It was the following day. Mum and Roy had gone over to the Rovers for a drink. I decided to join them. We didn't have much food in the house, I was starving, and I knew Michelle would make me something to eat, even if it was just a sandwich.
True to herself, Michelle made me a coronation chicken sandwich and I sat at the bar beside Mum eating it. I had offered her some, but she had never been a coronation chicken fan.
We sat there for some time, before Rob appeared in the front doorway. He looked as if a bomb had just hit him, he was white as a sheet and could barely talked when Michelle asked if he'd found anything out at the hospital.
"She died about twenty minutes ago." Rob said, holding onto Mum's hand. I watched her face drop, then Michelle's too. Michelle then stood up and announced the news to the pub. It was the quietist I'd ever seen the place. Mum let go of Rob's hand and held tightly onto mine. I let my head fall to her shoulder and she kissed my hair before we both got up and followed Michelle through to the back room.
Mum sat between Michelle and I on the sofa as the three of us held onto each other's hands and rested our heads on each other's shoulders. Michelle cried, and Mum did a little, even I shed a tear. Partly for Tina, but mostly for the uncertainty that this brought to Mum. I know she didn't do it, because she wouldn't, but the police, they don't know her like I do, and they don't know that she would never do that.
"Come on, let's go and get a drink," Michelle said after a while. We got up and went out into the bar, where Mum and I returned to our place at the end, with Michelle not too far away chatting to Steve. Mum held onto my hand, never even letting go to sip her orange juice, that was until Peter appeared at the front door of the pub.
"Mum, look" I said quietly. She was staring down at the bar in front of her so didn't see him to begin with. The pub fell silent again, as everyone turned to look at Peter.
"I don't want any trouble." He said.
"It's a bit late for that." Mum said to him. I felt her squeeze my hand tighter as he moved closer to her.
"Carla, can we just talk?" Peter said to mum.
"I think you should leave." David said from the other side of the bar.
"Oh, I think he's right." Liz added, coming out from behind the bar so she stood between Peter and Mum.
"Oh no, let him stay for a bit, I'll vouch for him, he's still my husband after all." Mum said, sarcastically.
"Can we go somewhere else? Maybe to my Dad's?" Peter asked, clearly thinking Mum was being serious.
"I'm not going anywhere with you. You think you can just walk in here after everything you've done?" Mum said to him.
"Please, look, if we can talk, we might still have a chance." He replied.
"You don't know, do you?" Mum said, there was a long pause, Peter was trying to put together the words to say but he was probably too drunk to do it. Mum, along with everyone else in the pub, gave him a look, which meant she didn't need to say the words, he just knew.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no." he began.
"She died half an hour ago. Never woke up, never got to tell anyone what really happened that night. How does that feel Peter? Your mistress is dead, and I know I didn't push her so the only other person I can think of is you." Mum said and Peter shook his head at her. "Oh yeah, I don't know whether you meant to or not, but you killed her, seduced her, you had an affair with her and then you killed her, so what comes next? Go on, what is it?" Mum paused again as Peter continued to shake his head at her. "I think it's booze, will that make everything alright? Is that what you want?" Mum let go on my hand and got up from the bar to walk over to the back as she continued "Cos booze makes a pathetic man into a big man." She grabbed a bottle of vodka off the back and took it towards him. "So, take it, take it, it's what you want, it's what you always want, then find a gutter and go drink yourself to death." Mum said, pushing him back slightly as she did. She then returned to her seat as we watched Peter leave the pub. Mum and I stayed for a while longer before Michelle walked us back over the road to the flat. She helped Mum get to bed while I made us a cup of tea.
"Right, she's asleep, you call me though if you need anything alright?" Michelle said as she appeared in the living room. She pulled me into hug her as I nodded. "I know this is so hard for you, but she is so so strong your Mum, ok? And with you and me and Rob, she'll get through this, ok?" I nodded again as Michelle continued to hug me. She eventually let go and said goodbye before heading back to the pub. I drank my tea before changing into my pyjamas and climbing into bed with Mum.
"Carla, come on let's go home" Michelle said pulling her towards the door of the flat.
"Carla, Carla" Peter called across the street, as he ran over.
"No I don't want you, leave me alone" Mum said as she tried to walk away.
