Eliza Kittywink (part 2)

She smiled at me, "Eliza dear! How very nice to see you, are you alone?" she asked, I started to whimper sadly, "Milly ran off to find her boyfriend Thomas and I happened to not be holding onto her so she ran and I fell," I wept, mrs Barchella bent down and hugged me, "you poor thing come with me, I'll take you to play with Sheila and get you cleaned up," she tugged my hand and I followed.

I cried silently as I followed her, I was usually skipping and smiling when I was going to the Barchella's house, "Are you ok Eliza? It's ok your safe with me, I'm auntie Lizzy remember?" she said smiling as she pulled me through the door, Sheila ran up to me and hugged me tightly, "Eliza...your covered in mud! And you're crying! What's wrong" Sheila babbled, I just wept, "Right you lot bath time!" Mrs Barchella said clapping her hands, her older children (Mark, Rose and Trafford) all groaned, Sheila smiled and baby Rosa gurgled, "but mother Sunday is wash day! It's Wednesday!" Trafford groaned, Mrs Barchella frowned, "did I ask for your comment Trafford? And anyway your filthy! What have you and your friends been doing and Mark my boy you know Thomas Richardson don't you? You seen him today? Have you seen him with Milly?" she asked grumpily, Mark looked at me and then at his ma, "yeah I know him, one of my best mates ma, I saw him going into the woods with Milly both of them laughing and then he kissed her, a long passionate kiss not a peck, I think they're gonna do something naughty," he said laughing as he went upstairs to his shared room, Rose looked up at me and looked sad, "poor little diddums, lost her sister and now made us have a bath, thanks a lot kid," she said storming off upstairs, I felt bad but Mrs Barchella told me to ignore her because she was grumpy, she warmed up a tub of water dunked baby Rosa in first, then me and Sheila and the older kids were last. Afterwards me and Sheila went to play in her bedroom which she shared with baby Rosa, "I'm worried Sheila, Milly go do naughty things with Tom richardson," I mumbled, Sheila looked at me and tilted her head, "naughty? Milly? No! Milly is a good girl! Tom Richardson bad boy! Now let's play dollies!" she said patting my shoulder.

It wasn't till around supper that I thought about mama, she came to pick me up, "Thank you Lizzy, you haven't seen my Milly have you?" mama asked worriedly, she scooped me up and hugged me close, "Mama? Mark knows something," I said sitting up slightly, Mrs Barchella looked around the room for Mark, "Mark! Mark get down here now!" she yelled, Mark came down the stairs grumpily, "What! I'm busy!" he moaned, mrs Barchella frowned at him, "you know about Milly don't you? You said earlier," she said frowning at him, Mark ran his hands through his hair, "yeah I know something, I saw your Milly and her boyfriend Thomas running off into the woods together, but this was like around luncheon time today," he said looking at mama, mama nodded at him and thanked mrs Barchella for having me and then we left, "I can't believe her! She's usually such a good girl! I need you to talk to her Eliza," she said looking at me, I was confused why me? "why me mama? I'm only little!" I said confused,
"because your the only person Milly will listen to sweetie, so ask her to stop meeting Thomas," mama said going through our cottage door, I was still confused when I was put to bed, but I thought about it.

Milly wasn't home the next morning, so Zoe and Lily went to the Richardson cottage to ask if Thomas had come home yet, but by the time they came back Milly still hadn't come home, I started to cry at this point, a full on burst of tears and howls, "Hush little Eliza," Zoe said rocking me, I struggled of her and ran to my bed.

I laid there all day snivelling, Zoe, Benjamin, Poppy, Lily and Mama tried to cheer me up, but nothing at all made me change that whole week, I just laid there and cried.

It wasn't till the following week I paid attention to anyone, Milly had come home and mama had yelled at her and then told her I was upstairs crying, she came up and hugged me hard, "oh Eliza my baby girl, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you darling," she said running her hands through my hair,
"I'm just happy your safe," I wept,
"oh darling, I'm so sorry," she kissed my forehead, "I have something to tell you but you mustn't tell a soul ok?" she whispered, I nodded and zipped my mouth she laughed then frowned, "the reason I ran away was because...well... Me and Tom are having a baby!" she whispered excitedly, "and we went to the cottage that's up for sale on the other side of the village because we're moving Eliza! Me, you and Tom! We're starting a new life and I'm gonna be getting married! It's just perfect sweetheart!" she said excitedly, I frowned,
"You mean run away? But mama, pa, there hunt us down! And then I'll be moved away from here..." I started to cry, Milly saw I was right, "I know sweetheart but you want to stay with me don't you? And they won't find us, they didn't find us when me and Tom ran away this time did they? Now stop crying!" she said hugging me.

The following week we went, we left in the middle of the night. I was only half awake so wasn't really paying attention on where we were going. I only paid attention when we were going through the door of our new cottage, "Milly, Milly!" I said panicking,
"Oh Eliza it's ok.. It's ok I'm here," she said patting my shoulder, I fell back asleep then.

When I awoke, I was laid on a load of blankets, I sat up and looked around, "Milly, Milly where are you?" I repeated while I wandering around,
"Eliza, I'm in the kitchen," she called, I followed her voice until I found her, I looked around the kitchen, "this home now?" I asked sleepily,
"yes my dear it is, now come sit down and I'll give you some soldiers and egg," she said putting a plate of it on the table, I sat down on the benches, "Milly, what if mama finds us," I asked taking a bite of toast and egg, Milly frowned at me, "Eliza, I'm your mama now, I wrote to the foundling hospital and told them that I wanted to take care of you and they wrote back saying they would need the new address if I was to look after you," she said excitedly, I tried to smile but I was worry guts for a 2 year old, I ate up my breakfast in silence.

Later that day Milly took me to shopping in the local town for new clothes, as we left in the middle of the night we didn't take anything.

"don't abandon me this time!" I whimpered, Milly just laughed, "dont worry my dear I shan't leave you! Now what dress do you like?"

We carried this on for round 3 hours, so I came home with:
A matteress
A sheet
A duvet
5 dresses
5
10 pairs of black tights
1 formal dress (pink and white)