Chapter 22
It was Christmas Eve. Cheryl and Amy ere both cooking, much to Stevens amusement. They were having a big Brady-Hay-Barnes family meal. "Get the gravy Amy" Cheryl commanded. "Fine, miss bossy boots" Amy said, collecting the gravy They were in the Bradys household cause their house were bigger, an the table could fit more people around. Their were eight chairs. So at the head of the table was Brendan Brady. On the other head was Steven Hay they had to try and keep the families apart since not everybody got along. The kids included. On the three side chairs were Florence Brady, besides her was Freddy Nolan, whose wife Constance was besides him. On the other side were Amy Barnes, besides her was her boyfriend Ally Gorman, besides Ally was Mike Barnes. With Alex,Owen,Leah,Lucas,Cheryl,Declen,Patrick,Eileen not having a seat. They had to bring out the "emergency chairs" from upstairs. They only had five of them, for the children Leah,Lucas, Patrick and Declen. Alex being the next youngest at eighteen also got one. Eileen, Owen and Cheryl just had to sit on the couch. It was going to be hectic! Joel luckily mangered to persuaded the McQueen to let him eat there. Even though they got such as much people. Cheryl and Amy had sixteen dinners to prepare! "Let me help" Ste finally says. "Thank you" Cheryl said. "Its gonna be great, init" Ste says. "Where is Brendan?" Amy asked. "He cant cook" Ste smirked.
At The McQueen Myra was cooking for Joel,Jacqueline,Rhys,Kathleen-Angle,John-Paul,Craig,Carmel,Mercedes,Paul,Nana, Bart and Sinead. It was a sad time, since Theresa wasn't here. Twelve people, so she had to cook a lot. Luckily she got help from Jacqueline and Carmel. "Poor Joel, eh" Carmel commented "Yeah, one more mouth to feed" Myra replied. "Yeah, well the Bradys got more people to feed then us" Carmel reminded her. "Yeah, Jesus about 16 people" Myra signed. "Pass me those potatoes" Jacqui said to Carmel. Carmel did as requested. "Cheers" she told her. "Yeah but the Bradys got a cook" Myra said, in a tired tone. "Who?" Carmel asked. "Ste" Myra replied. "Oh yeah, lucky buggers" Carmel smiled.
Ste was helping out aright. He was annoying Cheryl and Amy. By telling them they got it wrong every five minutes. "Jesus Christ" Cheryl muttered under her breath, as Ste took over the entire sixteen meals basally. "You would think we were cooking for the royal family" Cheryl tutted. The door opened, Brendan walked in. "Bren, help out" Ste actually said,Cheryl shook her head as he walked closer. "No, oh god no" Cheryl said. "He cant cook, you said so yourself" Ste cut her of. "He dont need to cook, he can just help peel the potatoes and that" Ste reminded her.
-6:30pm-
The dinners were all being served at the Bradys. "Finally" Amy said, eating some much deserved food she helped cook. Patrick just stared down at the plate, like he never saw a roast dinner before. "Paddy, eat up" Eileen told him. "I,m not hungry" he insisted. "Patrick"Brendan said. Patrick knew he was getting on his dad nerves when he called him Patrick. "I eat my dinner" Leah said proudly, eating it up quickly. "So what" Paddy replied. The truth for Patrick playing up, was because he missed his grandfather John. He was confused why he wasn't here and he didn't like that he wasn't. "Eat your dinner Patrick" Brendan said, in a pissed of tone. "No" Patrick put it on the floor. He crossed his arms "I hate you" he said, looking at Ste. " Patrick!" Brendan was losing his temper. "WHAT!" Patrick bellowed. He picked up his plate, chucking it at the wall. "Get upstairs Paddy" Eileen said. Amy eyes widerened. her kids never behaved like that. "Granddad was right, men shouldn't go out with men!" Paddy shouted, before storming up the stairs. Mike gritted his teeth. This was awarkd. Florence was shocked at her great grandsons behaviour. he was usually a well behaved kid. Declen stood up. "I get this" he said, rushing up the stairs to see to Patrick. People were quite speechless. Nobody knew how to break the silence. "I get the plate" Mike finally said. Going on his hands and knees, picking up the smashed plate. "Oh Mike thank you" Cheryl said, still shocked at her nephews behaviour. Eileen stood up. "I,m sorry about this" she said, referring to her sons behaviour. "I need to get some air" she then said, walking out the door with a cigarette. "Leah, you okay?" Ste asked her. "Yeah, why did he say that?"Leah asked, confused. "He is just being silly" Florence said to her. "Oh" Leah said. Lucas was actually shaking. "Lucas, come here" Ste said, Lucas waked over. Ste gave his son a hug, as he was shaking at Patrick's outburst.
At the Walkers, things were sour. As Texas, Alice, Simon and Ken were all board stiff. "Ken, why dont you pull a cracker" Simon said. "Okay" Ken said. Walker pulled it with him. Ken won, but only because Simon let him. "Woo" Ken said with no emotion. "Dinner" Alice said, getting up. "Simon" Texas said, wanting to pull a cracker. he smiled, pulling it towards him tightly. Texas giggled. "I won" Texas was the most overenthusiastic one at the table. She put on the hat. Ken did too, feeling more confident. "What do you call a man underground?" Texas asked. "What?" Walker asked. "Douglass" she replied. Ken smirked. "Douglass? Oh I get it, he isn't dug up, so hes Douglass" Walker nodded. Alice walked over, with four pot noodles. "Are you joking?" Texas asked her. "No" she said, while passing everyone a pot noodle. "Mum" Ken said, holding a cracker. "No" Alice said. "I pull one with you" Texas said, giving Alice dirty looks.
