Part 46

    The school was buzzing on the Tuesday when they all returned to school after the Halloween party on the Friday night.

    Danielle and Lianna had girls coming up to them both saying how beautiful they both looked, and how they wish it had been them wearing the costume of the princess and the prince, as they all agreed that Lianna didn’t look anything like a prince in it, but she did look cute and powerful still as she walked along with Danielle on her arm, while holding the handle of the sword while it was resting in its sheath with her other hand.

    It seemed that most of the children at school had forgotten all about Lianna once being Andrew, and they all accepted her as a girl, but she still found the odd nasty note posted through one of the small vents on her locker calling her a queer and other names like that.

     “Was that another note from your mystery hater?” Danielle asked as she saw Lianna screwing up a piece of paper and throwing in the bin just after she closed her locker door.

     “Yep, but it doesn’t bother me because they must be a spineless wimp if they daren’t call me names to my face.” Lianna shrugged.

     “I still think you should take them to Mr Stanman and let him know that there are still some people in the school that have a problem with you and Clare being here.” Danielle said as she walked beside her on their way to their next class.

     “Danielle could have a point sis.” Lauren agreed.

     “I think by taking no notice and not giving this sad little person their ten minutes of fame, they will soon lose interest and give up.” Lianna explained her reason for not acting on the notes. “Clare and I both agreed that doing this is the best way to let whoever it is know we don’t care.” Lianna smiled.

     “That does sound like quite a good idea actually.” Lauren said in a tone that made it sound like she was surprised Lianna came up with it.

     “Why did you say it like that?” Lianna asked sounding hurt just before she playfully slapped Lauren’s arm.

     “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it to come out sounding like that sis.” Lauren said as she threw her arms around Lianna and hugged her.

     “I’ll let you off this time then.” Lianna giggled. “It was Clare that had the idea anyway, but I was thinking the same thing though.” Lianna admitted.

     “And you wondered why I sounded surprised with you thinking that?” Lauren said sounding shocked as she slapped Lianna again.

    Danielle felt even safer as she walked around the school now with the new security in place, and she didn’t need a couple of people following her and the others around everywhere either. Danielle did wonder how things were going with the reporter, and if they had found out who gave him her details in the first place.

*****

    Carl stepped out of the meeting he was in when his cell phone rang and he saw it was the team he’d got investigating the reporter.

     “Tell me you have some information on his contact at the police station?” Carl asked before the person on the other end could say anything.

     “Yes we do Sir.” The voice replied. “It’s a woman that works in the office, and we’ve found out that she went to school with the man’s sister, and they may have dated on and off in the past.” The man explained.

     “Have you passed the information onto the detectives investigating the paedophile ring?” Carl asked with anger in his voice.

     “Yes we’ve handed over everything that can be used to charge her, but we couldn’t add the tapes from the phone taps we did for obvious reasons, but we have photos of him meeting with the woman this morning and handing over what looked like an envelope full of cash.” The team leader explained.

     “Well done, I’ll make sure you and your team have a good bonus for a job well done.” Carl said sounding happy to have plugged the leak in the case being built against Ken Douglas the pervert childcare worker who tried to steal Danielle away to be sold into a child porn ring.

     “We are still looking into a third man that showed up at the meeting.” The man went on to explain. “He was the one that handed the reporter the envelope that he passed over to the woman. The third person also handed over an envelope to the reporter.”

     “Are you saying that the reporter could have something to do with the paedophile ring after all?” Carl asked, shocked that they were just finding this out now.

     “We’re not sure yet Sir, but it looks like he could be, or just someone hired to find out what Danielle might have told them about what she knew.” The man suggested.

     “Well keep looking and let me know the minute you have something on this third person at the meeting.” Carl said before he ended the call and let the team get back to work.

    Carl was angrier than ever over all this trouble with Ken and the other perverts he was working with. Danielle knew nothing about any of it, other than what she saw for herself, which was nothing other than Ken Douglas. Carl cancelled the meeting so he could come up with a plan to move any and all eyes away from what Danielle might know, and the only way he could do that was to point all eyes at Ken. Carl placed a call to a friend he knew at a newspaper, this friend liked to let his feminine side out every once in a while, so Carl knew he could be trusted to help him with his plan.

