Chapter 25

Tuesday, Jenny woke me with a kiss and a coffee, “I’m going into the office early, so I can take the afternoon for Nikki’s funeral. I’ll borrow an unmarked car from the pool so I can drive us all there.”

“Are the girls up?” I asked.

“Yep, Poppy is insisting on going into school this morning, she says she has important lessons this morning.”

“Ahh, more like she doesn’t want to think about the funeral until she absolutely has to.”

“That’s probably it, I’ll let her go then, do you want me to pick them up from school?”

“No, I’ll collect them at noon and bring them back here so they can change.”

“I’ll see you about one o’clock then, be nice to Belle today, a funeral isn’t going to bring back any nice memories for her.”

“I will, we’re doing manual labour this morning, that’ll keep her mind off things. I want to get the spare room emptied so we can get Ernie down to turn it into a work room for the girls. Jeremy said he’ll send someone round with a van tomorrow to collect the furniture, he knows a family desperately in need of a bed and wardrobes.”

“Well, as much as I’d love to crawl back in bed, I really have to go.”

“I’ll get up now and make sure everyone’s ok.”

“Last time I checked Belle was eating ice cream for breakfast, Katie was finishing some homework and Poppy was in the shower, it’s like a normal day.”

“Still, I need to get up.”

Jenny kissed me again then left for work, I slipped out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower.

15 minutes later I walked into the kitchen, Katie was still doing homework, Poppy was wiping chocolate from around Belle’s mouth, someone had made a fresh pot of coffee.

“Hey dad,” Poppy said, sounding a little tired.

“Hey everybody, are we all ok?”

“Belle is going to be a bit hyper this morning, she’s had ice cream for breakfast.”

“That’s handy, we’re moving furniture out of the spare room, she can do most of the work.”

Belle sighed, “I’m allowed to eat anything I want for breakfast.”

“You are, but it would be better if you ate something slightly healthy, if you don’t want cereal, have a banana instead.”

“I don’t feel like being healthy.”

“Which is ok occasionally, tomorrow try something else, ok.”

“Alright, I’ll have porridge tomorrow,” Belle replied sulkily.

“You sound tired,” I said to Poppy as I poured coffee, “did you sleep ok?”

“Not really, I was awake most of the night.”

Katie looked up from her book, “why didn’t you wake me, we could have done something to make you sleepy.”

“It wouldn’t have been fair on you both to wake you, and it wasn’t really a matter of being sleepy, my brain was keeping me awake.”

“We could have kept you company while you were awake, lying awake is no fun if you’re all alone, especially if you’re all alone with two other people in the room.”

“It was nice watching you both sleep, you make really cute little noises in your sleep Belle, that was quite soothing.”

“Well, next time you’re lying awake, please wake me up,” Katie insisted.

“Leave me asleep though, especially if my sleep noises are soothing.”

“Ok Belle, I’ll let you sleep,” she laughed, giving her a quick kiss.

“Are you going to be ok in school if you’re tired?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve an important science lesson today, I don’t want to miss it, and I have some work to finish in English.”

“Ok, but if you feel bad, please ring me and I’ll come and get you.”

“Thank you dad, you’re so nice, but don’t worry, I’ll be ok.”

After breakfast, with Katie and Poppy off to school, Belle and I set about the spare room, we removed the bedding, Belle folding and bagging it all, “I’m sure whoever gets the bed will want the bedding as well,” she said.

Between us we managed to lift the mattress off the bed, we slid it downstairs and leant it against the wall. The bed was next, soon dismantled and stacked next to the mattress.

“I’ve no idea what’s in the wardrobes,” I said over coffee as we had a quick break, “there’s probably some of Tammy’s clothes left, Jeremy can take them all.”

“Will they fit any of us?”

“They’d fit Poppy, or Helen, but I’d rather they just go.”

“Oh yes, I’m forgetting, yes, get rid. If you don’t want to see them I’ll go and bag everything up right now.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be OK.”

Belle grabbed a roll of refuse bags after we’d finished our coffee and we started to empty the wardrobes, dresses, skirts, blouses all were neatly folded and placed into bags. Belle was very organised, with separate bags for dresses, skirts and blouses.

Behind the clothes were neat stacks of shoe boxes, we lifted them out and lined them up, Belle opened a couple, “nice, but not for me. Katie would suit some of them though.”

“If they fit her I don’t mind her having the shoes.”

