Had a few people asking me to update more often, but I really don't have the time as I'm doing A levels at the minute which is obviously a lot work. Really sorry that I can't update more often because I would like to just don't have the time. Also think I forgot to say but Lucy is 6 in this.
It was the following Sunday so the girls had been staying with Rachel for over a week now. Obviously it was all still feeling really weird for all of them but Rachel did think that they seemed a lot more comfortable around the house than they did when they first arrived on Thursday.
Rachel had kept them off school for the last week as they all really upset about their Mum so she knew there was no point in making them go in, however she hoped they'd feel ready to go back in tomorrow as she thought it would do them good to get back into a routine.
After having a lazy morning Rachel had made some soup for lunch so she called the girls into the kitchen.
Poppy and Lucy came in but there was no sign of Amy.
"Did Amy hear?" Rachel asked
"I saw her go out the front door about five minutes ago" Lucy told her
"Oh really what was she doing?"
"I don't know"
"She probably just wanted a bit of fresh air" Poppy said
"Surely she would have said if she was going out though"
"Probably not, Mum never used to mind us going out without telling her"
Rachel thought this was a bit odd as she didn't like the thought of the girls just being anywhere and her not even knowing.
"Oh right, well I'd rather you told me before you go anywhere, hopefully she won't be long then"
Rachel dished the girls out a bowl of soup each put some bread on the table.
"I was going to suggest going out for a little walk this afternoon but it looks like it's going to tip down with rain in a minute"
"Can we still go out somewhere?" Lucy asked
"Of course we can. And then I was saying to Amy earlier that maybe you'd like to go back to school tomorrow"
"I wanted to anyway" Poppy said which Rachel was glad about
"How about you Lucy?" Rachel asked as she'd noticed Lucy's face drop as soon as she'd said it
"I don't want to go to school tomorrow"
"Why not?"
"I just don't want to" Lucy said as tears filled her eyes
"Okay love just eat your lunch for now and we'll have a little talk about it later okay?"
Lucy was really quiet for the rest of the time they ate their lunch and hardly spoke.
Once they'd finished Rachel cleared up before getting her phone out to give Amy a ring, as she was getting a bit worried because she still hadn't come home.
She rang her mobile but it went straight to answerphone. Rachel sighed, really hoping that Amy would come home soon.
Poppy came back into the kitchen as she'd just had a text from one of her friends asking if she wanted to go over for a bit so she decided to ask Rachel.
"Rachel is it okay if I go over to Zoe's house for a bit?"
Rachel was really pleased when she heard Poppy say this, as she hadn't seen any of her friends since she'd found out about her Mum despite Rachel always encouraging her to see them.
"Of course you can, do you want me to give you a lift over?"
"No it's okay she doesn't live far from here"
"Okay well give me a ring if you want picking up later though"
"Thanks Rachel"
"Have a good time"
Poppy left so Rachel went into the lounge where Lucy was lying down on the sofa.
Rachel crouched down beside her and put her hair behind her ear as it was covering her eyes.
"Can we have a little talk darling?"
"About what?"
"About going to school tomorrow"
Lucy immediately sat up when she heard Rachel say this so Rachel sat down beside her and put the little girl on her lap.
"Now why don't you want to go to school tomorrow?"
Tears filled Lucy's eyes as soon as Rachel said this so it was obvious that she was really worried about it and didn't want to go.
"I just don't"
"Why not though?"
"What if I get all upset in front of everyone and start crying?"
Rachel knew that Lucy was still really teary and it didn't take a lot to make her cry at the moment, however she did think that going into school would help her a lot.
"It's okay if you get a bit upset at school, just tell your teacher and she'll let you go outside for a bit won't she?"
"But you won't be there to give me one of your special cuddles"
Rachel had tried to work from home as much as possible over the last week, however when she did go in she'd been taking Lucy in with her so Lucy had got really used to having Rachel around.
"No but I'll be there to get you as soon as school finishes and then I can give you an extra special can't I?"
"What you're going to pick me up from school?"
"Of course I am, how else would you get home?"
"Mummy used to make me walk"
Rachel was so shocked at this, she couldn't believe that anyone would make a six year old walk home on their own. Things that the girls had been saying were making it more and more obvious to Rachel that they clearly hadn't had the best home life.
Rachel had met their Mum on several occasions and it was obvious she did love her children very much, but she must have just had lots of other things going on stopping her being there for her children all the time.
"No I'll be there to pick you up, so if ever I'm a bit late just wait and I'll be there eventually I promise"
Lucy still wasn't exactly keen on the idea of going into school tomorrow, but Rachel had helped her not to feel quite so worried about going in.
