Chapter 40

Belle was up bright and early again the next morning, brewing coffee as I walked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing up so early?” she called across the room as I entered.

“I was about to ask you the same thing, I came down to make breakfast for you all.”

“Ahh, I beat you to it, sorry.”

I watched Belle as she poured cereal into several bowls, all neat and tidy in her new uniform, tie fastened perfectly, hair tied in two neat buns, a little makeup, but not too much, she rarely wore much makeup, none of the girls did.

“How long have you been up Belle?”

“Not long, about ¾ of an hour.”

“Did you sleep ok?”

“I slept brilliantly, our talk worked so well, I wasn’t worried at all last night. We had a cuddle for a while and kissed for a bit. I think I was asleep before Poppy.”

“So why are you up so early?”

“Because I slept so well, silly. I slept like a log for 7 hours. That’s all I need. I was awake at 6, so I got up to make breakfast.”

“Is that enough sleep?”

“Oh yeah, I bet I could manage on 5 hours, you don’t sleep for long stretches on the street. I feel really good today.”

We took our coffees to the table and waited for her sisters.

“How were Aunties last night after we went to bed?”

“They were OK I think. They got an Uber home as it was still raining. I imagine they spent the whole night talking. I didn’t expect Nita to be quite so understanding, to be honest. I was surprised she just assumed Helen had secrets, that she’d done porn. I suppose she’s glad it wasn’t worse.”

“She’s a doctor dad, I bet she’s seen and heard a lot. The girls like Poppy who get hurt in the bad films, they end up seeing doctors. Nita will have had to repair a lot of broken girls.”

“She did amazing work on Poppy’s damaged skin, she knew exactly what to do, like she’d done it before.”

“Poppy’s never told me how badly she was hurt, was it really bad?”

“Very bad,” Poppy told her as she wandered into the kitchen, “I’ll tell you if you plait my hair.”

“Ohh, you’ll look great in plaits, how do you want them?”

“Two thin plaits please. Are you sure you want to know what they did to me?”

“If you lived through it, I think I can stand hearing it. I’m your girlfriend, I need to know what you went through.”

“OK, here goes. You know how sore you get after you’ve had sex with dad for a few minutes?”

“Oh yeah, but it’s nice soreness, because what we did was fun.”

“OK, so imagine that front and back for a couple of days, non-stop. Sometimes two at once, in the same hole.”

Belle blanched and covered her face with both hands, “oh god Poppy, why?”

“Because they’re fucking bastards. They punched and slapped me, my arse cheeks were red raw, my pussy and arse were torn up. My lower back was a mess of bruises on top of bruises. They used me as an ashtray, I had cigarette burns on my back, my tummy and my boobs.”

Belle started to cry, “I don’t understand, why did they do all that? I know you sometimes enjoyed it rough, but just slapping and stuff, why all that violence? I just don’t understand?”

“They wanted me dead, Belle, and they wanted their fun while I died. They’re all dead now, or at least all the ones I can remember are dead, and they definitely didn’t have fun while they died.”

“If there’s any of them left, I want to meet them. I got a book about Krav Maga yesterday, Esther gave it me, and Lia is going to take me to some classes. In future, if anyone comes for you, they will have to come through me first.”

Poppy turned around, she pulled Belle into a powerful hug, “after Monday honey, I know you can keep us all safe. The only thing that could hurt me now is if I lost you. If anyone hurts you, there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Let me finish your hair, then I think I need a wash, I bet my face is a mess.”

“Your face is perfect Belle, everything about you is perfect.”

“But I’m all teary and my mascara has probably run.”

“Yeah, there is that, but you’re still perfect in my eyes.”

“Thank you, Poppy.”

Belle combed her sister’s shoulder-length hair and parted it down the middle, she split each half and plaited them carefully, finishing each plait with a neat pink bow.

Poppy turned in her chair and kissed Belle passionately, “now you definitely need a wash, you’ve got my lipstick all over your face.”

“And you’re all smudged,” Belle laughed.

They clasped hands, dashing off to their bathroom. I put a fresh pot of coffee on and waited for the others.

Half an hour later, they were ready for school, an early start today as Poppy had a science lesson before registration.

Belle was uncharacteristically quiet during breakfast. She was the last of the three to finish eating and dawdled as she put her coat on.

