by Nikki Ashton
Luke smacked Martha’s backside and kissed her back.
“Luke’s right, Jake,” Amber said. “You aren’t really able to judge are you?”
“Not the same, Freckles,” Jake said with an air of finality.
“But it is Jake.” Lucia, Luke’s mama, had been sitting quietly reading, seemingly taking no notice of the conversation. “You and Amber were having a relationship in secret because you thought it would upset Luke, yet you don’t like to think of Tom doing the exact same thing. I think you’ll find that’s being a hypocrite.” Lucia smiled at Jake and inclined her head waiting for him to respond.
Jake shook his head and smiled wide back at Lucia. “I have nothing gorgeous, nothing at all.”
“You see, Jake,” Luke said with a laugh. “Mama is always right.”
“Maybe, but I still don’t have to like the thought of Tom sha…”
Amber sighed and shoved the remainder of her apple in Jake’s mouth.
Chapter 3 – December 20th
Tom waited with nervous excitement for the headlights of Jake’s car to light up the drive. Tom and the Ballard’s were staying with Luke and Martha, and so Jake was going to bring Abbie back there to spend the rest of the evening with everyone. Tom just hoped that he’d get to speak to her about their relationship before she went home with Jake and Amber. If not he’d decided that he’d make the walk over there in the middle of the night and get her to talk to him; climbing up the drainpipe outside her room if he needed to – although he wasn’t sure there was actually a drainpipe outside her room. Whatever he had to do, he wanted to do it as soon as possible and the thought of waiting until the morning was driving him crazy.
“Did you manage to help Rocco with our surprise,” Martha whispered in his ear.
Tom grinned. “I couldn’t possibly comment. However, I have to say someone has very big ears, Mrs. Mahoney.”
“I know,” Martha groaned. “But Rocco isn’t exactly quiet. He takes after Luke with his blustering, no-nonsense attitude. He couldn’t do subtle if he tried.”
“Yeah you’re not wrong there. He’s becoming more like Luke every day.” Tom glanced towards the window, thinking he’d seen a light. “Where is Luke anyway?”
“Bathing the kids. He’s got all five of them in there. It was carnage on a tsunami scale when I looked in a few minutes ago. They all decided that Luke was too dry.”
Tom started to laugh. “The Sex God of Rock is being mugged off by a bunch of kids, who’d have thought it? I hope it’s not damaged the hairstyle!” He gave a look of mock horror.
“Let’s just say he’s no longer coiffured to perfection.” Martha sighed contentedly. “He loves it you know. Oh he pretends to be all gruff, but he’s a big softie at heart. He adores the children; they're his life Tom.”
Tom cupped Martha’s chin and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. You and Betty too. In fact you’re his first and last. He told me that once.”
Martha blushed and grinned. “When did he say that? Was he in trouble with me for something?”
“Nope,” Tom shook his head. “You’d given birth to Gigi the day before, and he told me that he’d thought you were epic when you had Rocco, but after Gigi, he knew you were the most amazing woman that ever lived and you were his first and last. His words, Martha, not mine.”
Martha drew in a ragged breath. Gigi’s birth was not easy and had taken far too long. Gigi’s heart rate had dropped and Martha was destroyed with tiredness, to the point of practically passing out. When the doctor told the nurses to prep’ for a caesarean Martha had found some inner strength and given a huge push, delivering a lethargic Gigi, who was immediately rushed away to be examined. It had been a scary half-hour before the nurse brought their beautiful, olive skinned, cherubic faced daughter back to latch on to Martha’s breast. The whole time they’d waited for news Martha stayed strong, never breaking down. She did that once she knew that Gigi was going to be okay.
“He’s mine too,” she whispered. “I know he did some stupid things when we were apart, but he apologises for that; almost every day, and I don’t just mean with words, because he does actually tell me, often, but by his actions too. Everything he does is for me and the kids, every decision he makes is always with us in mind. He loves us all beyond the words of an apology.”
