yeah well, It only takes a second doesn't it!" Chas fumed before carrying on with getting Aaron something to eat. She took the little boy into the lounge with the other kids, getting him to sit on the sofa in between two of his friends, so he could eat.
She hovered by the door way keeping an eye on the children just in case any other accidents happened. Her brother crept up behind her, while she watched Aaron swap a piece of carrot for another chicken bite.
"How is he?" Cain asked behind her.
Chas looked over her shoulder. "Fine. Tough kid he is." She told him.
"Don't worry I've already given Gordon the third degree on watching kids." Cain told her, leaning against the lounge door frame.
Chas smirked. "Thanks."
Cain peered over his shoulder to look at Aaron. "Kiddo's got a nasty bruise though."
"I know, imagine what the mums will think at play school." Chas quietly said, knowing they were all in the dinning room or kitchen out of ear shot.
"Stuff 'em. I wouldn't let what they think worry you. You're a way better mum then all of them put together." Cain told his younger sister.
"You think?" Chas scoffed.
"Course!" Cain assured her.
"Thanks." Chastity sighed.
Throughout the rest of the party Aaron's bang to the head was beginning to show its effects. The toddler was more irritable due to his headache and was getting more and more tired as the minutes went on. Chas made sure to get the blowing of the candles on his cake out of the way as soon as possible so the little boy could crash out in the lounge if he wanted to, which he did. Even with all other seven or so kids running around, screaming and playing Aaron managed to fall asleep on the sofa, curled up next to Cain who promised his sister he would watch the boy while she hosted the party. Aaron remained there for the rest of the party, asleep and he still was half an hour after everyone had left except Cain and Marlon.
Chas wouldn't be surprised if she were the topic of gossip that Monday at Play group, again.