After all the heartbreak that Michelle went through with loosing Ruairi and finding out about Steve's affair, she found out she was pregnant while she was down in Devon with Mum, a month or so after the breakup. As much as Mum said she was happy, I think she was worried as well, about the same thing that happened with Ruairi happening again. Michelle came back up to Weatherfield a few weeks after she found out. Despite the fact she hated Steve, she thought he had a right to know.
Michelle, Rosie and I then spent the summer down in Devon with Mum. I drove us down after passing my driving test in the June. Grandma and Grandad kindly bought me a car to say well done. It was a big relief and it meant that I didn't have to spend my Friday nights and Sunday afternoons on the train back and forth from Devon. The summer was long and hot, and we were all so happy together. I spent two weeks in Surrey on a netball camp before Michelle, Rosie and I went back to Weatherfield at the end of August for me to go back to school, for my final year.
Towards the end of the year, it felt as though we had come a long way from where we were this time last year. Rosie was almost two and a half, Ella had just turned one and had learnt to walk and Isla had turned three, just a few days after Michelle gave birth to a little boy. Steve was with her, and apparently Liz was pacing the corridors outside, while I looked after Rosie. A few days later, she brought him home, to the flat in Victoria Court where we were still living. Grandma had come over to stay as soon as she'd learnt that Michelle was in labour. She hadn't been there with Ruairi, and she felt bad for letting Michelle down.
"Are you gonna wake up to say hello to your big sister? And Grandma? And your big cousin Orla?" Michelle said as she gently lifted the baby out of his car seat and held him in her arms. Rosie reached over from Grandma's lap to gently stroke him on the head.
"Have you got name for him yet Michelle?" Grandma asked as she had a cuddle with him later, and Michelle cuddled up to Rosie on the sofa.
"Yeah, he is Raifeartaigh Connor McDonald, but we'll call him Raffy for short." Michelle said.
"That's beautiful Chelle." I said.
"I think so too, I wanted to name him after Dad, since Pose is named after Steve's Mum but somehow, I couldn't bring myself to name him Barry, so I thought Connor instead, then he's named after Dad, and Grandad and Johnny and Aidan, and Paul and Liam too." Chelle said. Grandma reached out and held onto my hand as she spoke.
"They would have loved to meet him, Michelle." Grandma said. "Have you heard from Ryan?" she continued.
"Yeah, true Ryan style, I sent a photo to him last night and got a very brief reply." Michelle laughed.
Grandma stayed for a week after Raffy was born. It was lovely to have her there and I know Michelle appreciated the help, especially with Rosie adjusting to becoming a big sister. Michelle was also very friendly with Robert, the chef from the bistro and he was helpful at coming to make her dinner or picking Rosie up from nursery for her. I was busy in the midst of revising for my mock exams in December at school as well as really working hard on my fitness for netball because a Manchester Thunder coach was coming to watch me play at the beginning of January. My schedule, unfortunately, didn't leave much time for anything else, until the Christmas holidays, when my mocks were over, and it was almost Christmas.
"Chelle, you remember I'm going Christmas shopping in town with my mates this morning, yeah?" I asked as I came out of my bedroom door, dressed ready to go out. She was sat at the kitchen table holding Raffy in one arm and helping Rosie eat her breakfast with the other.
"Yeah darling, will you just pass me my tea?" she asked, pointing to it, next to the kettle on the other side of the kitchen.
"Yeah." I said picking it up. "Chelle, it's stone cold, I'll make you another one." I said, switching the kettle on.
"Thanks darling." She said. I had a cup of tea and a piece of toast before leaving the house and heading to the tram station to go into town.
"Orabella Connor." I heard a distinctive voice say behind me as I reached the door of Victoria Court that afternoon. I turned around to see Mum, standing by her car door.
"Mum, what are you doing here?" I asked as I ran across the road and hugged her. She hugged me tight as she kissed my cheek. She smelt the same, just as she always did. I had missed that smell. I felt like I hadn't seen her in a long time.
"Sorry, I would have called it's just all a little last minute." She said.
