jumped. Instinctively she wriggled away from him to snatch it up.
‘Cassie, it’s me,’ Kim said. ‘Everything’s fine, but…’
‘But what?’ Hearing the tone of her voice, as if she were preparing her for bad news, Cassie swung her legs off the bed.
‘It’s Samuel,’ Kim went on, causing her breath to catch in her chest. ‘He’s fine now, he had a rash, but I had my phone off while I was at the hospital, and—’
‘Oh my God.’ Cassie’s blood froze in her veins. ‘Which hospital? Where are you?’
‘Dammit.’ She heard Adam cursing behind her as he rolled off the bed in search of his clothes.
‘At my sister’s.’ Kim sounded defensive, as if she hadn’t just told Cassie that her grandson had needed hospital treatment.
‘You need to come back.’ Cassie clenched her hand hard around the phone. ‘I knew something like this would happen. What on earth were you doing, taking him away on some impulsive trip to—’
‘Do you not want to know how he is?’ Kim interrupted, now sounding belligerent, like a child, for God’s sake. What was the matter with her? Did she not realise how worried Cassie would be?
‘Of course I want to know how he is.’ Cassie tried to keep the agitation from her voice. ‘I’d prefer to see how he is, though, obviously.’ A rash? If they’d discharged him, it wasn’t what she’d first dreaded it might be, but doctors weren’t infallible. ‘Text me the address. I’ll come and fetch you.’
‘You’re annoyed,’ Kim said dejectedly.
Cassie drew in a breath. ‘I’m concerned, Kim. I’m bound to be. If you’d wanted a break, I would have come with you. It’s bad enough taking a baby away as a two-parent family, but on your own? And with Samuel so tiny…’
‘But Adam was fine with it,’ Kim countered. ‘He wanted to take you—’
‘Well Adam shouldn’t have been okay with it.’ Cassie glanced despairingly at him. ‘You should have discussed it with me first, Kim. At least have let me know.’ She stopped, cautioning herself to calm down. ‘Look, let’s just get you and Samuel back home and we’ll talk about all this later.’
Kim didn’t answer.
‘Kim?’ Hearing nothing but silence at the other end, Cassie’s stomach turned over. ‘Kim, are you still there?’ But she wasn’t. Cassie knew she wasn’t. She’d ended the call.
Quickly Cassie called her back, glancing at Adam as she did. He looked as desperate as she felt. Her heart dropped like a stone as the call went to voicemail. ‘She’s not answering. She’s not answering and we don’t have her address!’
Keying in a text, she turned to dash to the wardrobe.
‘Cas, calm down,’ Adam said behind her as she yanked her clothes from the hangers. ‘What’s happened?’
Her heart thumping, Cassie grabbed her overnight bag from the wardrobe shelf and hurried past him to the bed. ‘He had a rash. Lord knows what other symptoms if she was worried enough to take him to the hospital. She says he’s fine, but how do we know they might not have missed something? I will never forgive myself if…’ She gulped back a sob. ‘I should never have let her go.’ She turned back to Adam. ‘You shouldn’t!’
Thirty
Joshua
April 2019
Josh’s feelings were a mixture of bewilderment and exasperation as he waited again at the request of a woman. This time, ironically, at the front of the Plough and Dog pub at the end of the lane where he’d waited hopefully to meet Jemma, only to have her wish him dead. He’d managed to speak to her only once since then, when he’d asked her to at least let him see the baby, to allow him some kind of future contact, even if unofficially. She’d been staggered. ‘And you think Ryan wouldn’t find out then?’ she’d said, sounding astonished that he would even suggest it. ‘I’m sorry, Josh, I really am, but it’s just not possible.’
‘He’ll find out if I’m forced to consult a solicitor,’ Josh had pointed out, though he’d very much wanted to avoid going the legal route. That had gone down well. He could almost feel the resentment sizzling through the phone. ‘Don’t do this to me, Jemma, please,’ he’d begged her. She’d ended the call, making it clear she felt absolutely nothing for him – leaving Josh wondering what he’d ever seen in her. She hadn’t been like this, uncompromisingly hard, when he’d first gone out with her. Yes, she’d finished with him to go out with Ryan, but he’d still loved her, the person he’d thought she was, someone