Love Changes Everything

by Love Changes Everything (retail) (epub)

  ‘I’ve just told you, I’m the one who makes the decision. I said you could have a room so it’s yours if you want it.’

  ‘Dad, it’s untidy at the moment, there’re all my things in there.’ Trixie turned to Daisy. ‘You won’t want to see it like that. Give me a chance to clear it up first.’

  ‘Now!’ Sam’s voice rose to an angry roar that startled Cilla so much that she burst into tears, rushing to Trixie for comfort.

  Gently Trixie disengaged the clutching little hands and lifted Cilla on to her mother’s lap. ‘Stay there, pet,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

  Daisy had a self-satisfied smirk on her face a she followed Trixie. She gave a disparaging glance round the big bedroom. ‘Yeah, I suppose it’ll do,’ she said grudgingly.

  ‘Well?’ Sam had followed them and now he was standing in the doorway waiting for Daisy’s approval.

  ‘Not exactly the Adelphi, is it?’ she smirked. ‘Give us a fag while I make up my mind if I’m going to take it or not.’

  Sam brought out his packet of cigarettes and held it out to her. She selected one and stuck it between her brightly painted lips and waited for him to light it for her.

  ‘How much did you say you wanted a week?’ she asked as she exhaled a cloud of smoke.

  ‘You’d better get back and see to your mother,’ he told Trixie. ‘Put the pot on and make Daisy a cuppa; we’ll be joining you in a couple of minutes.’

  Trixie felt a surge of hot anger as she did as she was told. Her dad had never mentioned that he was thinking about letting out one of their rooms.

  It was one way of finding extra money, she could see that, but if they’d talked it over first then she would have suggested a working man and that they should put him in the small bedroom that was Cilla’s, not the main bedroom.

  She and her mam had only been saying a couple of days ago that because she felt so much better it was time they went back to their normal sleeping arrangements. Now it looked as though that was going to be out of the question.

  As she made the tea Trixie wondered what else her dad had promised this Daisy person. Was he going to expect her to cook for Daisy and do her washing and clean her room, or was she going to do all that for herself?

  She didn’t know which would be worse. Giving a complete stranger the run of their home, especially the kitchen, was going to take a lot of getting used to. Her mum wouldn’t like having to do that, she thought as she placed the cups, teapot, milk and sugar on a tray and took it through into the living room.

  They waited for ten minutes and still Daisy and her father hadn’t come out of the bedroom so she poured out a cup for herself and her mother before it went cold.

  They’d finished drinking it before her father put his head round the door and said that Daisy was leaving and that he was going with her to help her to pack her things and bring them back.

  ‘Get your stuff out of that room and clean it up and make it look decent, Trixie,’ he ordered and then slammed the door before she could voice a protest.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Maggie asked in a bewildered voice. ‘Who was that woman? Was it someone from the hospital to see if I was all right?’

  When Trixie tried to explain her mother looked at her in disbelief. ‘We don’t want anyone moving in here with us,’ she protested. ‘There isn’t room, for one thing.’

  ‘We both know that, Mum, but it’s what Dad wants. He sees it as a way of making some money.’

  ‘Yes, but she’s a complete stranger. We don’t know her or anything about her; she could be anybody,’ Maggie complained, shaking her head. ‘We mightn’t like each other or even get on.’

  ‘Well, it looks as though we’ll have to try and do so because Dad’s made up his mind and it seems it’s going to happen whether we like it or not.’

  ‘What’s put a daft idea like this into his mind?’ Maggie said worriedly. ‘All I want to do is to get things back to normal as soon as possible.’

  ‘That’s what we both want, Mum.’ Trixie smiled. ‘I suppose it is partly my fault because I keep saying that we need more housekeeping money.’

  ‘I know things are tight, luv, but we always manage somehow, now don’t we?’

  ‘Yes, but I’ve been telling him that if he spent less on fags and beer he could turn up more housekeeping.’

  ‘Oh, Trixie! Your dad doesn’t take kindly to nagging, you should know that saying something like that would rile him,’ Maggie sighed.

  ‘He should have talked to you or me first, though, before he told this woman that she could definitely have a room here,’ Trixie defended, her cheeks burning.