Back at the Bradys. Declen came down. "He wont talk to me" Declen said, sitting next to Alex again. Florence tutted. "I think its because its the first Christmas without his parents together" Freddie suggested. "We wernt together two years ago, or last year" Eileen reminded im. "Yeah, but did Paddy know that?" Freddie asked. "No" Eileen said. "He is just looking for attention" Brendan grunted, eating his chicken. "He never been like that before though" Eileen said. "Do you think its might be because of" Cheryl was about to say Ste, but it sounded quite rude. "Thanks Cheryl" Ste said, knowing exactly what she meant. "No Ste I didn't mean it like that" Cheryl said. "I,m not bothered" Ste replied, he didn't understand to be honest. Since he is dead good with kids. "Its not Ste, its John" Constance said, she was smart. "You what?" Florence asked. Eileen looked over. "Why else would he mention his grandfather? This is his first Christmas without him" Constance reminded everyone. Owen signed. "I,m going to get going" Owen said putting the empty plate on the table. "Bye Son" Freddie muttered. As he left, shutting the door. The thought of Johns name sickened him. Since he killed his little sister.
At the McQueens. "Oh John-Paul I,m so happy your here, with Craig too" Myra smiled. "Happy to be here" John-Paul said. "Oh mum, me and Craig have got quite a announcement to make" John-Paul said. Joel was eating his chicken. He was actually being quite a gentleman, as he helped all the women with the dinner later on. He also was like a father figure to Kathleen-Angle, he knew it what Theresa would of wanted. "What?" Myra asked, not expecting it to be anything serious. "Your not engaged are you?" Carmel asked. "We are, but" Myra cut him of. "Oh my god! Oh my god" Myra squealed. "We also got something else" Craig said. Rhys looked at Sinead, who was having his baby. "We erm, we had erm" John-Paul didn't know how to say it. "We had a woman be out surrogate" Craig said. "What?" Myra asked, confused. Joels scoffed, this was even soppier then Ste and Brendan. "I,m a dad" John-Paul blurted out. "Me and Craig had this kid, with a woman obviously" John-Paul wasn't sure of what their reaction was going to be. "Where is it?" Carmel asked. "With the mother" Craig said. "We didn't want to bring him" Myra cut him of. "Aw, what is his name? Eh?" Myra asked. "Its Andy" Craig said. "Oh, I,m a grandmother" Myra said. Mercedes looked at Paul. "Sort of" Myra added. "Its mine, so your a grandmother, not sort of, you are" John-Paul said. "When can we see him?" Carmel asked. "Soon, we dont want to rush into it yet" John-Paul said.
Riley Costello, was with his son Bobby. His girlfriend Anne Minniver, was at the club much to his annoyance. He wanted her here, but apparently, Liam Gilmore needed help to decorate.
In the club, Anne was with Liam and her sister Maxine dancing to Single Ladies by Beyonce. "Woo" Maxine smiled, going on top of the bar. Dancing up their. "Bren is gonna kill me" Anne said, giggling. Going on the bar too. Liam also went up, putting his arms around both of them. "He have to kill me first" Maxine said. "Me second" Liam said. Anne giggled. "Oh great" Anne teased, she sprung around. Suddley they heard a wolf whistle. It was Warren Fox. He switched of the music. They all jumped down. Anne shaking. "Piss of" Maxine said, going in front of her little sister. Warren licked his lips.
At the Osborne's. "I,m going to see Craig" Frankie said to Nancy and Darren,who were looking after Oscar. Who was sadly deaf. "Sure" Nancy said, with a smile.
Back at the Walkers. Things were getting a little more exciting. As Alice decided to let them play on the Wii. All four were playing bowling. Texas actually got a strike. "Yes" she said excitedly. "Dammit" Walker said, as she beat him by five points. Ken got up, getting the remote. He sprung it. Giggles, as the techlogly bowling ball went backwards. "Good bowl, Ken" Walker teased. "Shut your trap" he said, trying to focus. He sprung it again, this time getting one. More sniggers. "Fiddlesticks" he said, as he only hit one. He gave the remote to his mother Alice. She sprung it twice, getting five. "Yes" she said.
"Right, well we better get back, so Santa can deliver your presents" Amy smiled. Leah and Lucas got up straight away,putting on their coats. "Thanks for a god time,Cheryl" Amy said. Patrick rushed down the stairs, after being in their for the duration. "Sorry" he said to all. "I didn't mean what I said" he added. "Good" Eileen said. "Ste, you coming?" Amy asked. "Yeah, erm Bren I got to go, but I see you tommow" Ste said. "Yes" Brendan said, kissing him on the lips before he left. Ste smiled. "Thanks for the dinner" Mike said to Cheryl. "Yeah thanks" Ally also said. They all left then. Cheryl waving them of, as they all walked down the stairs. She shut the door. "I best get going too" Constance said. "Yeah, come on Alex" Freddie said. All three left, again Cheryl waved them all of. When it was just them. The argument. "How dare you" Florence hissed at Eileen, referring to when she was bas mouthing John when the kids were about. "Me! Paddy was the one who stormed upstairs" Eileen scoffed. "He is a child" Florence hissed. "You were all very rude to Steven" Brendan snarled. "So what? He isn't apart of the family" Eileen said. "And you are?" Cheryl then asked. "More then him" Eileen replied. "You dont go speaking to him like that Eileen" Brendan hissed. "Oh please" Eileen scoffed. "You are a bitch!" Cheryl growled. "Me! Florence is the one who knew John raped Brendan as a boy!" Eileen shouted, then gasped. When she realized her kids were still their.
Ste was with Leah and Lucas. "You go to go to bed" Ste said, with a smile. "Can you read me a story first?" Leah asked. "Sure" Ste smiled.