Never Again - The End!

Chapter 38 - the end

It was Christmas Eve, and Erin looked around and cringed. She WOULD be ready, she would be! She still couldn’t believe she’d suggested this, that everyone came to them for Christmas. Jack had warned her that it would all be too much for her, but she’d argued differently. She wanted her family around them, and normally he trained Christmas Day and played Boxing Day, so she’d expected the holiday to be a bit of a wash out for them. But an injury two weeks ago meant he’d be out of the squad, and it was an opportunity that she didn’t want to miss.

Saying that, she felt bad using a broken cheek bone in her favour, she’d been worried sick when he’d been knocked unconscious two weeks earlier. But in typical bullish Jack fashion, he’d insisted on throwing himself back into everything regardless, and was barely influenced by it, but he wasn’t allowed to play for another three weeks at least whilst the bone healed. So she wanted to make the most of having him around.

The fact that he had confessed that the previous Christmas he’d come home from training and eaten a microwave meal watching DVD’s alone was only fuel to her fire. She LOVED Christmas, and wanted Jack to experience a magical time, to appreciate the holiday for what it was.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t stressed. She looked at the turkey that sat in front of her, stuffed with sausage meat, sage and chestnuts to bursting, then at the oven. She wasn’t sure the two would fit together. The turkey was HUGE, but she couldn’t worry about that now, it was all she had to serve! Jack had been glad to escape the tension, leaving her and her stress levels behind to head to the airport. His parents and brother were arriving, and he’d never been happier than when he escaped to collect them, whish spoke volumes when you considered what their relationship had been a year earlier. His sisters has such large families that it was impossible for them to visit, Erin was sad about that, but she had spent a lot of time with them over the last year and felt closer to them than she thought possible.

She glanced at the clock, two pm; her parents were due any moment, with her brother, Yvonne and the kids. The plan was to go into Manchester to the Winter Village, the children wanted to ice skate, the adults were going to drink mulled wine and watch from the safety of the adjacent bar. Before then she had to finish peeling the vegetables, if she did, then she was virtually ready. Quickly preparing the huge bag of sprouts and filling yet another saucepan, she had time to run upstairs and change before the intercom from the road gate alerted her that someone had arrived.

Buzzing them in, she took the last moment to straighten her knitted dress, slashed on some lipstick, then opened the door as the cars started to arrive.

Erin could barely believe the last year had happened. After proposing, Jack had wanted to get married immediately. That meant low key, not that either of them desired a huge event, and in his rush, it also meant that it happened on a Thursday between important games for Jack, so there was no honeymoon either, other than a night in a luxury hotel.  But to Erin it was perfect, she didn’t need pomp or ceremony, all she wanted was Jack.

The day was perfect and something Erin would savour for the rest of her life. And when the summer had finally rolled around, and the football season ended they finally had their honeymoon, four weeks in Sri Lanka and India. A perfect, perfect time.

On the doorstep she waved to the approaching car of her parents’, followed by her brother’s. Once the two vehicles had stopped, a whole round of hugs began. It was chaotic as she showed them all to the rooms they were occupying for the next few days, and she left them all to settle in, instead heading for the kettle to make some tea.

In the kitchen she stretched her back; she was aching today, all that standing to prepare the food. Everyone had insisted it was too much, to host so many people in her perfectionist way three weeks before their baby was due, but in her hormone ravaged state she had been insistent. Now with everyone here she felt tired, but complete. It was the right thing to do. She ran a hand over her distended stomach; the baby was wriggling a lot today.

The front door opened and she looked up to see Jack entering ahead of his parents, it gave her such pleasure every time she saw them together after so many years of separation. And that was why this was so important. As they were about to become parents she wanted all the family rifts to be healed, this baby deserved serenity and love.

Jack immediately sensed that things were calmer, and he breathed a sigh of relief, he’d become expert at diverting around her hormonal highs and lows, but he knew that she was happy as soon as he set eyes on her. He crossed the lounge into the open plan kitchen and planted his lips on hers, loving the feel of the baby bouncing under his hand as he laid a hand over it. He loved Erin with all his heart, but he could barely contain his ardour every time he saw her at the moment, she was a vision of all that a mother-to-be should be, such a stark contrast to before when she was ill, sad, worried, not blooming, sexy, glowing as she was now. And she was unbelievably horny; her response to his kiss reminded him of that, wholly inappropriately in front of his parents. Not that he cared.

