love within the silence

forty-eight

It was Christmas Eve, ally had worn herself out getting ready for Santa. She was very excited as this was our first Christmas as a family, the first one with everyone around. The first one with Jughead.

Jughead was currently cooking Ally's dinner when the doorbell went, I slowly got up and headed to the door. I opened it and saw my mum, I smiled widely and said 'mum? I thought we wouldn't be seeing you until next week?' She smiled and said 'I couldn't miss seeing you and ally for Christmas, I have a few hours' I smiled and then said 'let me just call Ally, she's going to be so excited' I invited her inside and then headed out into the garden where Ally was with jellybean and Missy. I whistled and Missy came running, ally following shortly after, 'hi mummy, can have dinner now?' I smiled and said 'soon sweetie, daddy's cooking it. But you have a visitor' she looked at me with a confused look and took her hand so we could walk inside. We walked through the kitchen and passed Jughead who kissed my cheek and then tickled Ally, she laughed and then we walked into the lounge. 'Nana!' Ally shouted loudly while running over to her and hugging her tightly, I smiled and moved to sit next to them. My mother was smiling widely and picked Ally up off the floor and held her close 'oh my big girl, I've missed you so much' ally smiled and laughed 'I miss you too Nana.' I left them alone for a moment and headed into the kitchen where Jughead was just plating Ally's dinner up. He smiled at me and said 'hey, guessing your mums here?' I nodded and said 'she wanted to see me and Ally for Christmas and she won't be able to come tomorrow' he nodded and said 'well Ally's dinner is ready' I nodded and then said 'I'll tell her' he nodded and then kissed my forehead before I turned around a walked towards the lounge again.

Ally got settled in her chair and my mum came and sat at the table with her, as per Ally's request. She ate her macaroni cheese happily and me and Jughead got our own dinner ready as we had a lot to do tonight in order to get ready for tomorrow.

Once Ally had finished, she walked over to Jughead who was by the fridge and she pulled on his leg. I watched as he picked her up, her head was rested on his shoulder and I moved to where my mum was sitting. 'We have a couple of presents for you, there not big but Ally insisted' I said quietly while sitting down next to her, she smiled and said 'that's very thoughtful of you guys, I've bought Ally's presents round but I'm not sure if you want to give them to her now or wait until tomorrow?' I smiled back and then looked over at Ally who was still happily rested on Jugheads hip. 'She can open them now, gives you both a chance to have some sort of Christmas together' I said while gesturing to Jughead, who was now looking over at us. He slowly walked over to us and I said 'hey Ally, I think nanas got something for you' her head lifted and she said 'what mummy?' I smiled and said 'shall we go and find out?' She nodded and we all headed into the lounge.

Ally opened her presents and she got really excited at the new play doh that mum had bought her, she ran into the kitchen where Jughead was and showed him. She ran back and said 'thank you nana' my mum smiled and said 'you're welcome sweetie, I'm sorry I can't spend tomorrow with you but I will see you next week. I'll call you tomorrow' ally smiled widely and said 'okay nana, love you' I smiled and watched as ally got busy with her new toys. My mum handed me a present and said 'something for you and something for the baby' I smiled and when I opened it I saw my nightlight when I was a child. I gave a small gasp and I said 'mum, I didn't even know you still had it...' she gave a small laugh and said 'I still have all your baby things and if you and Jughead decided to have anymore children who happen to be girls you are welcome to them' I smiled and moved to hug her, 'thank you, it's perfect' she hugged me back and then I said 'this is for you...' I handed her the small gift wrapped box and just before she opened it Jughead came and joined us on the sofa. He sat on the arm behind me and I lent back against him, his lips pressed to the top of my head and then I watched as my mum opened the small gift. It was a pair of earrings, and when opening the lid she pressed a hand to her heart and said 'Betty, Jughead. They are beautiful, thank you so much' I smiled and said 'it's okay mum, it's been a weird year for us but I also haven't been happier and I'm glad we were able to sort things out' she smiled and then handed Jughead a wrapped gift, he accepted the present and said 'this is for me?' Alice nodded and said 'Betty might have mentioned that this is one of your favourites' he smiled at her before starting to unwrap the gift. Once opened it was a book, one I knew he loved and that he didn't have, he very happily said 'thank you' my mum smiled and said 'you're welcome.'