*****

    Carl smiled a couple of days later when he read about a woman being arrested for selling information on an ongoing police case into a paedophile ring, but the thing that really made him smile was the front page story about a childcare worker called Ken Douglas who had helped a number of children vanish from the system, but to make the police go easy on him, he was helping the police bring the others to justice. Carl knew that this could hurt the police case into the ring, but his main concern was keeping Danielle safe, and now anyone who wanted to find out what Danielle might know, would be more interested in what Ken Douglas was telling the police.

    The team that were looking into the man with the woman and the reporter turned out to work at a gentleman’s club. They got a couple of people inside the club and they soon had information on a hand full of men that spent time at the club who had an interest in children. Carl got his team to pass on what they knew to the police, but Carl went to the top of the police force with the information to make sure none of it got swept under the rug.

    Once Carl handed over what he’d found out about the men at the gentleman’s club, the case blew wide open and some very prominent people were being arrested, while a couple managed to slip out of the country to places that didn’t extradite, but Carl made a point of having them watched until such time they made a mistake in that country.

    While all this was going on, Danielle was kept informed and she was proud of what her father had been able to do, but she was worried about the children that weren’t as lucky as her, and she asked if Carl could do anything to help them, if they could be found.

    Carl said he’d look into it and see what he could do, but he was already looking into setting up a foster home for gender troubled children. A place they could get the help and support they needed in dealing with what they were.

*****

    While Carl was sorting out the trouble with the police and the paedophile ring, Craig and Tina had trouble of their own to sort out as Tina was having trouble getting a boy from the Halloween dance to stop trying to track down her cousin Diamond.

    Craig, Richard, Nicole and Tina were heading from one class to their next when Tina heard her name being called out. Tina groaned when she looked over her shoulder and saw Paul Callwood running up the hallway trying to catch up with her and the others.

     “What do you want now Callwood?” Tina asked in a tone that said she really didn’t want to talk with him. “I’m going to be late for my next class.” She added as she looked up at the clock on the wall.

     “I just want to give you this note to pass on to your cousin for me.” He said sounding out of breath as he handed Tina an envelope with Diamond written on the front of it.

     “I’ve already told you that she’s not interested in dating anyone at the minute.” Tina said with a frown as she tried to hand the note back to Paul.

     “Just make sure she gets the note and let her decide after she’s read it.” Paul said as he refused to accept the envelope back.

    Craig had moved to the back of the group hoping that Paul didn’t look him in the eyes and realise that the girl he had a couple of dances with at the Halloween dance was the same boy that was now hiding from him and everyone else that took a liking to Diamond at the Halloween dance.

     “Okay Paul, but I’m telling you now that she’s really not interested.” Tina shrugged as she slipped the note into her school bag so she could pass it onto Craig later in the day. “I’m sorry, but I really do need to get to my next class.” Tina said as she spun around and started walking towards her next class again.

     “What did you do to that boy at the dance?” Tina asked in a whisper once they were far enough away and she was now walking at Craig’s side with Natalie and Richard walking just behind them.

     “I didn’t do anything other than have a couple of slow dances with him.” Craig shot back in an angry whisper. “Just because Diamond likes to look pretty, doesn’t mean she likes boys.” Craig tried to explain.

     “I think you should have a word with Lianna, Paul is in the same year and she might be able to have a word with him before he finds out the truth.” Richard offered as a suggestion.

     “Why don’t you just look at the note and then send him a nice reply and just let him down gently?” Nicole offered.

     “That could work, but I can’t write like a girl, and he would know it was a boy that wrote it right away.” Craig pointed out.

     “You could write down what you want to say, and then let me or Niki re-write it for you.” Tina grinned at her own good idea.

     “That sounds like the best idea, but we better still have a word with Lianna, Lauren and Danielle, just to make sure we’re not missing anything.” Craig agreed.

     “I think you should let your mother know about it as well, just in case he does find out who Diamond really is.” Nicole warned.

     “I was going to anyway, and I won’t be letting Diamond go to any more school dances either.” Craig frowned at the trouble it had caused.

