Kissy visits the salon and Rory meets a Princess.

Chapter 7b

Running into his arms, I burst into tears. He chuckled and held me for a long few moments. I can’t begin to describe how totally comforting it felt. Then I felt one of his arms leave me. The next thing I knew Sammie was also being hugged by my dad. He even kissed her forehead!

“Oh daddy…” I sobbed…happily. “It’s so good to see you.”

Saddled 1

It all started with a chance meeting. One of those times where your life can continue to the good or bad. If you had asked me before that meeting I would have surely answered that it would all be bad; but, as I stand here today, I suppose that I could consider that it went well.

CHAPTER 65
The next few days blessed us with amazing weather, and we ticked several of my boxes including the traverse of the Glyders and down to the campsite, starting from Pen y Pass, by way of Cwmffynnon. I drove everyone round to the car park in the minibus, Alun driving me back afterwards to collect the larger vehicle. Pat had offered, but I wanted to allow Alicia’s father a chance for a chat, as I suspected he wanted one. We set off from the tents after a cup of tea and a change into softer footwear, and he spoke steadily as he drove.

CHAPTER 64
I pulled into the Shell garage, of course, a little way short of the Waterloo, leaving the girls to watch the van and fend off any approach from the staff about free parking by promising a fill-up when I got back. I wanted to be absolutely sure it was only this particular Daddy Dearest joining us, rather than risk the presence of Alicia’s mother. I didn’t really believe that was likely, but that recent loss was still burning a painful wound in my soul.

I spotted him from some distance, sitting on the low stone wall next to the pay-and-display machine, a cardboard beaker of coffee or tea beside him. Just the one, and no sign of anyone else nearby;

CHAPTER 63
I walked into the back dining room two days after Maria’s arrival, and found my girls in what looked like a conference, and quite a serious one. They looked up, almost simultaneously, and then Nicky and Tiff led the new girl away. Patricia seemed the most sensible just then, so I looked to her for an answer, but when I asked her if there was something going on I should know about, it was Charlie who replied.

“Something we saw on the telly, Nana. That Alkies Anonymous thing. Just us in here, nobody else, so we have a little chat together. Hi, my name’s whatever, and I’m here because people at my school were shits. Hi, my name’s someone else, and I’m here cause Dad started buying me stripper’s knickers”

CHAPTER 62
I ended up in a daze for weeks after the wake, in an odd way. I functioned at work, with no distraction or concentration issues when driving, and I apparently managed to act human when at home, but all the time I was chatting about school and college, trips to the hills or to the far West, I was asking the same questions of myself, over and over again.

Is this worth it? How am I making any difference, doing anything useful, when a girl goes up a chimney as soon as she finds her family again? I found myself planning ahead one evening, working out when the last of my brood would finally hit eighteen, and I could pull myself back into my shell. I went all the way through January and into February assigning a departure date to each girl, as Heidi kept away and Paul kept his counsel limited to an occasional prod to take the urn out to Splott or other places of need.

“Mom, me and Catlin want to get married before we start our careers. I know you are going to be using Catlin in whatever fight you and uncle Bounty are involved in.” Krisha looks at her mother and watches her facial expression.

“You do know that my enemies and whatever enemies Catlin make will either come after you or try to use you as bait. Are you two sure about this?” Cheshire didn’t want anything to happen to her daughter or Catlin.

Hatter and Shade meet up with Terry at the coordinates several hours later. The ramp on the back of Rhino opens and they pull inside. Once they were loaded, Terry starts heading towards a property that Bart’s company owns. There was supposed to be a transport waiting for them there to take them back to New York.

Shade looks over towards Hatter, after securing his motorcycle “did you have some fun?”

Hatter had a big ole smile on her face, as she lifts her helmet off. She looks over towards Shade “oh yes! I even took pictures.” She hands the camera she used to Shade.

Not leaving the last chapter's hand grenade to fester.

CHAPTER 60
The year had been a decent one, all told, and I was looking forward to the usual festivities, even without Malcolm and Graham’s presence. For once, I had not only the Christmas Day off but Boxing Day as well, and some sad man without a life had actually volunteered to cover New Year’s Day for me. My plans took a slight hit when Heidi dropped in to sort a couple of things at the end of November, those ‘things’ actually being Serena and Alicia. The four of us adjourned to the dining room as soon as Paul turned up with Nita, which I hadn’t been expecting. As I was sorting out a tray of drinks for us all, the kitchen door banged, and it was Kim.

“They here, then?”

Nurse Joe
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Just because I am big doesn’t mean I am stupid. In fact, I am pretty smart. I was just a big guy from an early age; big and too strong for all the other kids. That got me into trouble, and trouble kept me away from classes.

CHAPTER 58
I don’t know whether what Marlene and I had called my ‘girl magnetism’ was wearing off, but Heidi and Nita seemed to have come to a temporary half in supplying new residents. We are, after all, such a tiny proportion of the population that I must have been sheltering a major part of the available ‘supply’, and there was also the parallel fact that not all parents are bastards.