Love Changes Everything

by Love Changes Everything (retail) (epub)

  ‘Well, now that I am so much stronger, perhaps we could go back to our old arrangement of me going round to Ella’s on a Saturday afternoon and then I could give her a hand with the children and you could go out with Ivy and Jake and Andrew.’

  ‘I’ll see what she says,’ Trixie agreed. ‘It’s not really the answer, though, is it, Mum? It’s not right that Daisy goes off out to the pub every night of the week. If Andrew asks me to go to the pictures with him I can’t very well leave you to look after two little ones all evening on your own, now can I?’

  Although Daisy promised that she would always stay home if Trixie had a date, it never happened. Each time Trixie asked her to do so she claimed she’d either had to work late or else she came home late and said that she’d forgotten all about it and Trixie found that at the very last minute she had to call off the arrangements she’d made.

  She hated letting Andrew down because it made him cross and each time it happened she worried that perhaps he wouldn’t ask her out again.

  Ivy had found herself a steady boyfriend, Hadyn Hill, and so she was able to understand the dilemma Trixie found herself in.

  ‘I know my mum finds it too much to cope with the two children on her own when we want to go out together on a Saturday,’ she said. ‘The trouble is, she isn’t feeling too well these days and she doesn’t like going out at nights so it’s no use asking her to go round to Virgil Street to be with your mum and the children.’

  ‘I know that’s not the answer and I wouldn’t dream of asking her,’ Trixie agreed.

  She felt angry that Daisy was causing so much disruption in their lives. There were days when she felt so trapped that it was almost as bad as when she’d been living with Fred and times when she despaired of ever having a life of her own.

  ‘Why don’t you ask Jake if he’ll look after Jimmy and Cilla? He could come round to your place and stay with your mother and give her a hand with them,’ Ivy suggested.

  ‘That’s not fair, though, is it?’ Trixie exclaimed, blushing because she felt embarrassed at the thought of asking him.

  ‘Well, he hasn’t got a girlfriend and he can’t go out with Andrew if you’re going with him, now can he? Ask him, and see what he says. I’m sure he won’t mind. You know he’ll do anything for you. Look how he insisted on coming with you to bring Cilla home when she came out of hospital.’

  Ivy was right. Jake didn’t hesitate for a minute when Trixie asked him the next time she had a date with Andrew to go to the pictures and Daisy let her down.

  Both children loved it when Jake came to look after them because he always played games and had a rough and tumble with them before it was time for them to get ready for bed.

  After he’d helped Maggie give them some supper and tucked them into bed he’d sit there telling them a story till they fell asleep.

  Maggie also liked Jake coming around and she was constantly singing his praises. ‘He’s so helpful and he brightens the whole place up,’ she’d enthused as she recounted what he’d said or done while he’d been there. ‘I like him far better than I do Andrew.’

  ‘You hardly know Andrew, Mum. You’ve only met him a couple of times.’

  ‘That’s because he never comes here for you when he takes you to the pictures; he always meets you there. In fact, he’s not been here again since the day he helped look for Cilla when she went missing.’

  ‘So you don’t really know him.’

  ‘Just as well; he’s too posh for my liking. I never feel comfortable with him.’

  ‘And you do with Jake?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ Maggie smiled, ‘he’s one of us; there’s no side on him and he thinks the world of you, you know, Trixie.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Maggie’s relapse came as a tremendous shock to Trixie. Her mother had been making such splendid progress. Now that the weather was so lovely and much warmer she was planning to resume her Saturday visits to see Ella.

  One minute, or so it seemed, she was her usual self, sitting there singing nursery rhymes to Jimmy and Cilla while Trixie got them ready before Ivy came round to collect them and the next she was suddenly taken ill and was struggling for breath.

  Trixie thought she might have swallowed something and it had gone down the wrong way, but when she tried to pat her mother on the back Maggie pushed her away.

  ‘Don’t . . . don’t do that,’ she gasped. I’m not choking; it’s just that I can’t breathe.’

