Love Changes Everything (38 page)

Ella had given her such a long list that she knew it was going to take two trips so she decided to do the shopping first and take that back before she went home to collect some clean clothes for Cilla.

It was mid-morning by the time she arrived at Virgil Street and Daisy was waiting for her; she was scowling and in a vile temper.

‘So where the hell do you think you've been all night?' she demanded as Trixie struggled out of her coat and shook the snow from it. ‘Your dad wanted to know when you didn't come home.'

‘I doubt that,' Trixie told her. ‘He probably didn't even notice that I wasn't here.'

‘He noticed all right. For a start, where was our meal last night? Selfish little cow; not a word and we sat here waiting, expecting you home at any moment.'

‘Surely you could have made something,' Trixie told her. ‘You're always telling me that this is your home.'

‘Yes, and we let you stay here without asking you to hand over a penny piece in return for you doing the cooking—'

‘And the cleaning and washing and ironing and shopping and anything else you want doing,' Trixie retorted as she took off her wet shoes.

‘You've got a lot to say for yourself this morning,' Daisy sneered. ‘Stayed out last night so that you could share a bed with some fancy man, did you?'

Trixie gave her a scathing look but made no reply. As she started to move towards her bedroom Daisy stopped her.

‘You may as well put your coat back on and go and get the shopping; it will save me having to get all wrapped up to go out,' she ordered, passing her the list and some money.

Trixie hesitated for a moment, wondering if she dared to refuse and remind Daisy that usually she always insisted on doing the shopping herself. Then common sense got the better of her and she thought it was wisest to say nothing.

‘When's that sister of yours coming home, then?' Daisy asked as she stood watching Trixie put her damp coat and wet shoes back on again.

Trixie shrugged and bit her lip. She didn't want to tell her that Cilla was already out of hospital because if she did then she'd start asking questions about where she was and why she wasn't at home.

‘Making a mountain out of a molehill, all this fuss and palaver over a poultice,' Daisy muttered. Trixie knew from her tone that she was worried and inwardly she couldn't help feeling that it was what Daisy deserved to be.

When she returned with the shopping Trixie insisted that she must go and change her clothes because she was wet through from the snow. At the same time she packed a shopping bag with some clean clothes for Cilla although she knew that she'd have to wait till she went to work that evening to smuggle them out.

For the rest of the day Daisy watched her closely constantly finding fresh jobs for her to do.

‘Going rather early, aren't you?' Daisy grumbled when she got ready to leave. ‘There's still plenty that needs doing around here, you know. And what's that you've got in there?' she asked, indicating the bag Trixie was carrying.

‘Some clean rags to use as dusters,' Trixie said abruptly and headed for the door before Daisy could ask any more questions. She hoped she still had time to nip round and explain to Ella why she hadn't been back sooner.

She was only able to stay for a few minutes and this upset Cilla who clung on to her as she headed for the door.

‘I'll come back later and collect you and take you home,' she promised.

‘I think you should leave her here for another night,' Ella advised. ‘It's so slippery out and we don't want her falling over. You can stay as well, if you like.'

Trixie thought about this while she was doing the cleaning and she had to admit it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps she ought to go home first and make sure that her dad had been given a decent meal. At the same time she could explain to him what was going on and that would make amends; that was if Daisy was telling the truth and he really was worrying about her and Cilla.

They were waiting for her, both of them looking angry and ready for a row when she walked in.

‘Where's Cilla?' Sam demanded before she could say a word.

‘You told us she was in hospital, but your dad's been there tonight and they say she's not there and that she was sent home days ago,' Daisy added.

‘That's right, she was discharged yesterday. She's not properly better, though. I have to take her back so that they can make sure that the scarring you inflicted on her has healed,' she said looking straight at Daisy.

‘So where is she? What have you done with her? Why haven't you brought her home?' her father bellowed, his face getting more red and angry by the minute.

‘Do you think I'd bring her back here and leave her on her own to be ill-treated again?' Trixie questioned, her eyes blazing.

‘I don't know what the hell you're on about.' Her father looked puzzled. He looked from her to Daisy and back again. ‘As far as I know she was taken off to hospital because she had a bad cough and a touch of bronchitis.'

‘So that's what she told you, is it, and you believed it?' Trixie said contemptuously. ‘She didn't bother to tell you that she'd put a mustard plaster on Cilla's chest while I was out. Or that it was so hot that it blistered all the skin of her chest and brought it up in weals. It was so bad that she had to stay in hospital for almost a week . . .'

‘Then where is she now?' Sam persisted, running his hand through his close-cropped hair in bewilderment.

‘Somewhere safe,' Trixie told him defiantly. ‘Somewhere where neither of you can hurt her.'

The blow felled her to the ground. Sam stood over her, and was about to kick her in the ribs, but Daisy restrained him.

‘Don't do that or she'll end up in the bloody hospital and you'll be accused of ill-treating the silly little bitch and she'll make more trouble for the pair of us.'

‘Get up and get out and take your things and your sister's with you and don't come back,' Sam snarled, nudging her with the toe of his boot in spite of what Daisy had warned.

Trixie pulled herself to her knees. Her jaw ached and she'd banged her side as she fell and there was such a sharp pain in her ribs that she wondered if she'd broken one.

She stumbled into the bedroom and lay down on the bed for a few minutes to try and get her breath back. Still in pain she tried to pull herself together and began stuffing as many of her clothes and Cilla's as she could into a pillowcase.

She knew that Daisy was standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest and watching her.

‘I'm just making sure you don't take anything that doesn't belong to you,' Daisy smirked. ‘By rights you ought to hand over all that money you've been secretly squirrelling away all these weeks, but I suppose you're going to need it to live on now that you can't scrounge off your dad any longer,' she taunted.

