Selling the Drama (28 page)

His smile deepened. "You should kiss me now,
while everyone's watching. Then they'll cheer and it'll be just
like all the grand gestures in the movies."

Charlotte stood, reaching down to help him
up. "Dream on." Once he was on his feet, she whirled around to walk
back to the table. He caught her though, his arm snaking around her
waist as he pulled her against him, his other hand cupping the back
of her head as he tipped her, kissing her hard, right in the middle
of the dance floor.

And as what usually happens in a bar filled
with people drunk on both alcohol and Christmas cheer, there was a
loud round of applause with a resounding echo of whistling that
made Charlotte wish the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
Yet a part of her, a very small part mind, was secretly thrilled at
the gesture.

Morning crashed in with a dull ache
throughout his back and a grogginess that seemed impossible to
shake off. Toby pressed the heels of his hands into his eye
sockets, trying to rid himself of whatever it was causing him to
feel as though he was hung-over without the compulsory drinking
session the night before.

"He lives. We can all breathe easy now,"
Charlotte said from beside him.

Toby turned his head to the side, his eyes
settling onto hers. He smiled widely, a self-satisfied grin, as he
took in his surrounds. "I'm not on the couch."

Charlotte smirked at that statement. "You
just realised that? You really did get knocked out then by Chad's
pills."

Toby frowned, alarm pressing into him. "You
gave me some of Chad's seizure pills?" He reached up to his own
throat, pressing his fingers to his pulse, panic invading him.

"Don't be stupid," Charlotte replied
dismissively, pulling his hand down. "I gave you some of the pills
he uses when he gets bad headaches. You were in agony, moaning and
rolling about. I couldn't get a wink of sleep. They worked a treat
too, you were out like a light within twenty minutes. How do you
feel now?"

"Like shit." He was pretty sure this was the
worst he had ever felt in his life. Even his football days could
not compare to this agony coupled with the residual heaviness from
the pills.

"Oh, well, suck it up. It's Christmas Eve
today, there's lots to do. Heaps of food to cook and Mum wants you
to help Chad build a chicken coop."

"What for?" Toby groaned, rolling onto his
side to bury his face into his pillow. "She has no chickens."

"Daphne has inspired her. And also pissed
her off mightily, so she wants her in the backyard and to make
building a coop worthwhile she's going to get some chooks for
herself. Fresh eggs! It'll be great." Charlotte gave him a poke in
his side. "Come on, roll over onto your other side so I can see if
you're all bruised." She poked him once again.

With another groan, Toby did as she asked.
Charlotte pulled back the covers and ran her hand lightly over his
lower back. "I think you're faking. There's nothing here."

"It's all internal. It hurts like bloody
hell. Do you think I would fall into bed with you for the first
time in months and not make the most of it if I wasn't in extreme
agony?" Perhaps if he whined enough about the pain, she might keep
running her hands over his skin like that. It had been so long
since he had felt her touch him with any intimacy.

"Good point." She placed a kiss onto his
shoulder, pulling him back down to lie flat. Sitting up, she
straddled his waist, grinning down at him. "You know, I had greater
expectations of you for last night."

Settling his hands onto her hips, he laughed
at that. "So did I, believe me."

Charlotte shifted, moving herself into place
on top of him. He stared at her with wide eyes, his hands grabbing
frantically at her hips, firmly holding her just above him. She
looked down at him, confused.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? I can't do that!
You've got a baby inside of you. It's right there!" he hissed,
attempting to push her off of him.

Charlotte snorted with laughter at him.
"Don't be ridiculous." She dismissed his concern by pushing herself
down further, grabbing his wrists so he could no longer prevent
her.

"No, no, just…oh shit, seriously, don't…"
Toby curled his fingers around hers as her grip slipped down from
his wrists to his hands. If she inched herself down any further,
there was no way he would be able to hold her off.

"Your mouth is saying no, but everything
else is saying yes." She moved onto him slowly, careful after so
long and seemingly intent on tormenting him just a little bit for
just a little while.

