Chapter 7

The next few months were semi controlled chaos.

On the way home we visited the Land Rover dealership and Amber approved my purchase of a new Defender 110 with a lot of options that pushed the price to almost 6-figures.

The next weekend we hired a BMW and drove down to Hertfordshire to visit the place Jed recommended for kit houses. Amber and I had already chosen the design we wanted, and after seeing a scale model and watching a 3D walkthrough video on VR headsets Alice agreed it was perfect.

After a few minor layout changes and the addition of a large garage and a separate garden building I signed away a fair chunk of my profit share, but it was about a fifth of what we’d spend for a ready built house this size and quality, so I wasn’t worried.

With the purchase out of the way we had to prepare the land, so we packed everything we wanted to keep and put it into storage and moved into Alice’s house while the old cabin was demolished and the ground cleared.

We got permission to remove a few trees provided we planted twice as many as we chopped down elsewhere in the National Park. Amber supervised the tree planting, and made sure the nasty warden watched her improving the area.

Amber started school in September, she was more nervous than I’d ever seen her as she dressed in her new uniform, she was practically trembling as I drove her to school in our newly delivered Land Rover.

“Why am I nervous,” she asked as I parked up outside the main gates, “I know I’ve got a few friends, and I know I like my form tutor.”

“You’re nervous because you’re worried people will find out about your past, but you have a different name now. Nobody in school will connect you to Amber Watts if they only ever know you as Amber Peters.”

“What if somebody in school used to live near us?”

“Is that likely, were there any families with kids on your road?”

“I don’t think so.”

“There you go, you’ll be OK.”

“Am I being silly, dad?”

“You’re being sensible, you need to be cautious about what you tell people. Stick to the story we agreed, your parents passed away, Alice and I have adopted you as we knew your parents, so you’ve moved up here from Manchester. The dead parents story should stop anyone asking awkward questions.”

“And they are dead to me anyway.”

“Right, that’s the bell, off you go. I’m up at the site today, so if you need to talk, mum has promised to answer the phone if you ring.”

“I’ll be OK,” Amber replied, resolutely, “if anyone is nasty I’ll just ignore them. I’ve got two friends already, I’m sure I’ll make more.”

“Anyone with a working brain should be able to see how amazing you are.”

“Thanks dad, I know I was bad at my last school because my parents made me feel like shit. You and Alice are just the opposite, I feel more self confident now, I think I’ll do well.”

“I’ll be back to pick you up at 3:30.”

Amber leaned across the car and kissed me on the cheek, “I love you dad.”

“I love you too, Amber.”

That first day at school went well. I walked down to the road a few times during the day to check for messages. She sent me three texts during the day:

I’m in registration, Miss has sat me with Crystal and another nice girl called Grace. I’ll be OK I think xxx

It’s break time, the first two lessons went well, I know more history than I thought, Physics will be tough, you might have to help me xxx

School dinners are great, mushroom pizza and ice cream. Emma, Grace and Crystal introduced me to their other friends, this school is so much better than my last school. I’ve wasted so much of my childhood because of mum and dad, can I sue them? Only kidding, love you dad xxx

I spent the day chopping the logs from the old cabin wall. I’m piling them all up to use in the new wood stove. All the chippings from the chainsaw are being collected for use in the biomass boiler at the park visitor centre. We might not like the warden, but the ladies in the visitor centre cafe are lovely.

Alice finished early so she could meet Amber after school. She treated us both to a full rundown of everything that had happened, from registration to her last lesson, PE.

“I always dreaded PE before, I don’t know why, you know I’m good at sport and running, I just hated the getting changed part before and after the lesson. I always worried about my body, you know, I’m tall and I have skinny legs and I thought I had silly little boobs.

“I don’t feel that way now, I feel pretty, and I feel good about my body, especially now I’ve got some muscles in my legs and arms from working and riding my bike.”

Alice hugged Amber, “everyone has a different body, Amber, and nobody’s body is wrong. Big boobs, small boobs, big bum, small bum, you should celebrate your body and make sure your friends celebrate theirs.”

“Would it be weird if I complimented them on their bodies?”

“There’s only one way to find out. Do you think any of your new friends like you in that way?”

“Crystal looks at me the way I look at Leanne.”

“Ask her round one night, just make sure she knows we’re only all crammed in my little house because we’re waiting for our new house.”

Crystal visited us on Wednesday, and as we got our first look at Amber’s new best friend we knew exactly why Amber liked her.

“She looks a lot like me,” Alice whispered as we prepared dinner while Amber and Crystal chatted in the lounge.

“So Amber has a thing for curvy blondes, interesting.”

“Has Amber explained we’re crammed into this tiny cottage while our new house is being built,” Alice asked as we placed a tray of loaded nachos and pizza bites on the coffee table.

“She tried to apologise, but she shouldn’t worry, I live at the end of the row with my mum and little sister. I have to share with my sister whenever mum’s boyfriend visits, which is too often if you ask me.”

“You can share with me if you like, I’ve a double bed, so you don’t have to sleep on the floor.”

Crystal looked at Alice, “would that be OK, I could stay over next time Ryan is round.”

“Of course you can. You know how thick the walls are in these houses, so we won’t hear what you get up to.”

Crystal blushed, Amber beamed at the thought.

“Thank you Mrs Peters...”

“I’m not Mrs Peters yet, call me Alice.”

“Thank you Alice, I’ll definitely come here the next time Ryan is staying over.”

“Is there a reason you don’t like Ryan, apart from having your little sister share your room.”

