TWENTY SEVEN - TEARS
Mary and James made it to the hotel and she threw her coat on the bed. "How dare SHE! How dare she get up and go to Teddy when he called out for Elizabeth!" She said, furiously. "Mary, he wasn't crying out for Elizabeth…" James sighed "you know that…" he continued "well how dare HE let our Grandchildren call HER mum!" she said referring to Jack. "Do you not care, James?! Because you don't seem the slightest bit bothered that they've erased Elizabeth from their lives!" "Oh for goodness sake, Mary!" He snapped "Jack said that's not what they're doing! and I believe him! There was 2 photos of Elizabeth in the living room! Jack isn't the type of person to force those children to call his new partner Mum. If Teddy has decided that's what he wants to call her, then allow it! Elizabeth will always be their mother and Jack will make sure they know it, and by the looks of it, Rose will too! The only thing you'll get out of this if you continue, is loosing your grandchildren! The only thing we have left of our daughter!" He finished. Mary sighed "fine" she rolled her eyes "I'll be civil… nothing more" "that's all I ask"
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The following day Mary and James headed to Jack's. He opened the door and looked at them blankly "Mary would like to apologise for yesterday" James said "yes, thank you James. I can speak for myself" Mary snapped "I'm sorry for the way I behaved yesterday, Jack" Jack moved aside and let them in "so, where's your lady friend?" Mary snarled "Rose" Jack replied, emphasising her name "is upstairs, Eliza has just woken up from her nap" Mary nodded "I see" they followed Jack in to the living room where Teddy was playing on the floor with Benjamin and a bit of string "Teddy, Grandma and Grandad are here" Jack forced a smile, he wouldn't let whatever problems Jack had with Mary effect Teddy. "Hi sweet pea" Mary said from the doorway. Teddy stood up and went to Jack shyly, holding on to his leg a little "come on Ted, it's just Grandma and Granddad. Say hello please" "Hi" Teddy said "hi Teddy" James smiled "I see you have a pet cat?" Teddy nodded "this is Benjamin, like Peter Rabbit, do you know Peter Rabbit?" He asked "of course I know Peter Rabbit!" James smiled and sat on the floor with Teddy and stroked Benjamin, Mary sat on the sofa behind them, talking to them. Teddy began to come out of his shell a little and talked to James and Mary.
Rose came down a few minutes later, holding Eliza on her hip. She didn't hear James or Mary so didn't know they'd arrived. She walked in to the living room and smiled politely "hello" "Hello, Rose" James smiled and stood up, seeing Eliza "oh look at how big she's gotten!" Jack smiled, he'd always liked James, but the way he'd reacted to the Rose situation just reenforced it. Mary walked over "can I hold her?" Not really a question, more a demand, she held out her arms "course" Rose tried to hand Eliza over but she clung to Rose and put her head on Rose's shoulder. She passed her to Jack to see if she would go to Mary from Jack "come on darling, it's only Grandma" he said and held Eliza out to Mary, who took her. After around 5 seconds Eliza's bottom lip started to go, Rose's heart broke at her upset little face but didn't want to intervene and make things worse, then Eliza started hysterically crying. "Mary, give her back to Jack or Rose" James said "she's fine with her Grandmother, thank you" Mary snapped, trying to soothe Eliza to no avail "Mary-" he repeated but her crying became worse "Mary! Give her back to her Father!" He yelled, making everyone in the room jump "well done, James, you've made her cry even more!" Mary snapped again. Jack stepped forward, calmly. "Give me my daughter please, Mary" Mary rolled her eyes and passed her back to Jack, who soothed Eliza for a while until she stopped crying. The shouting had made Teddy jump so he was now stood by Rose.
"Rose, can you please take the children out for a while? I'd like to discuss something with Mary and James" Rose nodded "let's get your coats Ted" Teddy nodded and walked in to the hallway with Rose "Liza that sad scared me Mummy. Is she OK?" "She's OK darling" Rose said and put his coat on, unaware that Jack, Mary and James had just heard everything Teddy had said.