  Trixie wasn’t sure what to do so she fetched a glass of water and encouraged her mother to take a sip of it, but it did no good at all; Maggie was still gasping for breath.

  Jimmy and Cilla, upset by all the commotion, both started to cry and although she didn’t actually panic, Trixie felt her concern mounting and was very relieved when Ivy arrived.

  Not for the first time she wondered how she would manage if she didn’t have the O’Malleys to help her. It was not only Ivy and Ella; Jake was always ready to give her a hand. In fact, there were times when she felt guilty about accepting his help so much since could offer him nothing in return.

  ‘In my opinion you should send for the doctor,’ Ivy told her. ‘Do you want me to go for you?’

  ‘I think you’re right, so would you mind?’ Trixie agreed. ‘She does seem to be in a pretty bad way, doesn’t she?’

  ‘Shall I take Jimmy in the pram? I’m sure your mam would be better off without all his noise,’ Ivy suggested.

  ‘That would help. He has his coat and stuff on because we were all ready to go out,’ Trixie said as she grabbed hold of him.

  ‘Cilla can come as well, if you like.’

  ‘No, leave her here with me. She doesn’t like going in the pram with him and she’ll hold you up because she walks so slowly.’

  Ivy was back within a few minutes and assured Trixie that the doctor was on his way. ‘Look, I’ll take Cilla and Jimmy round to my mam’s out of the way. If you can’t come and let us know what is happening, don’t worry because I’ll get Jake to pop round and find out when he gets home from work.’

  The doctor was extremely concerned by Maggie’s condition and insisted it was essential that she must go straight into hospital for observation.

  ‘Have you any idea what’s wrong?’ Trixie asked worriedly.

  ‘I think she probably has a collapsed lung and that is why she is having so much trouble with her breathing. She was involved in a serious accident, remember, and I’m afraid this might well be one of the after effects,’ he said sternly.

  ‘Can it be cured?’ Trixie asked hesitantly.

  ‘Well,’ he pursed his lips, ‘I think we’ll have to wait and see what the doctors at the hospital think they can do for her. She is a very sick woman, you know. Now, you get her things together and I’ll arrange for an ambulance.’

  By the time the ambulance arrived at Virgil Street Maggie was barely conscious of what was happening. Trixie went in the ambulance with her but once they arrived at the hospital she was told there was nothing she could do and that she must stay in the waiting room or else come back later.

  She was torn between waiting or going to let Ivy and Ella know what was happening. By now her dad would be home and she’d not left a note for him and he’d be wondering where they all were, so she decided it might be best if she let them all know.

  ‘Back in hospital is she?’ Sam frowned. ‘It’s time she pulled herself together and got out of the house. Daisy says it’s probably lack of fresh air that’s wrong with her, that’s all.’

  ‘No, Dad, it’s far more serious than that,’ Trixie explained. ‘The local doctor thinks that she has a collapsed lung. You should have seen her, Dad; she was gasping for breath almost as if she was choking.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said dismissively, ‘well, I’ll be choking as well if you don’t hurry up and put some grub on the table. Where’s young Jimmy, has Daisy taken him out?’

  ‘When does she ever look after him or take him anywhere or do anything for him?’ Trixie asked b
itterly. ‘I had to ask Ivy to do it and take him and Cilla round to her place while I went in the ambulance with Mum and they’re still there now.’

  ‘When are you going back to see how she is?’ he grunted as Trixie slapped a plate of food down on to the table in front of him.

  ‘When I’ve finished waiting on you and our lodger,’ she told him sharply.

  ‘Cut along there any time you like. I’ll tell Daisy what’s happened and I’m sure she’ll understand,’ he muttered.

  ‘And what about Cilla and Jimmy? Am I to go and bring them back here first?’

  ‘Might be best to leave them where they are till you know if your mum’s coming home tonight or not. If she is, then you’ll want to get her settled first.’

  ‘If they say that Mum is well enough to come home, do I take a taxicab, like Daisy had when she moved here, or do we have to come home on the tram?’ she asked sarcastically.

