In Omnia Paratus Book 3

Helping out.

"What? You still haven't taken it?" Lily moaned at me as I was on the phone with her and walking to work from the paper that afternoon and I watched this same father and daughter walking ahead of me. 

I watched them intently. This girl must have been about 4 or 5.

"No I just got this role at the paper and I do not want anything screwing this up," I explained to her.

"It won't make a difference, the only difference is whether you know for definite if you're pregnant or not. Come on you are just living in denial at the moment." Lily said angrily. 

"Where are you?" I asked. 

"In my room alone. Don't worry no one can hear me speaking about this." She scoffed. 

"Ah ok, well I'd rather live in denial and get on with life because it's pretty stressful enough without knowing I could be pregnant." I laughed it off nervously as I still watched this young man and his daughter.

And suddenly my mind just went crazy, there was no 'if' I was pregnant. I'd been throwing up for over two weeks, on and off, and I'd missed my most recent period. I had unprotected sex on that holiday and I'd only just started the pill then so it could not have worked... this was sure for me. I was pregnant I didn't need a test to confirm.

So when I realised all this and saw this father and daughter I freaked out and I ran over to him. 

"You know Lily, I've got to go, I'm going in to work," I said whilst running a little towards this man and girl. 

I watched them into this house and as the man was helping his daughter through the window he stopped and noticed me and his eyes widened. 

"You go on in honey." This man said to her. 

"Hi," I said smiling at him. 

"Did you want something? We aren't here for long I promise, just until the next week..." He begged. 

"No, I was just walking into work." I smiled across at this Dad and he looked petrified. 

"Oh, you're one of those models huh?" He laughed. 

"Yes. I'm Jenna..." I said carefully. 

"Tom." He smiled for the first time but then returned to his regular face. 

"Do you live here?" I asked. 

"Not legally." Tom scoffed. "You're not going to the police are you?"  

"No!" I laughed. "I was... curious. I've seen you a few times and today I don't know I had to say hello to you guys can I get you something?" 

"We don't need charity." Tom snapped. 

"No, it's not charity. Let me buy you some things, ill drive you to a supermarket and get you some stuff. Please for your little girl..." I said. I had no idea what I was doing.

"I can't let a teenager pay for my stuff." He scoffed. 

"I'm 20 in just over a month." I scoffed, "Please let me do this for you."

"Ok."

"Ok? You can tell me your story on the way. Do you want to grab..."

"Lilliana, no, she can stay in there with the others. We are like a family." Tom explained. He turned around and then spoke to this woman and man who appeared at the window and told them to look after her. 

I didn't know there were others in there. 

- - - - - 

"So first of all, why are you like this?" I asked as I drove Tom to the store. 

"Not all of us get homeless because of drugs or alcoholism..." He grunted. "It was about a month ago. Budget cuts and I got made redundant. My girlfriend broke down and she took off to America to her parents and doesn't want anyone to contact her, not even her own daughter."

"Wow." I breathed. "That's..." 

"Shit?" Tom said. 

"Yep, pretty much." I laughed. 

"We gradually couldn't pay the rent or keep up any sort of income. Nobody wanted to hire me and here we are. We found this house and these lovely people and they helped us survive. I'm savouring my time with Lily. She'll be taken away any day now. The school will find out soon and alert social services." Tom explained. 

"You think they'll take her away from you? Not keep you together?" I asked. 

"They only care about the mother. Never the father." He snapped.

"I want to help," I said suddenly. 

"Jenna, I appreciate it but there isn't much you can do." Tom laughed. 

"I can start by getting you some stuff," I said as we pulled up to the nearest shops and got out. 

- - - - - 

"Yeah I'm just still recovering from this cold, to be honest, George," I said over the phone as we got a trolley and went into the first shop. "Ok, thanks ill see you Saturday." I hung up and turned to Tom and smiled as we approached the first aisle. 

"Was that your work?" He panicked. 

"Yes, don't worry I know the boss so it's fine." I smiled. 

We came up to the kids stuff first. "So Lilliana will need some new school uniform stuff yeah?" I asked.

"She wears the same stuff everyday to school and we wash it with hand soap in a sink in a public toilet." He explained to me. 

"Ok so she needs more polo shirts... a new jumper and a skirt or a dress? or both?" I got excited picking these things up in a size 5-6 thinking she'll grow into it.

"You don't have to do all this." Tom said but he had a huge smile on his face so I knew he was happy. 

"And a new coat? What one would she like do you think? Ah how about the this one with the pink fur, it's still navy so I'm sure the school won't mind." I nodded. 

"Sure, she loves pink." He smiled. 

"And underwear of course. How about some hair ties and all that..." I smiled putting that all in the trolley. "Then she'll need some jumpers, jeans and tshirts and some casual clothes. Anything you think she'd like?" I asked. 

"Uh she likes the girly stuff... pink and purple and all that." Tom laughed and you could see on his face he was so amazed by everything that was going on and he was freaking out on the inside.

"Multi-pack stuff yes.. pink and blue and purple and oo glitter! Then a few pairs of jeans and some joggers and yes a multi-pack of jumpers and... vests. This is great, kids clothes are so cute." I nodded adding all this stuff to the trolley. 

"She'll love this Jenna." He smiled. 

"I bet. How about a magazine and a toy to keep her occupied as well. She must be bored." I laughed picking up a few more bits before finishing with stuff for Lilliana. 

Tom looked so immensely happy seeing all this stuff was for his daughter. 

"Now... stuff for you."