Looking For Lucy Jo

Chapter 3

'They are really cool. If I weren't nearly seventeen, I'd have some myself,' Emma added.

'Well, perhaps you'll get one for Christmas,' Lana sniggered.

Emma rolled her eyes. 'So did you tell Mum and Dad about the i***t that nearly ran you over this morning?'

'What?' Patrick and Audrey both replied at the same time.

'What on Earth happened?' Patrick asked.

'It was nothing, Dad. Just an i***t in a jeep skidded on the ice, that's all.'

'Yeah, and nearly slammed into her. Luckily she just managed to jump over a garden hedge in time. It could have killed her. And it was driving way too fast, especially for those conditions.'

'Darling!' Audrey exclaimed. 'Were you hurt?'

'Just a sore back and bum, Mum. I'm okay.'

'Are you sure? Do you want me to have a look?'

Panic briefly filled Lana's eyes as she was quick to brush off the extent of her injuries. Since the tattoos had appeared, she and Emma had to be careful not to reveal them to their parents. So far, it had been easy.

'I still think I ought to have a look, darling. Just to be on the safe side.'

'No, Mum. I'm fine.'

'She really is, Mum. I saw earlier. There's just a little bruise starting to appear that's all.'

'Rub a little Arnica cream onto it, and you'll be right as rain,' Declan suggested. 'So, folks, what have you got planned for us next week?' he said, changing the subject.

Lana shot him a grateful glance before she and Emma stood up to go and set the table.

OoO

'Who the hell are you?' Stan asked the pretty young woman with short black hair as he carried a box of supplies into the farmhouse and found her sitting on the kitchen worktop, reading a newspaper.

'Kimberly. Hi, you must be Archie's brother,' she held out a hand.

He ignored it. 'He brought you here with him?'

'Yeah, I hope you don't mind.'

'Mind? You must be freakin' kidding me. Archie!' he yelled, opening the door into the living room.

'Erm, he's not here. He went for a walk around the farm.'

'I could kill him,' Stan muttered under his breath as he swung past her, back out into the cold.

'Charming,' Kim whispered, as she watched him stride down the garden, towards the old pigsty and out of sight.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Stan shouted the second he laid eyes on his brother.

'Hello to you too. What?' Archie replied.

'You brought a girl? A girl, Archie? What the hell? How are we gonna do this with a freakin' girl hanging around? Are you freakin' insane?' The vein in his temples pumped as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

'Stan, for God's sake, calm the hell down. It's just Kim. She's cool.'

'She's cool? Aw man, you've just signed your own death warrant.'

'Oh, don't be so melodramatic. Father knows she's here. In fact, it was his idea to have a woman come along to help look after the girl. Kim's my girlfriend, we've been together a couple of years. We can trust her, so leave her the hell alone. You hear me?'

It wasn't often that Archie lost his temper, but when he did, Stan knew, from being his little brother for twenty years, to back down.

'Okay, okay.'

oOo

'Christmas day tomorrow,' squealed Lucy Jo as she ran down the stairs at speed, narrowly missing Fred who stood waiting, tail wagging, at the bottom. 'Hurry up, Greg!' she shouted as she quickly threw on her boots, warm coat, gloves and hat.

'We're ready, Dad,' she screeched, the moment she and her brother stood at the front door with Fred on his leash.

'Coming,' he shouted from the kitchen. Turning to his friend, he asked, 'Fancy joining us for a walk in the snow, Declan?'

Nodding, Declan gave Saleena a peck on the lips before he grabbed his own jacket and followed them out the door.

'Peace at last,' Emma sighed as she trampled down the stairs wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown.

'You don't mean that,' Audrey smiled from the kitchen. 'Tea?'

Emma nodded.

'Is Lana up yet?' her mum asked.

'Not really.'

'It's almost 10.30.' Audrey rolled her eyes.

'But it's also Christmas holidays.' Emma smiled.

'And we have guests.'

'Okay, I'll go and drag her out of bed, then.' Emma tightened her dressing gown around her and rushed up the stairs two at a time.

'Come on, sleepyhead. Mum said you've got to get up.'

'It's too early,' Lana muttered from beneath the duvet.

'Sis, it's almost half-past ten.'

'So?'

'So, we've got Declan and Saleena here.'

'They don't mind,' Lana groaned.

'That's not the point.'

'Urgh, just ten more minutes,' she muttered.

'If you stay in bed another ten minutes, Mum will probably set the kids on you – and the dog.' She grinned mischievously.

With that, Lana pulled back the duvet and poked her head out, squinting. 'It's so bright. What's going on?'

'It's called sunlight, now get up.'

'You're so bossy.'

'And you love me for it.' Emma promptly grabbed the end of the duvet and pulled it. Intending to merely remove it from the bed, she somehow managed to fling it across the other side of the bedroom, knocking the large lamp on the chest of drawers onto the floor with a crash.

'Oops,' she said.

'Girls? What's going on?' yelled their mother from downstairs.

'Now look what you've done,' Lana said as she jumped up. She put on her own dressing gown and walked out of the room, going downstairs and into the kitchen.

'It wasn't me,' she said as her mother handed her a cup of tea.

Audrey rolled her eyes, Saleena sniggered, and Emma appeared, looking guilty.

'What did you do?'

'I accidentally broke the lamp in our bedroom. Sorry, Mum.'

Shaking her head, Audrey passed her other daughter a cup of tea too.

'Morning, girls,' Saleena said brightly.

'Morning.' They grinned.

