Christmas with the Gerard's

19

Christmas Eve 

 We all sat gloomily in Avery’s kitchen, instead of our usual home-cooked meal, we have a takeaway. Pizza and chips for Christmas eve dinner. Everyone is upset, Polly, Nathan and Ada are absolutely devastated about their father. It was a difficult conversation to have with them, especially Polly who had always been a daddy’s girl, she couldn’t believe the horrible things her father had done, and she was none too happy with James for his part in all this. It was difficult to sit around the table with the family, we were destroyed. Nothing good had come from me coming back home, well one good thing, Theo and Phoebe. They were at least semi happy. Theo was heartbroken that Sally had been killed, his heart breaking even more for her unborn baby who had died with her. 

 No one was saying anything, the only noise around the table was that of forks and knifes scrapping and mouths chewing. At some point someone had turned the tv on and in the background, we could hear the local news talking about Toby. Mum stood up and walked to turn the tv off, but Avery stopped her. We all sat in front of the tv while the news reported about local successful and well-loved businessman Tobias Paul Otto who had been arrested two days before Christmas for his involvement in the terrible shooting Of Sally-Anne Jones and Marina Louise Glover. They briefly mentioned Tomas Moore, the Older son of mayor Moore who had also been involved in the shooting, ending up in hospital needing surgery to remove a bullet from his shoulder. No mention of James or any of us Gerard’s with the exception of course of Avery and her children. We sat in silence while the reporter interview local people who speculated about what had happened and why, some even going as far as saying that Tomas had indeed fathered Ada and that’s why he had been shot. Avery laughed at the tv and we all slowly started laughing too. Her children watched her as if she was crazy. But I knew why she was laughing, if she didn’t, she would start crying and we had all done enough crying to last us a life time. The laughter stopped abruptly as Toby’s parents walked into the house like they owned it. They stormed towards us and started shouting at Avery. 

“You sneaky cow! How can you sit here and laugh when you done this to our son?” His mother shouted at her. 

“He did this to himself” My mother said in Avery’s defense. “Your son is a monster.”  

“Our son was a good boy until he got involved with your family!” His father shouted. “Get out! All of you!” He screamed 

“Excuse me?” Avery replied “Who do you think you are telling me to get out of my own home?”  

“This isn’t your home, it’s Tobias’ house, and now that you have divorced him, he has left it to us.” 

“What?” We all shouted. 

“He wouldn’t do that to his children. We had agreed that if we ever separated the house would be for me and the children until Ada was eighteen, the we would sell it split the money equally.” Avery explained and Mr. Otto sneered her way. 

“That was before, he changed his terms a few months ago. The mortgage is mine and Tobias’ name. The house is mine and I want all of you out!”  

Avery stood rooted to the floor; her hands fisted by her sides while tears silently spilled down her cheeks. How low could one man go? To let his children become homeless was the last straw.  

“Me and my family will not leave.” Avery said through gritted teeth while we all stood and watched.  

“I was hoping you would say that. Victoria, call the police.” Avery’s face went white as a sheet and he smirked victorious at her.  

“Paul?” Toby’s mum called, her phone in her hand. “Are you sure we should do this? Our grandchildren will suffer.” She said quietly. 

“This woman is a liar; we don’t even know if the children are really his.” His patronizing tone didn't wash well with me and I was getting ready to snap at him when Gabriel beat me to it. 

“How dare you?” He shouted while standing in front of Ave, his chest puffed out, Paul had to move a few steps back just so he could look Gabe in the eyes.  

“Step aside son, this isn’t your problem.”  

“The f**k it isn’t. You stand there all high and mighty, telling my sister all sorts of s**t, accusing her of what exactly? Of putting up with that piece of s**t you call a son for twenty years just so she could use your money? News flash mate, we might not be rich like you, but we all lead a good life. None of us need your shitty money. So, you can shove this house up your f*****g ass. And you can kiss ever seeing YOUR grandchildren again goodbye, especially after that little remark about them not being Toby’s children. Now go f**k yourselves! Ave, grab your kids and some essentials. Mallory, we’re going to yours for Christmas.”  

And with that we all started running around collecting what we needed and whatever the kids wanted to take. Polly stood talking to her grandmother, her face hard as stone, I guess she took offense to what her grandfather had said, true to his word, Paul called the police and they stood in the doorway making sure we all took just the essentials. My nan had made her opinion known too, loudly muttering curse words towards the Otto’s while picking things up. We left an hour after the Otto’s had arrived and while Avery sat in the back of my car with Nathan and Ada, crying, Polly sat next to me, her face hard and emotionless. Tomorrow was going to be just super.