Chapter 15
It was about 2 am, Rachel and joe had ended up having another big fight earlier on, although Rachel had told both girls to go to their bedroom she was pretty sure they'd heard most of it, which really upset her as she knew how much it was getting to both of them.
Lily had been so worried about it all she hadn't been able to get to sleep for ages and even when she had she'd been very restless and had ended up getting so worked up she'd wet her bed.
Lily stayed all shivery and uncomfortable for ages, she felt all scared and didn't really want to go and find anyone because she was worried that joe might find her and get all angry like he'd done with Rachel.
When Rosie got up to go and get a drink from downstairs she heard crying coming from Lily's room, when she went in she saw her in sobbing her heart out on the bed.
Instantly Rosie went over to her and flicked her light on, she was really upset when she realised how worked up her little sister was
"Go away" lily sobbed not really wanting Rosie to know about it either
"Lily I'm not going to leave you like this"
"I don't want to tell you"
"Tell me what?" Rosie asked "do you want me to go and get Rachel for you?"
"No please don't"
"Well she'll want to know if you're upset, I'll just be a second"
Despite Lily's protests Rosie decided it was best of she got Rachel.
She wasn't entirely sure where she'd be as she knew Rachel and joe had a pretty nasty argument so she doubted that they'd be in the same bedroom but she didn't know if Rachel or joe would be in the spare room
She knocked twice on the door for the spare room before going in, she saw Rachel sat up a ds he was pretty sure she'd been crying but she'd stopped as soon as Rosie had come in
"Rosie what is it love?"
"It's lily she's just sat up in bed crying and she won't tell me what's wrong"
"Oh no" Rachel sighed "you go back to sleep love, I'll go and see to your sister"
"Okay"
"Thanks for coming to get me Rosie"
"Well I was really worried about lily I think she's really upset"
"I'll go and see her now"
"Rachel ... Are you okay" Rosie asked, she could tell by the red rings around Rachel's eyes that she wasn't but she wanted to ask anyway
"Yes of course I am, don't you worry about me." Rachel said forcing a small smile "come on straight back to sleep or you'll be shattered tomorrow at school"
Rosie gave Rachel a quick cuddle before going back upstairs to her bedroom though she didn't manage to go to sleep straight away and tossed and turned for a bit.
Rachel went across to Lily's bedroom and gently opened the door.
She could hear Lily's muffled sobs already, she turned on her little lamp so she could see her
"Oh dear, someone doesn't look very happy" Rachel said crouching down Beside her
As soon as she saw Rachel there lily started crying even more and wrapped her arms around her, Rachel lifted her out of bed, she felt Lily's wet pyjama bottoms and saw the wet patch on her bed so realised what must have happened but didn't say anything for now
Rachel sat down with her in her knee and lily buried her head into her chest
They stayed cuddled up for a bit and Rachel let lily have a cry while she rubbed her back
"I don't feel very well"
"It'll be because you're crying so much that always gives you a headache, maybe we should get you a nice cold glass of water" she said "though should we get you into some nice warm new pyjamas first?"
"I'm sorry"
"It's not your fault darling. These things happen especially when you're all worked up and upset"
"Are you going to tell joe"
"I won't tell anyone at all if you don't want me to"
"Are you mad with me?" Lily asked timidly
"How could I be mad with you lily huh"
"You said the other day that you'd be cross if you had to get out of bed to change my sheets,when I said I wouldn't go to the toilet"
"Oh love I not cross I promise, it's not like you could help it" she said "come on let's get you sorted"
She carefully took Lily's pyjamas off her and led her through to the bathroom
"Do you think you need to have a little bath, so you can freshen up a bit"
Lily nodded so Rachel ran her one
"Oh love you're all shivery, are you not feeling well or something"
"I feel sick" lily cried
Rachel put the lid on the toilet seat down and wrapped a towel around lily so she could put her on her knee
"Darling what's this all about?" Rachel asked although she was pretty sure she already knew the answer
"I don't know" lily mumbled
"Oh love things really aren't very nice at the moment are they" she sighed "I'm so sorry you're getting upset about it all, I promise things will get better soon I'll make sure of that"
"I don't want you and joe to fight it's scary"
"I know it is" Rachel said "look I'm going to sort it I promise, come on jump In the bath"
Lily got in and Rachel gave her a quick wash but she could tell lily was feeling pretty sleepy so got her out and into some fresh pyjamas
"There you go love all nice and warm" Rachel said "how are you feeling"
"Okay" lily said
"Are you ready to go back to bed"
"No, I don't want to"
"Well how about if I bring you up a cup of warm milk to make you all sleepy and a nice hot water bottle"
"Yes please"
"Okay, just let me out some nice clean sheets on your bed sweetheart"
Once Rachel had sorted getting lily back into bed, she took her hot water bottle and crept downstairs
While Rachel was waiting for Lily's milk to heat up she suddenly noticed something on the calendar, she was supposed to be going for her scan tomorrow
To her surprise Rachel found herself crying, she couldn't believe things had turned out like this, she'd imagined how happy her and joe would be now she wS having a baby and she couldn't believe by the way things were looking it wouldn't be something they could look forward to together, as by this point Rachel could see that their marriage really wasn't working at the moment and she needed to do something about it
A couple of minutes later she went back into Lily's room however when she went in she realised that she was fast asleep.
