Chapter 25 - Growing up
It had reached the end of the holidays, for Jonah anyway, his 9 weeks had slowly come to a close, and he was to start Uni today with his friends Ronan and Vicki. This was the start of the rest of his life; this was what was going to make his future. Jonah hadn’t entirely decided what he wanted to do once leaving Uni but he knew he wanted to make something of himself, he had to support his family now but that didn’t mean that he had to take up a small supermarket job. The world was Jonah’s oyster; he was the pearl waiting to expose himself to the big wide world. Today was the day that finalised Cesca and Jonah’s new status, they were now Mr and Mrs Kirby and nothing was weird about that, Jonah was about to start studying and Cesca was the Spanish teacher at waterloo road the past was behind them and thankfully that’s where it was going to stay, they were to look onwards and upwards, they were only focused on the positives.
The alarm sounded, Jonah reached out his hand from the duvet, feeling for the clock, his search was roughness and only resulted in things falling on the floor such as his glass of water that was perched on the bedside table, “Damn it!” Jonah said to himself, he turned the alarm off before getting out of bed to save the glass of water, well what was left of it. Cesca rolled over, woken up by Jonah’s clumsiness. He picked the glass up heading for the door noticing Cesca was awake as he reached the door. “Leave it” Cesca said,” you go get ready”, She smiled, “Ces, your not in today, I thought you might have a lie in?”, “And miss you going off to Uni, no chance”, She smiled once more before pulling back the covers getting out of bed and walking over to Jonah, she took the glass from his hands before kissing him, “I love you Ces”, “I should hope so”, Jonah laughed before going and making sure he had everything ready. Today was a particularly early start; he only had 3 lessons today, so he would be home by 2. He had double Spanish and a physics lecture, Jonah was thriving with excitement, he loved these subjects and Uni was going to be one of the best experiences ever.
Cesca was sat on the floor mopping up the puddle created by Jonah’s glass, it had almost all been soaked up the sponge that she was using, she got up sighed; drama number 1 had been diverted. It was nearly 9 so Cesca went and got ready before waking up Mia, who she knew wouldn’t like being woken up now, she definitely took after her mother on the morning front but Mia was going to have to get back into her routine of crèche in the morning so this was the first step. Cesca was just touching up her makeup; she was dressed in some tight, skinny jeans and a pretty floral top which was to later be completed with some floral heels that matched her top and a denim jacket. She braced herself for Mia’s screaming fit as she entered her room. Mia was sound asleep as Cesca expected, Tilly was tightly placed between her arms and her thumb was in her mouth. Cesca looked over Mia’s cot, admiring how beautiful her daughter was before making the decision to wake her up; “Wakey wakey Mia” .she said stroking her tiny face delicately. Mia opened her eyes, her lip went out as she began to grizzle and sit herself up. She was in a strop, Cesca reached over to pick her up and Mia didn’t half make it difficult for her. Kicking her legs and crying, “Mia, its daddy’s big day and you’re not going to ruin it”, However Mia seemed to have other ideas about that. She began to cry even more, her delicate face was now streamed with tears and her mouth wide open as it projected her screams across the room, Cesca couldn’t afford to be late, she really wanted to be there to support Jonah, this was the biggest day of his life, this was her chance to be there for him for once. Cesca sat Mia down, despite her being insistent on getting up and running off, “Mia, sit still... NOW”. Cesca was firm but didn’t shout, she was great at disciplining Mia, and she knew who was boss without feeling scared. Mia did as she was told, Cesca placed Mia’s spotty blue and white top over her head, lifting her arms through, whilst Mia blubbered and whimpered with her bottom lip stuck out. Cesca finished dressing Mia, placing her in her shorts, “Mia, hold on to mummy”, Mia could stand now, so getting her dressed in the mornings was a lot easier minus the tantrums. Mia was still sad so Cesca pulled her towards her for a cuddle, “Aw Mia, I love you”, She kissed her before lifting her up to carry her downstairs, Jonah had Mia’s breakfast on the table and Cesca’s coffee sat opposite. Cesca buckled Mia in and sat down to drink her morning coffee, something she couldn’t function properly