Love Changes Everything (39 page)

As soon as she had the opportunity to speak to Jake she begged him to try and help her find somewhere as soon as possible.

‘Don't you like living with us?' he teased.

‘You know I do and I am very grateful to you all,' she said quickly, ‘but I also realise that it is putting you all out.'

‘Has Mum said anything to make you think that?' He frowned.

‘No, of course she hasn't!'

‘Ivy has, though; that's it, isn't it? Well, take no notice of her. Ivy's head is full of plans about how she is going to change things here before she and Hadyn get married. I think Mum might regret ever agreeing that she could come and live with us.'

‘Don't say that, Jake, and whatever you do don't let on that I have said anything to you because the last thing I want to do is cause any trouble.'

Although he promised not to mention it the whole episode worried Trixie and she went out of her way to make sure that they caused as little disruption as possible.

She carried on working, even though her ribs still felt bruised and sore, especially when she was polishing furniture or cleaning windows, but she daren't risk losing her job by asking for a few days off; she needed the money now more than ever.

As soon as Cilla was well enough to go out she offered to take her to work in the evenings so that Ella could have some time on her own but Ella assured her that she was quite happy for Cilla to stay with her.

‘You've no idea what a help she is to me,' she told Trixie. ‘She's showing so much interest in sewing. She sorts out my reels of cottons and takes out the pins and puts them back in the pincushion, and she picks up any threads on the floor. She's even trying to do some sewing herself.'

‘Really?' Trixie shook her head in disbelief. ‘You do surprise me. Are you sure you can trust her with a needle, though?'

‘Of course I can, and with scissors too; it's as if she's done it all her little life.'

‘I know she's always enjoyed touching the silks and velvets when you've been working but I never thought she'd be able to do any sewing.'

‘She can do more than that,' Ella boasted proudly. ‘She's helping me as I'm making Ivy's wedding dress and then we're going to make a rag rug out of the scraps I trim away. It's a secret, though, because she wants to give it to Ivy and Hadyn as a wedding present.'

Trixie felt pleased that Ella was helping Cilla so much but even so there were a good many times when she worried about what the future held for them both. Once or twice, when she had been feeling low and everything had seemed to be too much for her, she had even wondered if perhaps Daisy and her father had been right about Cilla. Perhaps she would be better off in a home where people understood her disabilities and would care for her instead of trying so hard to help her to lead a normal life.

When she voiced her worries aloud to Jake one Sunday afternoon when he came down to the snack bar to walk her home he looked at her in astonishment.

‘I'm surprised at you even thinking that,' he admonished. ‘Cilla needs love and affection and she'd never get those if she was in a home. Look at the way she rushes to kiss you when you've been apart, even when it's only been for a couple of hours. And the way she holds your hand whenever she gets the chance and struggles to do things to please you whenever she can. Love is something we all need from those we care about; you need her love as much as she needs yours,' he added.

She knew he was right but she was surprised to hear him say so with so much fervour. She gave him a sideways glance and saw that his mouth was set rigid, almost as if he was angry about something. The outburst was so unlike Jake that it made her wonder why he was so upset.

He really was the most important person in her life next to Cilla, and because she cared so much about him she wished she could say something to help. She hadn't seen Andrew since the day he'd told her that she could move in with him but that she couldn't bring Cilla, but now she had no regrets that it was all over between them. She now knew that his feelings for her had been lust, not love, and she was still ashamed of herself for the way she had let him dupe her.

What she wanted from life now, she decided, was somewhere where Cilla would be safe and to be able to earn enough to keep them both.

Staying with Ella was undemanding and she was so grateful for the opportunity to be there. Even so, although Ella said she liked them being there, and that Cilla was a help, not a hindrance, she was determined not to lose Ella's friendship, or upset Ivy, by being there any longer than was absolutely necessary.

When it came to almost the end of February and she still had nowhere to go she began to be really worried and once again pleaded with Jake to try and find somewhere for her because she was having no success whatsoever.

‘It will be all right; I've been to see a place that I think will be fine,' he assured her. ‘I'll be able to tell you a lot more about it in a few days' time.'

‘Really! Oh, it will be wonderful for us to have our own place, won't it, Cilla?' Trixie said smiling down at her as she walked along between them.

Cilla smiled back at her and nodded and squeezed both their hands very tightly.

‘It is more or less finalised; there are only one or two details to be sorted out but I didn't want to say anything till it was all settled,' he told her.

Excitedly, the moment they arrived home, Cilla told Ella that they were going to move.

‘Oh yes, and when were you thinking of telling me, then?' Ella asked looking from Trixie to Jake enquiringly.

‘There's nothing definite yet,' Trixie said quickly. ‘Jake's only just told me that he has found somewhere that looks promising but there are still things to be settled. Cilla heard us talking about it and she seems to think it is going to happen right away; you know how easy it is for her to misunderstand things.'

‘She hasn't, though, has she, Jake?' Ella said quietly. ‘A chap called here while you were out and left a rent book for a place in Bostock Court. He said it was in your name, Jake, not in Trixie's, so what exactly is going on?'

Jake looked uncomfortable. ‘I was going to explain it all to you, Mum, as soon as everything was signed and settled and I'd had time to ask Trixie . . .'

‘Explain? What is there to explain,' Ella interrupted, ‘except why you've rented rooms in your name instead of Trixie's?'

‘He's probably only done it because I've had no luck in getting a place,' Trixie told her quickly. ‘I've been telling him that landladies don't seem to like the idea of a young woman and a child moving in; they're probably afraid the rent won't get paid or something, I suppose,' she added with a rueful smile.

‘Really!' Ella sounded unconvinced. ‘I think there is far more to it than that!'