She smiled slightly before tucking her hot water bottle in bedside her.
Rachel then planted a soft kiss on her forehead before leaving
She made her way back to her bedroom however jumped violently when she heard a sudden knock at the door.
A few moments passed and Rachel stood rooted to the spot, she couldn't imagine what this could be at this time but when she heard another knock she knew she'd have to go and investigate
Cautiously she wrapped her dressing gown tightly around herself and tiptoed downstairs
She tried to look through the window to see who is was but she couldn't really see anything properly with it being so dark
When she eventually opened the door she was astonished to see her 14 year old niece Amy stood their with her 2 and a half year old sister Rebecca
"Amy what in earth are you doing here" Rachel exclaimed
Amy then burst into tears
Rachel sighed, this wasn't really what she needed at all when things were as bad as they were at the moment but she knew she couldn't exactly turn them away especially when Amy had brought her youngest niece with her too
She quickly ushered the two of them inside before closing the door behind her
"Come on Amy let's go and sit down"
Once they were in the kitchen Rachel turned the light on
Amy put Rebecca on her knee and she pretty much fell asleep straight away
"Now are you going to explain to me, what on earth you're doing round at my house at 2 in the flaming morning"
Amy then burst into more tears
"I'm sorry I just didn't know where else to go"
Rachel sighed before going and getting some tissues
"Here dry your tears"
Amy mopped up her face and brushed away her tears
"Mums kicked me out"
"What why?"
"Because she's got a new boyfriend who hates my guts and when I started giving him lip he said he'd leave if she didn't make me go so guess what happened"
Rachel couldn't believe this of her sister, she knew she'd never exactly been mum of the year but she didn't expect this. But then her sister Joanne had always been very different from her and Mel and was so distant from everyone that she hardly ever got to find out what was happening in her life anyway
"And she chucked Rebecca out too" she said in disbelief
"No but I didn't want her staying there"
"Right we need to talk about this in the morning but you must be shattered so I think the most important thing is to get the two of you up to bed"
"Thanks auntie Rach" Amy said but then she looked at her face carefully " you've been crying"
" yeah well things aren't exactly fantastic here at the moment either, me and joe are pretty close to splitting up and the girls are taking it very badly, it's an awful environment to be in at the moment"
"What about the baby?'
"We'll work something out" Rachel sighed "have you brought anything with you"
"Nope we had to leave in a hurry, I just wanted to get out of there"
"I don't have a clue what we're going to do for pyjamas, or bedrooms for that matter! Joes in our bedroom and I'm in the spare room, you can have the other one, and I suppose Rebecca could sleep in the box room though it's tiny in there and I'll have to get some sheets and everything on the bed"
"Well I'll help you sort it out"
"Thanks, you'll have to borrow some of my pyjamas and I'll try and find some of Lily's for Rebecca, she's small for her age so they should fit Rebecca, but then again Rebecca's small for her age too"
Rachel sighed
"Rach don't panic we'll be fine"
"Should we just carry Rebecca up it seems daft to wake her"
"Yeah okay"
Rachel carried Rebecca up into the box room
"I'll make the bed up, if you give me a sec I'll nip and find some of Lily's pyjamas"
Rachel came back a few Minutes later with some pyjamas for Rebecca
"Will you be able to get her changed for me, while I make the bed"
"Yep, do you have any nappies though, I'll need to change her mum probably didn't bother before she first out her to bed"
"Why would we have nappies here?"
