Chapter 26

The pub was a couple of miles away, traffic was slow and I could tell Jenny really wanted to hit the lights and siren to make a path.

“Why don’t you use the sirens?” Belle asked.

“The consequences could be quite serious if I use them in a non-emergency...”

“But this is an emergency, I’m hungry,” Belle replied.

“That’s not really an emergency though, is it? Besides, I’m not really supposed to be driving this car, so we have to behave.”

“Boring,” Belle complained, but she shut up and pouted quietly for the rest of the slow journey.

We’d lost Jeremy when he was caught by a set of traffic lights, so we had to wait a few minutes for the van to arrive. When it did we saw Helen was holding Flower’s hand as they climbed out, Belle squeezed Poppy’s hand when she saw them, “thank you,” she whispered.

The pub was nearly empty, so we were given a big table in one corner of the dining room, the waitress passed around menus and took our drinks orders, a couple of bottles of wine, pint of lager for Jeremy, bitter for myself and Coke for our girls.

“I just want you all to know that you can order whatever you like,” Jeremy said to Max, Evie and Flower, “so no need to be polite, if you want steak, have steak.”

“Can I have salmon,” Evie asked quietly, “I so love salmon but I’ve not had it since I left home after dad...” she fell silent then.

“If you want salmon, you can have salmon,” Helen said, “you don’t need to worry about prices, Alex and I are paying, and I also want you to know, I’m a trained therapist, so if you want to talk about anything, anything at all, either at the table, or in the ladies room, I’m ready to listen.”

“Thank you Helen,” Jeremy said, “and if you’re not comfortable talking here, Helen has kindly agreed to come into the shelter one day a week to listen to anyone who just wants to talk.”

Poppy looked at Helen, pure admiration in her eyes, “thank you Helen, I wish I had someone like you when I was 13.”

“On a related note, Jeremy,” I said, “Belle wants to fund Flower’s treatment, so send me any bills, for medication, food, boarding and train fares, then Belle can settle up with me later, she’s offered to work in the shelter a couple of evenings to help pay me back.”

“Oh yes, and we’ll come and help Belle,” Poppy said brightly, “it’ll be great for me to pay you back for your kindness. We can cook, or clean rooms, or even just talk to the girls, would that be ok?”

“Any help will be gratefully received, and I’m sure a lot of the girls would love to see you again Poppy. You saw how many came today, they miss you.”

Poppy put her head down, a bit embarrassed about the thought of all the other girls missing her. We used the silence to properly check the menus.

Belle, Evie, Max and Flower chose starters, Belle going for pate with homemade bread, Evie chose scallops, something she said she’d always wanted to try, Max picked French Onion Soup and Flower couldn’t choose between chicken dippers and garlic mushrooms, so Helen told her to get both.

The mains were simpler, everyone except Nita, Helen and Evie going for a steak of some kind, Nita picked the mushroom risotto, Helen went for the sweet potato curry and Evie chose grilled salmon.

The wine didn’t last long, so Jenny ordered two more bottles. As she was driving she took Poppy’s coke and gave Poppy her wine glass, Jeremy switched to low alcohol lager, I stuck with bitter which I involuntarily shared with Belle.

The starters arrived and the girls tucked in, Belle gave me a piece of her bread and pate, it was so good I regretted not ordering some myself. Oh well, more room for dessert.

Flower finished all her chicken dippers, she passed half of her mushrooms to Poppy, which was a nice touch.

The mains arrived to much delight, the steaks were all excellent, Belle had ordered half a cow by the look of her plate, as soon as I saw her plate I bet her £100 she couldn’t finish it all, she took the bet and started to carve her rump steak. I was secretly pleased she liked her steaks the way I did, still juicy in the middle. She stabbed a lump with her fork and gave me such a look as she bit into it. I love Poppy, I really do, but Belle, she was a proper daddy’s girl and knew it.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said as she followed the first bite, “that’s the best steak I’ve ever tasted.”

“Really,” Katie said, “it’s nice, but I’ve had better.”

“Because it’s the first steak I’ve ever had, I just ordered one that sounded nice, cooked the way Alex ordered, and I’m glad I did, it’s amazing. I think I’ll have a bit more of the sauce, it’s delicious.”

As we ate, we all watched as Belle demolished a 10oz steak, chunky chips, mushrooms, peas, onion rings and a couple of bread rolls to mop up the sauce.

When she’d finished Belle wiped her mouth with her napkin and sat back, patting her belly, satisfied.