“He’s creepy, he looks at me.”

Amber grabbed Crystal’s hand, “come with me, I need to tell you something.”

“Will they be OK?” I asked Alice as the door at the bottom of the stairs closed behind the girls.

“Amber has just found an ally, they’ll be fine.”

Three months after placing the order we had the plot cleared, levelled and prepared for the foundations. Over the next week a convoy of lorries delivered all the parts of the house, including a heating system that used solar heaters on the roof and a heat pump.

With everything in place it took a week to put the house together, then another week to install the kitchen, bathroom and heating.

With the house ready to move in, I hired a van and collected all our stuff from the storage unit outside Kendal. I had to do it all myself as Amber was in school and Alice was working.

It took me all day to transfer everything into the new house, the next day I drove down to Didsbury, collected the locker key from Nikki and filled the van with all my old stuff.

“We’ll be having a housewarming next weekend, I told Nikki.”

“Exciting, we’ll definitely free our busy calendars,” she laughed.

“You’ll get to meet Amber’s girlfriend.”

“She’s got a girlfriend already?”

“Yep, she’s very pretty and looks a lot like Alice.”

“Even her boobs?”

“Not quite, but she’s definitely shapely, Amber is head over heels.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting the girl who stole Amber’s heart.”

“Amber’s got a lot of heart to give.”

“She really does, and talking of hearts, we’ve not thanked you properly for our flat,” she whispered, pulling me into an embrace, kissing me deeply. We gasped as we parted, “and that’s all you’re getting for now, I don’t want to break Alice’s rule.”

The next few days and evenings were spent putting all our stuff where it belonged. Crystal had basically moved in with Amber by now, so she became an enthusiastic helper.

“Who’s Gemma?” Crystal asked as she sorted through Amber’s books, placing them alphabetically on the shelves.

“Ahh, it’s a long story that I’ll tell you about later. Those books are very saucy and kept me warm on many long winter’s evenings while I squatted in Matt’s old cabin.

“Cool. Oh, I’ve read this one,” she cried, holding Hot Texas Nights aloft.

“That one is my favourite.”

“Do you like boys?” Crystal asked tentatively.

“I like a particular boy,” Amber replied.

“Have you had sex, like proper sex, not being raped.”

“I have.”

“Was it nice?”

“It was the most amazing feeling. You asked about rape, have you been raped Crystal?”

“He raped me...” she replied quietly.

“When did he do that?” Amber asked softly, wrapping her arms around her friend to give her strength.

“A few years ago, when he was looking after us while mum was working.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“I tried to tell mum, but she wouldn’t believe me, and I thought if my own mum doesn’t believe me, who would.”

“Where was Izzy when this happened?”

“She was in bed asleep. I think I was about 12 when it first happened, so she was six then.”

“He’s done it again?”

“Yeah, a few times and I try not to make a fuss because I don’t want him to do it to Izzy.”

“MUM!” Amber yelled, “MUM! We need to talk.”

“What is it honey,” Alice asked, running up the stairs.

“If you want to keep Izzy safe you need to tell Alice what you just told me.”

“I can’t, it’ll cause so much trouble.”

“I didn’t tell anyone about my dad, and he ended up getting caught raping a five year old. You have to stop him.”

We squatted on the floor amongst the piles of books in Amber’s room, and Crystal told us her story, from her mum falling pregnant in school with Crystal, to her having Izzy after a drunken one-night stand, hers was a sorry tale of a dysfunctional family. Jess worked two jobs to keep the girls fed, she did what she could, but she was hopelessly in love with a hopeless loser who was in prison more than he was home.

“Oh fuck!” Alice gasped as Crystal finished, “I need to make some calls. What were the names of those busybody social workers, Amber?”

“The woman was Moira something, Fleming, Moira Fleming. I don’t know the guy’s name, I don’t think he even spoke.”

Alice pulled out her mobile, now we had internet at home, we had our own little mobile phone mast, so we were in contact with civilisation at last.

“Hey Paul, it’s Alice. I don’t have the number here, so could you put me through to Moira Fleming at Childrens’ Services, thanks.”

Alice paced the room and out onto the landing as she waited for Moira to answer.

“Ahh, at last, DS Parsons here, remember me? Yes, I need you to do your job and protect a child in imminent danger.”

Alice listened for a moment, “look, I have a girl here who has been repeatedly raped by her mother’s boyfriend, so I need you to go to her house and remove her little sister, and I need you to do it now.”

She listened again, “look, I really don’t care about your procedures, I’m documenting this call, if anything happens to this girl I will be holding you accountable.”

More listening, Alice paced faster.

“OK, I’ll send a unit to your office for backup, when you’ve got Izzy you can bring them up to my house ... where you came before, it’s easier now, we’ve had the drive paved, so you won’t get stuck.”

Alice cut the call then dialled the station again, “hey Paul, me again. I need you to call Kendal and get them to send a unit to Children’s Services, big guys and at least one female officer, they’re backup. We need a child removed from danger.”

Alice listened for a while, “yeah, use my name, thanks Paul, you’re a star.”

“What’s happening?” Crystal cried as Alice returned.

“Izzy will be brought here shortly, then you’ll need to tell your story to a couple of social workers.”

“But what happens afterwards?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when you’re both safe, I’m happy for you to stay here with Amber, Izzy can stay if she likes, or she can go back to your mum once it’s safe to do so.”

“And what about Ryan?”

“He’ll be taken into custody and I’ll deal with him once I know Izzy is safe and well.”