'Happy Christmas one and all!' They bore armfuls of presents and smelt highly of lacquer as the wind blew them through the front door.
'Happy Christmas!' Bella kissed them under the mistletoe and there were rude comments and much laughter. The Christmas tree was surrounded by carefully wrapped parcels that Michael had examined earlier to see if he could guess what was in them.
'It's nice to be cooked for,' Sean told them when he taken off his coat and hung it up. 'But if you girls want a hand in the kitchen let us know.'
'Thanks, but we're five minutes away from dishing up,' Joyce said over her shoulder. Ever since Joyce had moved in she had insisted she cook dinner for the family and Sean and Ashley had been happy to accept. They knew it was important to her to carry on the tradition.
'How efficient.' Sean made a little wave with his hand. 'Next year you'll have to come over to our place for cocktails,' Ashley purred and everyone laughed as he put on an exaggerated voice. 'I mean it. We'll have it all decorated by then with a fantastic new cocktail cabinet in the lounge.'
'He's only showing off,' Sean admonished teasingly.
'We'll come if you do our hair,' Bella grinned. 'You can give us our drinks whilst we sit under the dryers.'
'Cheeky!' Sean screeched as everyone laughed again and the Christmas spirit began to take effect.
Sean and Ashley were very fashion conscious and had employed an interior designer to decorate the salon. Everyone seemed to be smartening up their homes, Bella pondered as she stirred the rich brown gravy. Perhaps she should really do something about the airey? No one had mentioned Micky and Bella knew they wouldn't. They didn't want to embarrass her.
When they were alone she turned to Joyce. 'Do you think downstairs could do with smartening up?' she asked as she poured the Bisto into the gravy boat.
'We could go up to town to the January sales and look for ideas,' Joyce suggested as she lowered the roasting dish to the oven.
Bella liked that idea. 'I'll arrange a day off from work.'
Joyce frowned thoughtfully. 'It's a shame Gina couldn't come today. I don't like to think of her on her own.'
'Neither do I, but you know what she's like.' Bella had tried to persuade Gina to join them, but each Christmas was the same. They always asked her and she always found an excuse. Bella knew that Christmas was still a difficult time for her.
'I wish she'd find herself a man,' Joyce murmured, expressing Bella's own feelings. 'Surely you must have some eligible customers?'
Bella sighed. 'Gina laughs and jokes with them all, but keeps them at a distance. She's not interested in men in that way. Not after Lenny.'
'She must have loved him a lot.'
'I think she did.'
Joyce sighed and drew her hand across her forehead. 'I'll just sit down for a minute. It's very hot in here.'
'You should be in the other room with your feet up.'
'And spoil Ron's surprise?' Joyce laughed softly as she sank down on a chair and folded her hands over her stomach. 'I feel so fortunate, Bella. I have all a woman could want. A family around me, a husband like Ron and a baby on the way. Who would have thought that Joyce King, Madam and brothel owner would be given the chance to change her life like this?'
Bella looked into Joyce's flushed and radiant face. 'No one deserves happiness more than you Joyce. Ronnie is going to make a wonderful father.'
Joyce giggled. 'I can't wait to see his face.'
'Neither can I.' Bella wagged her finger. 'And next year it will definitely be me who's going to cook the Christmas dinner. Baby Bryant will be wanting attention and you won't know a moment's peace.'
Both women looked at each other and Joyce managed to whisper as tears of mirth and happiness filled her eyes, 'And Ronnie, poor lamb, will have been up all night, looking after him!'
The dinner had been eaten and the dishes cleared away, with the dining table once again back in the corner. They had opened all their presents and were enjoying a slice of Christmas cake in front of the fire.
Michael's head was buried in a book called Dennis the Menace. Bella felt a wave of nostalgia. The comic annual, amongst all his other presents, seemed the last from childhood. All his other presents were very grown up. A leather football from Ron and Joyce and a fashionable blue polo neck sweater from Sean and Ashley. She herself had bought him the most grown up present of all. A Dansette record player.
The salesman who had sold it to her had explained this model was cutting edge. Unlike all previous models, it played 12 inch 10 inch and 7 inch records at different speeds. Throughout the afternoon they had been listening to Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, some of Ron's old collection that was almost worn smooth by the clumsy needle of the cumbersome radiogram. The record player could sit on a shelf or table and was light to operate. Michael couldn't wait for the shops to open. He wanted to buy recordings of Lonnie Donegan and Tommy Steele, his musical idols. Luckily Bella knew what they sounded like, as she'd listened to them many times on the jukebox.
'I've got some of Crosby's here,' Ronnie suggested as he began to blow the dust off a pile of large, heavy records. But it was Joyce who took the record from his hand and made him sit down. 'Before you play that,' she murmured as she sat beside him, 'There's something I'd like to say about your present. As you may have noticed, you haven't got one.'
Everyone laughed and Ronnie made a face. 'What! No socks this Christmas!' Everyone chuckled again, but Joyce's voice shook slightly when she answered. Bella knew this was the moment Joyce had been waiting for all Christmas.
'No, you haven't got socks.'
'A tie, then?'
