Fishing For A Dream [Book Three]

Chapter 37 - Step Into Christmas

Rose, Violet, Iris, Harry, and I were the last to go to bed; wanting to stay awake until midnight so we could toast to it technically being Christmas Day. (I had asked Will if he wanted to stay up, but I sensed that either he felt uncomfortable around Harry, or was trying not to make Harry uncomfortable.)

We drank and played card games, and Rose and Iris regaled Harry with the story of the time their grandfather, John, had tried to break up a fight between some old-time gangsters in his pie and mash shop by cracking one of them - who happened to be holding a gun at the time - over the head with a chair. 

"He said there was a split-second where he was like, 'Fucking ‘ell! That's a gun.'," Rose explained, "but he saw it as; kill or be killed, and they'd all be in there fighting if he backed down, so THWACK! On the head with a heavy, wooden chair. The bloke went down like a sack of spuds, and they all quickly cleared off. He got quite a bit of respect for that. One of the Krays, I don't know if it was Ronnie or Reggie, paid him a visit and his shop was sort of looked after that."

Turning to a slightly stunned Harry, Violet said in a mock whisper, "Layla says that's why the Fullerton girls all have a slight air of terror around them; it's the gangster blood." 

"I believe that!" Harry replied, warily eyeing the two angelic-looking sisters.

"Like butter wouldn't melt, but they'll slice you in an 'eartbeat!" I teased, affecting a voice not too dissimilar to Noel Fielding as The Hitcher. "You also couldn't get any more stereotypically cockney if you bloody tried! I should have found a pearly king and queen for the wedding or learnt to play the spoons. Maybe Harry can sing 'Roll Out The Barrow'!"

I ducked to hide behind a laughing Harry as both Rose and Iris went to throw Quality Street chocolates at me - a rogue, blue coconut one managing to pelt me on the knee. He turned and threw his body over mine, protecting me from further, fully deserved attack. The sound of his giggle in my ear, and the way he was getting on with everybody, made my chest warm.

We hadn't discussed it, but I'd been aware that Harry was somewhat apprehensive about being around people he didn't know very well over the holiday, especially when he was so used to being with family or friends who he trusted completely to just let him be himself. Thankfully - and both Rose and I had made certain that would be the case - he had nothing to worry about. Iris, Carol, and Violet weren't remotely interested in doing anything but treating him as a new member of the family and did so by teasing him mercilessly, just as we all did with each other. It came as no surprise to me that they already liked him. Carol had even quietly told me that the minute she'd seen him and I together, walking down the stairs, she knew he was who I was meant to be with. By the time our beds called, Harry was completely at ease, as if he'd always been there.