"I would prefer that the first head of mine
our baby sees is not the one poking away up there right now."

Charlotte tipped her head back and laughed
out loud. "It can't see you! Think of a zip lock bag, all sealed
away. A dark zip lock bag, with no windows. What were you going to
do, just not have sex with me until after the birth?"

"Yes! There are plenty of other things we
could do," he replied sulkily.

"Well, I want to do this. Should I stop?"
She paused, grinning down at him teasingly.

Toby looked up at her earnestly. "It's
really okay?"

"It's perfectly safe," Charlotte
confirmed.

"It's not hurting you?" He squeezed her
fingers. Her comfort was just as important to him as keeping the
baby safe.

Charlotte stopped teasing him then and
smiled at him softly, his concern clearly touching her deeply.
"It's not hurting me." She pulled his hand up to her lips, kissing
his fingers. "I would kiss you properly but I can't reach you over
my belly," she said with a smile.

He pulled her hand down to his lips, kissing
her fingers in the same manner she had just done to him. He watched
her as she began to move on him again, his eyes roving all over her
body, taking in every new curve, every smooth expanse of skin laid
out in front of him. He sighed deeply; he had missed her so
much.

"Toby?" Charlotte looked down at him
seriously.

"Yeah?" He let go of her hands then so he
grab hold of her waist, taking over in an effort at having her
drive him a little less insane in this moment.

"I did something last night while you were
asleep beside me." Her tone held a confessional note.

"Did you shave off my eyebrows?" There had
been alcohol, prescription drugs, and Jenna present last night. It
was a serious question.

Charlotte laughed at that but shook her
head. "Nothing like that."

He considered for a few moments. "Just tell
me. What did you do?"

"I forgave you."

It was a busy day of building a chicken
coop, last minute shop runs, and preparing more food than the five
of them could possibly eat. With Daphne deposited into her coop,
and the house now chicken free, Iris was able to put all of her
attentions into badgering Charlotte and Jenna around the kitchen.
She seemed intent on making sure both of them knew how to make
every single dish she deemed necessary for a successful family
Christmas, while issuing random job orders to both Chad and Toby
every time either of them looked like they were about to have a
little down time. They all fell into an exhausted heap around the
table by the time dinner was ready.

Iris beamed from the head of the table.
"See, now we're all organised for tomorrow and most of the cooking
is done."

"Seriously, Mum," Charlotte complained,
exhausted beyond any level of exhaustion previously experienced.
"We could have just got KFC and had the day off." She rubbed her
belly, a general achiness radiating out from her hips.

Iris looked at her with horror. "Don't say
such things. We are not the type of people who eat KFC at
Christmas."

Jenna looked over at Iris with interest.
"I've eaten KFC at Christmas before."

"Case in point," Iris muttered, gesturing at
Toby to start dishing out the meat he was carving up.

"Hey, do you know what this reminds me of?"
Jenna looked at them all with wide eyed enthusiasm. "That time Toby
sang 'All I Want for Christmas' and fell off the stage onto his
arse!" She burst into laughter, the rest of them, minus Toby,
joining in rapidly.

He looked at them all, a carving knife in
one hand with a serving fork in the other. "Funny. Are you all
wanting to eat or will I stop carving now?"

"Keep carving, Toby. They won't make fun of
you anymore, I'm sure." Iris reached out and gave his arm a light
pat. "Chad, just before you start eating, would you mind turning on
the stereo? A little music might make for a nice atmosphere." She
smiled warmly at him as he stood up from the table for her.

Toby continued with his carving, just about
finished when the sound of 'All I Want for Christmas' blasted out
of the speakers. He paused, setting down the knife and fork, taking
his seat with his hands up. Iris had her napkin pressed against her
mouth she was laughing so hard, while Jenna was near hysterics,
Chad hanging onto her with a grin spread over his own face.

Charlotte leaned against Toby, taking his
hand into hers, the expression on his face doing little to hold
back her own laughter. "You didn't have our view of the entire
show." There wasn't much more that she could offer. It had, injury
aside, been very funny to witness.