     “If he did find out, we could just say that it was a Halloween costume and you were worried about him getting violent if he found out you were really a boy.” Richard said as he tried to stop Craig from worrying.

     “That’s still not going to stop him from getting angry now though, and I will also be labelled as being gay for leading him and the other boys on.” Craig grumbled. “So I’d rather no one find out about Diamond’s secret if you don’t mind.”

     Craig sat down with Mandy and Carl that evening and explained what had been happening, and how he was now holding a letter addressed to Diamond with two tickets to see a band Craig had said Diamond liked, and Paul Callwood was asking if she wanted to go with him to see them play.

    Carl found it a little funny, but Mandy was upset over Craig and the others leading the poor boy on, but she agreed with the idea of writing a letter and returning the tickets saying that her parents weren’t happy with Diamond dating at this time.

    Nicole re-wrote the letter in her cutest girly hand writing and then Tina took the letter to school with her and gave it to Paul as she said she was sorry, but Diamond’s parents had said no to her dating while she was still in school.

    Paul looked a little gutted, but he shrugged it off and asked Tina if she wanted to go with him, as he knew that she also liked the band he’d bought tickets for. Tina agreed to go, as she already knew her father wouldn’t mind her going out on a date.

    Tina had a good time on her date with Paul, and they went out a couple more times, but Tina soon grew bored of him and they broke up. Paul never asked about Diamond again after that, which made Craig happy.

*****

    Danielle got to have some more fun as Christmas approached and she started going Christmas shopping with Lianna and the others at the weekends. She would go with Lianna when she wanted to shop for presents for all the others, and then she would go with Lauren when she wanted to buy things for Lianna.

    She’d never had the chance or the money to buy presents for anyone before, and she was having fun, but it was hard when she saw something she liked for herself, but was told she couldn’t buy in, just in case someone had already got it for her.

     “Do you really think someone might buy me this dress for Christmas?” Danielle asked Lianna as they were looking for something that Danielle could give Lauren for Christmas.

     “You’ll have so much stuff to open on Christmas morning that you’ll think it’s... Christmas.” Lianna giggled when she couldn’t think of anything better to say.

     “I’ve never had a Christmas with a family before.” Danielle said excitedly.

     “You must have had presents to open though?” Lianna asked.

     “Some, but nothing very exciting, normally just clothes.” Danielle frowned. “And boy clothes at that.”

     “I can promise you that you won’t find any boy clothes under the tree on Christmas morning.” Lianna grinned as they made their way over to the counter to pay for the items they found.

     “I hope everyone likes what I’ve got them.” Danielle said sounding worried.

     “It’s the thought that counts Danielle, and I can tell you they will all love what you’ve gotten them.” Lianna promised.

    They paid for the items and then got a lift home with the security people Carl had sent them out with to keep them safe.

    The man and the woman that had been following them around and carrying their bags helped them into the house when they got home before they left again after Danielle and Lianna thanked them for the help. They were just about to make their way up to their rooms to put their presents away when they saw Mandy and Carl walk out into the hallway looking very serious.

     “Hi mum, dad, is everything alright?” Danielle asked looking worried as she stopped and placed the bags back down before stepping over to where her parents were stood.

     “We need to have a word with you sweetheart.” Mandy said as she started to lead Danielle towards the study. “You better come along as well Lianna.” Mandy added as she waited for Lianna to catch up to them.

     “What is it mummy?” Danielle asked sounding nervous. “Have I done something wrong?” She asked.

     “No sweetie. Your father and I just need to explain something to you.” Mandy smiled as she led Danielle over to a sofa they had in the study, she then helped Lianna to sit down next to Danielle before she sat on another sofa that faced the one they were sat on.

     “We had the police here earlier today.” Carl started to explain. “They wanted to let us know that Ken Douglas was killed in prison last night.” Carl added before he waited to see what sort of reaction Danielle would have to this piece of news.

    Danielle just sat looking at first Mandy and then Carl. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel about this, but part of me is glad he’ll never be able to get out and hurt anyone else.” Danielle finally said with a shrug. “Does that make me a bad person?” She asked nervously.