without. She took a sip before saying “Guessing your nervous then?” Cesca had caught on to the fact that Jonah was obviously trying to keep himself occupied. “A little”, she smiled holding his hand that was placed on the table, “Jonah, you’ll be fine, you’ll have Ronan and Vicki and you’re going to love it. I know it’s a bit overwhelming but I promise you, you’ll feel right at home once your there”, Jonah kissed his wife on the forehead, “Thanks Ces”, He went over to sort Mia out, cleaning her face before putting her shoes on , no need for a coat in this lovely weather. Cesca went and put her heels on and grabbed her denim jacket. Jonah picked Mia up, “You ready?” Cesca asked once she was ready, “As I’ll ever be”, Was his reply. They all left the house and got in the car, Mia was still a bit tetchy, she didn’t like this early morning sunlight, she wasn’t use to it. “Got everything?” Cesca asked before starting the car. “Yeah”, Jonah laughed as if he hadn’t double checked and checked twice more again. The radio was playing in the background, Jonah could see Mia’s grumpy face in the background, “cheer up monkey”, Jonah looked at Mia through his mirror as he said this, and Mia started to whimper again. “Don’t cry”, He turned around still with his seatbelt on, grabbing Tilly, before there were anymore tears. They stopped. They could all see the Uni out of the window, Cesca had a beaming smile on her face and Mia looked quite interested too. Jonah got out of the car after he had kissed his wife goodbye, “Have a good day I’ll see you around 2”, She said, Jonah opened Mia’s door, giving her a kiss goodbye, this was to be the first proper day without her, he hadn’t been with her at school, but at least they were in the same building, this was going to be tough. “Bye princess”, He said kissing her on the cheek, “Mia kiss”, Mia said, “Okay, Mia kiss”, Jonah leant back so that Mia could kiss her daddy goodbye, he tapped her nose before shutting the door. Jonah was met by Ronan and Vicki, who all gave a friendly wave in Cesca’s direction. “Mia, you going to wave to daddy”, Mia started to bawl. “Mia, daddy’s working now, you’ll see him later. Cesca leant back and tickled Mia’s legs. She giggled which was lovely but her bottom lip soon came out again. Cesca just laughed “There is no pleasing some people” Mia was calming down and watched her daddy out the window as Cesca pulled away and headed home.
Cesca was excited for Jonah this was a big step for him, she remembered her first day at Uni, she didn’t have her family, and they were still all in Spain. She had her friends though and they were just as good at supporting her. But she didn’t want Jonah to be in that position so being there for him was just as important to her as it was to him. Cesca got home, picked a rather unhappy Mia out of the car and let her walk in, she grabbed her bag and Mia toddled off to the front door, “wait there Mia”, she called out calmly, Mia turned around, giving a cheesy grin, she was feeling happier already. Cesca opened the door, and helped Mia up the step that prevented her from going inside, “there we go”, Cesca took Mia’s shoes off before picking her up and asking her what she fancied doing. Mia simply said “dada”, Cesca breathed in, it was sweet to see Mia missing Jonah so much but she needed to get used to him not being around, today would be the hardest as Cesca had to keep her occupied, tomorrow she would be at the Crèche doing who knows what, still it was only for 4 hours, it would go by quickly. Cesca picked up Mia before explaining where daddy was. “daddy’s not here Mia”,”dada”, Cesca rocked Mia, she was getting agitated, “Daddy is at Uni Mia, come on lets go and draw some pretty pictures”, Cesca placed Mia down in the lounge, she was calming down, pictures sounded great. Cesca kept her eye on Mia whilst opening the cupboard and finding the pot of crayons and grabbing some paper, “Right Mia, let’s go and draw something” Cesca lay down a piece of paper, placed a pink crayon in Mia’s hand and wrapped hers around Mia’s. She guided her little hand around the paper to try her first attempt at writing her name. It looked so cute! “Mia, you clever girl”, Cesca kissed Mia on the cheek, before handing over a purple crayon, for Mia to express herself/ scribble around her name, well that’s what Cesca had hoped but that wasn’t really what Mia wanted to do. It still looked great and even had more of a Mia touch to it. Cesca rescued the piece of paper and took the crayons away before giving her some more paper. Cesca was going to put the picture up next to her hand prints, it was another hurdle performed by Mia another step in her process of growing up.