  ‘I’m quite sure your dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he says he’s going to sleep in that little room of Cilla’s,’ Maggie agreed. ‘It’s all right for her because she’s only a child. So where is she going to sleep now?’

  ‘We’ll have to have her bed in our room, I suppose, although how we’ll manage to do that I don’t know.’

  ‘Leave things be and I’ll talk to him when he comes home,’ Maggie promised.

  ‘It’s too late, Mum,’ Trixie said wearily. ‘He’s already made all the arrangements and he’s the told this woman that she can move in right away. He’s gone with her to help her bring her things back here.’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  There was another shock in store for Trixie and Maggie when, some two hours later, Sam returned with Daisy. They were not alone. Sam was carrying a dark haired little boy with vivid blue eyes and a cheeky little face.

  ‘This is Daisy’s kid; he’s called Jimmy,’ Sam told them as he put the child down on the floor and held on to his hand to steady him till he found his feet.

  ‘You never told us that you had a little boy,’ Trixie exclaimed, her voice registering annoyance as she stared angrily at Daisy.

  ‘You never asked, luv. Sam knew, of course,’ she added, grinning up at him as if it was a big joke.

  Trixie bit her lip, knowing she’d been wrong-footed and unsure of what to say next.

  ‘He’s nearly two years old and he’s already a right little devil,’ Daisy said proudly. ‘He takes after his old man, doesn’t he, Sam?’ Daisy went on as she ruffled the child’s mop of thick hair.

  ‘Stop all this chuntering and let’s get your stuff inside,’ Sam told her gruffly. ‘Here,’ he held out the child’s hand to Trixie, ‘you and your mother keep an eye on him while I help Daisy take her stuff into the bedroom. You have cleaned it out and made it ready like I told you to do?’ he asked suspiciously.

  ‘Yes, of course I have, but there’s no cot in there. Neither of you said there was going to be a child,’ Trixie added tartly.

  She felt furious with her father. It wasn’t fair on her mother to have a child of that age running around the place and probably crying and screaming when he didn’t get his own way. With the state her health was in she still needed plenty of rest, peace and quiet. Even Cilla’s chatter was sometimes more than she could stand.

  ‘Don’t worry your head about it, chooks, young Jimmy can sleep in my bed with me,’ Daisy told her dismissively. ‘After all, I’ve no one else to help keep my bed warm – leastways not for the moment,’ she added with a raucous laugh.

  ‘Right, well, let’s start getting all your stuff upstairs. We should have made that taxicab driver do it, not just pile it all in the passage; not after what he charged.’

  Trixie wondered who had paid the driver. Surely not her dad, he’d never paid for anything like that in his life. He hadn’t even been willing to fork out for a taxicab to bring her mum home from hospital.

  She bit her lip, there was not much point in her saying anything because he’d either tell her that it was none of her business or would give her a backhander for being cheeky. He’d also remind her that he was master in his own home and that she had to do whatever he said. Nevertheless, she was very surprised that he would take in someone who had a young child. He had no time for Cilla and he was quick
to fly off the handle if she started crying or even made a noise when he wanted to sleep, so what would it be like with a two-year-old living there?

  Time would prove what a mistake he was making and when he couldn’t stand the noise and disruption any longer then he’d no doubt throw Daisy and her little boy out. In the meantime, for her mother’s sake, she’d have to go along with his decision.

  ‘I’ll give you a hand with your stuff, Daisy,’ she said with a resigned smile.

  ‘No, you keep an eye on Jimmy and make us a cuppa. I’ll help Daisy to settle in,’ her father told her.

  It was over an hour before Sam and Daisy finally finished carrying everything upstairs. Cilla seemed to be delighted with her new companion and she and Jimmy were playing together quite happily. Trixie spread a crust with margarine and a scrape of conny-onny milk on it for both them. Jimmy ate his as if he was starving and Trixie wondered when he’d last had a proper meal.

  When Daisy finally came out of the bedroom she was wearing her outdoor clothes. ‘Can you look after little Jimmy for a bit longer? He’s no trouble, is he?’ she said airily. ‘I’m taking your dad for a bevvy to repay him for all his help.’

