Love you Always (A Coronation Street Fanfiction)

Reunited

It was a painful month, the month that Mum spent in the psychiatric hospital. It was June, so among events like Rosie's 4th birthday and preparing Isla to start school in September. The month was also filled with questions and very often, no answers for them

When is Mummy coming home?

Why can't we talk to her?

Does she miss us?

Will Mummy stay with us or Roy when she comes home?

Why can't she get better at home?

Why is our Mummy poorly?

Will she remember us when she come's home?

Does she still love us?

In all honesty, all of them were ones that I wondered the answers to as well. Except the final one, I knew, I knew that she loved us. That was evident from everything she ever did, every day at work, every night on our bedroom floor, every bath, every meal, every chat, every hug, every kiss. I knew that even though she wasn't here right now, she still loved us.

Since Mum had gone, progress had been made with the factory. All the rubble was cleared, and we were in the process of rebuilding the structure of the building. This time, with a genuine builder, who took time and consideration over his work. Meanwhile the girls from the factory had been working out of the community centre, packing and sending orders that were being made by machines in Milton Keynes. I needed to run it past Mum, but I was keen for the making of the garments to return to being done by the girls, the quality wasn't the same without them and we all knew it, so did our clients.

Isla was excited to start school, ready for a new chapter and definitely outgrowing the childminders. She loved her, but she was bored and all the uncertainty at home, often brought cheek and rudeness whilst she was there. Luckily, Julie, the girls' childminder had the patience of a saint and a lot of time to help Isla deal with everything that was going on. She wasn't stupid, there was only so long our lies would fly with her before she figured out, she was being fed untruths about Mum's situation.

Ella had really grown up in the past month or so and felt much more like a small child as opposed to a toddler. She was calmer than Isla, taking everything in and trying to ask questions rather than flipping a situation on its head. She was still her cuddly self and wouldn't go anywhere without her favourite floppy dog. Secretly, she reminded me of a mini version of me, as she walked along the pavement dragging floppy dog in every puddle, as I had always done with my favourite blanket.

Tala had come on leaps and bounds since the last time Mum had seen her. She was sitting up, giggling, trying to talk and even eating solid food. Her favourite so far being cream cheese and cucumber, often with a bit of squashed banana thrown in for fun. Over the last few months, I felt this closeness with Tally that I didn't get with the big two. Don't get me wrong, I loved all three of them equally, but I felt this understanding with Tally. I couldn't describe it as anything other than that, I just felt it when I held her, hugged her, put her to bed. She would never be mine, none of them would be, but I hoped the three of them would one day look back and value how much I did for them in the period of time when Mum was so ill that she couldn't look after them.

I thought about how I should have written things down, written down all this stuff about the girls that Mum had missed since she had been so ill. I felt like she should know that Ella was sick for four days in a row in the middle of June, a sickness bug from somewhere and she couldn't keep a thing down, or that I thought Tally was allergic to tomatoes because every time she ate them her cheeks went red and swollen. Or that in June, Isla made a friend at the park who will also be in her class at school next year, her name was India, and she was very sweet although her Mum was a little odd. That was just the beginning of what had happened and if I had missed all of those things in their lives, like Mum had, then I would want to know, I'd want them written down so I could see it, read it for myself. But it had been months now, and Mum was coming home today, and there wasn't time to write everything out. I'd just have to tell her instead.