Finding Charlie Rose

It was just after 3 pm when Sam, Byron and Charlie made it home. Sam was lost in his head because his sister knew how to help his mother if their sorry excuse of a father had turned up. He didn't want an innocent little girl to know that her father was a horrible man. He also didn't want to remember how scared his mother was of their father.

"Are you ok?" Byron asked his brother to which he shook his head no "I'll explain later" he said. Charlie had no idea she had made her brothers upset but she could see they were sad. "Charlie make cookie" she asked. "Sorry baby girl we have Christmas decorations to set up for when everyone comes home" Sam replied. "Kissmas" Charlie cheered. She loved Christmas.

Charlie was dancing around the lounge room while Christmas carols were playing as Sam and Byron set the tree up and began to decorate the room. They would all decorate the tree together after dinner. Sam and Byron were smiling at their babysitter and quietly talking about how Charlie knew their dad was the bad man. They also talked about what would happen if he found out about Charlie. They wanted to keep him away from her so he couldn't hurt Charlie like he had hurt their mother.

It was after 5 pm when the rest of the boys and Uncle John made it home laughing at Charlie dancing around the lounge room. They were all shocked to see the Christmas decorations until Charlie screamed "kissmas" and they laughed each going to shower and get changed for dinner. Sam ordered Chinese food for dinner because they had been busy decorating the house all afternoon.

When everyone was downstairs Sam decided to let them know about the letters he and Liam had found when cleaning up their mother's place. They headed into the kitchen and the letters were handed out. Each had a date on them so they knew the order. There were a couple for John as well as this year's Christmas letters for each of Sally's children. The boys didn't want to open them just yet but decided to have a cookie each while waiting for the Chinese.

"Mummy cookie" Charlie called out when she bit into the cookies she had helped to make. "Yeh babe these are mummy's cookies she made" Liam told her. Charlie shook her head no "Charlie make, mummy cook" Charlie replied. Charlie had in fact helped her mother make the cookies. "Did you make these?" Oliver asked his sister and Charlie nodded her head. "Sugar, budda, egg, flour, nilla" Charlie replied remembering what they put in the cookie mix.

"I remember mum making the base and then adding different things like smarties, chocolate chips, coffee powder and even making passion fruit crème to put in the middle because we all liked different cookies" Byron replied. All the boys were lost in memories of the things their mum did for each of them. Sally had lived for her children and knew each child like the back of her hand. Uncle John saw each boy struggling with the fact they blamed themselves. "You all need to stop. Your mother wouldn't want this. She would want all her children happy and make happy memories together" he told them all.

The boys and Uncle John got everything ready for dinner just as the doorbell rang indicating the food had arrived. Sam paid for the food and set it on the table. He took out the booster seat for Charlie and settled her on the seat. "Hey baby girl what do you want to eat?" He asked his sister. "Strawberry" Charlie called out. "Babe, this is Chinese, do you want some rice and chicken?" Liam asked. "Charlie No had," Charlie told her brothers. "It's good, it was mummy's favourite" John told his niece. "Otay" Charlie replied.

Sam served a little to Charlie giving her a bit of everything so should could try it. Charlie fed herself, she liked the red stuff and the egg but not the noodles. "Charlie no like noodle" she told her brothers taking each individual noodle out of her bowl and putting it on the table beside her bowl. When they had finished they bathed Charlie and then headed to the lounge to decorate the Christmas tree. They allowed Charlie to put the Angel on top of the tree after she kissed the angel telling the angel to say hi to her mummy.

Charlie ended up falling asleep on Uncle John and he couldn't be happier. He had children of his own but they were grown. They were close and would be coming back here for Christmas, he hadn't told them about Charlie yet and had to ask Sam if it was still ok for them to be here for Christmas. Sam had agreed and he decided to FaceTime them now while Charlie was asleep on his chest. His eldest son answered straight away "Hey dad, umm who is that on your chest? And what's with the Christmas decorations? Those boys never decorate" his son Damien asked. "Hey, son are you with your brother?" He asked. "Yeh Shane get in here" he called out causing Charlie to stir on John's chest.

John shushed his son and tried to resettle Charlie by putting the worm on again causing the lullabies to play. "Hey, Dad who is that on your chest? And what's with the decorations in the back? Who died?" Shane asked. Both boys knew of what happened to their Aunty. John stilled, it had taken his sister dying for them to want to celebrate Christmas, well it had taken finding Charlie to want to celebrate Christmas again.

"This here is Charlie Rose your cousin she is 3 years old. When Sally left she was pregnant. The boys got a call 3 days ago, your Aunty had a fall off the ladder and passed away. Sam now has custody of his sister" John told his sons. "Oh gosh, Aunt Sally is dead? I'm so sorry Dad. When can we meet Charlie?" Damien asked. "Christmas is here this year so you can meet her then. She is a ray of sunshine and looks so much like Sally. You both can stay here but there is no drinking or smoking here" John told them.

John spoke to his sons for a while and organised for them to come on the 20th of December and stay till after Christmas. His sons were excited to meet their baby cousin especially when John told them she loved to sleep on someone's chest.

Sam, Liam, Byron and Oliver were discussing what Charlie had said at the gym. The boys all agreed that they had to keep Charlie a secret so they needed a nanny they could trust. Sam thought the housekeeper who had helped their mum escape would be the best option. She still worked for them twice a week cleaning and cooking. She would be at the house tomorrow and they would offer her more hours to care for Charlie in the new year. They agreed Charlie would spend a few days at the crèche at the gym so Oliver was close by and so Charlie could play with kids her age. Oliver called Ross to ask his permission. He agreed without any convincing, he too wanted to protect Charlie from Jackson if he ever came back.