  Trixie felt so annoyed that for a moment she couldn’t think what to say. Then she caught her mother’s eye and saw Maggie shake her head in warning.

  ‘Mum, whatever is going on?’ she burst out the moment the door closed behind her father and Daisy. ‘Who does she think she is? She’s just a lodger yet she acts as if she owns the place. And to turn up with a little kid without a word of warning! She didn’t even ask us if we’d mind her bringing him here.’

  ‘Well, if he’s her child then she can hardly leave him behind,’ Maggie sighed. ‘Your dad obviously knew she was bringing him. Do you know how much rent he’s charging her?’

  ‘Of course I don’t! He’s never breathed a word about that and I don’t suppose we’ll see a penny piece of it.’ She pushed her hair back behind her ears in an agitated movement. ‘I can’t manage now on the money he’s giving me for housekeeping and if he expects me to feed her and her kid as well on what I get now, then there’s going to be one almighty row, I can tell you.’

  ‘Shush, shush,’ Maggie tried to calm her. ‘Don’t take on so. I’ll have a word with him tonight when we go to bed.’

  ‘You won’t get the chance, Mum, now will you? He’s sleeping in the boxroom and you’re sleeping with Cilla and me in my old room,’ Trixie reminded her.

  ‘Then I’ll wait till everyone else has gone to bed and have a quiet word in here with him,’ Maggie assured her.

  Although it was quite late and past her bedtime, Cilla refused to go to bed because it meant being parted from Jimmy.

  ‘What am I to do?’ Trixie groaned. ‘Poor little thing, he’s tired out but I can’t see him settling down all on his own. Anyway, I can hardly put him in a big double bed, he’s too little and we’ve no idea what time Daisy is coming home.’

  ‘Probably not till chucking-out time,’ Maggie sighed. ‘You know how your dad hates to leave before they shout time. He says the last pint is the best pint.’

  ‘Yes, and that’s the one that sends him over the top,’ Trixie said bitterly.

  ‘Since you’ve moved Cilla’s bed into our room why not put them in that together. It might make her go to bed if she knows he’s going as well. Push the bed tight up against the wall and put Jimmy in that side and he can’t come to much harm.’

  ‘Her little bed is tight up against the wall as it is; there’s hardly space to move around in the room,’ Trixie grumbled.

  ‘Well, there you are, then. It seems to be the answer. When Daisy gets back, if with any luck he’s asleep, she can simply lift him into her bed without waking him.’

  When Trixie told Cilla what she was going to do Cilla was so excited by the idea that she couldn’t get to bed quickly enough. For the first time since she’d been very small she didn’t even bother to take Bonzo to bed but was happy to cuddle little Jimmy instead.

  Sam and Daisy didn’t come home till almost midnight and when they did they were both so drunk that they could hardly get up the stairs. There was no question of Daisy transferring Jimmy into her bed because she was incapable of doing so. Trixie was afraid to put him in there herself because Daisy might roll over on him during the night and suffocate him, or else push him out of bed.

  There was also no question of Maggie having the quiet talk she’d hoped to have with Sam. He’d lurched off into the small bedroom in a complete drunken stupor and in a matter of minutes was snoring his head off. Maggie and Trixie both knew he’d be like a bear with a sore head the next morning and they probably wouldn’t be able to get a civil word out of him.

  ‘Never mind, luv,’ Maggie murmured as she and Trixie prepared for bed themselves, ‘there’s always tomorrow. I’ll have a quiet talk with him as soon as I can. In the meantime, we’ll just have to put up with this Daisy and her little boy. You never know, we may be able to find out something from her if she’s in a talkative mood when she sobers up again.’

  ‘Yes, and till she does sober up we’re going to have to look after her little boy, I suppose,’ Trixie said dryly.

  ‘He’s not all that much trouble though, is he?’ Maggie said placatingly. ‘Poor little chap; I think he’s probably used to being dumped on strangers.’

  ‘It’s a good job that Cilla has taken to him the way she has and that she isn’t jealous of him, otherwise we would have trouble on our hands,’ Trixie commented as she stood looking down at the pair of them curled up together and sound asleep.