“What’s the matter, Belle,” Katie asked.

“I’m being silly, I know, but I’m dead nervous about school today.”

“That’s not silly, but seriously, you do not have to worry about school. Jade’s friends will steer well clear of you, because they know if they do anything, they’ll have Poppy to answer to. No matter how impressively you flattened Jade, Poppy is much scarier.”

“Now I’m confused, Poppy isn’t scary at all.”

“It’s not that she looks scary, but rumours have spread, people know what she went through, that she survived and everyone else died.”

“Oh, really. I thought Poppy’s past was a secret.”

“Well, they don’t know everything, Jesus, they’d run her out of town with pitchforks if they knew everything. We just spread the homelessness and the brutal attack, and how it’s a weird coincidence that everyone who attacked her is now dead.”

“Ahh, so you’re the girl who lived, like Harry Potter!” Belle replied brightly.

“Yeah, but I’m rubbish at Quidditch,” Poppy replied as she helped Belle into her big coat.

Jenny joined us in the hall, “if there’s any trouble today, I want to know, I have no problem arresting anyone who gives you shit.”

“It’ll be fine mum, me and Katie, we spoke to them all yesterday.”

They left, Belle in the middle, Poppy and Katie each holding a hand.

“It’s not that long since I was at school and none of the girls I was at school with were brave enough to walk hand-in-hand like that,” Jenny said as she pulled me into a hug, “they’re all heroes in my eyes.”

“Including me,” Lia asked as she slipped an arm around Jenny.

“Especially you Lia, just being alive is a miracle. To be as well balanced as you are, and so well read, yeah, you’re a goddess just like Poppy.”

“One day I hope to be as kind as she is.”

“I’ve seen nothing to suggest you aren’t as kind as she is.”

“I dunno, in my head I’m not a kind person, I can be bitchy at times.”

“How do we know Poppy isn’t bitchy in her head?”

“She can’t be, look how she is with Belle, and Katie.”

“And I’ll counter that by telling Jenny just how nice you were with Belle yesterday,” I replied, “and how loving you are with Katie, and how you’ve refused all offers of expensive clothes and gadgets.”

“Well, that’s just natural isn’t it, I can’t have you spending a lot of money on me when you don’t even know me properly.”

“You’ve clearly not met some of the girls Helen dated before Nita, they took her for every penny they could get.”

“Ahh, ok. I guess I’ll stop running myself down. It’s just when I see the three of them together like that, I wonder whether I could ever be as happy and confident as they are.”

“You’re getting there,” Jenny told her.

I thought back to yesterday, and Belle’s worry about Katie.

“You know, Katie really does love you a lot. She was so excited when we suggested going looking for you. She was super worried about how Poppy would feel about you, and about any possible fall out. Poppy told her straight that she still loved her, always would, but she knew that Katie wanted to be with you. She told Katie straight that she loved her too much to stand in her way, she should see how it went with you.”

“Oh my god, that’s what I’m telling you about! Poppy is just so lovely.”

“You do love Katie, don’t you?”

“I love her so much, she appeared that first day and I think we must have clicked right then, because I can’t think of a sensible reason why she risked catching something by kissing me.”

“There’s definitely something about Katie, because Poppy fell for her immediately as well.”

“She’s so loving, and her eyes, they just pull you in, so do Belle’s. I love Belle, she’s just such an immense bundle of cuteness, but she’s not like Katie. With Katie I feel whole, you know.”

“That’s exactly what Poppy feels about Belle. And it’s why you shouldn’t be worried about losing Katie. They were almost perfect together, but not quite perfect enough. Like a jigsaw piece that looks right but doesn’t quite fit.”

“Thank you Alex, I feel so much better now.”

Lia went upstairs while Jenny followed me back to the kitchen as I cleared away the breakfast things.

“That was a great talk Alex, almost as good as Helen.”

“Funnily enough, that’s what Belle said yesterday after I had a word with her about much the same thing.”

“Oh really, what was she worried about?”

“She was terrified Poppy wanted Katie back, so terrified she hasn’t been sleeping.”

“Oh gosh, the poor thing, and she hasn’t said anything.”