“She’s got nice legs, I think she could wear heels, not me and Poppy though, we’re more trainers and boots girls. Oh, this box is heavy,” she said as she lifted a box from the back of the wardrobe.

Belle put the box down on the floor and sat cross-legged in front of it as she lifted the lid.

“Ha-ahhh, I’ve found your porn stash!” she laughed.

“It’s not mine...” I started to protest.

“Look there’s porn mags in here, with, err, Helen in them.”

“I don’t hide my photos of Helen, I have a box of them in my office, but, hang on a sec, I’ve not seen these before.”

Belle flipped through the top magazine until she found the spread with Helen, “oh wow, these are sexy. She had smaller boobs then, I like these photos, she’s more Poppy’s size,” she flipped the page, “oohhh, you never said she did stuff like this.”

I looked and Helen had a big dildo in her pussy, “err, that’s because I didn’t know she’d done shots like this, she told me the most she did was a couple of fingers in her pussy.”

“Yikes!” Belle exclaimed as she turned the page, “That’s never going to fit.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to look, but like a car crash I just resist looking, across a double page spread was a big picture of Helen with another woman trying to force a huge dildo into her arse, we could see Helen’s face in a mirror on the wall, she looked like she was enjoying herself.

“That’s definitely not something I’ve seen before,” I told Belle, my voice breaking slightly as my heart raced.

“What’s it doing in the back of this wardrobe?”

“I’ve no idea, I guess we’ll have to ask Helen.”

“Shall we look what else in is here?”

“If I said no, would you just ignore me?”

“Probably...” was Belle’s honest reply.

“Well, go ahead.”

Belle lifted the first magazine out, below were a number of polaroids, a couple of camera memory cards and a DVD, below the DVD were some pretty old hardcore magazines, they had plain coloured covers and looked to be from the early 70’s.

“What are these?” Belle asked.

“Those are vintage porno magazines, that kind of stuff was illegal in the UK back then, but fairly common in many European countries, they had plain covers as they weren’t allowed to show the contents in shops.”

“Oh, so why are they here, they’re too old to have Helen in them aren’t they?”

“Yes, she wouldn’t have been born then.”

“Can I open them?”

“Of course, I’m curious to see what’s in them.”

Belle flipped open the first magazine and my heart sank, it took all my will not to close the cover.

“What’s the matter, you’ve gone all pale,” Belle asked, a note of genuine concern in her voice.

“See the girl on the right hand page,” I said, pleased with myself for at least sounding normal.

“Yes, she’s pretty, I like her hair, but her pubes are wild.”

“Does she look familiar at all?”

Belle looked closer, she squinted a little as the print was nowhere near as good as modern magazines.

“She looks like Helen, but how, you said these magazines are older than she is.”

“That’s our mum.”

“Fuck,” Belle said as she slammed the magazine shut, “I am so sorry.”

“What are you sorry about?”

“I made you see your mum in the nude.”

“I’ve seen her nude before, it’s weird I admit, but I’ve got some of her nude photos upstairs with Helen’s.” I thought for a moment, “actually, no I haven’t, Poppy’s got them all. I just didn’t know she’d done porno work is all, it’s a shock, just like the photos of Helen in the other magazines.”

“Maybe that’s the only photo, I’ve no idea what the text says, it looks German or something, maybe that’s just an advert.”

She flipped the magazine open again and leafed through, the first spread was a blonde girl in school uniform, Belle gasped, “she’s never 18, she’s about Poppy’s age, how is this legal?”

“Ahh, some countries didn’t have the same rules back then, if we’re lucky she’ll be the youngest girl in here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean they had no rules about ages, there may be very young girls, and boys in here.”

“What do I do, I want to see your mum but I don’t want to have to look at stuff like that.”

“Flip back to the first page, there should be page numbers, then shut your eyes as you flip through counting the pages.”

“Yes! Brilliant.”

Mum was on page 24, “these magazines count the cover as page one,” I told her as she started flipping through, her eyes closed.

“Here we are, page 24, is it safe for me to open my eyes?”

“Yes sweetheart, it’s safe.”

Belle opened her eyes, “oh wow, so this is Helen’s mum, I see where she got her looks and figure.”

“She’s my mum too,” I said with a smile.

“Yes, you have her eyes,” she said without turning away from the page, she touched parts of the page, mum’s face, her breasts, her pussy, lingering on each area as if committing them to memory.