"Are we still going out somewhere Rachel?"
"I don't think we can at the minute I'm afraid because Amy still hasn't come home"
"When will she be back?"
"I'm not sure, hopefully not too long though and then we can go out after that as long as it's not too late. Shall we put a film on or something for now though?"
"Yes please"
Rachel let Lucy choose a film on Netflix so sat down with her to watch that whilst she checked her emails.
They'd been watching the film for about half an hour and there was still no sign of Amy. It had started raining really heavily by this point too but Rachel had absolutely no idea where she was.
When the film had finished and Amy still wasn't back Rachel thought about going out to look for her. But she didn't think there was really a lot of point because it was really unlikely that she'd find Amy.
Rachel was starting to feel sick with worry, because Amy really had been gone for a long time now and there was still no answer on her phone.
At about 5 the home phone rang so Rachel picked it up. She was so relieved when she heard it ringing because she really was expecting it to be Amy, however when she picked the phone up she heard it was Poppy.
"Hi Rachel, would you mind picking me up because it's raining really heavily now"
"Of course not, you haven't heard from Amy have you?"
"No why is she not back yet?"
"No I haven't seen her since before lunch"
Poppy told Rachel where her friend lived so then quickly got Lucy dressed up ready to go out and then the two of them drove around to pick her up.
Poppy was looking out of the window, so as soon as she saw Rachel's car pull up she said goodbye and then ran out to the car.
"I might drop you two home and then go out and have a little look for Amy" Rachel said as she was getting so worried and she hated just sitting around not doing anything about it
"She could be anywhere though"
"I know, you don't have any ideas where she could be do you, would she have gone to any of her friends house?"
"I really don't know, she might have"
It didn't take long for them to be back home again.
As soon as Rachel pulled up on the drive she saw Amy saw on the doorstep. Relief flooded through her, she was so glad that she was home.
"Where the hell have you been?" Rachel shouted as she got out of the car, she hadn't meant to shout she'd just been so worried about her and was so relieved to see her
Amy had been crying as she sat on the doorstep but hearing Rachel sounding angry with her made her cry even more.
"Poppy can you get Lucy out for me please?"
Rachel rushed over to her, she felt so sorry for Amy when she saw what a state she'd got herself into.
She was absolutely drenched because she'd gone out without even wearing a coat, and she was shivering a lot.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout, come on let's get you inside you must be freezing"
When they got inside Rachel could see Amy's face more clearly, it was really red and puffy from crying so much.
"Right let's get you upstairs and in the bath to warm you up a bit"
Rachel put her arm around Amy and walked upstairs with her.
Rachel started to run a bath for Amy while she just stood there and watched.
"Get those wet clothes off love, promise I won't look"
It felt really weird for Amy getting undressed with her head teacher in the same room as her but she did it anyway and wrapped a towel around herself.
Rachel ran her a bath and then left so that Amy could get in. She knew she needed to have a chat with her but at the minute she knew she just needed to concentrate on warming Amy up.
Rachel closed the bathroom door just as Lucy came upstairs
"Rachel is Amy okay?" Lucy asked as she'd been really worried about her sister too
"She'll be fine in a minute, she's just having a bath to warm her up"
"Can I go in the bathroom though because I really need to go for a wee"
"I think your sister probably wants a bit of time to herself, you can go in my bathroom though"
Lucy ran along to Rachel's en suite so Rachel went into her bedroom.
Once Lucy was done she came out and sat on Rachel's bed. Rachel went and sat down next to her so Lucy wrapped her arms around her.
It was so nice to have the three girls around, Lucy especially was really cuddly which Rachel loved.
"This is nice" Rachel said smiling
The two of them stayed cuddling up for a few more minutes before going back downstairs.
"You go on down love, I'll be down in a sec I'm just going to check on Amy"
Lucy went downstairs so Rachel went over to the bathroom and knocked on the door, she could hear Amy sobbing in there.
"Are you okay in there Amy?"
"Yeah"
"Okay shout if you want anything"
Rachel was about to walk away when the door opened and Amy stood there with a towel wrapped around her.
"That wasn't a very long bath"
"I know my skins burning"
"That's because you got so cold, why don't you put your pyjamas on and I'll bring you up a hot chocolate and a hot water bottle"
"Thank you" Amy said as a tear rolled down her cheek
Rachel brushed it away with her thumb before saying "and then we can have a little chat"
Amy went into her bedroom so Rachel went downstairs to get the stuff. Poppy came in just as she was doing this.