  ‘Bugger off to the hospital and find out how your mum is and stop asking such damn fool questions,’ her father growled.

  The news was not good. They allowed her to see her mother but Maggie barely acknowledged that she was there. Her face was as white as the pillows she was propped up against and her breathing was so laboured that Trixie could see that every breath was painful.

  She sat holding her mother’s hand, talking to her quietly and willing her to get better. She’d only been there about ten minutes when a middle-aged nurse tapped her on the shoulder and told her that she should leave and let her mother rest. She tried to protest but the nurse was insistent. ‘There’s no point in sitting here because she’s only semi-conscious and doesn’t know what you are saying to her.’

  ‘Can I come back again later tonight to see how she is?’ Trixie begged.

  ‘It would be best if you left it till the morning. There may be a change for the better by then.’

  When she left the hospital Trixie didn’t go straight home, even though she knew her father probably expected her to do so. Instead, she went round to Horatio Street to let Ella know the news and to collect Cilla and Jimmy.

  Ivy had already gone out to meet Hadyn but Ella persuaded Trixie to sit down and have a cup of tea and something to eat before she went home.

  When she stood up to leave Jake insisted on coming back to Virgil Street with her.

  ‘You look all in yourself,’ he told her, ‘you need someone to help you get these two off to bed and I don’t suppose Jimmy’s mother will be around at this time of night to help you to do it,’ he added as he helped to put Jimmy’s coat on.

  Trixie didn’t attempt to stop him or even thank him, because she was sure that he could tell from the expression on her face how grateful she was. When he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a big hug she instinctively kissed him on the cheek, grateful that she had such a wonderful friend who was always so ready to help her.

  Both children were overtired and somewhat subdued. Trixie helped Cilla to get ready for bed while Jake put Jimmy into his pyjamas. There was no rough and tumble or games and both children settled down straight away and didn’t even ask for a story.

  ‘Poor little devil, he looks lost in that big bed all on his own,’ Jake remarked when he came back downstairs.

  ‘I know, but Daisy can’t be bothered to get a cot for him. She says they’ve managed all this time without one and that he’s too big for one now.’

  ‘You don’t like Daisy, do you?’ Jake smiled. ‘I can understand why; she looks a right floozy with her bright red lips and the black around her eyes and that brassy-looking blond hair. Anyone can see it’s artificial, so why does she bother?’

  ‘You’d better ask her,’ Trixie laughed. ‘And while you’re at it ask her why a woman of her age tries to dress like a flapper with her short skirts and high heels.’

  ‘No fear!’ Jake exclaimed in pretended horror. ‘She might clock me one. Or if your dad was around and heard me asking questions like that then he might do it for her.’

  ‘Fancy a cup of tea?’ Trixie asked as she cleared away the dishes her dad had been using for his meal when she’d gone out. ‘I’m afraid there’s nothing stronger.’

  ‘Tea and a chat will be fine.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve been wondering if you’ve started making any plans for the future?’ he said as he drank his tea.

  ‘Not yet, but I did intend to do so. I brought home an instruction book from the library to try and learn typing and shorthand, but I didn’t get very far with them. Practising typing on a paper keyboard wasn’t very easy and I couldn’t make head nor tail of those funny little squiggles in the shorthand book. I suppose you need to have some proper lessons to start you off.’

  ‘Can’t you manage to go to night school?’ Jake frowned. ‘That’s the best way to learn.’

  ‘I did think about it but then Daisy moved in and that put paid to the idea because there was the problem of needing someone to be here to give Jimmy some supper and put him to bed . . .’

  ‘That’s Daisy’s responsibility, not yours.’

  ‘Yes, I know, but Dad seems to expect me to do it, and to keep the peace I just went along with it. I didn’t want any shouting or fights because it upset my mum so much.’

  ‘That’s all very well, but it’s your future that’s at stake. You hated it in the factory.’