Meanwhile Jonah was doing some growing up of his own; he was finally faced with his future one that involved even more hard work. Jonah was now into his second class of Spanish. He was lapping it up; it was a subject particularly close to his heart, literally in the form of Cesca and a subject that he felt he belonged to emotionally. He was finding the work manageable, he wasn’t struggling which was great. Jonah always was a bright kid. The lesson finished and his tutor was particularly impressed with his work, “Jonah, this piece of writing you have written here, it’s amazing”, “My wife, she’s Spanish” “well, it is sure paying off, well done Look forward to future classes with you.” Jonah left smiling this day was great, he really did feel in his element just like Cesca had told him, Cesca was always right, there was no doubt in that, it was something Jonah was beginning to learn. It was half one, he only had half an hour left, this day could not get any better, subjects he loved and shorter days, this was the sort of thing school kids dreamed off and now it was on a plate being served to Jonah. He was now heading for a lecture, he entered the massive room, it was a stage for the vocal chords, many rows of seats all focused to one point, the point which was to hold the lecturer. He grabbed a seat, which happened to be next to this guy who seemed to warm to Jonah instantly. “Danny”, the boy said, he had dark brown hair and blue eyes, his style was similar to Jonah’s. “Jonah”, “Nice to meet you”, “yeah you to”, the lecture began; it was on whether man walked on the moon. It was a topic that Jonah was really interested in and had hard case evidence to pick holes in everything the lecturer said. For instance the lecturer would show a picture of the astronauts on the moon, Jonah would put his hand up and say, there are no constellations, there in space, on the moon and there are no stars. This would create a class debate, something that seemed to excite all of the other students however the lecturer had soon had enough and dismissed whatever Jonah had to say, the lecture was over. “Don’t worry about it J, he isn’t known for his appraisal of students”, “Thanks Danny,”, “So what do you have planned for tonight?”, “well I am going home and I’ll spend time with my daughter put her to bed and spend time with my wife”, “daughter? Wife?”, “yeah I know it comes as a shock to everyone”, “No, no, J. This is great, my girlfriend Layla, she, I mean we’re expecting a baby” , “You are, that’s great Danny, congratulations”, the pair already seemed to click and now they had something in common they were both around the age of 19 and were both in committed relationships with toddlers or babies on the way. “Danny, why don’t you come round for dinner, I’ll cook and bring Layla along, I’m sure Cesca would love to meet her” “Yeah, that sounds great, I’ll see you at 6?”, “you can come earlier if you like?”, “Layla’s a nurse and doesn’t finish her shift till half five”, “6 it is, I’ll catch you later then”. Jonah was in an overwhelmed state, he had just made a new friend and couldn’t believe how similar they were. He headed for the bus stop, running how tonight might go in his head, he was excited, and it felt like Christmas.
Jonah paid for his ticket as he tapped in the home number to ring Cesca, tell her about his day and the plans for tonight. He sat down on the bus, his bag full of folders, his iPod and pens on the floor his phone to his ear. “Ces, how was your day with Mia”, “hey, it was lovely, Mia wrote her name and then decided to scribble all over it, well I helped her, but I’m still really proud of her”, “Aw Mia is getting so clever”, “So how was Uni?”, “Ces, I love it, I feel totally in my comfort zone and I met this really nice guy to, Danny. And the most ironic thing is, he is expecting a baby and his girlfriends a nurse”, “Sounds like today has been great, told you, you’d love it, and wow, that sounds scarily like us”, The pair laughed, “I know, it was mad, he’s a really nice guy and I invited them round for dinner, I’ll cook. Sounds like we might all get along really well, his girlfriends called Layla, they will be over for a round 6, that okay?”, “Jonah that sounds lovely and if you’re cooking then I can’t complain, I’ll see you when your home. Mia’s been calling for you all day, she really misses you”, “aw I missed her to, tell her that daddy loves her”, “I will now, I’ll see you when your home and we can talk properly then”. “Love you Ces”, “I love you too”, they both hung up and Jonah had a smile across his face the whole way home.
