Page 8 of Iona's Christmas

Pipe and Fists stared at me in surprise.

“Thought it was only you and Warden?” Pipe asked.

“No. Where did you hear that from?” I responded, confused.

“Warden. Prez said you were planning Christmas,” Fists replied.

“For all of us,” I explained, and both men looked at each other.

“Don’t know what I rightly feel about that, Iona,” Pipe mused thoughtfully.

“No? Don’t you remember a huge assed breakfast, lots of presents and dinner being served? Everyone falling to sleep in armchairs and on sofas? What about the evening meal where there were loads of food and drink, and we had music and people danced? Or we played games first and then did that,” I said.

“You remember that?” Fists replied, surprised.

“Yeah. Don’t you?”

“I do, kid. Just didn’t know that you remembered all that,” Fists murmured softly.

“I did. And I want it again this year. Lindy, Rosalea and I are planning this down to the finest detail. And making sure we get our food orders is paramount,” I said and headed towards the butchers we always ordered from.

Truthfully, we’d never had an order go missing, but you never knew what levels spite might rise to at Christmas. If someone got the chance to ruin the club’s happy time, I’m certain they would. Being face to face when I placed my order ensured things wouldn’t go walk abouts, be misplaced or get lost. I’d be able to sign off on the delivery, and having two brothers with me would make any shopkeeper think twice about screwing me over.

After the butcher, I popped along to the other shops we used. I was pretty passionate about supporting local businesses and rarely bought from a chain store. Warden also encouraged us buying locally, mainly because we owed a lot of businesses in town.

As I crossed the road heading towards my favourite delicatessen when, I walked straight into Pearl. I froze as she stepped back and went to walk past before she realised it was me. A sneer appeared on her face as she took in my cut.

“Didn’t take him long,” she said.

“A pleasure to see you too,” I replied and felt a presence at my back and guessed Fists and Pipe were there.

“Your warden let you out,” Pearl sneered, trying to be clever with her words.

“I don’t have much to say to you, and I’m rather busy,” I responded, stepping away from her.

“Wait! My daughter? Rosalea?” Pearl asked.

“What about her?”

“Is she okay?” Pearl questioned, and Fists snorted.

“You’re seriously asking if Rosalea is good after she discovered the truth? That you lied to her father, to Warden, and to everybody else because you were a jealous bitch? That you destroyed a good man simply because you couldn’t accept his love. You knew who you got involved with, and if you had doubts, you shouldn’t have dated Berserker. Your jealousy drove you to destroy everyone and everything around you. And you dare stand there and ask how Rosalea is?” I snapped.

Pearl didn’t flinch or look away. She held my gaze.

“I asked you politely, how is my daughter?”

“Rosalea is very happy with her family. She has settled in perfectly well, almost as if she’s never been away,” Pipe said.

Pearl flinched then.

“And she is planning a Christmas bonanza with this one. It’s like they’ve never been away,” Fists added insult to injury.

“Was I talking to you?” Pearl jibed.

“I do not care, but you stopped our Prez’s old lady,” Pipe replied.

To my utter amazement, Pearl ignored them and faced me. “Rosalea is planning Christmas with the MC?”