Chapter Seven: Re-jogging Memories
I hear the keys rattle against the door as Molly opens the door. I turn to see she is carrying various bags.
"Let me give you a hand" I say, reaching for some that are hanging from her left arm. She hands them to me before turning to the door and shutting it. I place the bags on the kitchen bench, seeing all the food made my mouth water.
"Okay, I'll show you what I got you honey." She beams, placing at least five bags of clothes on the bench. "I got you some jeans, tops, a jumper, a coat, two pairs of PJs, scarf and gloves, a beanie, socks, knickers, bras, two pairs of shoes and a dress." She said, as she pulled each item out of the bags. "I also got you a bag, drink bottle, toothbrush, hair brush and some face cleaning stuff." She added. I felt like crying. I march up to her and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you, thank you so much Molly." I said through the tears.
"It's nothing blossom, I wanted to." She said, hugging me back. "You should be thanking someone else for getting you all the clothes." She added
I pulled back, giving her a puzzling look. "Who?"
"Sherlock and John chipped in, they paid half." She said. I stared back at her. I couldn't believe that they would do that.
"Really?" I ask.
"Yep, do you want to give them a ring to say thank you?" Molly asked.
"If I can, that would be nice." I reply. Molly pulls her handbag of her shoulder and on the bench, she shoves her hand in it and digs around until she pulls out a phone. She unlocks it and dials a number.
"It's ringing, and John will most likely answer." She said, handing it to me. The phone rings another two times before a voice answers on the end.
"Hello Molly." John answers.
"Um, it's not Molly, it's Clara."
"Oh hello Clara! How are you feeling? Settling in alright?" He questioned.
"I'm fine and yes, Molly has helped me settled in. Listen John, I was just ringing to thank you and Sherlock for chipping in for the clothes. It really means a lot." I say.
"It was our pleasure, you are our responsibility too. My wife Mary bumped into Molly at the shops and helped pick some stuff out. I hope you like them." He said.
"Well can you thank Mary on my behalf please? I really like them." I ask.
"Sure, no worries." John says.
"Well I better let you go, thank Mary and Sherlock an d thank you once again." I said.
"You're welcome. Have a good rest of the day Clara, bye" John responded.
"Bye John." I say. I place the phone back on the kitchen bench next to Molly's handbag and help her put away the food. She showed me where everything was in the kitchen. I began to understand why Molly might have taken me in. While she was out, I looked at the pictures on the walls and on other pieces of furniture. She doesn't have any siblings; therefore she doesn't have any nieces or nephews. The thought occurred to me that she might not be able to have children. I don't know the real answer as to why. But it was clear that she might have more than one.
"Molly, why did you take me in?" I ask. She stops instantly as I ask her. She puts down the cereal that she was about to put down.
"Come and sit down, I'll tell you why." She says. She walks around the bench to the stools on the other side. We both pull out a chair and sit down next to each other. She looks down at her lap; I can see she is trying to think of what to say.
"If you don't want to tell me now Molly, it's fine." I say, hoping to would make her feel better.
"No Clara, you need to know, it's fine." She takes a deep breath. "Two years ago, I met a man, his name was Tom. He was everything I looked for. And best of all he loved me back. I've had a lot of bad luck with relationships in the past years. We dated and then he eventually asked me to be his girlfriend, about a year later, he asked me to marry him. I instantly said yes. I thought that my life was getting back on track and I was going to begin living my dream. I am 32 now so I was hoping my now I would be married and have a child but I didn't." She stopped and she began to tear up. I jumped up and grabbed the tissue box of the coffee table, bringing it back to her.
"Thank you sweetie." She says, taking a tissue and wiping her eyes. "Tom and I talked about trying now, he was eager to have a child too. So we tried and tried and tried, and I never got pregnant. So I went to a doctor, to see if anything was wrong. And it turned out that." She stopped again, grabbing another tissue and blowing her nose this time. She grabbed another and wiped her eyes again. Once she was done, I held her hands, hoping it would give her some comfort. "And it turns out I was infertile, that I couldn't have children." She said, the tears running down her face one by one.