He reached the house, unlocking the door to the sound of “dada”, it was comforting to know his almost 2 year old daughter knew it was him coming through the door, “hello sausage”, He picked her up, kissing her on the cheek. She was beaming, “love you”, she said. This was a new word for Mia, Cesca and Jonah both smiled at each other. “Love you to Mia”. The couple treasured this moment of unconditional love before filling each other in on the day’s they’d had. Mia couldn’t help but join in the conversation with “love you daddy and mummy”. The Kirby’s shared a family hug, as Jonah and Cesca both said “we will always love you Mia”.
The alarm sounded, Jonah reached out his hand from the duvet, feeling for the clock, his search was roughness and only resulted in things falling on the floor such as his glass of water that was perched on the bedside table, “Damn it!” Jonah said to himself, he turned the alarm off before getting out of bed to save the glass of water, well what was left of it. Cesca rolled over, woken up by Jonah’s clumsiness. He picked the glass up heading for the door noticing Cesca was awake as he reached the door. “Leave it” Cesca said,” you go get ready”, She smiled, “Ces, your not in today, I thought you might have a lie in?”, “And miss you going off to Uni, no chance”, She smiled once more before pulling back the covers getting out of bed and walking over to Jonah, she took the glass from his hands before kissing him, “I love you Ces”, “I should hope so”, Jonah laughed before going and making sure he had everything ready. Today was a particularly early start; he only had 3 lessons today, so he would be home by 2. He had double Spanish and a physics lecture, Jonah was thriving with excitement, he loved these subjects and Uni was going to be one of the best experiences ever.
Cesca was sat on the floor mopping up the puddle created by Jonah’s glass, it had almost all been soaked up the sponge that she was using, she got up sighed; drama number 1 had been diverted. It was nearly 9 so Cesca went and got ready before waking up Mia, who she knew wouldn’t like being woken up now, she definitely took after her mother on the morning front but Mia was going to have to get back into her routine of crèche in the morning so this was the first step. Cesca was just touching up her makeup; she was dressed in some tight, skinny jeans and a pretty floral top which was to later be completed with some floral heels that matched her top and a denim jacket. She braced herself for Mia’s screaming fit as she entered her room. Mia was sound asleep as Cesca expected, Tilly was tightly placed between her arms and her thumb was in her mouth. Cesca looked over Mia’s cot, admiring how beautiful her daughter was before making the decision to wake her up; “Wakey wakey Mia” .she said stroking her tiny face delicately. Mia opened her eyes, her lip went out as she began to grizzle and sit herself up. She was in a strop, Cesca reached over to pick her up and Mia didn’t half make it difficult for her. Kicking her legs and crying, “Mia, its daddy’s big day and you’re not going to ruin it”, However Mia seemed to have other ideas about that. She began to cry even more, her delicate face was now streamed with tears and her mouth wide open as it projected her screams across the room, Cesca couldn’t afford to be late, she really wanted to be there to support Jonah, this was the biggest day of his life, this was her chance to be there for him for once. Cesca sat Mia down, despite her being insistent on getting up and running off, “Mia, sit still... NOW”. Cesca was firm but didn’t shout, she was great at disciplining Mia, and she knew who was boss without feeling scared. Mia did as she was told, Cesca placed Mia’s spotty blue and white top over her head, lifting her arms through, whilst Mia blubbered and whimpered with her bottom lip stuck out. Cesca finished dressing Mia, placing her in her shorts, “Mia, hold on to mummy”, Mia could stand now, so getting her dressed in the mornings was a lot easier minus the tantrums. Mia was still sad so Cesca pulled her towards her for a cuddle, “Aw Mia, I love you”, She kissed her before lifting her up to carry her downstairs, Jonah had Mia’s breakfast on the table and Cesca’s coffee sat opposite. Cesca buckled Mia in and sat down to drink her morning coffee, something she couldn’t function properly without. She took a sip before saying “Guessing your nervous then?” Cesca had caught on to the fact that Jonah was obviously trying to keep himself occupied. “A