Chapter 3

Eddie was beside himself. He had said to Hilda he was going to be back to get her so he did not know why she had left the club. She never did stuff like this and while he knew she was not such an old lady yet, he did not like not knowing where she was. He had had a bit of a drive about to look for her but then he had been unsure if she had her keys on her to let herself in if she got back before he did and so he had decided to come back.

Another drive later and a few phone calls to her friends later he had no idea how he was going to get hold on her and he was worried.

What if something had happened to her? A car? A fall? Anything?

She may not know it but before he had passed on, Stan had made Eddie promise him that no matter what went on he would always keep an eye on Hilda on him for him - just to make sure she was ok and he could not stand the thought he was letting the best pal he had ever had down.

On top of everything else, it was just too much to deal with at that moment.

"Hilda?" he said as the door opened and turned to see it was not her but his daughter.

"Everything ok?" asked Dawn as she came down the stairs a curious look on her face and it was not long before she too was concerned by the look her dad had on his face.

"Your Nan left the club before I picked her up today and I am not sure where she has got too," He explained to his child. "Kid, is it ok if I go out and have another look? You stay here and wait by the phone lass?" he said to her and she nodded.

"Of course," she said to him with a nod, not having to so much as think about it. "You go out."

It had been a long time since he had felt this united with his child and he gave her a sad soft smile.

"You're a good girl our kid," he said as she leant over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I don't plan on being long."

"I'll sort us something for us tea." She told him, taking that worry off his mind.

"There's a good pet." He said as headed towards the door leaving her wondering where the hell Hilda was and why she had not rang home if she had been missing for a while.

Hilda knew she did have to ring home but the problem was off whose phone... there had been a time when she knew she could have gone into any house of the street and call if she were in trouble, (not that she would have needed too on account of her living so close by.)

But the option would be nice and most welcome right then.

She did not know if anyone she knew was still there. She would have liked to think if Sally and Kevin had moved on that they would have told her but it seemed as if they had sold number thirteen on. They'd written every Christmas but it had been near a year ago since she had heard from them...

And then there was Rita and Betty and the Duckworth's and Gail... but she did not know if they were going to be in the same houses as they had been when she had gone and she did not like to go out knocking.

No, she was just going to have to ask the land lady if she might use the phone.

She had seemed quite nice when they had had a chat but god only knew she was no Mrs Walker and since she had come back to the street, it seemed to just fill her with disappointment so much had changed. She had told some one that day that she had been from there once, that it had been her home once.

Once upon a time...

Well not any more. Deep down, she had known it had really ceased to be her home the day she had lost her husband. She just had not the courage to admit it.

She knew a lot of people had thought she was soft in the head over him when he had been alive. Yet that day she seemed even softer on him now he was dead.

Oh, she had to get out of there and she had to ring Eddie to tell him she was ok before she got the train back or he was going to want to kill her...

Besides, if that day had taught Hilda anything it was that there was nothing left for her in Weatherfield now that her Stan and their beloved house was gone. She should not have come back to the ghost town.

She had been about to get up and go though when the door to the Rovers opened and everyone who had been in the pub feel silent. Apparently just opening the door counted as a big entrance for some people that day.

/\/\/\/\

As the girls and Sally walked into the Rovers Return, they were all feeling rather nervous; what Kevin had done they feared had made them all in to laughing stocks but if there was one thing they all knew for sure it was that Sally was not going to let herself be beaten. She had been through too much over the past year to let it get to her too much and she was going to be damned if she did.

Seeing Liz standing behind the bar she took a deep breath as she walked up to it.

"Liz, can I get two white wines and two oranges juices for me and the girls."

"Of course you can," said the barmaid and Sally took the opportunity to give the girls a reassuring smile. As long as the four of them were standing shoulder to shoulder then they were going to be able to front that day out because they had too.

"These are on me love," said Liz as she handed them over.

"Thank you. Is there any news on Sean yet?"

Liz shook her head. "Michelle is going to ring as soon as there is she has promised me that much."

Sally nodded appreciably that Liz had to be worried over her bar man as well and decided it was best if she and the girls went to find a little corner to sit in together and discuss how they were going to take things from there.

There was not a person on the street who had not been shook by what had happened.

"Sally?" the voice that had called her name took her back years and years to when she and Kevin's had been kids setting out on life together and sure enough as she turned, she saw the face of Hilda Ogden looking back at her.

