of necessity.’ Sherry sighed expansively. ‘They can have side effects, as you may know: confusion, memory problems. Events in her past are skewed, I’m afraid. She imagines certain things happened that didn’t.’
‘I see,’ he said at length.
She doubted he did. ‘We fell out years ago, sadly, Laura having convinced herself that Grant and I were to blame for the tragedy that traumatised us all. She went completely off the rails after that,’ she revealed, wanting to reinforce how muddled Laura was. ‘Drinking, taking drugs. She wouldn’t see me. She even changed her name rather than have anything to do with us. That broke my heart. It was as if she were trying to erase me from her life.’ She paused, needing him to realise what kind of impact that had had on her. ‘It breaks my heart now that she still tortures herself, that she refuses to have any kind of a mother-and-daughter relationship …’ She stopped, her throat catching. ‘I won’t give up, though, Steven,’ she went on resolutely, using his name so that he would know she’d taken him into her confidence. ‘I intend to try and keep in contact with her, even if she’s not that thrilled at the prospect.’
He didn’t reply immediately, plainly processing what she’d told him. Then, ‘What was it, Mrs Caldwell? This tragedy that’s clearly had such a profound effect on all your lives?’
Sherry was silent for a long moment, letting him know how painful this was for her. How selfish it was of her daughter to make her keep reliving it over and over. ‘She’d taken sedatives,’ she said tearfully. ‘On the night it happened. She’d taken more than one, I suspect. She didn’t have anything to do with it, though,’ she added defensively. ‘I’m absolutely sure of it. A mother knows her own daughter, after all. And I suppose it’s natural that she looks for someone to blame. It’s just …’
‘What happened, Sherry?’ he urged her, clearly impatient to know.
‘Her dear little brother,’ she said eventually, her voice cracking. ‘He went missing.’
‘Her …? Your son?’ He sounded astounded. As Sherry had guessed he would be.
Twenty
Sarah
‘Here we go. Home sweet home. You can snuggle into your nice comfy bed now. Much better than my bumpy old car, hey?’ Joe talked softly to Ollie as he carried him from the car to the house.
He’d fallen asleep on the way back from the pub. As he was stuffed full of toad-in-the-hole and fresh strawberry sundae, Sarah wasn’t surprised. She’d only been surprised that Laura hadn’t whipped up some culinary masterpiece for lunch, making sure he was too full to enjoy his evening meal. She’d immediately felt guilty for having thought it. Laura had been nothing but smiles when they’d arrived to pick him up, and full of concern said that he’d had a bad dream early that morning. She’d been worried it might have had something to do with his trip to the zoo – he’d been frightened by one of the bird exhibitions apparently. Sarah had reassured her. He did have bad dreams occasionally, she’d said, possibly because of his overactive imagination. She’d had to work at not sounding pointed.
Going into the hall before Joe, she stepped aside, allowing him to negotiate Ollie carefully through the front door. ‘Straight up?’ he asked, indicating the stairs.
Sarah nodded. He hadn’t brushed his teeth, so she would have to persuade him to the bathroom, but she guessed he was worn out enough to go straight back to sleep. With trips to the zoo and pub meals, his weekend had definitely been a full one. Carrying the overnight bag, she followed Joe up, marvelling at how he pressed his hand protectively over the back of Ollie’s head as he carried him. He might not have children of his own, but his parenting instincts were intuitive. He’d wanted children, he’d confided that much, but would he want to be a father to another man’s child? She was jumping the gun a bit, but assuming they were over the current hiccup and continued to see each other, it was something she had to consider. As would Joe. It would be a huge decision for him, making such a commitment. She’d been concerned about the disruption to Ollie’s life when Steve had announced he was moving in with Laura. She was worrying now whether Joe’s presence might be far more destabilising if he suddenly disappeared from it.
Watching him lower Ollie gently onto his bed, she couldn’t deny the contented glow