“She’s beautiful...”

“Yes, she is,” I replied.

“Can I turn the page? She’s only nude here, there might be other stuff on the next page.”

“You can turn the page if you want to, we’ve seen Helen with dildos, I’m not sure there’ll be much worse than that here.”

“She might be with a man.”

“I’m fully prepared for that,” I replied quietly, wondering if I was prepared for seeing my mother having sex with a strange man.

Belle lifted the page half way and checked it before laying it flat for me to see, “she’s with a girl,” Belle said brightly.

A blonde woman was kneeling between mum’s thighs, her lips to mum’s pussy, I looked closer, “actually, I don’t think she’s a girl.”

“She is,” Belle replied, pointing to the page, “she’s got boobs, only small ones, but bigger than mine.”

“Look between her legs...”

Belle looked more closely then jerked her head back, “fuck, err, I didn’t expect that. Poppy told me about trans people, but I’ve never seen one.”

Belle spent a couple of minutes absorbing everything about the photo, “she looks like she’s enjoying herself, look at your mum’s smile, that’s genuine.”

She flipped the page, “oh my,” she said then closed the magazine, “you don’t want to be seeing that.”

“It’s ok Belle, you can look.”

“But, they’re doing it, he’s, err, she’s up your mum’s bum.”

“Like I said, I’m perfectly aware my mum had sex, more than once actually, so if you want to look, it’s fine.”

Belle reopened the magazine, she looked at the spread, this was three different shots, the left-hand page was a single shot of mum sucking the other model’s cock, the other page was two photos, one of mum being fucked in the pussy, the other her ass.

“Wow, she’s got a big cock, not like yours obviously, but pretty big compared to others I’ve seen.”

She put a finger on the third photo, the anal sex one, she looked closely then flipped the page to see if there was more, there was, this time the second model was on her back with mum riding her reverse cowgirl, the cock buried deep in her ass, Belle traced a finger down from mum’s smiling face, over her breasts, she lingered on mum’s pussy for a moment before moving down, revealing the hard cock in her ass.

“Does it hurt? You know, anal, being fucked in the ass?”

“I can’t really comment...”

“But Poppy said she did you with her strap-on.”

“That’s a lot smaller than mine, and hers too I think,” motioning to the page.

“Did it hurt you though?”

“Not really, no, it was uncomfortable, because I’d not done it before, but Poppy and Helen both say it feels amazing once you’re used to it.”

“Mmm, maybe I will let Poppy try her dildo on me, but no offence Alex, your cock is never going inside me again, it was a lot of fun, but it also hurt me a lot.”

“That’s ok Belle, no offence taken.”

“I’ll give you head any time you like though, I really enjoyed that, and I enjoyed it when I got myself off on top of you, and I really enjoyed cuddling you, so all those things, but not penetration, is that OK.”

“That’s absolutely fine,” I replied, smiling.

“Also, sorry about freaking out a bit before, you know, with the young girl, it brought back memories I’d rather forget.”

I pulled Belle into a cuddle, “you’re safe here Belle, no-one will ever make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Does that include ironing? I don’t ever want to iron clothes.”

“Hahaha,” I laughed, “if Jenny’s put ironing on your list of chores you’ll have to swap with Poppy or Katie.”

I kissed Belle on the forehead as she snuggled into me, “I feel so safe here, I don’t ever want to leave, can I live here forever?”

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want to stay, though if you find a girlfriend you want to live with, you might change your mind.”

“But Poppy’s my girlfriend for life.”

“Yes, and what if Poppy wants to find a place of her own, with you, and Katie.”

“Oh, yes, then I’d move, oh shit, don’t make me think about that, because right now all I want is to keep cuddling you.”

“Can you reach out and put the magazines back in the box, and put the lid back on.”

“Yes, of course, are we done here?”

“We are, it’s nearly time to collect your sisters from school.”

“Can I show Poppy the magazines?”

“I think we’d better ask Helen first, because I’m sure they’re her magazines.”

“Ahh, so why are they here?”

“Because I think she doesn’t want Nita to see them.”

“Oh fuck, yes, of course.”

Belle pulled away from me to put everything back in the box, she replaced the lid firmly.

“I enjoyed looking at the photos of your mum, did you like them?”

“I’m not sure I should answer that,” I replied, “but yes, I enjoyed looking at the photos.”

