Chapter 3

Willow and Zac met me at the door as I arrived back home, “I thought you were going home tonight,” I told them as I unlocked the door.

“Yeah, but mum won’t be home yet, so we thought we’d keep you company for a bit,” Willow replied as she stepped past me into the hall, “do you want a cup of tea?”

“Yes please,” I answered.

“Thanks for coming into school today,” Willow said as she poured three mugs of tea, “I can’t imagine our real mum doing anything like that.”

“Well, it’s Maddy you should be thanking, it was her idea.”

“I’ll thank her later,” Willow replied, a saucy look in her eyes, “anyway, you’ll be interested to note that the four kids I named have been suspended, Josh got two weeks because he kicked off in the office, the rest have got a week.”

“I hope there’s no fall out when they come back.”

“So do I,” Willow replied, “but now Maddy has reported it, any repeat of the rumours or other bullying will be dealt with severely.”

The furniture delivery arrived as we chatted in the kitchen.

“What’s this?” Willow asked.

“Some more bedroom furniture...”

Willow’s eyes lit up at this news, “does this mean what I think it means?”

“It may do,” I replied simply as Zac followed me out to help carry the stuff into the house.

Between Zac, myself and the two guys from the charity shop, we soon had the furniture upstairs and into my bedroom. Willow shooed me out of the room as she and her brother set about arranging everything.

Later, as we drank more tea in the garden, Willow looked at me nervously, “when Maddy talks to mum,” she started, “will you be there?”

“If you want me to be there.”

“Yes please, I don’t want her to be angry with mum.”

“Maddy is angry with your mum, but she knows you don’t want a fuss. She’s got some plans that will help us all out, I think.”

“What plans?” Willow asked, excitedly.

“Let’s see how our chat goes tonight.”

I was collecting the mugs when we heard Peggy shouting for the kids, Willow stepped up to kiss me goodbye, “can you ask mum if she’s OK to talk to Maddy?”

“Won’t it be better coming from you?”

“Probably, but you’re a grownup, you know what to say.”

Before I had chance to agree, Zac nipped through the shed and called Peggy over, she followed him back through to my garden.

Peggy looked around the garden, smiling appreciatively, “you’ve got the garden looking lovely Mr Parr.”

“Please, call me Jim. The garden is pretty much all Zac and Willow’s work.”

“Zac took some cuttings from our garden,” Willow added, “then I took Jim to the garden centre to fill the gaps.”

“Ahh, yes, I recognise those roses,” Peggy replied, pointing at an orange rose bush in the middle of the row, “Ring of Fire, we grow them at the commune.”

“Would you like a coffee? Or a glass of wine?”

“Oh, I’d love a glass of wine,” Peggy replied.

I smiled as Willow took Peggy’s hand, pulling her towards the flowers, showing her which ones she’d bought.

I brought a bottle of wine and a glass for Peggy, she took her glass then looked at the twins, “it’s OK, they can have a glass.”

Peggy took a long, slow sip of her wine. She looked around the garden then back at the house. She wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure how to start.

“Mmm, do you like staying here with Jim?” she asked eventually.

“Oh yes, we love it here,” Willow replied enthusiastically.

“I thought so, you seem a lot happier these days.”

“It’ll be even better soon, because Maddy, Jim’s girlfriend, is moving in.”

“Oh really, that’s nice.”

“She’s great, Maddy came to school with us today, to speak to the head about some awful rumours that a few kids are spreading.”

“What awful rumours?” Peggy asked, concerned.

Willow’s face fell, realising she’d said too much.

“I got into a fight yesterday,” Zac said, saving Willow from having to think of a story, “because some kids are saying we’re sleeping together.”

Peggy looked thoughtful, “I’ve been wondering if you are. I’ve never said anything, because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, and I knew if you were, you’d be careful.”

Willow looked at her mother, a mixture of shock and surprise in her eyes.

“So, you have been sleeping with Zac.”

“Are you upset?” Willow asked quietly.

“Not really. After what your father got up to, you sleeping with your brother is a minor issue. Just be super careful, I don’t want my grandchild’s parents to be blood relatives.” She looked at me, “I assume you knew about this.”

“We had a talk on the first night they stayed over. Willow explained how her and Zac’s relationship developed, it seemed so natural, a true life love story. I was more horrified by the thought of them being left home alone at such an early age.”

“And for that, I’m truly sorry,” Peggy replied, sincerely, “you must understand, Tony, their father, and I never planned to have kids. I’m not saying you were a mistake,” she added, looking at Willow and Zac, “but ... mmm ... I knew your father’s sexual desires, so I didn’t want to breed any victims. You were safe from him until you started to develop, Willow. At that point, we started to attend the commune again, as a couple of families were more, shall we say, open, they shared their older children amongst the adults...”

“Mother!” Willow cried, horrified.

“Believe me, I wasn’t happy about it, but provided he sated his appetite with more willing children, I felt you were safe. Then I found out about Raine. Crystal and Cade certainly did not allow anyone to touch her. She was tiny, and Tony was a big guy, if you know what I mean.”

Willow looked and Zac and smiled, then she turned serious as she realised what Peggy was saying.

“He hurt her?” she asked, a look of horror on her face.

“A normal man would hurt a child that age. Your father was not normal size. Raine needed surgery.”

“Is she OK now?” Willow pleaded.

“She’ll never be OK, honey. Her physical wounds have healed, but those mental scars are there forever...”

“Ahh, fuck.” Willow sighed, “that’s just horrible.”

“Which is why I killed him,” Peggy looked at me then, “ahh, did they already tell you this?”

“Yes, they told me.”

Peggy looked relieved, “and you’re still their friend, thank you. I’ve not told you this, Willow, but I didn’t kill him on my own. Crystal helped, she cut his cock off, that’s why there was so much blood. We were going to let him bleed to death, but he was making a lot of noise, even through a gag and a hood, so I stabbed him. Crystal wanted to help me get rid of the body, but I wouldn’t let her, she had to get back to the hospital. She was in the shower when you arrived home from school.”

Willow smiled suddenly.

“Why are you smiling,” Peggy asked.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Crystal in the shower.”

“Were you now,” Peggy replied, smiling herself, “anyway, Tony’s gone now, so let’s talk about happier things. Tell me about Jim’s girlfriend, did you say she’s called Maddy?”

I returned to the kitchen to fetch more wine while Willow told Peggy about Maddy and what she’d said at school.

“She told the headmaster she’d been raped by a teacher?” Peggy was asking as I returned.

“Yes, and she told them it led to her trying to kill herself. She’s given school some photos, they’ll be shown during lessons to demonstrate the harm of rumours and stuff like body shaming.”