Chapter 50 - The Start Of World War III
Hannah pushed her way past Ruth who was still holding Mia, her face was screwed up buried in Ruth’s shoulder, who was this strange person at the door, Mia had never met her nanny, she was almost alien to her. This wasn’t the best way to be introduced to your grandparent, stuck in the middle of an ongoing feud, there was already going to be anger and upset but now this had been pushed over the edge with Ruth’s news of Jonah’s little girl. Hannah walked through to the sitting room, her beige coat rimmed with fur still on, her black heels also looking a little out of place, she came across way to seriously and yet she was the one wanting to make amends, with Jonah and Ruth for walking out on them and with Marcus, she still loved him deep down inside, she couldn’t forget about them. However none of it was going to be easy, she thought that they would just open their arms up to her, give her a bug hug, how naive for a full grown woman could she get, especially when she had stirred up trouble the minute she stepped foot back into the Kirby home. Ruth followed her on in, she put Mia down, though Mia was reluctant to walk into the room to Hannah, a stranger in her eyes, she was usually so good at meeting new people, even Mia could feel the dread of the situation, feel how messed up it was, she knew that she wasn’t a nice lady and that just put her on edge, “Mia, you going through”, Ruth said to Mia, hoping to reassure her that she wasn’t in any harm. Mia followed through, Flopsy under her arm and her thumb in her mouth; she had gone all shy on everyone. Ruth reached the lounge and Mia found the need to hide behind her, burying her head into the back of Ruth’s legs. Seeing her mum didn’t exactly fill her with happiness either, she was so angry with her. She had always been a daddy’s girl at heart but her mum had completely wrecked there family, always shadowing other what they did now that she was gone, they thought that everything was behind them, they thought they could finally be just that family of three, well it had increased recently with Cesca being introduced into the family but the point was she was ruining their happiness once more, she always found the need to blame anyone but herself and Marcus was more often than not the one to draw the short straw. Ruth was no longer the rebellious teenager she was at secondary school, she had matured into a beautiful young lady, confident in herself and aware of the world around her, and she wasn’t selfish or stubborn and always knew how to have fun. Ruth being older – 19 to be precise offered her mum a drink; however she rudely answered with “No”, no explanation or thank you, just one word. Ruth sat down on the sofa near her mum, but not the same one, the woman just made her angry, Mia lingered around Ruth until Ruth decided that Mia might be more comfortable with the situation if she sat on her lap, so Ruth picked Mia up and shared a cuddle, Mia was quiet, which was really unusual for her. She didn’t like this, not one little bit. But Ruth couldn’t do anything, she was too scared to chuck her out, she was still her mum. Plus she felt that might just make everything that much worse, it would definitely end with Mia in tears. “Mum why are you here?”, Ruth asked breaking the most awkward silence felt for centuries, Hannah avoided this question by moving on to the fact that Jonah had a child. “How irresponsible could he be and I bet he’s off partying with his mates”, Ruth felt the anger build up, “No actually and since when did you have the right to judge someone, you don’t know anything anymore, things have been hard recently, you have no idea”. Hannah had defiantly hit a raw nerve; Ruth wasn’t going to sit there while her own mother slogged off her family, especially Jonah, if anything he deserved a medal, Cesca to. There love was the strongest thing Ruth had ever seen, it definitely wasn’t something to be mocked.