"Rachel is Amy okay?"
"I don't know, I'm going to have a little chat with her now though"
"I doubt she'll tell you what's wrong, she never tells anyone anything"
"We'll see"
Rachel had noticed this about Amy, she'd been nowhere near as open about how she'd been feeling as what Poppy and Lucy had.
When Rachel went back up to Amy's room she'd changed into her pyjamas and had her dressing gown on.
Rachel gave her the hot water bottle and put the hot chocolate down beside her.
"Do you want to come into my room and we can dry your hair off?"
Amy nodded before following Rachel in.
She sat at Rachel's dressing table while Rachel gently brushed Amy's long hair before starting to dry it.
It felt so nice for Amy to actually having someone look after her like this but then again it did feel extremely weird because it was Miss Mason.
Once Rachel had finished Amy sat on Rachel's bed and started sipping her hot chocolate.
Rachel went to join her
"Do you fancy telling me where you went this afternoon then? I was worried sick"
"I'm sorry I just needed to get out for a bit"
"Where did you go?"
"Just around, like to the park and places"
"I know your Mum never used to mind, but I want you to tell me before you go out, okay?"
"Okay I'm really sorry"
"So how come you needed to get out"
"I was just thinking about stuff"
"Like what?"
"It doesn't matter, I'm fine"
"Please tell me, I'm here to help you"
"It honestly doesn't matter"
Rachel sighed before looking at Amy
"I know that sometimes when you're feeling upset it's easier to just shut people out and pretend everything's okay, when really all you want to do is cry into someone and let them cuddle you" Rachel said which made Amy start crying again "is that how you're feeling now?"
Amy nodded so Rachel pulled her into her chest and stroked her back while she had a good cry.
"That's it darling, let it all out" Rachel soothed
Amy couldn't remember the last time she'd cried into her Mum or anyone for that matter, but it felt so nice to be letting it all out rather than keeping it all to herself.
After a bit Amy calmed down a bit.
"You going to tell me what's wrong?"
"I don't even know why I'm crying so much over it"
"You've been through so much in the last week or so, you're bound to be really upset"
"Everything just feels so weird like living here and stuff, I love it here I really do I just don't know what my friends are all going to say when I tell them"
"Oh love why didn't you tell me how you were feeling before?"
"Because I didn't want you to think I don't want to be here, because I really really do"
"I'm sure your friends will all be a bit shocked when you first tell them but they'll get used to it, and I'm sure they won't treat you any differently because of it"
"I guess"
"But are you sure you're happy here? Because I completely understand if you're not I know how much of a big change this must be for you"
"It's so much better here than it was at home" Amy said but then she stopped as tears filled her eyes "I mean I don't mean to be horrible about Mum but she just didn't really seem to care about us lately she always had other more important things going on"
She felt bad talking about her Mum in this way, but Amy had been really unhappy at home for quite a while now.
"Oh sweetheart, I know your Mum loved you and Poppy and Lucy millions I think she was just having a bit of a tough time though. Never doubt that she loved you though, because I know she did"
Amy was still cuddling into Rachel when they heard someone knocking on Rachel's bedroom door
"Come in" Rachel said
The door opened and Lucy came in
Lucy saw the two of them cuddled up on the bed so immediately went over and climbed up too. She cuddled into the other side of Rachel so that she could cuddle them both
They'd all just been sat there not talking for a while when Rachel could hear Lucy sniffing. She looked down to see that she was crying.
"What's wrong love?"
"I don't like it when Amy's upset"
"I'm fine now Lucy" Amy said feeling bad for making her little sister cry
"Why are you crying then?"
"Because she was a bit upset but she's feeling a lot better now so you don't need to worry"
"Did you give her a special cuddle?" Lucy asked which made both Amy and Rachel smile
"Yes I gave her a special cuddle"
"Right I'm going to go and find us something for tea, you two can stay up here though if you want"
Rachel got off the bed so Lucy shuffled up closer to her sister and cuddled into her. They looked really cute together. Rachel admired how close all three of the girls were.
It was quite late now so Rachel needed to find something quick to do for tea, so in the end she decided to just make some pasta.
By the time it was ready the three girls were already in the kitchen anyway so Rachel put it on the table
"You must be starving Amy you haven't eaten since breakfast have you?"
"I am now, I wasn't hungry earlier though"
"Right after tea we'll get you in the bath Lucy, but if you two get everything ready for school tomorrow pack your bags and everything"
"What time are we leaving at tomorrow?"