“No, I only found out by accident as we were talking and she said she spent the night looking at Poppy’s boobs, and we got talking. You mustn’t say anything though. She doesn’t want Poppy to know. She slept fine last night, I checked, she’s happy now.”

“She looked so pretty this morning in her uniform, and her hair so neat. Poppy’s hair was lovely as well, with the cute ribbons.”

“Belle did Poppy’s hair over breakfast, before Katie and Lia came down. They had their own little meltdown this morning as well.”

“Oh gosh, what about. I feel bad for missing out because I slept in again.”

“Don’t you worry about it, you didn’t sleep at all yesterday. Anyway, we were talking about something, and the subject of Poppy’s injuries came up, and Belle told me she’d not talked to Poppy about them, she had no idea how bad she’d been, and Poppy entered at that moment. She checked that Belle really did want to know what happened, and then she told her. Belle didn’t handle it well, so they had a cry.”

“Oh my, they looked OK as they left.”

“Oh yes, it’s all cleared up, they’ve decided that nothing bad will happen to Poppy now, as Belle has Krav Maga skills.”

“Belle is so funny, she’s like Scrappy Doo.”

“To be fair, she did deck Jade so quickly nobody saw what happened.”

“True, she did. Oh yeah, I’ve noticed something the last couple days, since Lia arrived.”

“What’s that?”

“They call you dad now, and I’m mum. I don’t know if it’s subconscious because Lia’s an adult and calls us Alex and Jenny, so they differentiate themselves by calling us mum and dad.”

“I’d noticed that, but not made the connection.”

“I’m not saying I’m right, but I think it’s interesting. Anyway, I’ve got to get going in a minute, what are your plans for today?”

“We’re going to look at the office buildings we showed you last night. Get a picture of them in the flesh, so to speak, and see what work is involved building them, because they come flat-packed.”

“Oh exciting, I guess we’ll be giving Ernie some more work.”

“I guess we will.”

There’s no simple way to get from home to the part of Teddington we needed, so I booked an Uber to get us there, we’d take a slower way back via Finsbury, so we could have a chat with Jeremy.

I wasn’t quite prepared for the garden buildings’ office, I suppose I just expected an office, not unlike an estate agents. What we saw before us was a huge plot of land with dozens of cabins dotted around, the nearest one to the entrance being the actual office.

“Well, I guess I’ll get to see exactly what I’m getting,” Lia whispered to me as we entered the front office.

We were greeted by elderly man who introduced himself as the founder and owner of the company, and we were immediately reassured by his warm and friendly manner.

“Hello, I’m Stanley, how can we help you today.”

I let Lia speak, it’s going to be her office, so she can lead the purchase.

“Hi, I’m Lia, this is my guardian, Alex. I’m looking for a garden office where I can run my sisters’ charity.”

“A charity you say, let’s have a wander around the site while you tell me about your charity. Oh, do be careful outside, last night’s rain means it’s a little muddy under foot.”

“Don’t you worry about me, last week I was sleeping outside in the rain.”

“Ahh, I wonder, are you connected to the young girls who were on the television at the weekend?”

Lia turned to me, “were Poppy and Belle on the telly?”

“Oh yes, so much is happening right now we’re forgetting things. Yes, they were presented with an award at the weekend, they were interviewed on the weekend news.”

“That’s amazing, I shall make them show me the interview tonight,” Lia replied brightly before turning back to Stanley, “so, to answer your question, yes, I am connected to the young girls who were on the telly, they’re my sisters Poppy and Belle.”

Lia excitedly explained the charity’s aims to Stanley as we walked to the back of the lot, she told him what her role was, and how she expected the charity to function, the food waste interception project, the kitchens, the plan to distribute personal hygiene products and little treats. She’d had a new idea yesterday that she’d not spoken to Poppy about yet, logging all the street kids’ birthdays, as best as they could remember them at any rate, and giving them a card and present on, or as close to their birthday as they could manage.

Stanley was hugely impressed with Lia’s presentation.

“I’m guessing that seeing as you were on the streets last week, you’ve only recently been made privy to this charity.”

“Well, the whole thing is new, it’s not even properly off the ground yet.”

“But you spoke so eloquently about their aims, it means a lot to you. Same with your sisters, Poppy and Belle?”