“So what exactly has been hard for you? Run out of coco pops did we or coursework a bit too much? Your dad’s fault, he should have never home schooled you”, “How can you sit there and mock everything dad did for us, you were never there. Even when you dumped us at Waterloo road, you weren’t there to see our journeys. See how we turned out. Of course you weren’t, you never were. We don’t need you”. Ruth could see Mia stirring, she hated this, Ruth got up holding Mia, “Let’s go put you into bed”, Ruth was so good with Mia, in fact all the Kirby’s were minus Hannah who couldn’t help but give her own granddaughter glares of disgust. Ruth tucked Mia in to bed before taking a deep breath in and closing the door, she had a slight incline in the fact this could get noisy so shut the door. Blowing Mia a kiss before she did so, “Sleep well, I love you”, Mia blew a kiss back before the door quietly closed; she was sleepy so despite everything about to go on downstairs she fell asleep, Flopsy carefully being cuddled under her arm, he was also very sleepy so joined Mia. Ruth plodded down the stairs to be welcomed by her mum who was scowling at old photographs. “Your still here”, Ruth entered the room saying. “Why should I leave, this is my home”, “It was your home, you haven’t been part of this family for over 4 years”. Ruth didn’t quite get why she was back, why would she bring up the past, screw everything up for everyone else, but then she remembered how that was what she liked doing, seeing everyone else miserable. “Look I’m not leaving till you fill me in on everything”, “You don’t deserve to know, like I have told you, things have been tough but we all got through it, it doesn’t all need to be tossed up in the air again”. Ruth didn’t feel her mum was worthy enough to know the whole truth but as Hannah showed signs of not budging Ruth resulted in calling Jonah, she needed her big brother to help her out of this mess. She hustled into the kitchen dialling his number into the phone, “Ruth, everything okay?”, Jonah automatically presumed the worst since his little girl was being babysat, he didn’t have any worries in Ruth babysitting her, it was just the call in the middle of the night that shocked him. He was cuddled up on the sofa with Cesca his voice a muffled whisper as Cesca lay beautifully on his chest, eyes closed lips pursed, sex and the city was playing in the background, one of Cesca’s favourite films, but she was knackered and had fallen asleep in the middle of it. “No Jonah, it’s not alright”, Jonah butted in sitting up in a panic, which woke up Cesca who was enjoying her nap on Jonah, it was nice to have not been prodded by the twins but by Jonah instead, her face became full of confusion as she noticed Jonah was on the phone. She sat on her feet listening into what he was saying. “Slow down Ruth, is Mia okay?” He instantly thought the worst when Ruth was filled with so much negativity, it took a lot to make her really mad. “She’s fine, she’s asleep”, “That’s good so what’s the fire?”, “Mum’s here.” Ruth’s words were short and snappy. Jonah’s throat ran dry; he didn’t know what to say. He hated his mum, she hadn’t been in the picture since his first day at waterloo road and he liked it that way, she had to come and ruin it all, everything was going so great everything was finally panning out. “Ruth I’ll be right over, I’m here for you sis”. Jonah hung up the phone launching himself off the sofa, “Wait, where are you going, what’s happened?” Cesca was still half asleep as she said this, “Baby, it’s nothing to worry about just got something to sort out”, He didn’t want his wife worrying about something that didn’t need to concern her, well that was Jonah’s easy way out of what seemed like a pretty big mess. “What is so important that you need to go and deal with it at 11 o’clock J?, Tell me what’s going on?”, Jonah tried to carry on out the room without answering Cesca, he was already stressing about what was going on over at his dad’s, he really didn’t want Cesca worrying or finding out about the whole situation with his mum, but Cesca grabbed his arm to stop him, he wasn’t going anywhere till he told her what was going on. “J, I’m not going to just ignore the fact your storming out the house, no explanation no reason for going”, Jonah walked back sitting next to Cesca as he began to open up about what was going on, what the situation was. “Ces, it’s a long story and one I never thought I would have to explain”, Cesca placed her hand reassuringly into Jonah’s.
