While I work on what I am hoping will be the last chapter to 'Let no man put asunder', I thought I would put up another chapter to the prequel.

Chapter 41

It had been a couple of weeks now since Donna's scare, and she was nursing a rather tender left breast, having had the cyst drained at the hospital.  No one had warned her that it would be done without an anaesthetic, and she had emerged from the doctor's office feeling rather sorry for herself, blushing at the memory of the rather colourful language she had used, when he had inserted his rather large needle into a very tender area!
 

She was sitting on the sofa, watching TV, when Jon came and sat next to her, draping his arm around her shoulders.  She looked up at him, thinking to herself how very different things could have been. Rosie was sitting on the floor, playing with her toys, when, almost as though something had suddenly occurred to her, she got up and climbed on to the sofa.  She sat down next to Donna, and lifted up her blouse, then put it down again.

"Rosie, what are you doing?" said Donna, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Well" replied Rosie, deadly serious.  "I wanted to see whether your boob had gone down!"

"I beg your pardon?" said Donna, trying desperately not to smile.  "As you can see, it hasn't!  Why do you ask?"

"Well" was the reply.  "when daddy put a needle in a balloon at Emily's party, it went down - so I just wanted to check that your boob hadn't done the same!"

"No" said Donna, by now, completely helpless with laughter.  "I don't think it works like that!"

"Still" said Rosie, glancing at Jon.  "If it had, daddy could always blow it up again for you - he blew up the balloons at Emily's party!"

That did it - Jon had been trying to hold back his laughter for so long, he was on the point of spontaneous combustion, but now he was completely helpless.  He was completely incapable of speech, and even though his eyes were streaming and his stomach was hurting, he still could not control himself.

"Well" said Donna, as Rosie disappeared into the conservatory to play with her toys.  "How do you follow that?"

"I don't know!" he said, regaining some degree of self control.  "but I'll never look at a balloon in the same light again!  Every time I see one, it'll remind me of your...."

"I'd quit while I was ahead if I were you!" said Donna, giving him a warning look.  "otherwise you'll be singing soprano for the next few weeks!"

"You wouldn't!" he said, a disbelieving look on his face. "Besides, you never know when you might need them!"

Donna was just about to answer, when the doorbell rang.  Giving him a mischievous smile, she got up to answer it.  She came back in, carrying the biggest, most beautiful bouquet of flowers she had ever seen.

"Who are they from, mummy?" said Emily, who had just come into the room, with Rosie.  "Look!  There's a card!"

Carefully placing the flowers on the table, Donna took the card out of its small envelope, and tears filled her eyes as she began to read it.  She glanced at Jon, and turned his face towards hers, kissing him long and tenderly - she was too choked up to speak.

"What does it say, mummy?" said Rosie, unable to contain her curiosity. "Tell me what it says!"

Donna handed the card to Emily, who read it out, her eyes filling with tears at the beauty of the words written on it.

"It says-" she began. " 'Let the stars fade and fall, and I won't care at all, as long as I have you.  God answered my prayers, because you're still here. My sweetheart, my angel, and my best friend.  All my love now and for eternity, Jon xxxx'.  Oh, daddy, that's beautiful!  Do you mean it?"

"Every word!" he said, as Donna wrapped her arms around his neck.  "She is all of those things to me - and more besides!  Sometimes I find it difficult to say just how much I love her!  When I thought...."

"Thought what, daddy?" said Emily, putting her hand on his shoulder.  "What were you going to say?"

"I know what he was going to say!" said Donna, gently squeezing his hand, as he struggled to contain himself.  "He thought that the lump in my breast meant I could be very poorly, and that he could have lost me!  Now he knows that I'm all right, he knows that God listened when he prayed to Him every night.  I'm so lucky - I have a wonderful, loving husband, and four beautiful children!  I love you all more than you'll ever know - you all enrich my life in your own special way!"

"Even me?" said Emily, almost as though she still could not quite believe that someone could possibly love her that much.

"Yes, you are all equally special - I love you all the same!  Anyway, I'd better put these flowers in some water, otherwise they'll die!  They are beautiful - I'm going to keep them in here so everyone can see them!"

After life had got back to normal after Donna's nasty scare, and they were back on an even keel, they were able to concentrate on the next important event that was drawing ever closer - Rosie's fourth birthday.  She had been telling everyone that she would soon be starting school - Donna was trying to think of the best time to break it to her that she would have to wait until the beginning of the next school year - she could not just start in the middle of the term!  To celebrate her birthday, she had decided that she would like to go to Kids World again - and, as an extra special treat, they were all going to go swimming together.  After spending all that time wondering whether she was going to live or die, Donna had decided that, as she had been given another chance, she was going to grab life with both hands, and make the most of each new day.

"Mummy" said Rosie, climbing on to her knee.  "Can Auntie Eileen come to my party?"

"Of course she can!  We'll give her an invitation, shall we?"

"Do you think she'll come in the ball pond with me?" said Rosie, grinning broadly.  "Then we can take it in turns to chuck balls at daddy!"

"I don't stand a chance, do I?" he said, folding his arms, pretending to be on his high horse.  "I'm outnumbered by women - you're all ganging up on me!"

"Oh, you love it!" said Donna, as Rosie giggled uncontrollably.  "Anyway, you're not quite outnumbered - what about David?"

"Well, he's hardly in a position to stand up for me, is he?  But, when he is, just you wait!"

"I'm glad you're coming to my party this time, daddy" said Rosie, planting herself firmly on his lap.  "You were in hospital for my last birthday!  Do you remember?"