Tom winced, knowing that Martha was talking about Luke having sex with a woman in the bathroom when he knew that Martha was outside the door. Tom knew how sorry Luke was about that, and he could believe that he did indeed apologise every day; it was his biggest regret in life. But then Luke was a real dick when he, and Martha split for a while; there was no getting away from that, so he was right to apologise.
“How did you know?” he asked suddenly. “That Luke was the one for you.”
Martha gave him a tender smile. “The thought of a life without an imperfect Luke was far more terrifying than the thought of life with an imperfect Luke. I love him, Tom, imperfections and all.”
Tom nodded and thrust his hands deep into his jean's pockets and looked through the window again.
“Is that what it’s like with Abbie?” Martha asked softly.
Tom’s gaze shot back to her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered.
“Tom, this is me you’re talking to. Not Luke or Skins and certainly not Jake. I won’t take the piss or tell you that ‘over my dead body will you hook up with my sister, Sugar Tits’.”
Tom laughed loudly at Martha’s passable impersonation of Jake. He took a deep sigh and nodded. Martha had him sussed and there was no point in telling her anything but the truth; the woman was like a human lie detector.
“Yeah, pretty much, but how did you know?”
“I see the way you look at each other, plus I also saw you making out down by Jake and Amber’s pool one night in the summer.”
“Shit,” Tom groaned. “I thought we’d been careful. I suppose that means Luke knows, which will mean Skins and Stace know too.”
“Lucia too.” Martha winced. “Sorry, but you know when Luke turns on the sexy moves I can’t keep a secret. He guessed I had one and did this amazing thing where…”
“Yeah, I get the picture,” Tom grumbled as he put a hand up to stop Martha from divulging any more details. “But what about Jake?”
“Not as far as I know, but don’t you dare let him stop you from having what you both want.”
“That’s the problem sweetness; I have no damn idea what Abbie wants. We both agreed that it would be fun, no strings and Jake would never know.”
“But now?” Martha prodded.
“Now, well now I want more. I want what you all have; the love, the kids, the house.”
“And you want that with Abbie, or does she simply fit the bill and box us all off nice and neat?”
Tom glared at her and shook his head vehemently. “No, it’s fucking not that. Not at all. She’s the one that’s made me want those things, not the other way around.”
Martha grinned. “That’s what I thought.” She looked towards the window and patted his shoulder. “Well it looks like it’s time to find out whether that’s what she wants too, love.”
Tom followed her gaze and inhaled a long, nervous breath. Jake was back with Abbie.
Chapter 4 – December 20th
“Oh God, I was so looking forward to this,” Abbie sighed as Martha placed a mug of tea in front of her.
“Who would have thought it,” Jake said taking a biscuit from the plate on the table. “My sister, the Californian Princess, looking forward to a mug of tea instead of coffee?”
“Is that all you missed?” Luke asked with his lips twitching into a small smile. Tom elbowed him hard in the side.
“Ow, what was that for?” Luke scowled at Tom and rubbed a hand down his ribs.
“Luke!” Lucia hissed and gave her head the tiniest of shakes.
“What?” Luke mouthed silently.
She stared back at him and pointed an accusing finger.<
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“Luciano, do not forget that I am your mama and will not tolerate bad behaviour.” Lucia stared at him with narrow eyes. “Now, I’m going to telephone your sister, so behave while I’m gone.”
As Lucia left the room, Luke chuckled earning a death stare from Martha this time.
Tom sighed and curled his lip at Luke before turning to Abbie who was thankfully talking to Jake; neither of them had seen the interaction between the three other people around the table.
“How was your flight, Abs?” Tom asked.
Abbie looked at Tom and gave him the hugest of smiles. Her cornflower blue eyes, that were identical to her brothers, twinkled and lit up her whole face. Tom felt his heart leap and his stomach flip over. He had to talk to her tonight, and if she agreed with him about changing their relationship, then they had to tell Jake as soon as possible; possibly the scariest thing that he would ever have to do.