  In the weeks that followed it became the pattern of their lives. Daisy didn’t usually put in an appearance till around mid-morning and by then Trixie had Jimmy already washed and dressed and had given him some breakfast.

  Daisy would appear with her face all made up and with her outdoor clothes on, claiming that she was going to work so would they mind looking after Jimmy till she came home.

  ‘They get on so well together that it must make life easier for you knowing that your Cilla has a little playmate at last and that you don’t have to bother with her so much,’ Daisy commented as she nodded to where Jimmy and Cilla were sitting on the floor playing together quite happily.

  ‘Yes, the two of them do get on quite well most of the time,’ Trixie admitted, ‘but it’s not so easy coping with both of them when I have to go out shopping.’

  ‘You’ve got a big pram, so pop Jimmy in that and he’ll probably fall asleep before you get home. Unless, of course, Cilla still needs it. If she does, then I’m sure there’s room for you to put them in together,’ Daisy told her.

  ‘Trixie takes the pram to put the heavy shopping in,’ Maggie said quickly when Trixie didn’t answer. ‘She’s encouraging Cilla to walk when they go to the shops.’

  Daisy gave a supercilious smile. ‘Another couple of years, mind, and my little Jimmy will be streets ahead of your poor little Cilla. It’s a shame she’s so backward,’ she smirked.

  Maggie and Trixie resented her remarks but neither of them said anything. They both disliked having her there so they regarded it as something of a blessing that she cleared off out and, as Daisy said, Jimmy was really no trouble at all.

  They had no idea what her job was and she was always evasive when they tried to find out. It was obvious she was earning money and paying for her room so they kept their suspicions to themselves.

  They still hadn’t found out how much she was paying Sam and it took a great deal of nagging on Trixie’s part before she managed to convince her father that he must give her more housekeeping because she most certainly couldn’t manage to feed them all otherwise.

  Daisy was a surprising ally when it came to this. She liked her food as well as her drink and she was highly critical about the sort of meals Trixie was putting on the table.

  ‘Call this scouse! Can’t you cook any better than this?’ she’d asked scornfully as she sat down with them for their first meal together the evening aft
er she arrived. ‘There’s no bloody meat at all in it and it tastes like dishwater.’

  ‘Give me the money to buy decent meat instead of having to make do with scrag end or scraps and I’ll cook you the best scouse you’ve ever tasted,’ Trixie had told her with some asperity, looking across at her dad and hoping he would take some notice of what was being said.

  The following week her dad almost doubled the housekeeping. Trixie was so surprised that she almost told him it was too much.

  ‘That’s for extra food now that there’s another two mouths to feed and Daisy asked me to give you a couple of bob for yourself for looking after little Jimmy,’ he told her gruffly.

  ‘Thanks.’ She tried to sound grateful and nonchalant at the same time but it was difficult. She was tempted to point out that there was a lot more work now, what with feeding Jimmy and doing all the extra washing and housework so that it meant she never had any time to herself.

  When she talked it over with her mother, Maggie pointed out that it might be better to say nothing and accept things as they were rather than have Daisy meddling in the kitchen or interfering with the way she did things.

  ‘As I said before, Jimmy seems to be easy enough to deal with and Cilla certainly seems to enjoy his company. I’m feeling stronger every day too, so I’ll be able to do a bit more and help you out, luv. Anyway,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘it means that your dad can’t expect you to find a job, not if you have little Jimmy to look after and all the cooking and cleaning to do.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose that’s true enough,’ Trixie agreed as she moved the fireguard away and began putting more coal on the fire, ‘but I think we’ll need to come to some arrangement with Daisy about looking after Jimmy herself a bit more so that I can go out.’

  ‘You always seem happy enough to take him with you, the same as you do Cilla,’ Maggie said, looking perplexed.

  ‘I hardly ever see Andrew these days because he doesn’t like it if I have to take them with us if we want to go out on Saturday afternoons,’ Trixie explained as she replaced the fireguard. ‘Now and again I leave them with Ella but only if Ivy is there because I think she finds that looking after the two of them is too much for her if she is on her own. Anyway, why should she look after Jimmy when she hardly knows him?’