little”, she smiled holding his hand that was placed on the table, “Jonah, you’ll be fine, you’ll have Ronan and Vicki and you’re going to love it. I know it’s a bit overwhelming but I promise you, you’ll feel right at home once your there”, Jonah kissed his wife on the forehead, “Thanks Ces”, He went over to sort Mia out, cleaning her face before putting her shoes on , no need for a coat in this lovely weather. Cesca went and put her heels on and grabbed her denim jacket. Jonah picked Mia up, “You ready?” Cesca asked once she was ready, “As I’ll ever be”, Was his reply. They all left the house and got in the car, Mia was still a bit tetchy, she didn’t like this early morning sunlight, she wasn’t use to it. “Got everything?” Cesca asked before starting the car. “Yeah”, Jonah laughed as if he hadn’t double checked and checked twice more again. The radio was playing in the background, Jonah could see Mia’s grumpy face in the background, “cheer up monkey”, Jonah looked at Mia through his mirror as he said this, and Mia started to whimper again. “Don’t cry”, He turned around still with his seatbelt on, grabbing Tilly, before there were anymore tears. They stopped. They could all see the Uni out of the window, Cesca had a beaming smile on her face and Mia looked quite interested too. Jonah got out of the car after he had kissed his wife goodbye, “Have a good day I’ll see you around 2”, She said, Jonah opened Mia’s door, giving her a kiss goodbye, this was to be the first proper day without her, he hadn’t been with her at school, but at least they were in the same building, this was going to be tough. “Bye princess”, He said kissing her on the cheek, “Mia kiss”, Mia said, “Okay, Mia kiss”, Jonah leant back so that Mia could kiss her daddy goodbye, he tapped her nose before shutting the door. Jonah was met by Ronan and Vicki, who all gave a friendly wave in Cesca’s direction. “Mia, you going to wave to daddy”, Mia started to bawl. “Mia, daddy’s working now, you’ll see him later. Cesca leant back and tickled Mia’s legs. She giggled which was lovely but her bottom lip soon came out again. Cesca just laughed “There is no pleasing some people” Mia was calming down and watched her daddy out the window as Cesca pulled away and headed home.
Cesca was excited for Jonah this was a big step for him, she remembered her first day at Uni, she didn’t have her family, and they were still all in Spain. She had her friends though and they were just as good at supporting her. But she didn’t want Jonah to be in that position so being there for him was just as important to her as it was to him. Cesca got home, picked a rather unhappy Mia out of the car and let her walk in, she grabbed her bag and Mia toddled off to the front door, “wait there Mia”, she called out calmly, Mia turned around, giving a cheesy grin, she was feeling happier already. Cesca opened the door, and helped Mia up the step that prevented her from going inside, “there we go”, Cesca took Mia’s shoes off before picking her up and asking her what she fancied doing. Mia simply said “dada”, Cesca breathed in, it was sweet to see Mia missing Jonah so much but she needed to get used to him not being around, today would be the hardest as Cesca had to keep her occupied, tomorrow she would be at the Crèche doing who knows what, still it was only for 4 hours, it would go by quickly. Cesca picked up Mia before explaining where daddy was. “daddy’s not here Mia”,”dada”, Cesca rocked Mia, she was getting agitated, “Daddy is at Uni Mia, come on lets go and draw some pretty pictures”, Cesca placed Mia down in the lounge, she was calming down, pictures sounded great. Cesca kept her eye on Mia whilst opening the cupboard and finding the pot of crayons and grabbing some paper, “Right Mia, let’s go and draw something” Cesca lay down a piece of paper, placed a pink crayon in Mia’s hand and wrapped hers around Mia’s. She guided her little hand around the paper to try her first attempt at writing her name. It looked so cute! “Mia, you clever girl”, Cesca kissed Mia on the cheek, before handing over a purple crayon, for Mia to express herself/ scribble around her name, well that’s what Cesca had hoped but that wasn’t really what Mia wanted to do. It still looked great and even had more of a Mia touch to it. Cesca rescued the piece of paper and took the crayons away before giving her some more paper. Cesca was going to put the picture up next to her hand prints, it was another hurdle performed by Mia another step in her process of growing up.