“Honey, where did you even put all that food,” Jenny asked.

“In my belly, if I breathe out I’ll probably pop the button on these nice jeans. I’ve still got room for pudding though, did I see they had jam roly poly and custard?”

“I’ll tell you what,” Helen laughed, “I shouldn’t encourage you, but if you can finish off a full dessert, I’ll double Alex’s bet.”

“You’re on!” Belle replied, picking up my beer and finishing it off, “ahhh, that’s a nice beer, can we have another please?”

I shook my head in amazement, “how did you live with Belle for so long Poppy?”

“I had to work hard to keep her fed,” she laughed, “actually, that’s a lie, she used to fetch food for us, we didn’t ask too many questions about where she got it.”

“I didn’t steal that much, honest! I asked nicely for any food that was nearly out of date.”

“And who could refuse when Belle turns on the charm,” Poppy added.

“Definitely not you, Alex,” Jenny said, poking me in the ribs.

The waitress came to clear the table, “who helped you finish,” she asked Belle with a smile.

“No-one, I ate it all myself.”

The waitress laughed a little condescendingly.

“She ate it all herself, and mopped up the sauce with a bread roll,” Poppy said, backing Belle up.

“Two bread rolls,” Katie added.

“And now I’m having jam roly poly and custard for pudding,” Belle finished, “I need to eat well so my boobs get as big as Poppy’s.”

The waitress actually looked at Poppy, who obliged by pushing her chest out.

“Mmm, quite, I’ll be back to collect your dessert orders in a moment,” she said as she rushed to clear the table.

Poppy burst out laughing, “oh Belle, I so missed you, it’s you that kept me sane. Thank you, I needed that laugh,” she said as she wiped her eyes.

“Anyone else want dessert?” I asked, most people did, although everyone else chose something lighter than a suet pudding with custard.

20 minutes later we watched as Belle literally licked her bowl clean before putting it down and burping loud enough to draw the attention of two men sitting at the bar.

“Whoops,” she giggled, “I enjoyed that.”

“The pudding or the burp,” Katie asked.

“Both,” she answered, rubbing her full belly, “I probably won’t need to eat again for a few days, but I don’t regret anything.”

“Hahaha, I guess Alex and I owe you £100 each.”

Belle waved her hand dismissively, “give it to Jeremy, for Flower, I’m too full to spend money right now.”

The bill arrived with coffees, it actually wasn’t bad, Jenny had chosen the pub well, Helen and I paid half each, Jenny left the tip, which Belle objected to, because she said the waitress was a sourpuss.

In the car park we looked at the cars and again realised we had a problem.

“It’s ok,” Nita said, “I need to get back to work, I’ll grab a train, there’s a station at the end of the road.”

“Are you sure,” Jeremy asked, “I can drive you to work, after all, I have to get the ladies back to the shelter, where do you work?”

“This evening I’m at Barts,” Nita replied.

“That’s fine, it’s not far from where I need to take the ladies.”

“And I think I’ll tag along if that’s ok, I can have a look at the shelter and continue my chat with Flower.”

Belle tugged on Helen’s sleeve, she pulled her away and whispered in her ear, “find out why she thinks she can’t go home, I could never find a reason.”

“I’ll try honey, but right now she’ll only tell me what she’s comfortable talking about, maybe later she’ll be happier to tell me more.”

“Thank you,” Belle said as she gave Helen a hug.

Meanwhile Poppy was hugging Jeremy, “thank you so much for bringing everyone today, they were all so clean and nicely dressed, and you brought Max, I needed to see her, so we can both be at peace.”

“It’s my pleasure Poppy, I think every charity shop in the West End has been raided over the last couple of days.”

“Ahh, let us know which ones, we have a load of Alex’s ex-girlfriend’s clothes that we need to get shut of.”

“Oh yes, I need to come round tomorrow to collect some furniture,” just then his phone rang, “excuse me Poppy, I need to take this.”

Jeremy stepped away for a moment, listening to the caller, then he took the phone away from his ear, “anyone got a pen, and paper?” Jenny passed him a small notebook and pencil, he rested it on the BMW.s roof and wrote down a few lines before cutting the call.

“This isn’t your official police notebook is it?” he asked Jenny.

“No,” she laughed, “like I’d let you look at that.”

“Haha, I don’t blame you, so it’s ok to tear a page out, you can’t do that in your notebooks.”

“Yes, it’s fine to tear the page out, tear two out if you don’t want me to read what you wrote.”