"Well you have lily"
"She's 4 she's been out of nappies ages, oh god what are we going to do"
"Well she'll have to keep this one on"
"I don't want her getting a rash though"
"Well there's nothing else we can do is there, just stop fussing"
"Fine fine, I'll have to go to tesco as soon as I get up, just get her into bed"
Amy quickly got her into pyjamas and lifted her into the bed Rachel had just made up
Once they were done Rachel found some of her pyjamas to give to Amy
Once she was changed Rachel tucked her up in bed, even though she was 14 Rachel still did this whenever she stayed over
"Now you try and sleep"
"I'm not going to school tomorrow"
Rachel sighed though she knew school wouldn't be a good idea after the night Amy had, had
"I wasn't going to make you, gosh I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow"
"Bunk off"
"Oh yeah, somehow I doubt that would be as simple as you make it sound young lady"
"Rachel you won't make me go back to mums will you can we just stay here"
Rachel sighed heavily
"Darling we need to talk about this properly tomorrow with your mum"
"What but she chucked me out, do you not believe me or something"
"Of course I believe you but I can't just have you stay here while your mum has no idea where you are"
"She won't be bothered, you know she never is"
Rachel felt really sorry for her, she knew that amy didn't have a good relationship with her mum at the best of times, and Amy really had missed out on any real motherly figure in her life over the past years
"You try a and sleep for me my love" Rachel said before kissing her softly
Once Amy had settled down to sleep, Rachel crept back to her spare room, And eventually managed to go to sleep.
She was awoken all to soon by lily coming in all frightened
"What's up lily?" Rachel asked feeling worried
"There's a stranger in the little room"
Rachel laughed slightly hearing lily say this
"Darling it's not a stranger it's Rebecca, you've met Rebecca before remember"
"Oh yeah"
"Well she's just staying here for now and so is Amy"
"Yay I like Rebecca and Amy but Rebecca's still a baby isn't she?"
"Well she's not a baby but she's a lot younger than you"
Rachel suddenly remembered she had to get nappies for Rebecca.
She didn't know whether to leave the kids or not as joe was still asleep but in the end decided it wasn't worth getting everyone out of bed for
She quickly through some clothes in before going out
When she got back she quickly went back up the spare room where she'd left lily on the double bed, lily had come in really early so it had only just turned 7 which she was glad about because she had a lot to do before work
"You left us home alone" lily said
"No I didn't joes here isn't he, I'm sure I saw his car on the drive"
"No he left a few minutes ago this man picked him up"
"Ah okay, well you were very safe weren't you and anyway Amy is a big girl so she can keep an eye on you"
"Yes but she's asleep I went into peek"
"Well she'll be very tired and so will Rebecca so we're not going to wake them up okay"
"But what about their school?"
"Well Rebecca is still too little to go to school so she doesn't need to worry about early mornings and Amy is having the day off today"
Lily thought this was a bit unfair as she didn't see why she had to go to school if the other two didn't
"Please can I have the day off school" lily asked politely "I was up late too remember"
"I know you were but it's school for you I'm afraid, how are you feeling now anyway you seem a but happier"
"I am, you promised you and joe wouldn't fight anymore"
"Yes I did, didn't i"
"Do you still promise"
Rachel nodded her head and gave her a sad smile
She suddenly remembered that someone would have to look after the girls today as she knew she could exactly leave Amy in charge all day and it had somehow slipped her kind that she'd be the one who had to take responsibility today and this would obviously mean she couldn't go into work today.
She felt awful letting school down as she normally hated taking time off,especially at such short notice but there really wasn't a lot else she could do
She knew this was going to be a bit awkward as she'd have to make sure the other two got to school on time, but providing the traffic wasn't bad she knew she'd only be gone 15 minutes max, so she could probably just leave Rebecca and Amy sleeping as long as she left a note saying where she'd gone
A while later Rachel managed to get both lily and Rosie in the car but both seemed pretty reluctant to go
"Come on girls you'll be fine once you're there" Rachel said
"It's alright for you, you don't have to go in" Rosie said
"Well what, you'd rather me leave the other two at home would you?"
