Love Changes Everything (26 page)

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 after 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?'

‘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 bitterly. ‘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.