"Lana!" Valerie burst out beyond ectastically as she buried her head in the crook of Lana's neck, sniffing the rose scent of her perfume and mint hair's fragrance that allured her tender nostrils.
"Val!" The older woman's clasped arms pulled the younger one in a firmer, warmer embrace as she said in elated voice once the both ladies met together in person after plenty of phone calls, hearing their echoes through the earpiece daily or twice a day. Meanwhile, the red-haired woman's hands rubbed Lana's back. "I have been expecting you. What a lovely Christmas miracle!" The reporter kept on with a cocky smile distorting across her conservative mauve coloured lips.
"Yeah! The miracles happen on Christmas." Valerie scoffed as soon as they broke off the hug, kissing each other's cheeks.
Whilst the both adults were talking mirthfully, Johnny glimpsed bashfully the older child that stood before him as he fixed uneasily his eyeglasses. His perturbation verged as he wasn't gregarious child at all especially nearby strangers and bigger children as nightmares of bullies and scapegraces, haunting the adopted young boy. Nightmares that haunted him like cryptical beasts, roaming in the dark, profound woods in the middle of the night. He developed a barrier that shielded him against bullies, despite, on other hand, he has an arduous time socializing with his peers.
Then the both mothers shifted their gaze to their children as they folded gently their heads, consequently introducing them to each other as they wanted to shear the awkward hush between them.
"Johnny, that's your mother's new friend daughter Shona!" Lana clarified her only son as she stimulated his confidence as she gave him a soothing smile.
"Shona, that's Lana's boy Johnny."
"It's nice to meet you, Johnny. It's Shona!" The little girl approached the younger boy as she offered him her hand to handshake mutually along. A bold, radiant smile curled up in the corner of her thin lips.
"It's a pleasure...Shona! Johnny!" He stuttered as he was far from assured as he extended his arm as his tinier warm hand met the red-haired girl's amusingly smooth, warm, handshaking within seconds as he gave her a humble smile, blooming on his fresh, pale face. Then he shuddered as he released his hand from his mother's grasp, moving behind her legs as he held her calf, in the meantime he caught the other three females' attention as well.
It was outstandingly apparent the young boy was beyond skittish and shy especially in the presence of child 5 years his senior, his small arms wrapped around the brunette's calf, opting to avoid Valerie and Shona's eyeing. His face all flushed as his cheeks heated abruptly.
"He seems very shy." Valerie stated casually.
"He's actually shy especially nigh strangers. He has trust issues." The young reporter explained wisely as she turned to Johnny, facing him as she overlooked his buried face in her trousered leg. Then she chuckled inwardly to herself as she wanted to help Johnny by pandering him to appear less diffident though she trusted enough the younger woman.
"Johnny? Sweetie?" Lana crouched down as she shifted her position as he dangled his arms around her knee, looking up apprehensively at her eyes as one of her hands managed to lift down to his head, running her thin, long fingers through his dark combed hair. She attempted to attract his attention though her peculiar failure. Then she emitted a disappointed sigh. "Come on, sweetheart! They are just friends. They won't hurt you."
Instead of replying back, no reply came from the young boy. He just looked awkwardly apprehensive at his mother's temperate chocolate eyes that reassured him, despite his barrier.
***
"Oh, Wow!" The young journalist was in awe as she seated in the right end of the dining table as her son sat in the north path of the dining table, against the older girl. Her chocolate eyes scrutinized sparingly around the kitchen. Her mouth was agape as she waited patiently for Valerie to ask her what she would drink tonight. She liked the concept of living in a small, but beguilling one story house.
It reminded her somewhat of her childhood when she used to be a child even an adolescent, growing with a younger sister and older sister in a frugal household as Lana's parents's jobs weren't prestiguous at all. Howsoever, her father worked as a librarian as her interest for the books and writing aroused notably and she was one of the most flawless students in Literature class, having excellent grades on her essays that entranced the teachers. Thereafter, as a high school student, one of her classmates told her that she should become an author, besides she was nosy and asking plenty of questions that leaded her to follow the path to journalism.
"Your house is wonderful, Val!" Lana complimented kindly as her fingertips gently clattered tauntingly with the empty glass. A smug smile spread across the younger woman's lips as she strolled around the embellished dining table.