"So when I saw you, a teenage girl with no where to go, I thought to myself 'this is your chance Molly, take it' so I did." She said. I sat there, trying to process all that was just said to me.
"So what happened with you and Tom? You are not engaged." I ask. Molly looked up at me in awe.
"How'd you know that?" She questioned.
"No engagement ring" I say. She smiles a little.
"You are just like Sherlock." She says.
"How am I like him? He was really rude to me and you in the morgue today." I say.
"He knew the same thing by just looking at my hand like you did. But yes, he is always like that. Don't worry, I have known Sherlock for years, he will eventually warm up to you." She says.
"He doesn't like me because I outwitted him in the cab ride to the hospital." I add. Molly giggled.
"Wow, Sherlock was outwitted by a teenage girl. I will never let him forget that." She chuckled. We share a moment of brief silence before I speak up again.
"I'm really sorry Molly, for you not being able to have children and for Tom leaving you." I say, giving her hands a gentle squeeze.
"Clara, you don't need to be sorry. Sometimes life is a bitch and you have to deal with what it throws at you." She says. I nod in agreement.
We stand up and begin to finish putting away all the shopping. Molly helps me take my clothes upstairs and cut all the tags off. I almost scream when I see the price of the coat.
"Jesus Molly, you bought a coat that cost £250!" I shout.
"Sherlock bought that, not me!" She says.
"Wow, I don't how much that is, but it seems bloody expensive." I say.
"Yeah it is a little, but it is a good coat and will hopeful last you a while." She added. We continue cutting tags and folding clothes and putting them in the chest of drawers in the cupboard. I hang up my coat, jumper and dress up on coat hangers.
"What book were you reading when I got home?" Molly asks. Still folding the clothes.
"Umm, Harry Potter. But Molly, I remembered something. I saw the cupboard under the stairs and it looked familiar, after my shower, I came and sat down here and I started browsing through the books. When I saw the Harry Potter books, something just clicked and I remember reading them and watching the movies." I say, almost screaming. Molly doesn't say anything she just stares at me.
"Clara, get dressed, put your coat and jumper on, we have to go out." She says. "Brush your hair and teeth too!" She adds.
"Why?!" I ask.
"We need to go and see Sherlock and John, they invited us over for dinner, well, John did and Sherlock told me to tell him straight away if you remembered something." She says. Without saying anything else, she leaves the room to grab her coat and handbag, leaving me some time to get dressed and get myself ready.
I grab a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. I unhook the dark purple jumper from the hanger followed by the black coat. I grab a pair of socks from the bag and cut the packet open to get them. I put them on along with the black shoes that had "All Star" written on the rubber sole. I run into the bathroom with my toothbrush and hairbrush, quickly brushing my teeth. Before I start my hair, Molly comes by the bathroom.
"Do you want me to do your hair?" She asked. Her facial expression begged me to say yes.
"Yes please Molly" I say, sitting down on the edge of the bath. Molly grabs the brush and pulled it through my mattered hair. She tugged on knots, saying sorry if I yelped from the sudden pain. Once she was done, it was up in a bun.
"Thank you Molly."
"You're welcome, now let's get going." She said. I walk back into my room and grab my coat off my bed. I only now just noticed it was just like Sherlock's coat, but shorter. The fabric was the same and it had the buttons on the back. I also grabbed my scarf and gloves, putting them in the leather satchel bag Molly had bought; having a feeling it may be cold when we leave.
"You can grab your book if you want, there might be a lot of adult talk and it may be boring." She said as I came down the stairs. I pick it up and fold the corner of the page I was on in and close it shut. Putting it in my bag with my other belongings.
I walk out of the house and straight to the car. Molly locks up the house and soon follows. She walks down the few steps down to the driveway and down the path but doesn't come towards the car.
"We aren't driving, they only live a half an hour walk away." She said. I jog up to meet her, opening my bag to put on my scarf and gloves. We walk in almost complete silence. Only listening to the hustle and bustle that London always has to offer.