‘You're going to find things very different in the future after living here and having everything found for you,' she persisted when Trixie continued to ignore what she was saying.

‘You're going to find things very different, too, because from now on you will have to do all your own housework and the cooking,' Trixie retaliated. ‘My dad's never been much use around the house,' she added as a parting shot as she humped the pillowcase towards the door, anxious to get away before there was any more trouble.

Fortunately the snow had stopped but it was still very cold and the keen wind made her face ache. She pulled her coat collar higher to try and shield it but her jaw was so tender where she'd taken the blow that the pressure made her wince.

The pain in her side was also getting worse and when she picked up the pillowcase and tried to carry it in her arms she couldn't do so. In desperation she had to resort to dragging it along the ground even though the pavements were still wet and slushy.

By the time she reached Horatio Street she felt absolutely exhausted. Jake and Cilla were standing by the front window looking out for her and when Jake saw her staggering down the street he came hurrying out to help her.

‘You'll catch your death of cold, Jake, you haven't even got a coat on,' Trixie admonished as he took the pillowcase from her. As he was about to put an arm around her waist to support her she pulled away and slipped her arm through his instead.

‘We'd better get back indoors as quickly as possible,' he commented. ‘What's happened to you, fallen over in the snow?' he asked as he helped her into the house.

Trixie was tempted to agree with him and say that was what had happened, but because she was so utterly weary and so in need of comfort, she told him exactly what had happened.

‘How could any man do such a thing to a young woman? He might have broken your jaw and disfigured you for life,' he said shaking his head in disgust as he helped her out of her coat. ‘You're going to have a dreadful bruise there in the morning,' he commented, gently examining the swelling along the lower edge of her jaw as he settled her near the fire.

Cilla crouched beside her chair clutching tight hold of her hand and trying to comfort her while Ella bustled around making her a hot drink.

The moment Trixie finished her drink and put down her empty cup Cilla tried to hug her. The pain that shot through her ribs was so intense that she screamed.

‘I'm so sorry,' Trixie gasped as Jake and Ella looked alarmed and Cilla burst into hysterical tears. ‘I caught my side against something as I fell and I seem to have hurt myself rather badly.'

With Jake and Ella giving her a helping hand she went into the bedroom where she and Cilla had slept the night before.

‘You go and keep an eye on Cilla while I find out how badly hurt Trixie's ribs are,' Ella told Jake.

Very gently Ella felt along Trixie's ribcage and shook her head. ‘I'm not sure if you've broken one or not, luv,' she admitted.

‘So what do you think I should do? Ought I to go to the hospital?' Trixie asked uneasily.

‘Why not wait and see how you feel in the morning and if it is still as painful tomorrow, then perhaps you should. They can't do a lot, mind you, not when it's your ribs. They might strap it up for you and that would possibly make it feel a little bit easier.'

Trixie lay awake most of the night, making sure that there was as much distance as possible between herself and Cilla. Her ribs were painful and her jaw was throbbing but it was what was going to happen to them both in the future that was worrying her the most.

She was so afraid of her father's outbursts that she never wanted to go back to Virgil Street ever again but what else was she going to do? she pondered. She still hadn't found a room anywhere that she could afford to rent.

She'd been turned down so often and told bluntly that they didn't want a woman with a kid who'd be around the place all day when they could let the rooms to a man working at the docks who'd be out from under their feet during the day and be prepared to pay extra if they provided him with a meal and did his washing.

She couldn't impose on Ella much longer, but if she would let her stay there for a couple more nights then Daisy would start to miss having an unpaid skivvy and be able to persuade her father to keep his fists to himself if she agreed to go back.

Even if that problem was solved there was also another worry: Daisy hated Cilla and might do her harm again, this time for good.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ella said she was quite willing to let Trixie and Cilla stay with her till Trixie was able to find a room. She even cleaned out the tiny boxroom that was only used for storing her dressmaking things so that Jake would have a bedroom and not have to sleep on the sofa.

Cilla seemed very happy about the arrangement although whether she fully understood why they were living there Trixie wasn't too sure. The only person who seemed to be at all worried by what was happening was Ivy.

Trixie had seen very little of her since Ivy had been going out with Hadyn. They were not nearly such close friends as they'd been when they'd worked together and they no longer confided in each other as they used to do.

‘When we're married we're moving in with my mum,' she reminded Trixie when she heard that she and Cilla were staying on.

‘I'm quite sure I will have found a room by then,' Trixie assured her with a smile. ‘Easter isn't till the middle of April this year so there's plenty of time.'

‘Not really, there isn't,' Ivy argued. ‘We're planning to decorate before then and get our own furniture so that we have it just as we want it to be before our wedding day.'

‘I do understand but as I said, Easter is well over two months away,' Trixie replied.

‘That's not very long because Hadyn will have to do all the painting and everything in his spare time. He can't do it in the evenings because he'll be too tired, so that means it will have to be on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.'

‘He can probably do the whole thing in one weekend – well, two at the most.'

‘I want it to be done properly; I don't want it to be a rushed job, so we'll have to start on it by the beginning of March at the very latest,' Ivy persisted.

‘Don't worry, I'll try my best to be gone before then,' Trixie agreed.

‘I hope you will move as soon as possible, because my mum is going to need a rest to get over all the upset of having you both here,' Ivy told her forcibly. ‘I don't want her laid up ill before the wedding because I will need her to give me plenty of help with making my dress and everything.'

Trixie felt rather hurt by Ivy's seeming indifference to her problem and thought that there'd really been no need for her to be quite so outspoken but she put it down to the strain of the forthcoming wedding. She suspected that it was of such tremendous importance in Ivy's mind that it was taking precedence over everything else.