Grinning he pulled back and looked at her, “I’ve only been away for an hour! What would you be like it if I went away for a week?”

She didn’t blush, she wasn’t embarrassed, she merely smiled, a wicked smile, and suddenly Jack couldn’t wait until they were alone.

                “Take your guys upstairs, I’m just doing some tea and cake, then we can head to town, yes?”

Two hours later the Christmas tree was laden with the gifts that all the family members had brought and added to the ones that Erin had painstakingly wrapped, and they were all watching Amelia and Liam skate, Peter reluctantly joined them but Conor, Jack’s younger brother was a natural and the kids were hanging off his arms as he skated around expertly.

                “So where did he learn to skate?” Erin chuckled as she leaned close to Pauline, Jack’s mother.

She chuckled, “I have no idea! It’s amazing isn’t it?” When Erin nodded, Pauline placed a hand over hers, “thanks for this Erin.”

                “I LOVE Christmas, I’m just happy you’re all joining us.”

Pauline smiled, “I’m glad we’re here, but I mean thanks for Jack. If it wasn’t for you, we would still be in some standoff, instead we’re together, and there’s a new baby due any moment...I will love you forever for that alone. It’s so good to see Jack so happy, so open with his emotions. You are the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Dinner the next day went without a hitch, everyone pitched in, and Amelia and Liam were the life and soul of the party, loving receiving and distributing gifts, stealing chocolates, their excitement palpable. Her father was a demon at charades, and Conor made the greatest Irish coffees. It was a truly perfect Christmas with the extended family. Though Erin was never more glad to disappear to bed, a lot earlier than everyone else.

Boxing Day saw the women head to the sales, wanting to catch the bargains at the Trafford Centre; the men went to the game with Jack. It left Erin home alone by choice. She was glad of the rest, staying in her pyjamas, lounging on the sofa, her burgeoning body appreciating the limitless rest.

It wasn’t until mid afternoon that she realised the stiff back that had encouraged her to stay home hadn’t really settled since. An hour later she knew that this was the start of labour. Her baby didn’t want a January birthday; it wanted to be a Christmas child.

Soon Erin knew that she wasn’t going to be able to last until the men came home from the football. She hadn’t called Jack when she first realised, she presumed that she’d be fine until they got back. Now she doubted she could drive to the hospital as the pain was starting to become intense. So she called Danni.

                “I’m on my way. Have you got a bag ready?” Fortunately her life saver had her parents visiting, so the twins were already cared for and she could leave immediately.

Erin was nothing if not ultra prepared. As she waited for her knight in shining armour, she called Jack.

                “Don’t panic!” She shouted as she heard him lose the plot. “Get a cab to the hospital. My Dad can drive everyone home.”

She’d barely settled in to her hospital room when Jack burst in, flushed and petrified.

                “Why didn’t you...What...”

He was floundering, and Erin needed calm, strong Jack, the contractions had become intense the last half an hour and she was dreading each one. She gave a short sharp bark of warning and was rewarded with him half smiling then settling beside her, fighting his own anxieties.

Three hours later a robust and healthy baby boy arrived to make their lives complete. As Erin tried to regain her composure, to comprehend all that had happened, she looked at Jack, nursing their son, kissing his head as he whispered words only the two of them could hear. When he realised she was watching he gave her a beaming, proud smile.

Coming across to her he sat next to her, perched on the bed.

                “Thank you Erin,” the hand that wasn’t wrapping the small bundle close to his chest reached out and touched her cheek.

She tried to brush away the blatant compliment, but he wouldn’t let it go, “I mean it, this has been the greatest Christmas ever...” He glanced down at the baby, “and you are both the greatest gifts a man could ask for.”

But Erin couldn’t believe how lucky she was, couldn’t believe all that Jack had become. The angry, moody man had become a caring, loving, devoted husband and now father. And she was the luckiest woman on the planet to have found him.