“Yes, if you saw them on TV, Poppy is the older of the two, with the chestnut hair, she’s such a hero. Belle is the younger one, with black hair, she’s so cute.”

“I was most impressed with how well Belle spoke, for such a young girl she was very well spoken. You’re all very passionate about your work.”

We’d reached the back of the lot without slipping in the mud, here we were amongst some of the more ordinary looking sheds that Belle had seen first on the website.

“What exactly are you looking for in a garden office?”

“Ahh, well, I’d like it to be big enough for two desks at least, because Alex works from home, he’s an author. So it would be nice if he could keep me company during the day. I’d like big windows so I can watch the birds in the trees, and I’m sure I saw a squirrel yesterday. I’d like room to store books and things, and maybe a radiator would be nice in winter.”

“I see, so two desks and large windows rule out these few, so we’ll step forwards a little. These models here,” he indicted the next row of buildings. “are our most popular, they can accommodate two people, but don’t give a huge amount of room for storage. I’m guessing as this will be a working office you’ll need space for things like a printer and filing, so we’ll move on.”

The next row looked bigger than the model we’d looked at online, I paced the first one out, it was just a little longer, but significantly deeper.

“I think you’ll like this model,” Stanley told us, “step inside, don’t worry about muddy shoes, the floor is very easy to keep clean.”

The front of the cabin had two very big windows, one of which was a sliding door.

“The big sliding window is very handy in summer,” he told us as we stepped though it and into the large cabin.

It was set out as an office for three people, a large desk on one side with shelving fixed to the wall behind, and a printer on a cupboard against the side wall.

The other side of the cabin was filled by two smaller desks facing each other, more shelves and a filing cabinet. The space was very well used. The walls were blonde wood, giving the whole place a light and airy feel.

Lia was beaming, she sat behind the big desk and pretended to work on the fake laptop placed there to make it look more office-like.

“I love it, and I have an idea, instead of two desks there, we could have a big table, for meetings, and, yeah, four people would work at the same table with laptops, the girls could use it for homework in summer, with the window open and some music playing. Oh yes, this is perfect.”

“You’ll have lots of questions about building and setting up things like computers that are way beyond me, so I’ll leave you for a moment to look around while I lasso one of my salespeople and send them down to help you. When they arrive, please show them this card, they’ll know what to do with the price then.”

Stanley gave Lia a black card, all it said on it was VIP in silver script.

“I wonder what this means,” Lia pondered as she flipped it over, the reverse was blank.

“I’ve no idea, I guess we’ll find out shortly.”

“What do you think of the colour? It’s bright, but a bit bland. Do you think it comes in different colours, or do we paint it ourselves?”

“I imagine that’s one of the questions the salesperson can answer, along with how we get the internet in here. I love your meeting table idea by the way, and your birthday present idea, Poppy was so right about you being the perfect person to manage the project.”

“Thank you, this is all so exciting. I’m really buzzing to get started working properly.”

It was a few moments before a salesperson arrived, introducing herself as JoJo, she didn’t look much older than Lia, dressed in a grey turtleneck sweater, black jeans and patent leather Doc Marten boots.

“One of my daughters would kill for those boots,” I told her, “they didn’t have her size when we last went shoe shopping.”

“I love them, they literally go with everything in my wardrobe. So, gramps said you wanted this model cabin, but you have some questions...”

“Oh, Stanley is your grandad, that’s great,” Lia replied, “he gave me this to show you.”

“Ahh, the VIP card, he must like you, he only hands these to the special customers.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means you get everything half price and we help with the build. You just have to lay the concrete base at least a week before we arrive.”

“Oh really, that’s amazing, thank you.” Lia replied.

“So, you have questions?”

I started, “well, firstly, how do we get power and network to the cabin?”

“We’ll give you a detailed set of instructions on that, normally customers dig a trench across the garden, run the cables in a plastic pipe and pour the concrete over the pipe, with the pipe sticking out of the base at the back. There’s connections on the back wall of the cabin for power and network, and phone if you need it.”

“What if I want the walls inside a different colour, can you paint them before delivery?”

“We didn’t used to, but so many customers requested different colours, we now offer to spray the walls any colour you like, just give us the RAL code for the colour you want, and we’ll do the rest.”

