And now what?

6. Help is on the way

The next two weeks had passed slowly.  Grace fell deeper and deeper into depression. Fiona had soon realised that more help was needed and without being asked had started to arrive earlier to ensure the children had breakfast before they left for school as Grace had taken to staying in bed most of the morning.

 Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny. Annabelle lay in bed planning their weekend. She had given up on her mother, she missed her father so very much, with his passing her whole life had been turned upside down and she felt she had lost him and lost her mother at the same time.  She was so angry with Grace, why couldn’t she just grow up and be the responsible parent she was supposed to be.

 The phone rang, loud and shrill breaking into Annabelle’s thoughts, she got up quickly and padded into the hallway to pick up the extension phone, she didn’t want it waking up Luke, he had been very tired of late and she was starting to wonder if he was sleeping well.

 ‘Hello,’ she answered the phone

‘Annabelle’ came the reply, ‘I haven’t called to early have I?’

‘Oh hello Auntie Bella, No, no problem.  Mum and Luke are still sleeping but I’ve been awake for a bit, how are you?’

‘Well that’s what I was calling for, how are you all? We’ve just arrived back from Greece and I wondered how you were all coping?’

 Annabelle remembered that her Aunt and Uncle had had this rather long holiday planned for ages, they had rented a villa in Greece and had decided to go over and spend a month there, unfortunately my father, Uncle Jacob’s brother, had died two weeks before their departure date, they were due to leave the day after the funeral, they had offered to cancel but everyone had told them not to be silly, that they should still go, Gregory would not have wanted them to cancel. So, reluctantly they had left, now they were back which meant it had been a month since the funeral and six weeks since her father’s death, gosh time seemed to go so slowly but then when you look back it had moved so quickly!

 Annabelle hesitated, what should she say, should she pretend everything was good or should she be honest, maybe Aunt Bella could help, her mother and Bella weren’t that close, for some reason they just didn’t seem to have become very close even though Dad and Uncle Jacob were always together, she quickly made up her mind that if they were going to survive this they needed help and Aunt Belle was to date the only one who was offering!

 ‘Actually Auntie, not too good,’ without wanting or realising it Annabelle could feel the tears starting to well up, she hadn’t cried since the day her father had died, not even at the funeral, but for some strange reason, opening up to Aunt Bella was tearing down her defences. ‘ Mum just isn’t coping at all, she is getting worse each day, she gets up late, mopes around the house and goes to bed early, Fiona has been helping us a lot. Then a couple of weeks ago she went to the lawyer’s and apparently we don’t have any money left, she is supposed to be sorting something out but she isn’t doing anything and I don’t know what to do’ Annabelle blurted it all out without taking a breath and then let go and fell into floods of tears, ’I’m sorry Aunt Bella,’ she sobbed, ‘please help us’

‘I’m on my way,’ came the reply, ‘I’ll be there in half an hour!’

(to be continued)