  ‘Well, I don’t suppose I’ll be going back there again in a hurry, not now that Mum’s taken a turn for the worse. I’ll be needed here to look after her and Cilla, won’t I?’

  ‘And to continue to look after Daisy’s kid as well, by the sound of it,’ Jake said angrily.

  After Jake had gone home Trixie thought a lot about what he’d said and she knew he was right. Unless she stood up to her father and Daisy and told them she couldn’t look after Jimmy, she was going to find herself responsible for him for ever.

  She wouldn’t waste any more time thinking about it, she told herself, she’d wait up and tackle them both when they came in from the pub. They probably wouldn’t be late tonight because her dad would be worried and want to know how her mum was.

  It was well after midnight when Daisy and Sam came home, and both of them were unsteady on their feet. Daisy was laughing so much that she was crying and her make-up was streaked all down her face. Trixie took one look at them both and knew it was pointless trying to discuss anything with them while they were in that state.

  She felt so angry that her dad had gone out and got so drunk while her mother was lying desperately ill that she went off to bed without a word and left them to sort themselves out.

  Next day when she went to the hospital the news was not good and when her dad came home that night all thought of night school went out of her mind.

  Maggie hovered in a semi-conscious state for almost a week before dying in her sleep. Trixie was heartbroken and Cilla utterly bewildered by it all. If it hadn’t been for the support she received from the O’Malleys, especially from Jake, who seemed to be constantly helping her, she didn’t know how she would have got through the next couple of weeks.

  Her dad made arrangements for the funeral and for a few evenings even managed to stay away from the pub, but once it was all over he returned to his normal ways.

  Every evening, the moment they’d finished their meal, Daisy tarted herself up and she and Sam went out for a bevvy. It was often almost midnight before they returned home and they were usually so tipsy they could barely stand up.

  Trixie felt devastated by his behaviour because it was callous even for him, but she decided to leave it till the weekend and then she would tackle them about the situation and point out that she needed some free time to go out.

  She rehearsed what she was going to say over and over in front of her mirror and kept reminding herself that no matter what her dad said, or what interference there was from Daisy, she would remain calm and not lose her temper.

  As it happened her father forestalled her. When he didn’t come home on Saturday when the pubs closed after their midday opening Trixie wo
ndered if he’d had an accident of some sort.

  It was a lovely summer day and she’d planned to take the two children to St John’s Gardens to play but had felt too anxious to do so.

  It was almost six o’clock before he finally turned up. Daisy was with him. As usual she was dressed up to the nines, only this time she’d gone even further than usual and was wearing a new bright blue dress and a matching straw cloche hat which was trimmed with a mass of pink roses at one side. Trixie noticed that her dad also had an enormous rose in his buttonhole.

  ‘Sit down, Trixie,’ he told her, and she could smell that he’d been drinking. ‘Me and Daisy have something important to tell you. We’ve been along and got spliced.’

  He started laughing, a big belly laugh, a sound that Trixie hadn’t heard from him since she’d been a small girl. It was as if he was extremely amused about something. Daisy joined in, screeching noisily in unison with him, as if sharing some huge joke.

  ‘I’m your bleeding stepmother now,’ she chortled. ‘You’ll be doing things my way from now on, not any old how like you did when Maggie was alive.’

  Trixie was shocked into silence as she stared from Daisy’s highly painted face to her father’s bleary eyes. She tried to tell herself that this couldn’t be happening, that her dad couldn’t mean it.

  ‘You can’t have done, Dad. It’s only a month since Mam’s funeral,’ she gasped, the colour draining from her face with shock.

  ‘It’s been long enough for us to give notice at the Register Office, hasn’t it, Sam?’ Daisy defended boastfully, looking up at him with a knowing smile.

  ‘What can you be thinking of, Dad?’ Trixie persisted. ‘What on earth will people say?’

  ‘I don’t give a bugger what people think or what any of them say and that includes you as well, my girl. Daisy and me are shacking up together and if you don’t like it, then you know what to do; get out and take your sister with you.’