'So, you're still not morning people then?' she asked. 'Even after months at the academy? I figured you'd be raring to get up and go every day. There's so much to do,' she said with excitement.

'There is?' asked Lana, while Emma sat down with a smile.

'Of course. Everything that you've been learning can be put to good use - even here.'

'It can?'

'Sure it can,' she winked.

'Saleena's absolutely right, you two,' Audrey said as she washed the morning's breakfast dishes. 'You ought to be practising everything you've learned over in London.'

Lana gave Emma a sideways glance that wasn't lost on Saleena.

'You could go carol singing, for starters,' Audrey suggested. 'Put your music lessons to good use.'

'That's not a bad idea,' winked Saleena.

'Erm, I think we'll find something else to keep us occupied, won't we, sis?' Lana smirked, elbowing Emma in the side.

'Absolutely.' Emma nodded and rolled her eyes.

oOo

'Scott!' yelled Lana as she threw a little stone at his bedroom window.

'Why don't we just go and knock at the front door, like normal people?'

'Because we're not normal people, are we, Em?' Lana smirked as they waited for their best friend to appear.

After a couple of minutes, and a few more stones, the front door opened, and Scott's mother appeared with her hands on her hips and a cheeky grin on her face. 'He's gone for a ride, girls. Try his mobile,' she added, shaking her head before returning indoors and closing the door behind her.

'See, we should've just rung him in the first place.'

Lana dialled and let the phone ring, but there was no answer. 'He's not picking up.'

'Do you wanna just go for a ride and see if we can catch him up?'

'What, in the snow?'

'It's not that bad, there's only a bit of ice on the roads.'

Emma shrugged, and they hurried back home to pick up their bikes.

Shivering, they started cycling up the hill towards their favourite spot, the old castle ruins overlooking much of the island. As they approached, Lana grinned and sped up, seeing Scott's old bicycle leaning against the large broken stones at the entrance to the castle.

'He's very predictable,' laughed Emma as they hopped off, dropping their bikes by his and carefully walking through the snow.

'Scott!' yelled Lana. 'Where are you?'

'Over here,' came a voice from a little farther away.

They soon found Scott, sitting on a large flat rock. Grinning, he stood up and waved.

'Why didn't you call us? We'd have cycled up with you.'

He shrugged as the three of them sat down on the cold surface.

'You okay?' Emma asked.

He nodded, a little unconvincingly.

'C'mon, what aren't you telling us?' pressured Lana.

Again he shrugged, leaning his chin on his knees. 'It's nothing.'

'It's not nothing. What's on your mind?' Emma asked.

'I dunno, I guess I'm just a little…' he shrugged again, 'put out that you guys are having such great adventures in London without me and...'

'And what?' Lana whispered.

'And I feel like I'm in the dark with you two.'

'You're not in the dark, and we're not having that many adventures without you.'

He breathed out through his nose and shook his head. 'You're just not the same. It happened before you left Andilyse Island, and you won't come clean with me. I thought I could deal with it, but the truth is, I can't. And if you won't tell me the truth, then...' he glanced out across the island and shrugged yet again.

Lana glanced across at her sister. Both frowned before looking away.

'You're right, Scott. We do have a secret...' Lana said very quietly.

'But we can't tell you what it is,' Emma added.

'But why the hell not? We're supposed to be best friends. We've known each other since we were, like, babies.'

Emma sighed loudly. 'I know...'

'But if we told you... we'd have to kill you,' Lana said, more light-heartedly.

'Oh c'mon,' he said, leaning backwards. 'That's bull, and you know it.'

'Scott, if we could tell you the truth we would, you know we would. But it is practically life or death. Please just trust us, for now. Can we please just have a nice Christmas holiday with you? Please? Pretty please?' Lana fluttered her eyelashes at him and grinned, while Emma proceeded to tickle his side - it always worked.

'Okay, okay.' He gave in. 'But at some point or other, you are going to tell me what's going on.'

Emma looked across at her sister, and they said nothing. Instead, they both jumped on him and began to tickle him, making him laugh before he managed to get clear of them, falling onto the snow-covered grass below with a thump.

'Ow,' he groaned.

'Oh... are you okay?' Emma said, wide-eyed, as she peered over the rock only to find him not there.

'What the? Where did he go?'

A loud giggle could be heard from the other side of the rock where Scott was running back through the ruins towards their bikes.

'The last one's a wally!'

'Oh, we are so going to get you!' yelled Lana as they climbed down and ran after him.

CHAPTER 3

The fairy lights twinkled in the dark while Audrey, Patrick, Declan and Saleena silently placed a whole host of gifts under the tree and all over the sofa.

Just before they called it a night, Patrick drank the glass of sherry Lucy Jo had left for Father Christmas and handed the mince pie to Declan who took a bite, leaving a few crumbs on the plate. Rudolph's carrot was picked up by Audrey, who took a large bite before taking a large swig of the milk left for the reindeer.

Saleena watched from the doorway, smiling, touched by the annual tradition. When the room was set for the morning, all four grinned at each other, saying goodnight before they quietly went up to their rooms, careful to avoid the creaky step.

Declan and Saleena closed their door behind them, leaving the parents to peer into their children's bedrooms. Happy they were all sleeping peacefully, they went to bed for a good night's sleep before the chaos of Christmas morning.

oOo

Ever since she could walk and understand that Christmas meant presents, Lucy Jo had always been the first to rush into her parents' bedroom and pounce on them on Christmas morning – usually not before six a.m., but no later than a quarter past.