     “No sweetie that just makes you human.” Mandy sighed. “Your father and I thought the same thing when the detectives told us the news.” Mandy added with a smile.

     “What will happen to the case the police had against him and the other people they arrested?” Lianna asked.

     “The other people will still be put on trial, but there’s no point carrying on with the case against a dead man.” Carl explained. “It’s a shame he got off so light though.” Carl added with some anger in his voice.

     “Well, enough of talking about that horrible little man.” Mandy said as she rubbed her hands together. “Did the two of you have a good time Christmas shopping?” Mandy asked. And with that they never spoke of Ken Douglas again.

     “I’m having so much fun buying presents for everyone, but I’m worried that no one will like them” Danielle repeated what she’d said to Lianna earlier.

     “It’s the thought that counts sweetie, but I can already tell you that everyone will love what you got them.” Mandy said as she got up and went over to sit on the other side of Danielle to where Lianna was sat.

     “This kind of feels like my first proper Christmas, well since the ones I had with my Gran, but I was still too young to really enjoy them, and she didn’t have a lot of money, so I never got very much.” Danielle said with a faraway look in her eyes as she tried to remember that far back.

     “This doesn’t sound like much of a stretch then, but we’ll try and make this a Christmas to remember.” Mandy smiled. “And we’ll get plenty of photos for your album as well.” She added with a grin as she pulled Danielle into a hug.

    Danielle had started collecting photo albums for each major thing she did in her life now, so she had a photo album from her birthday party, an album from her holiday in America, an album from the two Halloween parties she went to, and a general photo album that she put odd pictures in, like the ones some of her other friends at school had taken while they played around. Lianna would often find Danielle lying across her bed looking through them and giggling as she remembered what she was doing when each picture was taken. Danielle also had a copy of all the pictures on her iPad and Phone, so she always had a good memory close at hand.

     “Thanks mummy.” Danielle smiled back as she enjoyed the hug.

     “We better go and get our presents up stairs before everyone starts looking at what we bought.” Lianna warned as she remembered that they had just left their shopping bags at the bottom of the stairs where anyone could see.

    Danielle jumped up and then bent down to give Mandy a kiss on the cheek just before she did the same with Carl and then ran out the room to catch up with Lianna.

     “Do you think she’s really okay with finding out that Ken Douglas is dead?” Mandy asked as she looked at the open doorway where she’d just seen her daughter vanish through.

     “I think she is, she’s been worried about what might happen once he got out of prison, when ever that might have been, but now she can relax and enjoy her life, and she already is.” Carl smiled as he got up and joined his wife on the sofa where the two girls had just been sat.

     “She did seem a little more relaxed when she left the room.” Mandy agreed. “I’m so glad we made her part of the family.” Mandy added as she let Carl wrap an arm around her and she relaxed into his loving hold.

     “I can think of two other people that are glad we made her part of the family.” Carl chuckled.

     “Chrissy and Lianna?” Mandy asked with a grin.

    You got it in one.” Carl smiled. “You do realise that Lianna is going to ask Danielle to marry her one day soon.” Carl pointed out.

     “I know.” Mandy smiled at the thought of having Lianna as a daughter in law. “I think Lianna and Danielle are really good for one another, and it will make us even closer as a family, not that we need to feel any closer.” Mandy sighed, happy with how life had turned out for them all.

*****

    Danielle was excited to be breaking up for the Christmas break, but she was even more excited about all the gifts being exchanged. She’d taken an extra bag to school with her filled with the presents she’d bought for her friends, she was expecting to be bringing it back empty, but for every present she handed out, she got another one to replace it, and by the time they were done and ready to head home again, Danielle was convinced her bag had more in it than when she left for school that morning.

     “Do I really have to wait until Christmas morning to open all these?” Danielle asked as she watched Lianna and Lauren placing all the new gifts under the tree with the others.

     “Yes we have to wait until Christmas morning.” Lauren giggled as she saw the way Danielle had just stamped her foot as she pouted while she’d asked the question.

     “I think we all know what you’ll be doing most of the day as well.” Lianna grinned as she added a hand full of gifts to the rather large pile Danielle had to open, and they still had more to add to it for her.