“Thanks, I’ll talk to my sisters, I’m sure none of us will be able to agree so I’ll go for a light purple or something.”

“How many sisters have you got.”

“Three, but we’re not related or anything, not really, we’re waifs and strays collected by Alex and Jenny, and I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done to ensure our safety.”

“Now I’m curious. I’ll tell you what, let’s go through the options, work up a price and schedule, then you can tell me everything over lunch. Does that work for you?”

“That sounds perfect, err ... what are the options?” Lia asked.

“There’s loads, like the type of the window frames, whether you want the sliding door or a regular door, the regular door is more secure...”

“We live in Wimbledon...”

“I guess the sliding door will be fine then. We can fit ceiling speakers, they’re connected to a Bluetooth receiver, so you don’t have to worry about wires and stuff for your music. There’s a basic network switch in a box on the rear wall, you can swap this for a more enterprise model, or lose it entirely if you choose the WiFi only option, which means you only need to run power from the house.”

“How do we get the WiFi into the cabin,” I asked, “I don’t have a great signal at the bottom of the garden.”

“You fit a transmitter to the house, and there’s a receiver on the outside of the cabin, it’s very easy to set up. They’re about the size of a pack of cards, so they’re very discrete.”

We spent about 30 minutes discussing the details, towards the end of the meeting I phoned Ernie to see if he was available to lay the base and help with the build. He asked to speak with JoJo so I put the phone on speaker, they chatted for five minutes about the specification for the concrete base, the details about the fixings used to secure the cabin to the base, the location for the power connector etc.

“I’ll come round in the morning to measure up for the base,” he told me after he’d finished with JoJo, “I’ll pop in and see the people about that network thingy, I may as well fix the unit to the house ready. I’ll talk to my brother Mick, he can do the electrics, and he knows a bit about networks.”

“Nice one Ernie, I’ll be around all day tomorrow, pop round any time.”

JoJo had a calculator out as I finished my call, adding up the itemised bill for the cabin, she wrote a figure at the bottom and slid the paper across to me.

The final bill, even after the customisations Lia requested, was significantly below the price of the basic, smaller model we’d looked at online.

JoJo saw me hesitate before signing the order and misunderstood me, “so, this is the absolute best price we can do.”

“Ahh, sorry, I’m not worried about the price at all, I was fully prepared to pay the prices we’d seen online. I’d already weighed up the cost compared to renting office space. No, I’m just thinking about whether I pay this from my regular account and get my accountant to sort out the tax stuff for the charity, or I pay it from the charity’s funds. Ahh, bugger it, I’ll stick it on my card and let my accountant worry about it.”

“Fantastic, we’ll need to pop up to the office to pay the deposit, then we’ll ask for the balance once you’re happy with the build.”

Twenty minutes later we were in a pub down the road and Lia was chatting to JoJo about the aims of the charity while I ordered drinks and food.

“I see, so all your sisters were homeless?” JoJo was asking as I returned to the table.

“Oh no, Katie has a family, they just hated her because she’s gay, and her mother was about to start work on a cruise ship and dump her in a boarding school, changing schools right in the middle of her GCSE year.”

“Oh man, that’s harsh. How did you get to know Katie?”

“She was dating my other sister, Poppy, at the time.”

“So, Katie is also Poppy’s girlfriend, this is crazy, but I love it.”

“Hahaha, well you’ll love this more, because it’s way more crazy than that.”

“I’m listening...”

“Katie is my girlfriend now, because Katie helped Poppy find the true love of her life, Belle.”

“She’s the third sister, right?”

“Yes, but they’re not actually my sisters if that makes sense. Poppy, Belle and Katie have all been adopted. I’m 18, so Alex hasn’t adopted me.”

“If you feel a kinship with them, then they’re your sisters in my book.”

“Oh definitely.”

“So, what’s it like having four teenage daughters?”

“Well, I think my experience is less than typical, because they’re all so well adjusted and respectful of each other. Yeah we’ve had trauma over the last few weeks, because the girls have all lived through horrors, but they help each other through them. Frankly, Poppy behaves like Belle’s mother sometimes, so we don’t have to look after her at all.”