‘If you want a better explanation as to why the rent book is in my name then it's because I'm moving as well,' Jake blustered. ‘I thought it was going to be a bit overcrowded here with Ivy and Hadyn as well as both of us all living together. I've talked it over with Hadyn and he agrees with me. He and Ivy want to be here with you, Mum. Hadyn says he'll pay the rent and all the household bills, and if the three of you are living together then in a way you'll be better off. Ivy is delighted by the idea.'

‘Did none of you think to ask me if that was what I wanted?' Ella questioned in a piqued voice.

‘We were going to talk it through with you, though we were pretty sure that you'd see it made sense. As Trixie said, Cilla has rather jumped the gun.'

‘I'm still not clear in my mind what you are planning to do, Jake. Do you mean you and Trixie are going to be living together?' she asked in what seemed to be a rather shocked voice.

‘Hold on, I don't understand what's going on either,' Trixie questioned, looking from Ella to Jake in bewilderment.

‘Not exactly,' he said hurriedly. ‘I'm renting this place. It has three rooms and a kitchen. There are two bedrooms, one for Trixie and Cilla and one for me, and we can share the living room and the kitchen.'

‘Sounds a pretty odd set up to me,' Ella told him. ‘You didn't say what it was you were going to ask Trixie,' she added.

Jake looked uncomfortable and Trixie continued to stare at them both in confusion.

‘I would have thought the best thing would have been for Ivy and Hadyn to take those rooms and for you two to be the ones to stay here,' Ella went on. ‘That way you'd have someone to keep an eye on Cilla while you were both at work. I would expect you to get married, of course, but that shouldn't be any problem.'

‘Mum!' Jake sounded shocked as he heard Trixie gasp. ‘You've got to have someone in love with you before you ask them to marry you,' he mumbled going red in the face with embarrassment, ‘and I don't think Trixie feels that way about me.'

‘How do you know? Have you ever asked her? You've been dancing attendance on her long enough, so at least she'd know what she was getting,' Ella stated looking straight at Trixie. Although her voice was slightly accusing there was a twinkle in her eye and Trixie felt the colour rushing to her cheeks.

‘Yes, yes, yes.' Cilla had been listening in silence to the exchange between them all, but now she was jumping up and down in glee, clapping her hands and hugging first Jake and then Trixie. ‘We can all live together because we all love each other,' she told them solemnly. Then she ran across to Ella and hugged her. ‘I love you too,' she said with a beaming smile, ‘do you love me?'

‘Of course I do and that's why I want Jake and Trixie to stay here. I don't want to lose my special little helper, now do I?'

She looked up at Jake, ‘You'd better tell Ivy and Hadyn that you agree that they can move into Bostock Court and then arrange for the rent book to be changed to Hadyn's name.'

‘I can't do that, it will upset all their plans,' Jake protested.

‘It will upset them a great deal more if you don't agree to make the change,' Ella told them dryly. ‘They were both here when the chap called and they really liked my idea that they should be the ones to move in there rather than in here.'

‘They'll change their minds when they've had time to think about it,' Jake told her.

‘Not a bit of it! In fact, if you leave Cilla with me and get yourself along to Bostock Court, you'll find that they're around there right now looking the place over. You know our Ivy, she'll already have all the rooms furnished in her mind by now and you can't go and spoil everything for them when it is so near to them getting married.'

Jake looking questioningly at Trixie. ‘So what are we going to do?'

‘Well, it has all rather taken my breath away,' she admitted, ‘but we can hardly change all your mum's carefully made plans, now can we?'

‘You mean . . .' Jake couldn't speak he was smiling so broadly.

‘Ella's opened my eyes to something I should have known a long time ago. I really do love you, Jake,' she admitted shyly.

‘And I feel the same way about you. I always have, so it looks as though we'd better do things the way Mum suggests,' he said as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the lips.

‘Get along with you both, and have a good long heart-to-heart talk and sort things out and tell Hadyn and Ivy they can have the flat,' Ella told them. ‘And fix the date for your own wedding; it's high time someone around here saw sense,' she added with a laugh.

‘Come to think of it,' she went on when neither of them answered her, ‘you could even make it a double wedding at Easter along with Hadyn and Ivy. Cilla could be bridesmaid, couldn't you, pet?' she added, giving Cilla a big hug.

‘I think you want to stop trying to be a matchmaker and rushing things, Mother,' Jake told her sternly.

‘Rushing things? I don't know what you're talking about; I'm sorting things out for you since you don't seem to be able to do it for yourselves. You two have been as close as peas in a pod for years so, as I've already said, it's high time the pair of you saw some sense.'

As they headed for the door Ella called after them, ‘Why don't you bring some fish and chips back with you and a bottle of wine or some beers so that we can celebrate all the changes there are going to be?'

Chapter Thirty-Five

Trixie and Jake were married on the same day and at the same time as Ivy and Hadyn in the imposing St Anthony's Church on the corner of Dryden Street and Scotland Road. Ivy had magnanimously agreed to share her big day now that she and Haydn had the perfect flat to live in.

Her wedding was everything Trixie had dreamed it would be although she had to admit that she felt somewhat overawed by the splendour of St Anthony's with its intricately painted altar statues and marble lecterns.

She felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to Ella for pointing out that Jake was the man who really loved her with all his heart and making her aware that although she didn't realise it because she took his help for granted, she'd grown to love him deeply over the years.

Cilla was bridesmaid, walking sedately behind Trixie and Ivy as they made their way down the aisle to the strains of the powerful organ. When they passed their bouquets to her Trixie was afraid for one moment that Cilla was going to drop them but somehow she managed to clutch on to both of them, smiling hugely all the time.

Ella had worked extremely hard, Trixie reflected, not only making wedding dresses for her and Ivy but also a beautiful dress in pale blue satin for Cilla and a smart dress and matching coat for herself.