     “Are they really all mine?” Danielle asked as she checked some of the tags to make sure Lianna and Lauren hadn’t made a mistake and added someone else’s to her pile.

     “Yes there all yours.” Lauren confirmed.

     “I’ve never seen so many gifts for one person before, never mind them all being mine.” Danielle said as she ran her hand over some of the wrapped gifts.

     “We’re all planning to make this a Christmas to remember for you sis.” Lauren said as she threw her arms around her and Lianna to form a group hug.

     “I just want Christmas day to get here now, so I can start opening them all.” Danielle pouted again when they broke the hug.

     “You only have to wait a couple more days and then you can act like a little kid again and cover the place in wrapping paper.” Lauren said in a soothing mother like voice as she hugged Danielle again.

    The next two days felt like the longest of Danielle’s short life, but it was soon Christmas eve and the house was filling up with family members coming to stop for a couple of days like they did every year since the house had been made larger by Carl buying the house next door and making the two houses into one massive home for them all to live in.

    Lauren and Lianna’s rooms were being used by other guests due to the two of them sleeping in Danielle’s room with her all the time these days.

    Aunty Jane and her boyfriend were using Lauren’s room and Cathleen, Penny and Kat were using Lianna’s bed. Tina’s father was using one of the guest bedrooms, while Tina was sleeping in Natalie’s bed with her.

    Sara and Cathy were using Jennifer’s bedroom while Jennifer was sharing Jessica’s bed with her. Peter and Richard were sleeping in Craig’s room, but they were using airbeds as none of them wanted to sleep in a bed with another boy.

    Vic and Jenna were using Richard’s room, while Mable had another of the guest rooms, just like Kim and David were using. Clare and her mother had the last guest room to share, but Clare talked her mother into letting her sleep with Jennifer and Jessica, so she had a bed to herself in the end.

    Carol tried to talk Carl out of wanting her and Clare there by saying she wasn’t really family, but Carl wouldn’t hear any of it, saying that she was part of the family now, and she needed to get used to it.

    Carl had found out that it was just Carol and Clare now, so it was going to be a very quiet and lonely Christmas for the two of them otherwise. The two of them had a nice little pile of gifts under the tree, or more to the point around the tree as there were just too many piles of gifts to get them all under the tree.

    They finally managed to get all the children ready for bed and then they made them all a hot chocolate before sending them off to bed.

*****

    Danielle wasn’t sure if she got any sleep that night because she kept looking at the clock and wishing it would get to a time where it was starting to get light and she could go down and open her gifts.

     “You too excited to sleep?” Lianna asked in a whisper as Danielle was getting out of bed to use the bathroom.

     “Yes I guess I am.” Danielle admitted with a sigh. “I’ve never had a reason to feel like this before, I know it must seem silly to you.” Danielle added as she cuddled up to Lianna, the trip to the bathroom forgotten for the time being now she had someone to talk to.

     “I don’t think it’s silly at all.” Lianna smiled. “Lauren and I still get excited about going down and opening our presents. I bet Lauren isn’t really asleep.” Lianna giggled.

     “Some of us can just do a better job of faking sleep.” Lauren said from the other side of the bed just before she shuffled over and made Danielle the centre filling in a group hug.

     “I’m sorry if I’ve kept the two of you awake tonight.” Danielle said.

     “Don’t worry about it, Lauren and I are just as excited to see you open your presents as you are to open them.” Lianna giggled.

     “Do we have to wait for someone to come and get us up, or can we just sneak down and start opening them?” Danielle asked, not knowing what they normally did on Christmas morning.

     “If I know our mothers, they are already up and waiting for us to move.” Lauren giggled.

     “Mother’s more of a child about Christmas than you could ever be.” Lianna said with a roll of her eyes.

     “Do you mean Aunty Chrissy?” Danielle asked.

     “Yes, she’s always loved this day, as far back as I can remember her and Aunty Amy always get dressed up as elves for the day. Aunty Amber joins in as well.” Lianna explained.

     “That sounds so cute.” Danielle said with a pleading in her voice that said she wanted to go and see if they were up and dressed yet.