But suddenly as I looked to where they were I watched as Mum fell to the floor. She was almost screaming in pain. Peter was trying to come close, so I got down on the floor with her and tried to look after her. Rob ran over and did the same.
"Stay away from her" Michelle shouted pushing Peter off, "Go and get the car Rob."
"What?" Rob said, he looked as confused as me.
"Get the car" Michelle shouted again as she knelt to the floor with Mum and I handed Rob Mum's bag to find her keys.
"Right listen darling, we're gonna get you to the hospital and we'll ring ahead to A&E, let them kn-" Michelle paused.
"Maternity, maternity" Mum said through shrieks of pain. Rob had now run off to get the car.
"Carla I know you hate me but this is our baby" Peter said, "if there's a problem, I need to know, I need to be there." Peter said, as Michelle tried to keep him away. All this time, I was holding with one arm of Mum's while she held tightly onto my hand with hers.
"She said she doesn't want you there, now do one!" Michelle shouted, still holding onto Mum. She was crying in pain. Rob came over in the car and Michelle and I managed to get her up and into the back. "Steady, steady" Michelle said, getting her in. Michelle got in beside her as I ran round to the front of the car. Rob began to drive while Michelle held Mum in the back. "Sshhh, it's okay, it's okay" Michelle whispered as Mum rested in her lap. Mum didn't say anything, she just shook her head and continued to cry.
When we got to the maternity ward, Michelle explained everything to the nurse before she took Mum away to be checked over. It was then that I fell apart and Michelle held me tight as we sat and waited for someone to bring some news.
"Chelle, this is gonna break her if she loses the baby." I whispered quietly to Michelle.
"I know Orlie, but we will be there with her, every step of the way ok?" she said "She has you, she will always have yo-" Michelle stopped as a nurse appeared beside us.
"Hello, are you here for Carla Barlow?" she asked.
"Yes, we are." Michelle said as the three of us stood up in unison.
"Ok, follow me." She said. We followed her down the corridor and to a small side room where Mum was sat in bed with a duvet wrapped around her. Mum put her arms out and I hugged her as the nurse left the four of us in the room together. I made myself comfy lying on the bed beside Mum as she stroked my hair.
"How are you feeling darling?" Michelle said as she sat down in the chair beside Mum's bed.
"Alright." She said.
"And the baby?" Michelle asked.
"Baby is alright, happy and healthy, just picking up on all of my stress and I need to really take it easy for her." She paused, and Michelle and I looked at her as we realised what she'd just said.
"It's a girl?" Michelle asked, holding onto Mum's hand.
"It is a little girl. How does that sound Orlie? A little sister is that gonna be alright?" she asked.
"Yes, of course." I said.
"They want you to stay in overnight and have some rest." Michelle said.
"I haven't got anything, toothpaste, pyjamas?" Mum said.
"I'll pop back and get them for you. Leave you two to have a little bit of time together, ok? But Orlie, when I'm back then you back to mine tonight ok?" Michelle said. I nodded before letting my head fall into the crook of Mum's arm. She pulled me into her and held onto my hand tightly. Michelle and Rob said goodbye before leaving the two of us together in the room.
"We are very lucky that the baby is still here, you know? She's still hanging on. Every day, getting a little bit bigger, bit stronger. And now we know that she's a girl, I'm going to need your help to think of a name for her." Mum said.
"Yeah I'll help you. Is she gonna be a Connor like us?" I asked.
"Of course she is." Mum said "Oh she liked that, look, feel here." Mum said moving my hand to rest on her stomach, I felt the baby move inside her.
"Wow, that's amazing. It's like she knew we were talking about her." I said.
"Well, now that I'm sixteen weeks, she can hear things, so by the time she's here, she'll know our voices very well." Mum said. "I need to talk to you about something else Orlie."
"What is it?" I asked her.
"We're gonna move out of the flat, I don't like being there, not since I found out what Peter used to do there and everything. I've spoken to an estate agent about buying one of those nice flats in Victoria Court, three bedrooms, cute little balcony, much nicer than where we are now. How does that sound?" she asked.
"Good, it will be a fresh start, exactly what the doctor ordered, for all three of us right?"
"Exactly my girl, exactly." Mum said.