"Daddy, will Mummy stay here all night?" Louisa asked they were all sitting on the couch watching Frozen; even Jackie was engrossed in it.
"I suspect she will want to go home and sleep in her own bed" Peter added
"Well, she can have my bed, I will sleep in Claudia's room" Louisa suggested
"Or how about Mum just sleeps in the same bed as Dad, like last night" Grace suggested to a smile from Jackie. Jackie didn't hate Alicia, in fact all she wanted was for Alicia to come to her senses and get back together with Peter. After all, that is what a wife should do. It wasn't a bed of roses living with the judge, but Jackie put up with it for her family.
"Grace, that's enough" Peter replied
"Wait, you stayed with Mum last night" Claudia said delighted by the news
"I just fell asleep, that is all" Peter said in his defence.
"Yeah in Mum's bed" Grace added to a glare from her father.
"Girls, your Mum and I, well it's complicated. Adult relationships are complicated, and none of you are mature enough yet to understand"
Grace wasn't happy with this comment, she was sick of being told she was a child.
"I understand" Grace replied
"No, I don't think you do; if you did, you wouldn't be blabbing what you know to your sisters"
"We just want you to get back together" Claudia said
"I know, but I done some terrible things, you all know that and your Mum has to take her time to forgive me"
"It's been 5 years already" Claudia said. Claudia and Louisa had been kept sheltered from what had happened before, they were only 5 and 8 years old and never actually understood what their Dad went to prison for, or how he had hurt Alicia. In fact Louisa couldn't remember her Dad being in jail or when this house was occupied by the entire family before Alicia had to sell it.
"What did you do Daddy?" Louisa asked. Peter really didn't want to be talking about this, but Louisa was getting older and was starting to go on to the computer, if she wanted all she had to do was type his name into Google. Unfortunately Grace had responded before he had a chance to.
"He had sex with a hooker" Grace replied to which her sister screwed her face up. She knew was sex was, she was 10 after all and it was gross, but she had no idea what a hooker was. Even Claudia didn't know all this detail; she knew he had slept with someone else but not a hooker. She had heard about her father's infidelity in the past, on TV during the campaign, but even they had not mentioned a hooker much to Peter and Alicia's delight.
"What, Dad that is gross" Claudia replied and ran upstairs quickly followed by Louisa and Jackie.
"Grace, did you have to?"
"What, they aren't old enough? I was only a year older than Louisa and younger than Claudia when I had kids in my class teasing me about it"
"I get that you are angry with me, but blurting it out in such a way to them was not what was needed" Peter replied as the doorbell rang and Alicia let herself in.
"What is going on?" Alicia asked as she noticed the tension between Peter and Grace.
"Grace go to your room please?" Peter said
"No" she replied defiantly
"Grace, go to your room, I'll be up shortly" Alicia replied, to which Grace ran upstairs
"OK, so what the hell is going on?" Alicia asked.
"Well first of all, Grace has just told the girls that I stayed at yours last night, in your bed"
"I told her not to say a word"
"What, you told her?" Peter questioned
"No, she seen your car leave this morning" Alicia responded "anyway, what happened after"
"We all got into a discussion about how they were not to get their hopes up, we were taking things slow and how you still had to forgive me"
"I have forgiven you Peter" Alicia said
"You don't act like it; you bring it up all the time"
"I'm sorry, look from now on; I promise I will try my hardest to put it behind me"
"Well you might need to speak to Louisa and Claudia, as Grace just told them pretty much everything, and Mum is with them just now"
"Oh God" Alicia said as she ran upstairs to find both girls in Claudia's room with Jackie next to them.
"So you see, your Dad he really isn't all that bad" Jackie said
"Jackie can I have a moment with the girls?" Alicia asked
"Yes, I was just trying to explain things to them" Jackie clarified
"Well, now I am here and I will explain things" Alicia replied as Jackie left and Alicia took her place on the bed.
"So, you have heard some things about Daddy?" Alicia said, this was reminding her of conversations she had with Grace when she was younger.
"Yes, Grace said he slept with a hooker, is that true" Claudia said
"Yes, it is true, but it was a long time ago" Alicia said
"Mum what is a hooker?" Louisa asked
"Someone who has sex for money" Claudia replied which caused Louisa to turn to look at her Mum.
"Mum, is that true?" Louisa said
"Yes, her name was Amber and she and your Dad had a relationship?" Alicia said
"But did he pay her?" Louisa asked
"Yes" Alicia said as she rubbed both her daughters backs.
"Why?" Claudia asked "I mean why did he sleep with her?"
"I don't know sweetheart, I had no idea at the time, but this is why it has taken me so long to get over it, I was hurting"
"Mummy, can we go home now, I don't want to spend the night here" Louisa said
"No, Daddy has asked us for dinner, so we will eat with his here, and if you have any questions for him, I'm sure he will answer them, but you must both know that Daddy loves you both, you two, Zach and Grace have always been the most important thing to him"
"He wasn't thinking about us when he was screwing that slag" Claudia replied
"Claudia, I don't want to hear you use language like that again, now Daddy knows he made a mistake, and I don't want you to hold it against him, now I need to go and speak to Grace so can the two of you get washed up for dinner please"
Alicia knocked on Graces door and walked in.
"That really was not a discussion I was planning on having with your sisters today, I realise that you may be angry with your father and I for not letting you go out tonight, but that was not the way to handle it"
"They deserve to know the truth"
"Louisa is 10 years old, she was too young"
"Mum, I was only 11 when I had to deal with it"
"I know, and it was hard for you, so why would you put Louisa through the same thing"
"I didn't mean to hurt her or Claudia; I just thought they deserved to know the truth"
"And they would have found out, when your Father and I decided they were mature enough to understand the truth"
"Sorry Mum" Grace replied
"Go get washed up, we will go downstairs for dinner" Alicia said
Alicia went back downstairs to find Jackie in the kitchen with Peter
"Well, I think I will go home now, I have a dinner with some friends soon" she said and left
"I wonder what sort of people your Mother is Friends with" Alicia said laughing.
"How are the girls?" Peter asked
"They are just shocked, and a little upset, I don't think they really understand it all yet"
"I can't believe Grace said that to them, does she hate me that much" Peter replied
"No, but she was hurt, why don't we do something with the Girls tonight, maybe bowling or the movies?" Alicia suggested
"That could be fun" Peter agreed as the girls came downstairs
"Your Mum thought maybe we could have family bowling tonight" Peter said
"Count me out" Grace said as the youngest girl agreed.
"Grace why not? We haven't had family bowling night in years" Alicia asked
"It's not Family night without Zach, you can all go, I'll stay in" Grace replied.
"Dad, you won't hurt Mum again, will you?" Claudia asked
"No, I promise I won't hurt your Mum ever again, that all happened a long time ago, and its all over now"
"OK, I will come bowling then" Claudia said, she still just wanted her family to be together and happy.