“I thought we said no more secrets, hasn’t everything been hard enough”, Cesca replied calmly, “I know and realise now that it should been something we talked about, you are my wife”, “Jonah stop worrying about how I am going to react, just tell me”. He took a deep breath before looking into her deep brown eyes, “It’s my mum”, “What about her, is she okay”,” I haven’t spoken to her since I started Waterloo road, things were complicated, my parents divorced and she made her lives hell, waterloo road seemed to stop it all but now she is back and she is at the house now!”. The anger in Jonah’s voice sped up, “Calm down, I’m coming with you”, “Ces, please just stay here. It’s my mess.”, “Our mess J, we’re family”, She smiled at Jonah who gave her a passionate kiss before the pair of them headed off out the door to go and rescue Ruth from a rather awkward yet complicated situation. Cesca sat in the car, Jonah drove whilst she cradled her ever growing bump, it was so exciting to watch it grow knowing that soon enough they would be meeting their babies. Cesca sent a reassuring smile full of love in Jonah’s direction, she could see how stressed out he was as they braked outside Marcus’s house. “J, breathe. It won’t help if you go in all guns blazing. I’m here for you, I love you so much”, “Thanks Ces, I love you to. Promise me that whatever that twisted cow says you won’t let it get to you”, “I promise, I have you and that all that matters”, “Ces, this is going to be hard, this means explaining everything once more, another person to judge us, another mountain to climb”, “I realise that J, as long as I have you, I know we’ll get through it”. They both climbed out of the car before heading up to the door, Cesca’s walk now resembled a waddle as she accommodated for her bump. Jonah pounded at the door, “Mia’s asleep J”, Cesca tried to calm him down, but it was no use, he was fuming. Ruth answered the door, distraught, Cesca reassured her as Jonah walked in to be greeted by his mum. “Family reunion “His mum said. Cesca decided not to walk in quite yet; she thought they needed some time alone to themselves. “That’s it you just continue the feud, why are you even here mum?” “Why do you have a daughter? I have a lot of questions to Jonah”. This annoyed Jonah, “Why do you judge people, your family of all people. You walked out on us, we’re all simply getting on with our lives, I am happy, we are all happy. Why ruin that. What’s happened now, Steve walked out on you? Perhaps you’ll finally have a taste of your own medicine”. Cesca didn’t like Jonah’s tone so found herself waddling in, “Jonah”, Cesca said, he turned around. “Sorry Ces, it’s just”, “I know”, her words were always so heartfelt, always so sensitive. Jonah held Cesca close just as Hannah realised who she was. “You are a sick woman”. Cesca pulled away from Jonah slightly he held her hand in his though before replying, “Leave it”, “Jonah, I thought I had brought you up properly, bought you up not to sleep with teachers”. “You brought me up, is that a joke in itself. You weren’t exactly in the picture when we grew up, sleeping around, cheating on dad! Leave Cesca out of it, she isn’t my teacher, i love her. She is my wife”, Hannah was once again hit with a bombshell, “Your married, your 22”, “Exactly, i am an adult. An adult with a family, it’s no different to anyone else”. Hannah was fuming, Jonah couldnt understand why, he was 22, he had fallen in love with his Spanish teacher, but that’s not how it was anymore, they were a family. “Mum, you can’t storm in here and stir everything up. I’m happy; I have a family and am with the woman I love. We have a little girl Mia and are expecting twins, nothing could be more perfect, nothing you say is going to change what we have or the fact that were a family, so you might as well just keep your thoughts to yourself. I don’t want anything to do with you” Cesca was feeling uncomfortable, she knew it was going to be hard, but not like this, she loved how Jonah was standing his ground but felt so guilty. Jonah was wrecking a chance to have a relationship with his mum because of her, because he was married to his Spanish teacher. She had to get out, she shouldn’t be there, she shouldn’t be with him, maybe everyone was right they had ruined each other’s lives. Cesca pulled away from Jonah’s grip, tears began to roll as she backed out of the room, “Ces”, “J, she’s right, I have ruined your life, you and your mum could resolve everything and should but that can’t happen with me in your life”, “Wait... stop”, “No Jonah, I have ruined every part of your life, you had to grow up quickly, we have had one disaster after another”, “But we always come out the other side”, Cesca was hysterical, she loved Jonah but Hannah was twisting with Cesca’s head, “Look what you have done”, He shouted at his mum as Cesca left through the front door, she sat on the step, sobbing her guts out. “You’re better off without her”, “How? She completes me, I love her, and I need her! What is so wrong about falling in love, being with the one person that matters? I don’t care what you think, you never cared about me. GET OUT, you have already ruined everything. Now what do I do, Cesca is wreck, she’s pregnant and I’m sure the Mia is all over the place to, why do you ruin everything”? Hannah felt awful, she grabbed her bag, she felt rather teary, her first real human emotion felt all evening, she passed Cesca on the step, “I’m sorry, you clearly make him happy and that’s all I can ask, but you should be locked up for what you did”. How could one sentence have so much meaning? How could it be so lovely at the same time as being so evil? Cesca broke down once more, why did she let it get to her, Jonah had warned her, she loved him and he loved her, why did they let this come between them, the door creaked open as Jonah came out joining her on the step, he simply placed his arm around her, her head pulled in towards his shoulder, he kissed her delicate forehead, “I love you Francesca Kirby”.
