Christmas with the Gerard's

7

17 days till Christmas 

“Excuse me?” Toby says, turning around to look at my nan 

“You heard me.” She says coldly. I have I mentioned my nan hates Toby’s guts? She does and she never hides it, no matter how many times Avery asks her to show Toby some courtesy, my nan just rolls her eyes and grunts. He turns to me, his eyes narrowing and his thin lips pressed into a hard line.  

“I do most of my business with the Mayor and his family, this is going to cause me problems, I better go smooth this out before they retaliate by cutting me out! “He says as he stands and straightens his tie, Avery runs out of the room and returns shortly after with his coat and briefcase, she helps him get ready and leans to kiss his lips, but he turns and leaves her hanging, we all notice but no one dares say a thing as she slowly walks to the sink, tears filling her eyes. I flinch as the door slams shut.  

“That door better not be broken you asshole!!” My nan shouts, she sighs and walks to Avery, she places her hand on her shoulder but Avery shrugs it off, she spins around and points her long thin finger at our nan “ This is all your fault! “ she then points at me and Mallory “All of you! The only people in this family that ever treat him like family are Auntie Heidi and James! Every one of you treat him like s**t around here, never making him feel welcomed! Why cant you accept him nan? “ she shouts, tears streaming down her face, she crumbles to her knees her hands covering her red face. Mallory jumps up from her chair and rushes to her but she pushes her away “Just leave me the f**k alone Mal! “ she hollers.  

“Don’t speak to your sister like that Avery Jane! She’s trying to help you, we all are! “ my nan calmly says.  

“Help? Help? Where was your help when you all sat around the table making fun of my husband when we came back from holiday and he had sunburn? Where was your help, when he was up to receive a community award for his excellent work? You certainly weren’t at the ceremony! Didn’t even call to say we’ll done or anything! This family does f**k all to make him feel like one of us and now he’s leaving me!! “ she takes a long deep breath and starts crying again! He’s leaving her? Maybe he’s finally grown some balls and told her the truth? I get up and sit cross legged in front of Avery on the floor, the cold tile instantly freezing my bum cheeks.  

“What makes you think he is leaving you Ave? “ I ask softly, she lifts her head and her eyes narrow at me, I gulp, taken back by the sheer hatred in her gaze. She looks around the room and takes a deep breath.  

“He’s cheating on me with some floozy. “ we all gasp and she chuckles dryly “oh don’t be so surprised, I mean, what the hell did he see in me in the first place? Of course he’s cheating, I’m a slob. And he’s,  he’s…  “  

“He’s a cunt! “ my nan interrupts and I snicker  

“Nan! “ Mal fake gasps “such crude language! “ my nan simply gives her the finger and pulls Avery up by the hands. We all look at each other as the silence takes over us and Mal is the first to break it  

“Avery? “ she passes her a glass of water and we sit down around the table. “Are you sure it’s an affair and not just you’re imagination? “ I don’t know where to look. Of course it’s an affair, it’s been an affair since 1996… At least! I mean, what if its not the same person I heard him with, for all I know he’s got side chicks everywhere! Unless he’s stayed faithful to…  my train of thought crashes and burns when my nan slaps me upside the head “Pay attention Cordelia! This is important! “ Avery is glaring at me from across the table and Mal has a small smirk on her full pouty lips.  

“Sorry Ave, I zoned out. Tell us again? “ I plead with a small smile and shrug and she sighs and starts.  

“I think he’s always been unfaithful, since we were in school. Sometimes I think he only married me because of Polly. No, don’t! “ She raises her hands in front of her and shakes her head when I try to reassure her. Now that she mentions it, I don’t remember them ever being very close in school, even when they were dating and Toby would come to see her, he would always end up in with James. Of course they were best friends back then, James really took Avery’s pregnancy and marriage to Toby really hard. The drugs and alcohol were already messing him up, but I think ‘losing’ his best mate to his sister was the final nail in the coffin, of course they are still closer, too close if you ask me. I never saw what Avery saw in Toby, yes he’s tall, probably around 5ft 7, with broad shoulders and a wide chest, I’ve seen him without a top on and he’s not very muscly, but he keeps in shape, his face is round and he has dark brown eyes that are too far apart, a sleek nose and think lips, he wears a 70s p**n mustache that I have heard my nan make fun of a million times, and his hair is curly and sandy blonde. Avery claims she’s a slob, but she’s not, she just doesn’t take care of herself. She puts him and her 3 children above herself and she’s lost her identity. I’m once again slapped hard across the back of the head by my nan “You have the attention span of a knat child! Your poor sister is baring her soul and your sitting there dreaming about that Colton! “ I blush at the mention of his name and my nan smiles slyly “We will come back to you and him and the mayor’s son, but for now, concentrate on this! “  I nod and once again apologise to Avery and she carries on “look he’s done this before, I’ve caught messages and even walked in on him with some girl, but he’d promised after Ava was born that it wouldn’t happen again, but I think it is happening again. He’s distant, he’s cranky. He’s been in a perpetual bad mood since you’ve been in town Delia, I don’t know what his deal is, but that man is my everything, without I am nothing! “ she starts bawling her eyes again, and my nan gets up to comfort her, or so we thought. “Avery Jane Gerard, you stand tall!” she bellows at my sister and we all shrink in our seats, this is her ‘telling us off voice’ “you don’t need that good for nothing bastard! Do you hear me?! He needs you more than you have ever needed him, he can’t cook, he can’t even dress himself. For the love of God you cut his bloody food for him like he is a baby! “ my nan scolds her and I try hard not to laugh when I look at Mal struggling to hold her laughter.  