Meanwhile Jonah was doing some growing up of his own; he was finally faced with his future one that involved even more hard work. Jonah was now into his second class of Spanish. He was lapping it up; it was a subject particularly close to his heart, literally in the form of Cesca and a subject that he felt he belonged to emotionally. He was finding the work manageable, he wasn’t struggling which was great. Jonah always was a bright kid. The lesson finished and his tutor was particularly impressed with his work, “Jonah, this piece of writing you have written here, it’s amazing”, “My wife, she’s Spanish” “well, it is sure paying off, well done Look forward to future classes with you.” Jonah left smiling this day was great, he really did feel in his element just like Cesca had told him, Cesca was always right, there was no doubt in that, it was something Jonah was beginning to learn. It was half one, he only had half an hour left, this day could not get any better, subjects he loved and shorter days, this was the sort of thing school kids dreamed off and now it was on a plate being served to Jonah. He was now heading for a lecture, he entered the massive room, it was a stage for the vocal chords, many rows of seats all focused to one point, the point which was to hold the lecturer. He grabbed a seat, which happened to be next to this guy who seemed to warm to Jonah instantly. “Danny”, the boy said, he had dark brown hair and blue eyes, his style was similar to Jonah’s. “Jonah”, “Nice to meet you”, “yeah you to”, the lecture began; it was on whether man walked on the moon. It was a topic that Jonah was really interested in and had hard case evidence to pick holes in everything the lecturer said. For instance the lecturer would show a picture of the astronauts on the moon, Jonah would put his hand up and say, there are no constellations, there in space, on the moon and there are no stars. This would create a class debate, something that seemed to excite all of the other students however the lecturer had soon had enough and dismissed whatever Jonah had to say, the lecture was over. “Don’t worry about it J, he isn’t known for his appraisal of students”, “Thanks Danny,”, “So what do you have planned for tonight?”, “well I am going home and I’ll spend time with my daughter put her to bed and spend time with my wife”, “daughter? Wife?”, “yeah I know it comes as a shock to everyone”, “No, no, J. This is great, my girlfriend Layla, she, I mean we’re expecting a baby” , “You are, that’s great Danny, congratulations”, the pair already seemed to click and now they had something in common they were both around the age of 19 and were both in committed relationships with toddlers or babies on the way. “Danny, why don’t you come round for dinner, I’ll cook and bring Layla along, I’m sure Cesca would love to meet her” “Yeah, that sounds great, I’ll see you at 6?”, “you can come earlier if you like?”, “Layla’s a nurse and doesn’t finish her shift till half five”, “6 it is, I’ll catch you later then”. Jonah was in an overwhelmed state, he had just made a new friend and couldn’t believe how similar they were. He headed for the bus stop, running how tonight might go in his head, he was excited, and it felt like Christmas.
Jonah paid for his ticket as he tapped in the home number to ring Cesca, tell her about his day and the plans for tonight. He sat down on the bus, his bag full of folders, his iPod and pens on the floor his phone to his ear. “Ces, how was your day with Mia”, “hey, it was lovely, Mia wrote her name and then decided to scribble all over it, well I helped her, but I’m still really proud of her”, “Aw Mia is getting so clever”, “So how was Uni?”, “Ces, I love it, I feel totally in my comfort zone and I met this really nice guy to, Danny. And the most ironic thing is, he is expecting a baby and his girlfriends a nurse”, “Sounds like today has been great, told you, you’d love it, and wow, that sounds scarily like us”, The pair laughed, “I know, it was mad, he’s a really nice guy and I invited them round for dinner, I’ll cook. Sounds like we might all get along really well, his girlfriends called Layla, they will be over for a round 6, that okay?”, “Jonah that sounds lovely and if you’re cooking then I can’t complain, I’ll see you when your home. Mia’s been calling for you all day, she really misses you”, “aw I missed her to, tell her that daddy loves her”, “I will now, I’ll see you when your home and we can talk properly then”. “Love you Ces”, “I love you too”, they both hung up and Jonah had a smile across his face the whole way home.
He reached the house, unlocking the door to the sound of “dada”, it was comforting to know his almost 2 year old daughter knew it was him coming through the door, “hello sausage”, He picked her up, kissing her on the cheek. She was beaming, “love you”, she said. This was a new word for Mia, Cesca and Jonah both smiled at each other. “Love you to Mia”. The couple treasured this moment of unconditional love before filling each other in on the day’s they’d had. Mia couldn’t help but join in the conversation with “love you daddy and mummy”. The Kirby’s shared a family hug, as Jonah and Cesca both said “we will always love you Mia”.