"You can say that again, I'm meant to be coming to Devon to spend Christmas with you tomorrow. What's going on?" I asked
"Factory stuff, Aidan needs my help with something. I just, I really need you to watch the girls for me, while I go and meet him." She said.
"Yeah, yeah of course, bring them up." I said.
"Chelle's not in, is she?" Mum asked.
"No, no, she practically lives at Robert's these days." I said. "I could take them up and then you can come and get them when you're finished if you like." She nodded and helped me get Isla and Ella out of the car. They were both excited to see me which I was pleased about, and I quickly took them upstairs to the flat. While Mum was out, Michelle text and said she was staying at Robert's tonight.
I told Mum this when she got back to the flat from her meeting with Aidan. I insisted she stay, it was almost 6 o'clock, she couldn't drive back to Devon now. She was worried about seeing Nick and Peter, I reassured her Nick wasn't around anymore and Peter was occupied with Leanne's sister.
"Ok, fine, I'll stay, but only for the night." She said. She got their overnight bag, that she'd packed for a hotel on the M6, out of the car, while I got the girls in the bath. We put them in pyjamas and put them into Rosie and Raffy's beds for the night. When they were asleep, I ordered Mum and I a Chinese.
"Do you want a glass of wine?" I asked Mum as she sat down on the sofa and turned the telly on.
"No, I'm alright thanks Orlie." She said.
"Are you alright Mum?" I asked as I walked towards her and sat down on the sofa beside her.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She said. I took the remote from her hands and turned the telly off.
"Are you gonna carry on lying? Are we gonna sit here all night or are you gonna tell me what's going on?" I asked. Silence beheld in the room as she looked at me, fiddling with the ring on her hand as she did.
"I've got kidney failure Orla." She said quietly. I put out my hand to her and she squeezed it tight.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means my kidneys are doing what they're supposed to on their own and I need drugs to help. But the drugs, they're not working. I'm going to need more treatment." She said, as tears began to fall down her face. I pulled her into me, and she held me tight. We stayed like that until the buzzer went and I went downstairs quickly to get our Chinese. We ate and chatted about other things, like Devon and school and exams instead, anything to try and distract Mum.
"Michelle's been talking about moving in with Robert when I turn 18. She thinks I could look after myself now." I said.
"You've been looking after me for years Orlie, of course you can look after yourself. But won't you be a little lonely?" she asked.
"Not if you come back." I said. Mum looked shocked. I reached my hand across the table and held onto Mum's. "Aidan, told me about the factory, he really needs your help and by the sounds of it, you need your family around you at the moment." I said.
"Let's just get past Christmas first, shall we?" she said and I nodded. "But can we keep the kidney things to ourselves for now?" she asked and I agreed.
Mum decided to stay, in the days after Christmas. Michelle, Rosie and Raffy moved upstairs to Robert's flat and Mum, Isla and Ella moved back into our flat in Victoria Court. She went down to Devon and brought their things up in a day, while I looked after the girls. Everyone was happy to see Mum, but it was hard, hard to watch her with everyone when I knew she was ill. I'd googled lots about kidney failure since Mum told me and it was serious, the drugs she was taking weren't working so the next thing to do was for her to have dialysis. Everyone wondered why she wasn't drinking, Michelle thought she was pregnant again, but was ashamed about sleeping with someone down in Devon so didn't tell anyone. Mum tried to reassure her that she was just cutting back, but Michelle didn't believe her.
On New Year's Eve, Mum and Michelle shared a babysitter for the kids and we celebrated in the bistro together. Except, at midnight when the clock struck and everyone raised their glasses and kissed their loved ones, Mum had, what I can only describe as a panic attack and stormed out the bistro. I followed after her, wrapping my coat around her as I calmed her down on the pavement outside.
She still swore me to secrecy. I wasn't allowed to tell a soul that she was ill. Sometimes, I didn't mind, and I was glad she was home, with the girls, surrounded by her family and her friends. But watching her with them, them totally oblivious the pain and trauma she was going through almost on her own, that was hard. I just wanted her to be ok. I'd already lost my Dad, there was no way I could lose my Mum as well.