"Merry Christmas, family." His voice was
filled with sarcasm as he shook his head at all of them. "So glad
I've brightened up your entire festive season," he said, addressing
them all with sarcasm.

Iris looked over at him with a twinkle in
her eye. "So Toby, did you get what you wanted for Christmas?"

He met her eyes with a grin, clearly
deciding to just roll with it. "Yes Iris, yes I did."

She smiled at him happily. "Good boy."

Charlotte squeezed his hand once before
letting it go. "Serve me first, I'm starving." She held out her
plate to him with a smirk, taking in the sight of his red ears, his
embarrassment in this moment evident, and completely endearing him
to her even further. "And just for the record, I wasn't in on this
little joke of theirs, so I get more crackling for loyalty."

Toby grabbed several strips of pork
crackling and dumped them onto Charlotte's plate. "You can always
have my share of crackling," he said to her softly, leaning down to
kiss her at the table.

"Vomiting over here," Jenna called out. "And
she is not getting all that crackling!"

Charlotte picked up a strip and looked over
at Jenna as she took a bite. "So good," she moaned with
exaggeration. Jenna rose to her feet, her intention to lean over
and grab at Charlotte's plate immediately apparent. Charlotte
reached out and scooped up the crackling Toby had deposited onto
her plate, frantically licking at it before Jenna could even reach
her.

"You think that's going to stop me!" Jenna
roared, tearing a couple of pieces out of Charlotte's hand, shoving
it into her own mouth immediately.

Iris was watching them, laughing at their
antics, a look of real joy on her face of the likes that had not
been seen for quite some time. Charlotte began to eat the rest of
her meal, looking around the table to make sure everyone was set
and served. Toby was eating at a pace reminiscent of a last meal
before execution. Chad was listening to Jenna as she outlined to
Iris her process for making a boiled fruitcake; he reached out for
the gravy but missed, his thumb twitching right before he made a
grab at the table cloth. Charlotte watched as he fell off his
chair, hitting the floor without grace, his body being overtaken
with convulsions, the shaking reverberating as his knee repeatedly
hit the leg of the table. Toby shot to his feet, racing around to
check on him. Charlotte rose also, looking with horror towards the
floor where Chad lay convulsing, spit foaming from his mouth now.
Jenna had dropped to her knees beside Chad, trying to grab a hold
of his head to prevent it from banging against the floor any
further.

Toby looked at Jenna, panic creasing his
features. "Do I need to call an ambulance?"

Jenna shook her head, tears welling and
beginning to slide down her face. "Just get me a pillow for his
head." Her hands struggled to hold Chad's head up off the ground.
"Chad, honey, it's alright, I'm here with you. It's alright," she
soothed tearfully. Toby returned with a pillow and helped her slide
it under Chad's head.

Iris stood and then dropped to the floor
beside Jenna, her hand coming to rest on her sister's shoulder. She
soothed Jenna while Jenna soothed Chad, whose seizure just kept on
rolling off him, the minutes sliding by with an agonising drag.

Toby stood, looking over at Charlotte with
worry etched onto his face. She came over to stand beside him, her
arms going around his body, her face turning the other way so she
could no longer see Chad. This was not the first time she had seen
him have a seizure, but that did not make it any easier to watch.
She began to steer Toby into the kitchen. "We should leave them. He
won't want to come out of it in front of an audience."

"We should call an ambulance," Toby
insisted.

Charlotte looked up at him sadly. "This is
normal for him. There's nothing an ambulance can do."

Toby stared into her eyes, stricken.
"There's nothing normal about what's happening to him right now,
Charlotte."

"That's his life, Toby." She reached out to
pull him into her arms once more. "He has good days and then he has
bad ones. I guess he's just had too long of a run of good ones
lately." Charlotte listened out, relieved to hear Chad's voice
filter out into the kitchen from the dining room, speaking to Jenna
hoarsely. "We'll give them a few more minutes before we go back
in," she told Toby, quietly.

Toby made no reply. Iris poked her head into
the kitchen moments later. "Come back. Dinner's getting cold."