A couple,of minutes later she arrived at the primary school, she got out the car and took hold of Lily's hand to lead her in
"Lily do you want me to have a word with your teacher love"
"Why"
"Well just to let her know there's been a bit of upset at home so if you're a bit .. I don't know out of character she can understand why"
"No I don't want you to" lily said
"Okay but remember if you do feel upset at any point, the worst thing you can do is to get angry at somebody else, just take a few deep breathes and go and speak to your teacher about it okay"
"Okay" lily said
"Go on then love"
"Bye Rachel"
"Bye darling, you have a nice day okay and remember what I said about if you get upset"
"I won't get upset"
"Okay, bye I love you lots"
Once she'd seen lily was safely inside she walked back to the car
She sighed when she saw the scowl Rosie had in her face
"Cheer up it's Friday"
"And?"
"Well it's the weekend isn't it, we'll have to think of something nice to do"
"Yeah until you and joe have another massive argument"
Rachel sighed, she knew what had been happening at home had effected Rosie particularly badly
"Look Rosie I'm sorry that things..."
"Oh cut it out Rachel I'm not in the mood for a massive speech"
"Fine, okay I just want you to know where I am if you need someone to talk to"
Rosie turned her head away from Rachel and faced out the window
They spent the rest of the journey in silence neither of them very sure what to say to each other now
"Bye love have an okay day" Rachel called once they'd parked up outside school
"Bye Rachel"
Rachel then drove back home
When she got in she was surprised to find both girls up and dressed
"Auntie Rachel" Rebecca said a big smile appearing on her face
She walked over to her auntie and hugged her leg
"Hello there miss Rebecca, blimey haven't you grown, you're getting such a big girl now aren't you"
"I'm nearly 3" Rebecca said proudly though actually her birthday was quite a while off yet
"Gosh nearly as old as me then" Rachel said causing Rebecca to giggle
"Now are you going to come and give your auntie Rachel a big hug?"
Rachel then lifted her in the air and have her a big kiss
"I've missed you darling"
Rachel cuddled up to her for a while before putting her down and letting her run off to play
She then went into the living room and saw Amy texting but on her phone
"What happened to your own phone?"
"Left it at mum"
"Well we'll have to get it back won't we"
"Rachel please can we just go tomorrow"
Rachel sighed but in all honestly she did think this was a better idea as everyone was way too tired to discuss things properly
"Okay love"
"Thanks Rachel"
"Who were you texting"
"No one"
" it must be someone" Rachel said laughing "it's not some mystery boyfriend is it"
Rachel was joking yet to her surprise Amy started blushing
"It is isn't it"
Amy gave a small nod
"Amy you've only just turned 14 didn't you think you're a bit young"
"No I don't" Amy snapped
"Okay, no need to bite my head off I'm just surprised that's all, how long have you been going out for?"
Amy just shrugged her shoulders
"Well you must know"
"3 weeks happy"
"Delighted" Rachel said sarcastically
"Rachel can I sleep at his house tonight"
"What, no way, of course you can't" Rachel said horrified
"Why not that's so unfair"
"Amy come on please tell me I don't have to spell out why it would be so completely irresponsible and inappropriate for me to let you sleep at some boys house when you're 14 years old"
"Mum would let me"
"Well in case you haven't gathered me and your mum do things differently" Rachel sighed though she was beginning to get very worried about her niece if her mum really wasn't bothered about this sort of thing as she would hate to think she'd done anything with boys yet
Rachel moved a little closer to her on the sofa as she wanted to have a proper chat with her
"Darling I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything but I think we need a little chat"
"Oh god"
"Look it's just you're getting me a bit worried, I mean you haven't ever you know... Done anything with a boy have you"
"What do you mean?"
"I think we both know what I'm talking about any"
"No I haven't" any said pulling away from Rachel "I'm not a slag you know"
"Hey I'm Sorry you just had me a bit worried that's all"
"Well you don't need to worry about me" Amy said before flouncing off
Rachel sighed she could tell having Amy and Rebecca here now was going to make things even more tense, and with that and all that was going on with her and joe she was struggling to see how she'd cope
Please review xxxxx