“So what exactly has been hard for you? Run out of coco pops did we or coursework a bit too much? Your dad’s fault, he should have never home schooled you”, “How can you sit there and mock everything dad did for us, you were never there. Even when you dumped us at Waterloo road, you weren’t there to see our journeys. See how we turned out. Of course you weren’t, you never were. We don’t need you”. Ruth could see Mia stirring, she hated this, Ruth got up holding Mia, “Let’s go put you into bed”, Ruth was so good with Mia, in fact all the Kirby’s were minus Hannah who couldn’t help but give her own granddaughter glares of disgust. Ruth tucked Mia in to bed before taking a deep breath in and closing the door, she had a slight incline in the fact this could get noisy so shut the door. Blowing Mia a kiss before she did so, “Sleep well, I love you”, Mia blew a kiss back before the door quietly closed; she was sleepy so despite everything about to go on downstairs she fell asleep, Flopsy carefully being cuddled under her arm, he was also very sleepy so joined Mia. Ruth plodded down the stairs to be welcomed by her mum who was scowling at old photographs. “Your still here”, Ruth entered the room saying. “Why should I leave, this is my home”, “It was your home, you haven’t been part of this family for over 4 years”. Ruth didn’t quite get why she was back, why would she bring up the past, screw everything up for everyone else, but then she remembered how that was what she liked doing, seeing everyone else miserable. “Look I’m not leaving till you fill me in on everything”, “You don’t deserve to know, like I have told you, things have been tough but we all got through it, it doesn’t all need to be tossed up in the air again”. Ruth didn’t feel her mum was worthy enough to know the whole truth but as Hannah showed signs of not budging Ruth resulted in calling Jonah, she needed her big brother to help her out of this mess. She hustled into the kitchen dialling his number into the phone, “Ruth, everything okay?”, Jonah automatically presumed the worst since his little girl was being babysat, he didn’t have any worries in Ruth babysitting her, it was just the call in the middle of the night that shocked him. He was cuddled up on the sofa with Cesca his voice a muffled whisper as Cesca lay beautifully on his chest, eyes closed lips pursed, sex and the city was playing in the background, one of Cesca’s favourite films, but she was knackered and had fallen asleep in the middle of it. “No Jonah, it’s not alright”, Jonah butted in sitting up in a panic, which woke up Cesca who was enjoying her nap on Jonah, it was nice to have not been prodded by the twins but by Jonah instead, her face became full of confusion as she noticed Jonah was on the phone. She sat on her feet listening into what he was saying. “Slow down Ruth, is Mia okay?” He instantly thought the worst when Ruth was filled with so much negativity, it took a lot to make her really mad. “She’s fine, she’s asleep”, “That’s good so what’s the fire?”, “Mum’s here.” Ruth’s words were short and snappy. Jonah’s throat ran dry; he didn’t know what to say. He hated his mum, she hadn’t been in the picture since his first day at waterloo road and he liked it that way, she had to come and ruin it all, everything was going so great everything was finally panning out. “Ruth I’ll be right over, I’m here for you sis”. Jonah hung up the phone launching himself off the sofa, “Wait, where are you going, what’s happened?” Cesca was still half asleep as she said this, “Baby, it’s nothing to worry about just got something to sort out”, He didn’t want his wife worrying about something that didn’t need to concern her, well that was Jonah’s easy way out of what seemed like a pretty big mess. “What is so important that you need to go and deal with it at 11 o’clock J?, Tell me what’s going on?”, Jonah tried to carry on out the room without answering Cesca, he was already stressing about what was going on over at his dad’s, he really didn’t want Cesca worrying or finding out about the whole situation with his mum, but Cesca grabbed his arm to stop him, he wasn’t going anywhere till he told her what was going on. “J, I’m not going to just ignore the fact your storming out the house, no explanation no reason for going”, Jonah walked back sitting next to Cesca as he began to open up about what was going on, what the situation was. “Ces, it’s a long story and one I never thought I would have to explain”, Cesca placed her hand reassuringly into Jonah’s.