JoJo was smiling, “I bet my dad wishes I was like your girls when I was their age. The poor guy, I terrorised him, I did everything I could to rebel, fighting, smoking, coming home drunk with unsuitable boys. Shit, I thought I was pregnant when I was 14, luckily it was just indigestion, that was a lesson I should have learnt from, but I was stupid.”

“I would never have thought you were a bad person, you seem so nice.”

“There’s a misspelt tattoo on my arse as evidence that I was an absolute twat for a few years. It took a weekend in a police cell to straighten me out.”

“Seriously!” Lia gasped, “what happened?”

“I got drunk and stole a car, I didn’t get far though, I crashed it at the end of the street. It’s a miracle I didn’t kill myself. I was arrested and dad refused to bail me out, so I was held until my court appearance.”

“What happened in court?”

“I was banned from driving for two years, which was weird as I didn’t even have a driving licence, I still don’t. I also got a fine that dad refused to pay, so I worked weekends on the market earning money to pay my fine.”

“How’s your relationship with your dad now?” I asked.

“Great actually, because that crash woke me up. I guess I’d have come to my senses at some point anyway, but crashing a stolen car is better than ending up in hospital with a drugs overdose or getting pregnant and not knowing who the dad is.”

Lia nodded in response, “true, very true. I saw a lot of girls die from drugs on the streets. Poppy nearly did, twice, but I didn’t know her then.”

“I work with dad, gramps, a couple of uncles and several cousins. We’re all family at work.”

“Oh, really. An office romance would be awkward,” Lia muttered.

“Oh shit, it so would. I really fancy one of my cousins as well, it’s so awkward.”

“Does he like you?”

“She...”

“Ahh, does she like you?”

“I’ve no idea, she’s married anyway.”

Our food arrived, cutting off that line of conversation.

JoJo, who’d ordered a Caesar Salad, looked enviously at Lia’s Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.

“Do you want half my sandwich?” Lia asked, “seriously, I need to save room for apple pie.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, you can’t survive on salad.”

“I hate my life sometimes,” JoJo whispered, “I’m a model part time, and my agent weighs me every time I go to see him, if I’ve put in an ounce he screams at me.”

“Well dump him and find a better agent,” I told her, “there’s no reason why a model should be unnaturally skinny.”

I pulled out my phone and flipped though my camera roll, “here’s my sister, she’s a model.”

“Oh my god! Helen Taylor is your sister, oh fuck, she’s so gorgeous. Yeah, she’s got a proper figure, I so wish I could just be natural, but Gerald, he’s my agent, he only likes girls who look like pre-teen boys, it’s weird. Does she have an agent, maybe I could speak to them.”

“Helen works for herself, she does very little modelling nowadays.”

“Can I be really cheeky?”

“Of course, be as cheeky as you like.”

“Can you, like, arrange a meeting with your sister, I’d love to speak to a professional, get some advice off her.”

“That’s not even slightly a problem,” I told her as took my phone back and dialled.

“Hey Helen, how’s it going?”

“Oh, hey Alex, thanks for ringing, you just woke me up.”

“Ahh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I shouldn’t be in bed, it’s past noon. We talked until about 4 in the morning, everything is straight, I asked Nita to marry me, she said yes, then we went to bed, to sleep.”

“That’s amazing, I’m glad you got everything sorted. Anyway, in other news, how would you like to be a mentor?”

“A mentor? Who’ve you adopted now?”

“Hahaha, I’ve not adopted anyone. Lia and I are having lunch with an aspiring model, she’s with an agent who likes the pre-pubescent boy look...”

“Oh fuck Alex, you know how much I hate agents like that. Where are you?”

“We won’t be here by the time you’re dressed...”

“Ahh yes.”

“And she’s got to get back to work soon.”

“Ask her what time she finishes.’

“Helen wants to know what time you finish work.”

“Err, 5 o’clock.”

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, give her my address, tell her to come round and we can have a chat.”

I cut the call and pulled out a pen and some paper, “Helen says you’re welcome to pop round to her house after work, she has a very deep hatred of people like your agent. Here’s her address and phone number.”

“Seriously, she wants to see me?”

“Absolutely, Helen has one mission in life, and that’s to use her experience to help others.”

JoJo checked her watch, “oh shit, I’ve really got to get back to work soon. Thank you both so, so much. Please, pop round again, bring your sisters next time.”