"Probably about 8 because I need to drop Lucy off first, but if you two would rather walk in a bit later that's fine"
"How long will it take to walk from here?"
"About 15 minutes so it's up to you"
"I'll see in the morning" Poppy decided
"Yeah me too"
After tea Poppy and Amy offered to clear up so that Rachel could get Lucy in the bath because Lucy had suddenly got really tired.
"Thanks for this girls" Rachel said before going upstairs with Lucy
Rachel had run the bath so was now sat on the toilet seat while Lucy had a nice relax in the bath.
She was really tired though and her eyes kept closing so Rachel decided to just wash her hair so she could get her into bed sooner.
Rachel got her hair wet and then started massaging shampoo into her head.
"Rachel are we going to live here forever?"
"Probably not forever"
Lucy got really upset when she heard Rachel say this as she really liked it here so she didn't want to leave.
"Oh so will we have to go and live somewhere different soon then?"
"Oh no love, I only said not forever because when you're older you'll move out and live in a house of your own. I'm happy for you to stay here forever though if that's what you want"
"So are you like our new Mum then?"
"Kind of I guess, I'm here to look after you and be there for you, I know I'll never be able to replace your Mummy though"
Once Lucy's hair was washed Rachel was about to get her out of the bath when she realised she'd forgotten to put fresh towels in the bathroom after she put them in the wash earlier.
"I'm just going to nip down and get you a towel, I won't be long"
Rachel went into the utility room and realised that she had a lot of clean washing building up that she needed to sort out, having the three girls living with her certainly did mean a lot more washing than she was used to.
She picked up a few fresh towels before going back up to the bathroom.
"It should be nice and warm" Rachel said as she wrapped it around Lucy
Rachel got Lucy sorted as quickly as she could and then got her into bed.
Lucy always liked Rachel to read her a story before she went to sleep so she did that for her.
"Okay time for sleep now love"
"But Rachel…"
"But Rachel what?"
"If I go to sleep it means it's nearly time to get up and go to school"
"Yeah I know, but remember what we said you're going to have a great time at school once you get there"
"I know but I'd rather stay with you"
"Trust me darling once you get there you'll forget all about me, and it's okay if you do get a bit upset just make sure you tell your teacher"
"Okay"
Lucy then laid down so Rachel flicked the switch on the lamp and then stroked Lucy's hair until she dropped off to sleep.
Rachel could hear Lucy snoring gently so she left her room and went to check on Poppy and Amy.
They were both packing their school bags so Rachel decided to sort through the washing.
She did some ironing before taking it up to the girl's bedroom.
"Thanks Rachel" Poppy said as Rachel put her pile on her bed "you don't have to do our ironing though, I don't mind doing it"
"I'm happy to, honestly it's no problem"
Rachel did a few more jobs but after that she really couldn't be bothered to do anymore on a Sunday night.
Poppy and Amy both seemed happy in the lounge watching something on the TV so Rachel decided to go up for a bath.
She poured herself a glass of wine before going up to run it.
Once it was run Rachel climbed in and started reading her book.
She'd been in for a little while when she heard the door opening. She turned around and saw Lucy stood there
"Sorry Rachel I didn't realise you were in here" Lucy said standing at the door looking a bit uncomfortable
"It's alright love, do you need the loo or something?"
"Yeah I'm bursting"
"Go on then"
Lucy rushed over and sat on the toilet
"I woke up needing a wee but I really didn't want to get out because my bed was so warm and comfy but I couldn't hold on any longer"
"You did drink a lot at tea"
Once she'd finished Lucy washed her hands.
"Go back to bed then love, I'll come in and check on you once I've had my bath"
Rachel stayed in for a bit longer before getting out and wrapping a towel around herself.
She went into Lucy's room to check on her but she'd already gone back to sleep. Rachel straightened up her quilt as it had started to fall on the floor before going into her room to change into her pyjamas.
Once she'd changed she went downstairs to sit with the girls.
"Not too much longer and you ought to go up to bed Amy, I don't want you up too late tonight"
"Okay, I'm quite tired anyway"
"Are you two feeling okay about going to school tomorrow?"
"I'm a bit nervous but I am looking forward to going back" Poppy said
"Yeah I just don't want everyone to make a big deal out of everything"
"Well if it gets too much for either of you at any point, just come and find me"
"Okay, thank you"
Rachel sat with them for a bit before sending Amy to up to bed.
It was so nice sharing the house with the girls. Rachel hadn't felt this happy in a long time, she was already starting to love the girls.
Please review xxxx