“I thought we said no more secrets, hasn’t everything been hard enough”, Cesca replied calmly, “I know and realise now that it should been something we talked about, you are my wife”, “Jonah stop worrying about how I am going to react, just tell me”. He took a deep breath before looking into her deep brown eyes, “It’s my mum”, “What about her, is she okay”,” I haven’t spoken to her since I started Waterloo road, things were complicated, my parents divorced and she made her lives hell, waterloo road seemed to stop it all but now she is back and she is at the house now!”. The anger in Jonah’s voice sped up, “Calm down, I’m coming with you”, “Ces, please just stay here. It’s my mess.”, “Our mess J, we’re family”, She smiled at Jonah who gave her a passionate kiss before the pair of them headed off out the door to go and rescue Ruth from a rather awkward yet complicated situation. Cesca sat in the car, Jonah drove whilst she cradled her ever growing bump, it was so exciting to watch it grow knowing that soon enough they would be meeting their babies. Cesca sent a reassuring smile full of love in Jonah’s direction, she could see how stressed out he was as they braked outside Marcus’s house. “J, breathe. It won’t help if you go in all guns blazing. I’m here for you, I love you so much”, “Thanks Ces, I love you to. Promise me that whatever that twisted cow says you won’t let it get to you”, “I promise, I have you and that all that matters”, “Ces, this is going to be hard, this means explaining everything once more, another person to judge us, another mountain to climb”, “I realise that J, as long as I have you, I know we’ll get through it”. They both climbed out of the car before heading up to the door, Cesca’s walk now resembled a waddle as she accommodated for her bump. Jonah pounded at the door, “Mia’s asleep J”, Cesca tried to calm him down, but it was no use, he was fuming. Ruth answered the door, distraught, Cesca reassured her as Jonah walked in to be greeted by his mum. “Family reunion “His mum said. Cesca decided not to walk in quite yet; she thought they needed some time alone to themselves. “That’s it you just continue the feud, why are you even here mum?” “Why do you have a daughter? I have a lot of questions to Jonah”. This annoyed Jonah, “Why do you judge people, your family of all people. You walked out on us, we’re all simply getting on with our lives, I am happy, we are all happy. Why ruin that. What’s happened now, Steve walked out on you? Perhaps you’ll finally have a taste of your own medicine”. Cesca didn’t like Jonah’s tone so found herself waddling in, “Jonah”, Cesca said, he turned around. “Sorry Ces, it’s just”, “I know”, her words were always so heartfelt, always so sensitive. Jonah held Cesca close just as Hannah realised who she was. “You are a sick woman”. Cesca pulled away from Jonah slightly he held her hand in his though before replying, “Leave it”, “Jonah, I thought I had brought you up properly, bought you up not to sleep with teachers”. “You brought me up, is that a joke in itself. You weren’t exactly in the picture when we grew up, sleeping around, cheating on dad! Leave Cesca out of it, she isn’t my teacher, i love her. She is my wife”, Hannah was once again hit with a bombshell, “Your married, your 22”, “Exactly, i am an adult. An adult with a family, it’s no different to anyone else”. Hannah was fuming, Jonah couldnt understand why, he was 22, he had fallen in love with his Spanish teacher, but that’s not how it was anymore, they were a family. “Mum, you can’t storm in here and stir everything up. I’m happy; I have a family and am with the woman I love. We have a little girl Mia and are expecting twins, nothing could be more perfect, nothing you say is going to change what we have or the fact that were a family, so you might as well just keep your thoughts to yourself. I don’t want anything to do with you” Cesca was feeling uncomfortable, she knew it was going to be hard, but not like this, she loved how Jonah was standing his ground but felt so guilty. Jonah was wrecking a chance to have a relationship with his mum because of her, because he was married to his Spanish teacher. She had to get out, she shouldn’t be there, she shouldn’t be with him, maybe everyone was right they had ruined each other’s lives. Cesca pulled away from Jonah’s grip, tears began to roll as she backed out of the room, “Ces”, “J, she’s right, I have ruined your life, you and your mum could resolve everything and should but that can’t happen with me in your life”, “Wait... stop”, “No Jonah, I have ruined every part of your life, you had to grow up quickly, we have had one disaster after another”, “But we always come out the other side”, Cesca was hysterical, she loved Jonah but Hannah was twisting with Cesca’s head, “Look what you have done”, He shouted at his mum as Cesca left through the front door, she sat on the step, sobbing her guts out. “You’re better off without her”, “How? She completes me, I love her, and I need her! What is so wrong about falling in love, being with the one person that matters? I don’t care what you think, you never cared about me. GET OUT, you have already ruined everything. Now what do I do, Cesca is wreck, she’s pregnant and I’m sure the Mia is all over the place to, why do you ruin everything”? Hannah felt awful, she grabbed her bag, she felt rather teary, her first real human emotion felt all evening, she passed Cesca on the step, “I’m sorry, you clearly make him happy and that’s all I can ask, but you should be locked up for what you did”. How could one sentence have so much meaning? How could it be so lovely at the same time as being so evil? Cesca broke down once more, why did she let it get to her, Jonah had warned her, she loved him and he loved her, why did they let this come between them, the door creaked open as Jonah came out joining her on the step, he simply placed his arm around her, her head pulled in towards his shoulder, he kissed her delicate forehead, “I love you Francesca Kirby”.
