Chapter Forty-Three

Henrietta had returned home, only to find Maya sitting at her doorstep. Seems like Ethan didn't want her around after all. She could see the bruises and her messy hair (she just presumed it was all him). In a way, she was glad because it made her sick to think about it. Another part of her however thought that her only method of preventing further damage has been ruined.

"I told you this would happen" Henrietta spoke; getting out her house keys.

"It was his girlfriend who did this, not him"

"Really? And why was that?"

"She walked in on us kissing"

That wasn't a slip of the tongue either, Maya just wanted to make her mother squirm. With a look of disgust, Henrietta began to unlock the door. Simply demanding her daughter to get out the way. Making her get up from the step, finally stepping aside to let her mother open the door. Following her into the house...

"So, you decided to come back after all?" Henrietta asked her.

"Well I got nowhere else to go now, have I?"

"Your own fault but yes, you can stay here. Please don't do anything stupid again, I won't bail you out again"

"Fine...Just don't lace my dinner with sleeping tablets again"

"Okay but I need to lay out some ground rules since you're under my roof again. Any money of yours, I will take. And if you ever so much as even talk to a child again, I will kick you out on the streets"

"You're going to take my money?"

"Yes, every last penny. You will get allowances of cause" Henrietta began to explain. She was basically going to treat her like a naughty child.

Maya was in no position to argue right now. Her income was very basic now, she was currently living on the lowest form of benefits. Half of that would have to go to Erica's child support, the other half would now go to her mother she learned. Which was purely to stop her leaving the country and the area.

"Allowances?" Maya questioned.

"About thirty pounds a week maybe, you can share my food but clothes and whatnot, you will have to pay for those"

"It's my money"

"Correction, it's David's money; you're lucky to have anything left considering you still have to pay Erica's child benefits and David's loan"

"Oh...I forgot about the loan" Maya muttered to herself.

"It wasn't worth it, was it? That Liv girl really got you good with the blackmailing, didn't she? Now you're in David's debt even more"

Henrietta wasn't enjoying this as much as it what it sounded like. She just wanted her daughter to get the bigger picture. She was just praying that Maya would never get involved in anything like that again, perhaps the lack of money was a bigger deterrent than prison. Because Maya's conscience was clearly not.

"Mother, I don't want you to think I don't feel guilty or anything because I do. If I could change things, I would" Maya started.

"I don't know Maya...I think you only regret it because you got caught"

"Jacob was never part of the plan, I want you to believe that at least. I didn't even think about him like that until...Well, until he kissed me"

"Save it for somebody else, Maya. I don't want to hear your justifications for abuse. It makes me sick"

"Fine" Maya replied.

Walking past her mother and going upstairs to her old bedroom. She was sick with herself by this point. Though her demons have already won, haven't they? The only decent thing she could do now was to isolate herself from boys. Sitting down on her old bed, she was thinking about her daughter mostly. Erica was never going to be able to see her as 'Mummy', just as the 'woman I'm meant to stay away from'. David was a good father though, he would make sure everything was fine for her.

...

"What if she goes digging in your past? You have so much dodgy dealings, dad" David lamented.

He has told his disgusted father about what Henrietta planned to do. Eric was worried though for he had more baggage then David did. Arson, blackmail, fraud, bigamy, suspected spousal abuse and assault. Yes, Eric has done rather awful things in his past and Henrietta could easily bring that up.

"Well I'm not the father" Eric tried to say; hoping his past wouldn't have any chance of harming David.

"No, you're just the grandfather...Besides, Maya's dad is an alcoholic! So she uses anything against you and we can just hit back with him. I'm sure he might have done other things too, no dad...It's going to be fine" David insisted however he didn't sound convinced.

"You haven't got anything in your past, have you?"

"Just a few dodgy deals with Nicola but that was years ago...Nicola will back me up on that anyway, right?"

"We best speak to her anyway"

David giving a large sigh as he buried his face in his hands. He should haven't let his guard down, he was rather generous in letting Henrietta and John see Erica but they just threw it back in his face. He understood Maya was their daughter but people have abandoned or distanced themselves from their children for far less. Making sure their granddaughter is safe surely should have been more important.

"You know what, I'm going to be fine; I know I am" David then spoke. Trying his hardest to not get wound up.

...

"I wish she was a druggie or something but I don't even have the faint hope of her getting normal" Henrietta was saying to one her old friends on the phone.

She was talking with that judge friend of hers, the one whom she told David about. Her friend was a woman called Susan Belden, they met in law school back in the 1970s. When Henrietta's life was a lot simpler.

"Where is she now?" Susan questioned.

"Upstairs...Oh Gosh, what should I do?"

"Well you can't do anything, can you? You already took her money, haven't you? So she can't get very far, just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything again"

"Bit difficult nowadays...I couldn't even keep an eye on her when she was 15, let alone now"

"I don't envy you. I bet you regret having her now"

"I would never say that, Susan"

"Of cause not but like you said, she's not some druggie. You can't help her, she's beyond help. People like that always are, as for you getting access to see your granddaughter. Is that wise?"

"I did feel awful but David is banning me"

"Give him some time, get Liam to send on a message or something. I don't know but going straight for court isn't going to make things better, it might even trigger your Maya to do something stupid again"

"That did cross my mind, yeah you're right, Susan. I know you are"

"Cheer yourself up, get another gnome"

This made Henrietta just give a slight laugh. Those who knew her soon caught onto her gnome buying habit.

"Thank you Susan, as always; your advice is very good. I got to go anyway, put the dinner on. I will speak to you another time" Henrietta managed to speak out.

"Okay love, Ta-da!"

With a slight sigh, Henrietta put the house telephone back in it's holder. Walking towards the kitchen as she began to put the dinner on. The sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs was soon heard...

"Wow...It really is like old times, talking to your friends about me" Maya hissed.

"I don't know why you're so surprised, I can hardly talk to you about it. You chase after teenagers and I will treat you like a teenager"

"Yeah, well you never treated me much better back then either"

"That's a lie and you know it. You know what, just sit down and stop talking to me. I'm at my wit's end enough as it is"

"Oh, I'm too much trouble am I?"

"Yes! Yes you are!" Henrietta snapped at her in anger.

This just made Maya give a small smile as she sat herself down at the dining table. Henrietta really was at wit's end.

...

TBC