     “Let’s go and see if their up then.” Lianna said as she threw the covers back and jumped out of bed just before she helped Danielle get out.

    Lauren had slid out the other side and was now stood next to them, so they left Danielle’s bedroom and made their way down the stairs and into the living room where the Christmas tree was with all the presents piled around it. Danielle was shocked to see that all the piles had grown quite a bit, but her pile was huge now.

     “Wow...” Danielle said as she made her way over to her pile of gifts. “These can’t all be mine.” She added.

     “Yes they are, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!” Chrissy shouted from the doorway to the kitchen with Amy and Amber stood either side of her. All three of them were dressed as Santa’s Elves in green dress’s, red and white striped tights, little green boots with bells on them that tinkled when they moved, and little green elf hats sat on their heads.

     “Merry Christmas Aunty Chrissy.” Danielle grinned as she ran over to get a hug from her Aunty who was holding her arms open ready to except her.

    The three girls all got hugs and whished each other a Merry Christmas before Danielle got to get a good look at her aunties.

     “All three of you look amazing.” Danielle squealed as she clapped her hands together excitedly.

     “Thanks sweetie.” Chrissy grinned as she did a quick spin to give Danielle a look at the full costume. “I know you’re dying to start opening your presents, so why don’t the three of you make a start, I’m sure the others will be down shortly.” Chrissy said as she turned Danielle around and gave her a little shove towards the large pile of present’s she knew to belong to her.

    Danielle didn’t need telling twice as she ran over to her pile and started ripping into the wrapping paper after checking to see who’d given each gift to her.

    Lianna and Lauren watched her for a couple of minutes before they felt like small children again as well, and they were soon just as busy as Danielle was opening her gifts.

    The other children and grownups started to arrive down in the living room and they were all soon busy opening their presents as well.

    Danielle got everything she thought she would ever need and she thanked everyone for her gifts, and they all thanked her for theirs. She got lots of new clothes, boots, jewellery, makeup and music, but she also got a lot of things like classic Barbie’s and other things a younger girl would get for Christmas. She found out that the others wanted her to have some toys to place on shelves to make it look like she was always a girl. Just as she thought she’d opened all her presents, she was handed another small wrapped gift by Lianna.

     “What’s this?” Danielle asked looking puzzled. “I thought I’d already opened a couple of presents from you?”

     “This is a special one that I wanted you to open last.” Lianna said as she placed it in Danielle’s hand.

    Danielle wanted to ask more questions, but she wanted to find out what was inside, so she ripped open the wrapping and found a small box inside that looked like the sort of box that would hold a ring. She opened it and found a ring with her birthstone imbedded in it.

     “Yes I will.” Danielle said excitedly as she pulled the ring out the box and slipped it onto her finger.

     “Yes you will what?” Lianna asked looking puzzled this time.

     “Yes I’ll marry you.” Danielle grinned as she looked at the ring on her ring finger.

     “That was my end goal Danielle, but I was going to say that this would have to do until we’re old enough to do it properly, and I can put a proper engagement ring on your finger.” Lianna giggled.

     “Well now you know that I’ll say yes when you do, but as far as I’m concerned, this means we’re engaged.” Danielle grinned even more as she held up her hand and wiggled her finger with the ring on it at Lianna.

    Mandy and Chrissy just looked at each other and then shrugged. “Looks like Danielle will be calling you mum after all.” Mandy giggled.

     “I can live with that.” Chrissy grinned as she got up and gave the two girls a hug to congratulate them on the engagement of sorts.

    They got hugs from everyone else and then Chrissy, Amy, Amber and Becky all went into the kitchen to help Holly sort out Christmas dinner. Mable was already in there helping out, and the others just did as they were told.

    Richard had been given a new guitar for Christmas by Carl and Mandy, and Damon had come over to spend the day with them, so he ended up playing some Christmas carols on the guitar as he gave Richard some lessons on how to play.

     “What do you think of your first real Christmas so far?” Lianna asked Danielle as they cuddled up together on a bed of wrapping paper while they listened to the others sing along to Damon’s guitar playing.