“There you go,” she said, handing me the box, “hide it somewhere I can’t find it, I’ll try not to think about it, so I don’t mention the box to Poppy.”

“Ok, I’ll hide the box, and when I see Helen, and I’ve got a private moment, I’ll ask her about it, and ask if she’s ok with Poppy and Katie seeing the magazines.”

After I’d hidden the box, we set off for school to collect her sisters, Belle held my hand the whole way.

“Are you ok?” I asked.

“Mmm, not really. I’m scared of funerals. When my mum and dad died it was horrible, I cried for days. Gran took me to the doctor and he gave me some tablets. When I took them I stopped feeling sad, I stopped feeling anything. Do you know what I mean?”

“No, sorry I don’t.”

“Mmm, I’m not sure how to describe it, it’s like I wasn’t really there. You know when you’re really sleepy and it takes you forever to react, how you can’t really hear stuff properly, even your own voice?”

“Yes, I do.”

“It’s like my head was full of cotton wool the whole time I was taking the tablets. I had to stop taking them, Gran noticed I stopped reacting when Liam touched me.”

“Did he?”

“Molest me when I was on the tablets?”

I nodded.

“I honestly don’t know, and I don’t want to know.”

“Ok, that’s probably for the best.”

“Maybe I’ll talk to Helen one day, but not at the moment, today I just want to get through the funeral without having a panic attack, I don’t want to upset Poppy.”

“I’m sure Katie will help you both, if not I can hold your hand, or Helen will if you prefer.”

“That would be nice, thank you.”

We walked on, as we passed the cafe in the park Belle spoke again, “I really wish I had a photo of mum and dad, I worry sometimes that I’ll forget what they look like.”

“When we go to see your grandad, we could ask him for one, or perhaps we could look online, there may be photos of them on Facebook or something.”

“Yes, there may be, I’ve always resisted looking, because I don’t want to read about the accident, or Liam.”

Poppy was still in a lesson when we arrived at school, so we waited with Katie in the reception.

Katie asked what we’d been doing all morning to end up looking so dusty, “we’ve been clearing out the spare room,” Belle replied as I checked my reflection in the mirrored back of the trophy cabinet.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was all dirty?” I asked Belle.

“Why didn’t you tell me I’m all dusty?” She asked in reply.

“You’re not all dusty,” Katie told her.

“Ahh, sorry Alex, my bad, I was waiting for you to tell me I was dusty before I told you.”

I nipped into the visitors toilet to splash some water on my face.

“That’s better,” Katie said as I returned, “we’re not embarrassed to be seen with you as much now.”

Belle slapped her sister’s leg, “we’re not embarrassed to be seen with him at all!”

“I know, I was joking!” Katie replied, rubbing her leg, I bet it hurt, Belle had slapped her quite hard.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I don’t even know why I hit you, I guess I must like Alex more than I thought.”

“He’s the best dad I’ve ever had,” Katie replied.

“He’s the only dad I’ve ever had,” Poppy said as she walked up to meet us, “so, what are we talking about?”

“I just gave Katie a bruise,” Belle replied, “because I thought she didn’t like Alex, my mistake and I apologise. By way of compensation I’ve found you some amazing shoes that will really suit you Katie, I hope they fit.”

“Oooh, where did you find them?” Katie asked, holding Belle’s hand as we left the school.

“They’re Tammy’s. She left loads of stuff when Alex kicked her out. I’ve bagged up all the clothes for charity. They’re too small for Poppy’s big boobs, and a bit big for you. I don’t know much about shoes, but they look really expensive.”

“All of Tammy’s wardrobe was expensive,” I told them.

“Maybe we should sell the clothes,” Katie said, “instead of giving them away.”

“No,” Poppy said firmly, “we’ve enough money, they can go to Bernardos, they need the money more than we do.”

Poppy and Belle were quiet as we arrived home, the realisation we were home to get changed for the funeral suddenly striking them.

Katie turned to me as I unlocked the door, “it’s ok, I’ll take care of them, you go get changed, don’t worry about Poppy and Belle.”

“Thank’s Katie, you’re all making my life super easy by taking care of each other.”

“I basically raised myself, having parents that take an interest in me is a bit of a novelty.”

“We’re all a little bit broken aren’t we.”

“Yes, but we’ve made one working family out of all the pieces.”

Katie headed for the stairs before turning back, “oh, you still have a bit of dirt on your forehead, you’d best have a shower.”