“It was okay,” Abbie replied. “Apart from the most enormous lady who sat next to me. She had to have two seats and even then I felt as though I had half of her in my lap. And, she was wearing a really thick turtle neck and was sweating so much. She smelled really bad.”
“I told you to travel in first class,” Tom sighed.
“When did you tell her that?” Jake asked looking between Abbie and Tom.
“Oh he told me last time I went home to see Mom and Dad.”
“He is right for once.” Jake took another biscuit and dunked into his tea. “It’s not like you can’t afford it.”
Aside from the fact Jake would give Abbie absolutely anything, she had been a fairly successful actress in LA. Latterly it had mostly been made for TV movies, but at the rate that they were churned out by the studio that she was contracted to, Abbie made a good living. When she arrived in the UK with Jake, to help her get over a drug problem, she’d invested her money wisely and started an online business importing American foods and goods. A venture that had become extremely sought after, so much so that she now had a small staff of three running it for her. “It was fine,” Abbie sighed. “But I’m glad I’m home.”
Her eyes met Tom’s and they both appeared to hold their breath as they devoured each other with their gaze. Martha smiled and pushed up from the table, hoping that two of her best friends finally took the bull by the horns and put their relationship out in the open. She just hoped that they were both of the same mind when it came to the path that their relationship would take.
“I’m going help Stace and Amber put the kids to bed,” she said as she squeezed Luke’s shoulder. “They’re all camping out in Rocco’s room tonight, except for the babies.”
Jake looked up at Martha in surprise. “All the kids?”
“Yes, Eliza may as well stay the night.” Martha replied.
“Hendrix too?” asked Jake, with a huge grin.
Luke let out a strangulated groan. Hendrix was not a good sleeper and Jake and Amber hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in eighteen months.
“Well…I guess,” Martha blustered, too polite to say no.
Luke, however, wasn’t. “No, not Hendrix. You can take him when you go home later.”
Jake started to laugh loudly as he saw the look of fear on Luke’s face. “Okay I understand; you need me to take my nocturnal child home with me.”
Jake also stood up and hooked an arm around Martha’s shoulder.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll come up with you and help put them to bed.”
“I’m coming too,” Abbie cried. “I haven’t seen my niece and nephew in three weeks; I've missed them.”
Tom groaned inwardly. He’d hoped that he could have spoken to her while everyone else was putting their kids to bed.
“I’ll join you,” Luke said. “Just to make sure Skins hasn’t skipped any pages in tonight’s story.”
Everyone disappeared leaving Tom alone and feeling despondent.
Almost half an hour later, Tom was still sitting in Luke and Martha’s huge state of the art kitchen. When Luke bought the house, it had been an old country-style kitchen, but once Martha moved in he insisted that it was refitted to her requirements. She was a caterer by trade, although she only cooked for family and friends now, so as far as Luke was concerned Martha should have a kitchen befitting her skills. Tom reached for a biscuit from the plate in the middle of the table and sighed. He couldn’t understand how it took seven adults almost an hour to put five kids to bed. As he contemplated going to look for everyone, the door opened and Luke walked in.
“At least one of you is still alive then,” Tom scoffed. “I was beginning to think that the kids had tied you all up.”
Luke gave a short laugh and plonked down into a chair next to Tom. “Sorry man, Martha is showing the girls some new shoes and a handbag that she’s bought and Gigi is in one of those moods where she won’t go down unless I sing to her.”
“Seriously, you have to sing to her? Like a nursery rhyme?”
“Nope.” Luke shook his head, a small smile twitching at this lips. “Shattered Lives.”
Tom dropped his head back and laughed. Shattered Lives was one of their biggest hits and one of their loudest and rockiest.
“Do you do the full stage performance to go with it?” he asked.
“No,” Luke replied with a grin. “She’s quite happy with just the singing, but if I try to tone it down she goes mad and squeals until I ramp it up again.”
“The joys of fatherhood.” Tom gave Luke a smile of reverence. He wanted what his band brothers had.
“Yep,” Luke replied with a huge grin. “You’re right. It's a fucking joy beyond belief and every day I thank whoever is up there looking down on me.”