     “Best Christmas ever, but this means more to me than anything.” Danielle said as she held up her hand to look at the ring on it.

     “I think it will look better when it has a gold band to go with it.” Lianna grinned as she turned her head and then kissed Danielle on the lips before she could agree with her.

     “We should start planning the wedding then.” Danielle grinned.

     “Can we finish school and go to college first?” Lianna frowned.

     “Do we need all that if we have each other?” Danielle asked.

     “Good luck on talking your parents into letting you drop out of school and not going to college, just so we can get married.” Lianna giggled.

*****

    Carol had been happy to watch Clare open her presents and squeal at all the new clothes she’d gotten off everyone. She’d also been given makeup and jewellery like the others, as well as a new computer tablet from Carl and Mandy. Now all the children had done opening their gifts it was time for the grownups to open theirs.

    Clare looked worried when she saw that Carol was crying as she opened one of the gifts Clare had bought her.

     “What’s wrong mum? Don’t you like it?” Clare asked as she saw her mother holding the mug she’d bought her.

     “No, I love it sweetie, these are happy tears.” Carol snuffled as she wiped them away so she could read what the mug said again. “Do you really think that about me?” Carol asked as she held the mug up for Clare to read what it said.

     “Yes, I really do think you’re the world’s best mum.” Clare grinned.

     “Only because I have the world’s best daughter.” Carol said as she pulled Clare into a hug to thank her for the wonderful gift.

    Cathleen had been given some very sexy underwear from Chrissy, and she had to promise to give Damon a private fashion show back at his place later in the day.

    The dinner was soon ready and they all ate way too much and then relaxed eating sweets. The children always got Christmas day off from doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, so it was the job of the men folk to do it, as the woman had done all the cooking.

    Everyone had a wonderful day, and they all stopped for a couple more days and enjoyed those as well. Danielle got plenty of photo’s to add to her albums, she even got some of her opening the special present from Lianna. Lauren was in on the surprise, so she was ready with her camera, so Danielle would have pictures of the big moment.

    Ian and Simon came over on Boxing Day and Clare spent most the day cuddled up with Ian watching movies on her new tablet. Simon was happy to just sit and cuddle with Lauren while she kept stuffing him with sweets.

    Carl threw a big new year’s party at the hotel and all the children had been invited. Ian and Simon were also invited, as well as their parents. All the children were given one glass of Champaign to toast in the New Year. Danielle had enjoyed that party as well, and she got a lot more pictures, and even some video of her father dancing with her mother among other people.

    The holidays seemed to come to an end to soon for Danielle, and it was soon time to get ready to return to school, but she was looking forward to seeing her other friends and talking about all the fun she’d had while she was off. She’d emailed some of them over the holidays, but it wasn’t the same as sitting around and talking face to face.

     “You ready to get back to school then?” Lianna asked as she watched Danielle doing the final check of her school bag on the Sunday night.

     “Part of me is, but another part is sad that Christmas is over.” Danielle sighed as she sat on the bed and let Lianna wrap an arm around her as she rested her head on Lianna’s shoulder. “I don’t think I ever wanted this Christmas to end.” She added with a grin.

     “We’ll have plenty more of them together, and they will just get better and better.” Lianna promised.

     “I know they will, I’ll have you with me.” Danielle pouted as she cuddled into Lianna even more.

    Lauren joined them on Danielle’s bed and they enjoyed a movie before they got ready for bed and then got tucked in by their parents.

 

To Be Continued Next friday  

 

Story by SaraUK

 

Edited and Posted by SamanthaK

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Child and Parent guide:

Parents	Children
Chrissy & Becky	Andrew/Lianna, Lauren (Twins)
Amy & Amber	Jessica
Ann & brad	Jennifer
Sara & Cathy	Peter
Mandy & Carl/Carla	Craig, Danielle (Adopted)
Jayden & Callum	Richard, Nicola (Twins)
Dan & Faith	Penny, Christopher

    EDITORS NOTE: Please Comment and/or leave Kudos and let Sara know you like her work please, Any comments on spelling, grammar or the layout of the story please PM me “Samanthak” not Sara. Thank you