"Only too well!" he said, his eyes clouding over at the memory of it.  "That's another reason why I'm determined to make the most of this one!"

Eileen was only too pleased to accept her invitation to Rosie's party, and seemed quite touched that the little girl wanted to invite her.  It seemed that she still did not quite comprehend just how special she was to all of them - she had helped them all get through some very difficult times, and they would be forever in her debt.

On the day of the party, she sat with Donna and Joanne, laughing uncontrollably as Jon did his usual party trick of disappearing under a sea of balls in the ball pond, then popping up again, shouting "Boo!!".  After a while, it was not just Rosie's little guests joining in the fun - he seemed to have several little children, who they did not even know, laughing along with them.  Emily sat at the edge of the pond, her legs buried up to her ankles in balls, while she lobbed one after the other at her daddy, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the expression on his face.  After a while, they all tired of that game, and decided to have a go on the slides.  As Emily was older, she wanted to go on the bigger slides, so, leaving Rosie and her guests in the women's capable hands, Jon took her through to the main play area.  As he climbed the steps to one of the slides, as Emily held on to him, one of the mothers stood looking at him.  At first, she did not speak, then she approached him, and said:

"Don't you think you're a bit big to go on there?"

"Don't you think you should mind your own business?" snapped Jon, glaring at her.  "She can't go on any of this unless I take her - she's disabled!"

"Well" she said, looking him straight in the eye.  "What if you collide with a child?  What then?"

"You are really beginning to get on my nerves!" he said, holding on to his temper with difficulty.  "There are two alternatives - either I go on here with her, or I stand by and watch, while she sits in her wheelchair watching her friends do what most children take for granted!  Well, I'll tell you now, I'm not going to stand here and watch, so get used to it!"

With that, he climbed to the top, and, sitting at the very top of the slide, he hoisted Emily on to his lap, and was just about to slide down, when she stopped him.

"Maybe the lady's right, daddy!" she said, her lips trembling.  "I just get in the way, don't I?  You must get fed up with carrying me everywhere!"

"Emily!  Don't you ever let me hear you say that again!  You don't get in the way, and I'll never get fed up with caring for you - you're my daughter, and I love you!  Sometimes I think you don't really believe that anyone could love you as much as I do!"

"I do believe it, daddy!  I just like hearing you say it - and that lady really upset me!"

"She upset me, too!  Come on - do you really want to get down, or shall we go for it?"

"Go for it!!" yelled Emily, her ecstatic smile warming his heart.  "Hurry up!"

All too soon, the party came to an end, but they had not finished yet.  At Rosie's request, they were paying a visit to the local swimming pool.  She had just begun a course of swimming lessons, and was constantly pestering them to take her whenever they had a spare moment.  As Eileen got up to leave, Rosie asked her if she wanted to come with them.

"I don't think I will, sweetheart!" she said, gently ruffling her hair.  "I don't have my swimsuit with me - besides, I'm feeling a little tired at the moment!  When I get home, I think I'll have a little sleep!"

"Are you all right, Eileen?" said Donna, putting her hand on her arm.

"I'm fine, dear!" she said, trying to reassure her.  "I've had a lovely day, but I'm feeling a bit tired now!  Rosie, sweetheart - if I don't see you before you go to bed - have a lovely time at the swimming pool, and thank you for inviting me to your party!"

"Thank you for coming, Auntie Eileen!" said Rosie, lifting up her arms for a hug.  "I love you!"

"I love you, too!" said Eileen, holding her close.

After they arrived home, the children all went straight to bed - they were all exhausted, but still fighting sleep.  It took a while to get Rosie to give in - she was overtired, and crying for no reason. Eventually, she lost the battle, and fell asleep - tired but happy!  As Jon and Donna sat together on the sofa, drinking a well-earned cup of tea, she looked up at him and said:

"It was a good day, wasn't it?  Certainly different from Rosie's last birthday - she was visiting you in hospital!"

"I'd rather not think about it, if you don't mind!  It brings back a lot of bad memories - I'll never forgive that woman for what she did!"

"I'm sorry, love!" she said, softly.  "I won't mention it again - it belongs in the past!"

"Yes, it does - just like her!  Oh yes, Rosie asked me to make sure Eileen had a piece of her birthday cake - I'll take it round now!  She'll give me hell if I forget!"

"No, don't go round just yet - Eileen said she was going to have a nap, remember?  She said she was feeling tired, maybe you should leave it a little longer!  Give her a couple of hours - she may be awake by then!"

Later that evening, as there was nothing particularly interesting on TV, he decided to go and take Eileen her slice of birthday cake.  He tapped gently on her back door, and opened it.  He peeped into the living room, and saw Eileen sitting in an armchair, still fast asleep.  He did not want to wake her, so he placed the cake on her coffee table, and turned to leave.  As he did so, he accidentally brushed against one of her china ornaments on the mantelpiece, sending it crashing on to the hearth.

"Oh, shit!" he said, under his breath.  "So much for not waking her up!"

He turned to face her, apologising profusely, hoping she would not be too cross with him.

"I'm so sorry, Eileen - " he began, putting his hand on her arm.  "I didn't mean to break it!  I'll replace it for you, I.... Eileen?"

She had not even stirred - goodness me, she must be tired - he thought. He smiled fondly at her, and leaned over to kiss her.  As he did so, he suddenly froze.  Instead of the usual warmth of her breath against his cheek, that he had felt so many times before when he had kissed her, there was nothing.  He gently shook her, and waited for a response - still nothing.  Oh, Jesus....  he shook her again - harder this time...

"Oh dear God!  Eileen? Eileen!!  Oh, please God, no..... "