My Christmas Wish - Ep. 5

~Juliet~

It's definite... I look around at the pile of wrapping paper, I've opened every present addressed to me from Logan and no diamond necklace. Somewhere in that pile is a receipt for a diamond necklace that he gave to her. Whoever 'her' is. I don't care if people say I'm insane, my husband betrayed me and I have a right to be angry. I stand up and pull all the sheets and blankets off our bed and lift up the mattress taking an envelope out and counting the money within it. £150, not enough, I'm going to have to think of another way. I grab my phone from the side and open contacts.

'Sara, I need your help. It's urgent.'

I type but before I can send, Logan knocks on the door.

"Juliet, can I come in?"

"Hold on, I'm getting changed!" I quickly run around trying to hide the wrapping paper and cheap gifts.

"And? Darling, it's not like I haven't seen you undressed before..."

'And her too...' I think

"Dad!" shouts Aaron in disgust from his room

"Sorry son..." he replies as he opens the door

He looks around the room and I pray that he doesn't see my message the wrapping paper or the envelope.

He walks over to the bin and takes something out of his pocket before opening the bin.

"Have a bit of trouble wrapping the presents did you?!" He laughs as he stares into the festive paper filling the bin. He turns and walks over to the en suite. Something creases underneath his feet. He stops. He picks up the receipt for the necklace.

He advances on me and waves it in my face desperately,

"Where did you find this Juliet?" he asks in a strange tone of both calm and panic

I debate in my head whether to answer or not.

"Juliet, answer me!" Logan repeats suddenly shouting

"In your coat pocket, 4 weeks ago..."

Logan suddenly realizes the error in his ways and calms again

"I'm sorry Juliet, one of the bosses from work needed me to buy one for his wife and gave me the money to buy it..."

I look at the receipt in his hand and think about the necklace the girl was wearing. Almost reading my thoughts Logan says,

"You didn't think I... No, no... Juliet, I would never do that to you..." he runs his fingers through my hair.

"Okay..." I whisper

He goes into the en suite and I send the message.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

I feel my phone buzz as Sara's reply comes through.

'What's wrong?'

I tell her

'He has, he made up a story but I know it's a lie. I need to get away. Can I come to yours?'

I sit nervously awaiting the reply she seems to take forever typing the message

'Yes of course, Aaron can sleep on the sofa if he wants and Jessica has a bunk bed but you might have to bring a sleeping bag for you, if that's okay...'

'Perfect, thank you so so much.'

'That's what friends are for, I'll make sure Santa leaves us some mince pies to eat!'

'Be there soon'

I put my phone on the side and slide out from under the covers making sure I don't wake up Logan who is asleep next to me. I pick my phone up again and turn on the torch feature. I crouch down to get my suitcase from under the bed but as I begin to pull it out Logan stirs from the noise and I instead decide to see how much I can fit in my two handbags which are draped across the armchair in the corner of the room. I put all the essentials in one, phone, purse, car keys, toothbrush etc. in one and clothing essentials in the other. I put them both by the door and get changed into jeans, a jumper and a thick coat. Silently, I open the door and enter the hallway with the handbags, I can hear mumbled talking coming from Aaron's room. I push open the door to see Aaron at his desk watching videos on YouTube.

"Aaron!" I whisper, "You should be asleep!"

"So should you..." he replies. I sigh and put both my hands on my flushed cheeks.

"It doesn't matter anyway... Just pack up everything you need..."

"What?"

"Just in your schoolbag or wrapped up in a duvet or something."

"Mum, what's going on?"

"We're going to Sara's for Christmas..." I say trying to sound convincing

"At 12 o'clock at night? What's happened mum?"

"Your father is having an affair and we are leaving right now."

"Knew it..." Aaron mumbles under his breath

"I'm sorry?"

"It was so obvious mum, the late nights, wanting to go into work, not to mention the receipt..."

"You knew about the receipt?"

"I'm not always zoned out, I heard you and Sara talking about it..."

"Oh, I'm sorry Aaron..."

"It's fine, as long as you're okay. I love you mum... Now go and get Lucia, I'll pack up."

I quickly turn and walk over to the door of Lucia's room. I gently open the door and tip-toe over to her bed and kissing her on the head.

"Lucia, wakey wakey..."

She groans and looks up at me opening her eyes and showing her innocence to the pain of the world.

"Mummy..."

"Hello Sweetie, do you want to pick out your favourite teddies and clothes for me. We need to take them somewhere..."

Still not moving she replies,

"But I don't want to..."

"Neither do I," I hold her face in my hands and she slowly sits up, "but it's something we have to do..."

She swings her legs around to the side of the bed and gets up, marching over to the cupboard and beginning to search it. Amused, I turn to face her whilst perched on her bed.

"What are you doing?" I laugh

"Looking for teddy." She says obviously as she pulls out a bear with torn ears and tired eyes and pulls him into her chest.

"Found him..."

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Sara meets us at the door and gets some blankets for Aaron and Lucia so they can sleep on the sofa instead of waking everyone up by going up stairs. She stays up with me the remaining 6 hours of the night and I tell her everything. We drank and played some silly board games. By seven o'clock everyone was coming into the front room and Sara and I were trying to hide the wine bottle.

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Jessica shouts running down the stairs, "Lucia!" she says running over to her.

"Ssh, Jessica. Don't wake her up..." Sara and I say in unison

"But why?"

"Because she's tired honey..." replies Sara

But Lucia rubs her eyes as Michael and Rose run down the stairs their arms wrapped around each other giggling. Restoring my faith in love.

"Hi-" He stops and looks around the room, "Juliet, Aaron, Lucia"

"Hi Michael..." I whisper

"They're staying here for a while Michael. Rose this is Juliet..."

I wave

"Aaron..."

He nods in recognition

"And Lucia..."