“What are you too devil’s laughing at? “ she points at us, her small stubby finger waving menacingly between us, her left hand perched on her wide hips. “ this isn’t funny! “  

“I know! “ I say “I’m sorry Avery, it’s just that Toby is a piece of s**t and you need to know something about him” I take a deep breath and open my mouth, but instead of my voice coming out a loud shriek is heard through the house. We all stand and run towards the deafening noise.  

Mal and Avery reach the front door first and stop, the door has been thrown open and Phoebe is standing in front of it screaming!  

“Pheebs! “ I shout trying to get her to quiet down, but my voice only seems to make her scream louder.  

I push Mallory and Avery out of the way and stop abruptly next to Phoebe and follow her line of sight, there in the driveway lays a motionless Theo, his face facing us, bruised and cut and swollen, his eyes half shut from swelling, his left arm is under his back, bent at an awkward angle, his shoulder joint popping out of the socket! I gag as my eyes trail his lifeless figure, his white shirt is ripped and blood has seeped into it, his navy suit trousers are dirty and scuffed, and he only has one shoe on. Where’s the other shoe? I come out of my shock as I watch my mums car turning down the road and I run to Theo. I shout at someone to call 999 and my nan rushes back in to get her phone  

Among all the chaos, my mum reaches us and rushes to me and Theo, she looks around and then her eyes zero in on me.  

“Who could have done this to him? “ she asks, tears streaming down her face.  

The sound of the ambulance siren is soon filling the air around us, and when the paramedics arrive they take over straight away. They say a load of mumbo jumbo, but we catch the words, internal bleeding, dislocated shoulder and potential broken arm, possible concussion and so on…   

I’m losing the will to live when mum climbs into the ambulance with Theo.  

“Avery, you’re in charge, cook and sort things for everyone else, mum help her. Mallory, find out where he was and who could have done this. Cordelia, you take your friend and go pick Gabriel up from his friends house, text him for the address. Stay strong and I will keep you all posted. “ the paramedic closes the doors with a loud thud that shakes us all into moving. I grab Phoebe and drag her into the house, I can already hear Mallory upstairs shouting into her phone, while nan and Avery are bickering in the kitchen.  

“Phoebe? You OK? “ I look at her and take in her appearance for the first time, she’s wearing a mid tigh black long sleeve dress and her purple velvet pumps, her make up is smeared all over her face but I bet she looked gorgeous before she opened the door. She hiccups and lunges at me, wrapping her arms around me.  

“Oh Delia, I was going to go meet him in the city for lunch. We were going to talk about us. I just, he hadn’t called me to say him and Colton where done with their meeting but I was so excited I was gonna go and wait there for him anyways. What happened to him? “  

She looks at me with expectant eyes but my brain isn’t working, my heart is beating so fast I swear it’s leaping out of my shirt. “ Did you… did you just say Theo was with Colt? “ I ask quietly. Realisation dawns on her face. “Delia get your f*****g phone woman!! “ she shouts and I sprint out the living room and up the stairs. I burst into my room and rummage around my untidy bed for my phone.  

12 missed calls and 4 texts.  

I open the call log and there’s 3 missed calls from mum this morning, 2 missed calls from Theo and 3 from Col. But what makes my heart stop is the 4 missed calls from unknown. 

I open the texts, 1 from Col *Still on for lunch 2day? Have a meeting with T @ Bank but after that I’m all urs ? call u l8r x* 

The next 3 texts are from the unknown number 

*You’ll pay for last night* 

*You won’t be seeing lover boy today. * 

And the last one was sent literally seconds before we heard Phoebe’s screams. 

*Special delivery for you whore.* 

I drop to my knees and sob. It’s my fault, I did this to Theo.