“What you have Luke is because of you, not because of some divine intervention from up above.” Tom said quietly, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder.
“I didn’t help myself in the beginning though, did I?”
“Yeah you were a dick, but you’d been set up by Medusa and were kind of heartbroken.”
Luke winced as he thought about his ex-girlfriend, Rachel. She drugged him and set up some photographs that intimated that he’d cheated on Martha with her. Of course, he hadn’t and would never do that, but Martha didn’t believe him and ended their relationship.
“I made it worse though.” Luke sighed. “If I hadn’t been such a prick and shagged that damn woman in the bathroom, Martha might have believed me sooner.”
“Yeah but like I said, you were heartbroken, angry and stupid.”
Luke nodded and sighed. “My heart still hurts when I think about it though. I will never be able to apologise enough to Martha.”
“I think she knows how sorry you are, and I also think she knows how much you love her and the kids.” Tom smiled warmly at Luke, hoping that his friend could see that it was finally time to forgive himself.
“I hope she does,” Luke replied with a tremor to his voice. “I’d fucking die without her, without them. I had no idea what living was really like until I met her.”
They both sat in silence for a few beats, contemplating Luke’s words. Then Luke took a deep breath and broke the silence.
“Tom, we need to talk.”
“We are talking.” Tom laughed. “But go on.”
“Life is brutally short, Tom, and that’s why I need to talk to you.”
Tom’s brow furrowed as he looked at Luke. His heart started to thump a rapid beat as fear suddenly overwhelmed him.
“Fuck, you’re not ill are you?” he asked, clutching at Luke’s arm.
“No, you dick,” Luke laughed, slapping Tom’s hand away. “Thanks for your concern but I’m actually talking about you.”
“I’m ill?” Tom frowned again and pointed to his own chest.
Luke stared at him open mouthed and shook his head. “No you fuck wit. Life in general is fucking short, and that’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“Phew, thank fuck for that,” Tom sighed with a hand against his chest. “I thought you knew something I
didn’t.”
Luke grimaced. “I have no fucking words for how dumb you are at times.”
Tom looked confused and then stole a biscuit putting the whole thing into his mouth. Taking advantage of a silent Tom, Luke pushed on.
“What I’m trying to say is get your fucking act together. Tell Abbie how you really feel about her, and then grow some balls and tell Jake.”
Tom swallowed the last of his biscuit and punched Luke in the arm. “Ssh,” he spluttered spraying biscuit crumbs everywhere. “Jake has the hearing of a bat.”
“He’s with Skins, in with the kids. There is so much noise going on in that room you can’t hear yourself think, never mind a conversation that is going on a floor down and on the other side of the house. Why do you think I’m here and Martha, and the girls are keeping Abbie occupied and Skins has strong-armed Jake into building a fort out of sheets for the boys and Eliza to sleep in?”
Tom looked at him bewildered and shook his head.
Luke sighed. “Because I’ve been sent down to begin Project Knob Head Part Two.” He grinned remembering the plan they’d all created to get Jake and Amber back together.
Tom scrubbed a hand over his face and groaned. “So Martha was telling the truth, you do all know.”
Luke cocked an eyebrow and nodded. “Yep.”
“Fuck. What about Amber?”
“Even Amber.”
“And she hasn’t spilled to Jake?” Tom cried incredulously.
“Nope. She had an inkling but wasn’t sure until Skins let it slip yesterday.”
“What!” Tom cried. “I’ll break that stupid fucker’s drumsticks into pieces and then stab his set with them!”
“Really,” Luke chortled. “And you think you’ll see Christmas if you do?”
Tom thought about it and with a huff crossed his arms over his chest.
“Well maybe not, but I’ll do something. I don’t know what I'll do, but I'll do something.”
Luke nodded and grinned. None of them would try to exact any form of retribution on Skins. He was a man mountain with huge, muscular biceps from drumming and a scary scowl that petrified all of them; except Eliza, it made her giggle.