Esme and I let Pol handle the boys, while we started to make our famous Christmas Day Feast. Breakfast was skipped because of all the drama that had been happening. I obviously had mixed emotions on the situation as well as Esme, so we decided to keep out. It was much more peaceful and quiet in the kitchen anyways.

I decided to turn the radio on for a more comfortable atmosphere. Playing was Marion Harris' After You've Gone. I silently hummed along while cutting carrots and broccoli. Aunt Pol always says that, the perfect cut has to do with the movement of your wrist. You must move it in a circular motion to get that clean look to your food. I always believed it looked the same no matter how you cut it, but Aunt Pol insists it looks more delicate.

"It is so exciting that Ada is pregnant, eh? I'm going to be an aunt!" Esme exclaims.

I smile small and giggle.

"It is. But I am going to miss her. Too much, I'm afraid. I've been living with Ada for quite a while now and we have been the greatest of friends since I can recall. She told me only a few nights ago what had happened and how her and Freddie were to be married. We were so close. But now... we are drifted. I will no longer have anyone. She will be too preoccupied with the baby and Freddie. I will be simply invisible in her eyes." I drag.

Esme slows down her speed in skinning the potatoes and lifts her head to face me. I drop the knife on the counter and place my fingers of the bridge of my nose.

"Oh, Daisy," Esme cradles me in her arms, giving me a sense of some affection. "I will always be here for you. I will be the closest friend you have ever had if you so choose me to be. I will never leave you. You are like a sister. Every since I married to John, I have not felt very welcomed into this family, but you, you have always been kind and passionate to me. And for that, I am to be kind to you. Always."

A single tear escaped from my glassy eyes.

"Thank you, Esme."

She lifted my head, a hand on either side of my cheek and wiped my tear with her thumb. She gave me a smile and giggled.

"How about we go shopping tomorrow morning. Rise nice and early before anyone wakes up, take some money from Tommy's secret vault behind the fridge and do something kind for ourselves. After all, we are constantly cleaning up and working for the boys. We deserve some recognition." She smirks.

"Steal from Tommy? Money? That doesn't sound like a very good idea, Esme! We don't even know his combination." I whisper worriedly.

"Oh, don't worry love. I come from a Gypsy family. I'm great when it comes to these situations. Come on. Live a bit, eh?"

I deliberated the idea through my head silently.

"Oh alright," I giggle and place my hands over my eyes, dragging them down my face. "I can't believe I am going to do this."

Esme quietly jumps up and down, clapping her hands like a child.

"But what are you going to tell John? He'll be quite curious to know what you're doing in the wee hours of morning getting ready to go somewhere."

"I'll just tell him I am going down to get some tea and biscuits. Don't worry about what I have to do. You have to be awake and down here, by the fridge at 5 o'clock." 

"That is quite early." I stress.

"If we don't want to be caught, we must sacrifice precious resting time. Now, dress nice and make sure to be incredibly quiet while walking through the house. These floors as you know are quite squeaky. I'll figure out the rest that has to do with Pol and the boys. Don't stress, darling."

I nod and smile, as Pol walks through the door.

"What are you girls smiling for, eh? You should be cooking. That was a good hour of my life I cannot get back, trying to release Ada from Tommy's overprotective grip. I'm not in the mood to fool around. Get going." Pol groaned.

We soon got back to work.

5 IN THE MORNING

It was time. I was standing by the refrigerator, impatiently waiting for Esme as she took who knows how much money and stuffed them into our bags.

Last night, everybody calmed down and we had a nice meal. Ada and Freddie did not show, but that was for conspicuous reasons. After a couple of whiskeys and cigarettes, Tommy had almost forgotten all about his acrimony towards Ada. Dean and Arthur got drunk and left the house around 11 o'clock or so to go to The Garrison for even more drinks. As I was waking up to get ready for Esme and I's big shopping day, they were just coming home, slurred and drunken.

I was snapped out of my thought process by the sound of the vault being closed. I heard the footsteps and Tommy's cough from upstairs. Turning my head quickly towards Esme, we hurriedly moved the refrigerator back into its rightful place and rushed out of the front door.

We giggled as the cold December air hit our barely covered bodies. As we rushed down Watery Lane I noticed we had both forgotten our coats at home.

We slowed down once we reached the corner and Esme let out an abrupt laugh that filled the empty streets.

"Shit. Esme, we forgot our winter coats on the couches. I'm freezing." I whine.

"We are out to have fun and shop. Just buy another one!" She smiles widely.

I smile back and hook arms with her.

"Well, I need a drink at least to warm me up then." I exclaimed.

"To The Garrison?"

"To The Garrison."

We arrived at The Garrison Pub to empty tables and quiet music playing throughout the bar. A homeless man lay on the floor, unconscious, as three other men sit at a small table in the corner playing cards and smoking cigarettes. Behind the bar was a young woman with medium length blonde hair and impurity written all over her face. She was wearing an old white blouse with a red cardigan and a long pink skirt that had stopped at her ankles. A cigarette hung out of her small mouth as she dried beer glasses.

Esme and I found our seats in the middle of the vacuous bar.

"That lady over there. See her?" Esme pointed to the barmaid I was thinking about just a second ago.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She's the slut Tommy's been doing his way with. She's a truly evil bitch, I tell ya. The other day, I came here with John and Finn, yeah? Well she tried to get all up in John's pants right in front of me."

"What?! How did John do with that?" I whisper-yelled.

"He tried to push her off, but her trashy hands were stuck to him like a fucking baby to its bottle. Soon enough I had to get involved. It was a god damn cat fight. John was trying to rip me off of her, but no fucking way did I let that shit go. See this?" Esme pulled up her skirt to reveal claw marks covering her petite legs. "That bimbo fucking clawed the shit out of me. Oh, and don't think she didn't get it back. She left with a good few bruises here and there."

"What a skank!" 

She nods slowly as the devil herself comes strolling, at her own precious speed towards us. A smirk appeared on her horse face as she finally made her way over.

"Well, look who it is. The whore herself." Esme smiled fictitiously.

"The cow decided to come back now, eh? With another barn animal too?" She says referring to me. "I'm surprised you didn't stay at the fucking barn with your chicken of a husband."

"Says the one who tried to get to his cock. Try better next time, love."

The barmaid rolls her eyes and looks at me.

"What do you want to drink?" She says in an unenthusiastic tone.

"A pint of whatever beer you've got." I say annoyed.

She walks away furiously.

"You weren't wrong when you called her an evil bitch."

"I don't lie about hoes like her."

After quite sometime, she came back with my pint of beer. As she slammed it on the table, drops of beer splashed all over my dress. I looked up to see a smirk upon her nasty face.

"Here's your beer, Miss Piggy." 

"I didn't quite catch your name, love. Refresh me." I growled.

"Grace. Grace Burgess."

"Well Grace Burgess," I say standing up with the pint of beer in my hand. "Fuck you."

I start slowly pouring the cold liquid down her shirt, leaving her shocked and frozen. Shards of glass flew up after I threw the now empty glass on the wooden floors.

"I can't believe Tommy's fucking you."

Esme giggles and grabs my hand, running out the bars door leaving Grace in tears.

I don't think I have ever made an enemy so quickly.