"Oh my god," she said as she went over to the booth and the girls all gave her quizzical looks as to what was going on. They had or at least her daughters had both heard about Hilda enough over the years but they had never met her before.

She found seeing the old woman was just what she had needed at that moment but before she was able to stop herself she let the tears she had been stopping flow down her cheeks. She threw her arms about her.

"Oh and there was me thinking you might be happy to see me." Said Hilda as she drew back and saw the younger women's tears but if she told the truth then she knew Sally was and would always be a girl to her.

She would always be the Seddon girl who had needed her to be as a mum to her so much.

It did not take her long to pick up on the fact that the three girls who were standing round all were heartbroken for her over something or other as she pulled the girl into the booth gently to sit down with her for a moment.

"Now what's wrong with you lovvie?"

When the girls picked up that the old lady knew Sally, they sat down on the other side of the table waiting for Sally to stop crying as they did so but she felt as if she was never going to stop now she had started.

"I am, I just can't believe you are really here. I did not think I was ever going to see you on this street again. Why are you here, Hilda?" asked Sally as she tried to control her tears

"Chuck, I read what had gone on in the papers and I felt as if I had to come to see it for myself or I don't think I ever would have believed it."

Sally braced herself. Form the first time she had met her she had known how much the street had meant to her. It was strange how some places were just there you lived and other places became your home no matter how far you away from it. She had found that it was a rare person who did not have such feelings towards the street where she had raised her girls.

Coronation Street was special.

"Have you been down to see number thirteen yet?" She asked tentatively. She had lived there nearly twenty years herself and she had enjoyed it but she knew she had not loved it as the women in front of her had.

"Aye, I have." she said with a sad smile. She did not need to say anything else. And there were no words for her.

"I am so sorry, Hilda. I know what it meant to you, that house."

"Love you are right. It did mean a hell of as lot to me and it is always going too. It were where all my memories were but from what I hear there are some people on this here street who have lost a hell of a lot more than a house, haven't they? Is it right that there were three dead?"

"Yup but in one of those cases, I think we should be saying good riddance to bad rubbish rather than mourning her," said Rosie from where she was sitting. She knew what her mum was like and she knew she was going to want her to make a good impression but when it came to Molly Dobbs, she did not care what she said any more. Every one said you were not meant to speak ill of the dead but there was nothing in the world that was good about her from what she could see any more.

"Rosie." said Sally. She had to say she agreed but they did not have to say it out loud. As frustrating as it was, she had gone and she had taken so many things she had needed to know to her grave; they were just going to live with that.

Hilda sadly smiled. She had thought she was the elder of the two girls.

If she had not seen either of them then at least she and Sally had already written a Christmas card to one another and had exchanged a phone call whenever something big had happened to one of them. They had never completely been out of contact. She had always known what Sophie and Rosie were up to from afar.

"Well, it is true mum!" the other brunette said to her confirming that she had to be Sophie. She was not sure who the blonde was most likely one of the girl's friends and she was sure she was a lovely girl. "Who is really going to mourn her now?"

"Poor Tyrone is going too," She said and she only then realised from moment she had sat down she had not let go of Hilda's hand and in a weird way she felt comforted so easily by her touch. It was like having her mum back.

She was a link to the past she had missed. She had been there when they had been so young and she had been the mother to her that her own could never have been.

"And dad might." Said Rosie with a roll of her eyes.

"Where is Kevin?" said Hilda enquiring after her old lodger. She had cared for the boy; not in the same way she had cared for her Eddie as he had been such a link to Stan for her, which Kevin could not be, but he had always been such a good lad.

"Right, first thing is first, before we get in to this. Girls, this is Hilda Ogden. She was the women me and dad lived with just before we were wed and she really helped us out. Hilda. As I am sure you have gathered these are my girls Rosie and Sophie and this is Sophie's – friend – Sian. "

Knowing that it might all be a bit much for the older lady to take in and too much effort to Sally to explain their situation yet, she skirted about it – besides, they had no idea she was of a much older school than them.

The four of them nodded there hellos. Sally turned back to Hilda. "This is going to be one hell of a story. Maybe we should go back to ours." She said as they downed there drinks.

"Not a bad idea pet if it is that bad. Besides I wonder if I might make a phone call at your house?"

"Of course, you can. Hilda, I can't believe you here! "

"Neither can I chuck, can I." For the first time since she had got there she once more got the feeling she might just have done the right thing when she had come back.

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