I smiled, “thanks Katie, I hope Belle didn’t hurt you before.”

“She did, a bit, but I deserved it, she loves you almost as much as she loves Poppy. I think she needs a strong father figure, which is maybe why she has such a problem with Liam, he damaged her trust in men.”

“Thank you Katie, I’ll make sure I honour the trust she’s placed in me.”

“You’re doing fine so far,” she said, kissing me tenderly on the cheek, “we all love you very much, and personally I can’t believe how chilled you are about three girls taking over your life.”

We separated at the top of the stairs, in my bedroom I saw someone had been in and laid out my best black suit on the bed, along with a white shirt and black tie, my shiniest dress shoes were at the foot of the bed.

“Whoever chose my clothes, thank you,” I shouted across to the girls’ room

“It was me,” Belle called back, “Poppy bagged the shower first, so I thought I’d choose your outfit, I hope it’s ok.”

“It’s perfect, thank you.”

I followed Katie’s advice and had a shower before dressing. The girls were still getting ready when I checked in on them, Katie was braiding Poppy’s hair whilst Belle was buffing Poppy’s Doc Martens, her own were still box fresh.

“I don’t suppose anyone is in the mood for food?” I asked.

“Not really, no,” Poppy replied, “maybe later though, when this is over, we could go to a pub for something to eat.”

They met me 15 minutes later in the kitchen. Katie wore black trousers, a black blouse and a black blazer with brass buttons and gold piping that I recognised as one of Tammy’s.

“Sorry, Katie didn’t have a black jacket,” Belle started, “so I remembered the blazer and pulled it out of the bag, we’ll put it back later.”

“It’s ok, if it fits you can keep it,” I replied.

“Thanks, I like it. The gold piping isn’t too much for a funeral is it?”

“It’s fine Katie,” Poppy replied.

Belle wore her new black blouse and jacket, along with her black jeans and Doc Martens. She was wearing a little make-up and she looked adorable.

Poppy was wearing one of Helen’s black dresses, I think it’s a Ralph Lauren from the cut, and Poppy would pitch a fit if she knew how much it cost, although I doubt even Helen was daft enough to spend that kind of money on a dress, so it was probably stolen.

She’d paired the dress with a black cardigan, and her Doc Martens, which probably weren’t the shoes Ralph Lauren envisioned with the dress, but Poppy was Poppy, and to my mind she looked perfect, just like her sisters.

Poppy’s shoulder length hair had been pulled into a tight braid and tied at the bottom with a black bow.

“Do we look ok?” Poppy asked quietly.

I nodded, “you all look perfect, smart and reverential.”

We waited in the lounge for Jenny. Katie, Belle and Poppy sitting on one sofa, Belle in the middle, holding her sisters’ hands as they sat in silence.

Jenny phoned a few minutes later to say she was on her way, I pressed the button on the gate app to roll it back so Jenny could reverse up to the door. It had started to rain and I didn’t want the girls to get wet.

We stood as one as we heard the car reverse through the gates. I opened the door to see a shiny black long wheelbase 7-series BMW which was so long the front wheels were still on the pavement.

Jenny slid out and smiled as she saw the look on my face, “the chief superintendent is on holiday, so I pulled in a few favours and borrowed his official car. They wanted to lend me his driver, but I said we wouldn’t have enough seats for us all if we had a chauffeur.

I opened the back door and the girls slid into the back seat, being the smallest, Belle sat in the middle, on the bit that’s not really a proper seat in an executive car, she had a seatbelt though, so she was safe.

“Do you want to drive?” Jenny asked as I locked the front door.

“I’d love to, but I’m fairly sure I won’t be covered by the insurance.”

“I don’t think I am,” Jenny replied, “which is why they wanted to give me a driver. Oh well, I’ll try not to crash.”

We pulled into the crematorium car park just as Helen and Nita were getting out of a taxi, they greeted the girls with silent hugs. A few minutes later an old, black van drove through the gates and parked up at the far end of the car park.

“That’s Jeremy,” Belle said quietly, “he won’t want to park that thing anywhere near the nice cars.”

I watched as Jeremy climbed out and slid the side door back, two women emerged cautiously, I assumed they were Max and Evie.

Poppy pulled clear of Helen as she heard footsteps, she turned to see who was coming, “Max, and Evie, oh my god!” she cried as she ran up to the new arrivals.

