The Throwaway Children by Diney Costeloe Read Free Book Online Page B

go.’
    That evening, Lily sat in her kitchen and considered what Rita had said. The child was no fool. If she said she’d heard them talking about filling in forms for the welfare, then that’s what they’d been saying. But why on earth would Mavis be talking to the welfare? She didn’t need anything from them. And what had Mavis and Jimmy already decided? Perhaps they’d finally fixed a date to get married. Rita had said that Jimmy was going to the registry office yesterday to find out. They’d certainly need to fill in forms for that. Perhaps that was it. That must be it. Rita had got confused about two different parts of the conversation and misunderstood; after all, she’d said that she hadn’t heard it all.
    Still, Lily thought, I’ll talk to Mavis tomorrow and find out what’s going on. I suppose it’s for the best if they get married with a little’un on the way, but I don’t like that Jimmy. I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.
    Next morning she went round to Ship Street early to catch Mavis before she went to work. Mavis looked flustered when she opened the door and found her mother, yet again, on the step.
    ‘Mum,’ she groaned. ‘What are you doing here?’ She didn’t say ‘again’ but it was in her voice.
    Lily gave her a broad smile and said as she eased herself into the hallway, ‘I just came to see how Jimmy got on with the registry office. You said he was going on Wednesday, and I wondered if he’d got a date. Have you got the kettle on, love? Let’s have a cup of tea and you can tell me all about it.’
    Mavis sighed, led her mother into the kitchen and topped up the teapot. When she’d poured tea for each of them, she sat down across the table from Lily and forced a smile. ‘Jimmy went, like he said he would,’ Mavis said. ‘We have to fill in the forms and then I have to show them Don’s death certificate.’
    ‘So lots of forms, then?’ suggested Lily, relief in her voice. That’s what Rita overheard, she thought.
    ‘Well, we tell them we want to get married and they put the form up on the noticeboard outside the registry office. Then after three weeks we can get wed. We want to get married next month, before…’ Mavis laid a protective hand on her bump. ‘Jimmy’s taking the forms back and he’ll book us in for a date then.’
    ‘The girls’ll be excited,’ Lily said. ‘Have you told them yet?’
    ‘No, not yet,’ answered Mavis, looking away. ‘Not till everything’s sorted, for definite, you know.’
    ‘You’ve got to get Jimmy to go easy on them, Mavis,’ said her mother. ‘It’ll be hard for them at first, having to share you with him… and the baby. Reet, particularly, is going to find it difficult.’
    ‘Mum…’ Mavis began and then stopped.
    ‘What?’ Lily looked at her, and saw the anguish in Mavis’s eyes. She reached a hand across the table and said, more gently, ‘What’s the matter, Mavis? What’s wrong?’
    ‘It’s the girls,’ Mavis whispered. ‘Jimmy won’t have them here.’
    ‘Won’t have them here?’ echoed Lily. ‘What d’you mean, won’t have them here? It’s their home. Where else should they be?’
    ‘He wants them took into care,’ murmured Mavis, not looking up. ‘He don’t want them here, he just wants us to be a family, him, me and the baby.’
    ‘But the girls, Reet, Rosie, they’re your family.’ Lily stared at her daughter’s bowed head uncomprehendingly. ‘Mavis, they’ve only got you!’
    ‘He won’t have them.’
    ‘Then tell him to sod off,’ flashed Lily.
    ‘I can’t, Mum. He’s the baby’s father. I need him here. I’ve got to choose!’
    ‘And you choose him?’ Lily was outraged. ‘You choose that violent brute… ’cos he is violent and you know it… you choose him over your own kids? Your own flesh and blood?’
    ‘I have to,’ wailed Mavis. ‘The baby’s my own flesh and blood too, and I can’t cope on my own, Mum, not any more.’
    ‘You’re not putting my