"Thank you!" She accepted the compliment from the bottom of her heart as she gripped a bottle of red wine that stood on the countertop, her fingers wrapped around the glass bottle as she lifted it up, scanning with her hazel eyes the remaining liquid. "Would you like some wine, Lana?" She suggested.
"Sure." The young reporter didn't reject a glass of wine as Valerie walked up to her as she opened the bottle cap effortlessly. Valerie poured some wine in Lana's empty glass, filling it with wine liquor. "Thanks!"
The children's glasses were already filled with natural juice fluid as its orange fragrance, mingled with its wine aroma diffused quickly in the kitchen. Then Valerie went up to the countertop, leaving the bottle of wine as she rushed to her seat as she seated in a matter of seconds.
Shona's hazel eyes were locked in Johnny's chocolate ones as the both children haven't peeled a single word after seating on the dining table, surveying one another's face as the little girl broke off the embarrassing hush at last.
"Is everything alright, Johnny?" She asked him as commotion tingles satured her voice, offering him a radiant, amiable smile.
"Yes. Everything is fine." He responded shyly.
In the interim, Valerie grabbed her glass of wine as she lifted it up, promulgating jubilantly:
"Let's raise a toast, Lana!"
The brunette lifted up her grasped glass of wine as she adjusted her glass that tinkled against the other one.
"For being welcome and most of all, wishing the best on Christmas!" Valerie furthered as she adjourned seconds later as she sipped lukewarm wine, savouring it as the alcohol beverage rolled down in her body, licking greedily her lips.
Whilst the both women got to know one another personally, in the meanwhile Shona spoke with the new boy, attempting to not invade his personal space and exhaust him with inquiries.
As the time passed gradually on the dining table in eating, drinking and talking, then Lana raised the topic about Jude.
"It's unbelievable you have been friends for three years with Jude." Lana said sceptically.
"Yeah, she's a great friend. I and she have something in common." The Russian-American maid raised an arch of her eyebrow as she pursed her lips as she casted a scrutiny look at the reporter, noting something somewhat leery or not exactly leery. Like the brunette wants to learn more about their friendship though the younger lady didn't want to descend in abysmal, elaborating details as they were personal as well.
"Oh really?" Lana gasped amused as she sipped her beverage as she inhaled leisurely. "But do you know what she has done to me?" The young journalist kept on as Valerie gaped absent-mindedly the brunette's face, listening her attentivelly. Instead of saying anything beside, Ms.Winters proceed with her speech:
"She was a coldblooded and merciless nun who locked me up in the madhouse shortly after I came in Briarcliff to take notes about the facility, besides her bakery."
"I know this, Lana Banana." Valerie cried out exasperated as she narrowed an eyebrow, her gape turned in a glare at the middle aged lady, grimacing face.
"And what do you think about it?" Miss Winters pried as she was beyond curious to hear Valerie's point of view on her question.
"I don't think it's the right thing to discuss it during such merry holidays. And can't you realise it will ruin my friendship with this amazing woman if we still talk behind her back without her knowledge?" The red-haired snapped as she wanted to protect her friendship with Jude as it was questioned by the dubious journalist.
"But can't you realise what she used to be four years ago?"
Then Valerie grabbed her head in her hands as she lowered it, her nerves verging as her blood vigorously boiled in her veins. She didn't want bland argues and dramas over the Christmas evening though Lana's inquisitiveness was out of her depth. Furthermore, Valerie wasn't a fan of dramas and scandals as she wanted to halt Lana's inqusitiveness that crossed each borderline within minutes.
Lana thought Valerie was something like Jude's spiritual doppelganger though she wasn't pious at all, besides she's a gothic maid with crystal intelligence that Jude possessed either too. Especially as a highly-proficent middle aged lady. At last but not least, it reminded her of her first encounter with Jude during her nunnery for the bakery.
"I don't care what she used to be four years ago. Even twenty years ago!" She cautioned menancingly as in her voice was visible her rancor, abiding as calm as possible. "It's Christmas time, Lana! Let's relax instead of arguing cluelessly, okay?"
Then the reporter exhaled sharply as she affirmed the stubborn maid's words as she simply nod her head in agreement without disputing anymore, relishing the Christmas vibes as they changed the topic, discussing something else that rejoiced them. Likewise, they spent some time with their children as they didn't want to underestimate them, befriending Shona and Johnny as they became friends, in spite of the young boy's struggles in the beginning.
To be continued...