Max took a step back, not sure how Poppy was going to react to her presence at a funeral that was partly her fault.

She needn’t have worried though, Poppy threw her arms around Max and hugged her tightly.

“Oh Max, I’ve missed you so much, and Evie, it’s so good to see you, I was so worried. Come meet my family.”

She took hold of Max and Evie’s hands, leading them towards us.

“Everyone, this is Max, after Jeremy mended me, she kept me on the straight and narrow. If I’m Wonder Woman, she’s Antiope. And this is Evie, the one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known.”

We shook hands as Poppy introduced us, “this is Alex, my dad, another person who literally saved my life, I hate to think it, but I’d have died at that bus stop if he hadn’t invited me into his home, then trusted me enough to let me stay, and this is Jenny, my mum, she’s a detective, she’s on a team who are looking to help street kids like me and Belle, who you know obviously, Katie found Belle for me, because even though Katie is my girlfriend, she knew I needed Belle to complete our family.”

Jeremy stepped up and shook my hand, “oh, oh, Jeremy,” Poppy said, “thank you so much for helping Max and Evie, you are an angel.” She took Katie’s hand, bringing her forwards, “Katie, this is Jeremy, my first saviour, all those people who say I’m some kind of hero, I’m not, it’s Jeremy, he’s the real hero, him and his people, they work day and night to keep as many street girls as they can safe from harm.”

Max coughed quietly, Poppy looked across to her, “I am so sorry about what I did,” Max said, her voice breaking, close to tears.

Poppy pulled Max into a hug, “it’s ok. I was angry at first, really angry, but you know, what you did, it brought me and Nikki together at last, I forgave her for what she did to me, I found out about how shit her life was. You know, she was younger than I am when she fell pregnant with me, and I could see how my life could have headed down exactly the same path as hers if Jeremy hadn’t found me, and then you invited me into your life.”

“So you’re not angry with me?”

“Well, I was, but now I’m not. What you did, killing those bastards, you did because you thought they’d killed me, you did it to avenge me, and I’m not going to be angry at you for that, why would I be? I’d complained to you about what a bitch my mum was, and how she treated me, so you just went after her like the other bastards.

“Anyway, she didn’t have much longer to live, the drink and drugs, the mistreatment she was subjected to, it all took its toll, and the doctors reckoned she’d have been dead in months.

“If she’d died on the streets I’d never have found her, I’d never have spent time with her, listened to what she had to say, and in the end, we were friends again, so Max, all I can say is thank you.”

Poppy kissed Max tenderly, “I wanted to kiss you so much when we lived together, but we never kissed, why not?”

“Because I was afraid I’d fall for you completely if we did, and our life was too fragile for me to risk falling in love. Besides, I could see how much you loved Belle, there’s no way I wanted to interfere there.”

“Oh,” Poppy replied, shocked by Max’s honesty, “I was expecting something about kisses being too gay or something, I didn’t realise you felt that way.”

Max put her hands on Poppy’s cheek, looking into her eyes, “there’s not a girl in that squat that didn’t love you with all their heart, we dreaded every time you left the squat to earn money, we sighed with relief every time you came home safe. We knew you earned good money for us all, we knew how much you enjoyed a lot of the sex work you did, but it didn’t stop us worrying. We also knew that your heart only really belonged to one girl, Belle.”

“I’m so, so sorry if I made you worry, I never knew.”

“There were a few of you worked the streets, we worried for you all, but you the most, because no matter how lovely Flower and River and Angel and the others were, you shone far brighter.”

Poppy looked down, “Flower has gone with Luna, I’m worried for her, but there’s nothing I can do, she’s 18, she can make her own decisions and mistakes.”

Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder, “it’s ok, we’re keeping an eye on her, we won’t interfere, but if anyone hurts her badly, we’ll step in. We can’t watch her forever, or even all the time, but we’re monitoring her for now.”

Poppy put her hand on Jeremy’s and gave it a little squeeze, “thank you,” she whispered.

Then we saw the hearse and fell silent as it rolled slowly past us.

A woman stepped out of the hearse and donned a top hat, we walked slowly towards the entrance and she met us at the doors.

“Hello, my name is Gaynor,” she quickly scanned us and held her hand out to Poppy, who took it and they shook hands gently, “I’m here to make things run smoothly.”

“Thank you, that’s all I want right now,” Poppy said quietly, still holding Gaynor’s hand.