with a long time and had become so familiar it was hardly noticed. Until something happened—a baby screamed—and it felt like new again.
For a moment she wished that she could soothe him as easily as she had the baby—smooth those creases from his face and the pain from his body. But something told her that taking this man in her arms would bring him anything but peace. She pressed herself back against the wall, trying to put whatever space she could between them.
‘Is everything okay?’ she asked.
‘Fine.’
Nic’s reply was terse, sharper than she’d expected, and she saw the fear and hurt in his expression being carefully shut down, stowed away.
‘I need to grab a cup of coffee. Do you want to find the canteen? We’ve been here for hours.’
And leave the baby alone with strangers? ‘I’m fine, thanks. I don’t want to leave her.’
He gave her a shrewd look. ‘I’ll go, then,’ he said, pushing himself away from the wall.
He looked better now, as he had in her front garden, all bronzed skin and taut muscles. No sign now of the man who had looked as if he might slide down the wall from fear.
When he returned with coffee and cake his manner was brisk and his eyes guarded. Goodå, Lily thought. Guarded is good. If we’re both being careful, both backing away slowly from whatever this energy between us is, then we’re safe.
‘I’ve got to go,’ he said. ‘I promised that I’d meet Kate and she’s not answering her phone so I can’t cancel. I don’t want to leave her stranded.’
And then he was off—out of their lives, and no doubt relieved to be so. She held in her heavy sigh until he’d slipped out of the door with her polite words of thanks.
KATE BURST THROUGH the door of the treatment room, wearing her air of drama queen as if it was this season’s must-have.
Lily smiled at the arrival of her best friend. If anyone was going to help her make sense of this situation it would be Kate, with her remarkable ability to see through half-truths and get straight to the point.
‘So I get back from court and pop in to see my brother in his new flat, and he’s got this crazy story about your dear sister and a baby and a hospital. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, so I thought I’d better get down here and find out just what he’s talking about. Explain, Lily! Where’s this flippin’ baby come from? What are you doing here? And why does my brother look so cagey whenever I mention your name?’
Lily couldn’t help but laugh—trust Kate to boil this down to the bare essentials.
‘She’s Helen’s baby. Helen left her on my doorstep with a note. Your brother was passing by to pick up his keys and...and kept us company while we were waiting here.’
It was rare that she saw Kate lost for words, but she dropped into a chair now, silent, and Lily could practically see the thoughts being processed behind her eyes. Her barrister’s brain was reading all the evidence, everything that Lily was saying, and everything she wasn’t.
‘Okay, give it to me again. And this time with details.’
Lily sighed and took a breath, wondering how many times she would have to repeat everything that had happened. But when she came to talking about Nic her words stumbled and faltered.
‘Nic turned up to collect his keys just as I’d been left literally holding the baby and was freaking out. He suggested we walk over here and have her checked out.’
‘And then he waited with you? How long for?’
Lily glanced at her watch. ‘A couple of hours, I guess.’
Kate blew out a deliberate breath, and Lily raised her eyebrows.
‘What?’
‘Nothing...nothing,’ Kate said, but Lily had known her long enough to know that she was hiding something.
‘Not nothing,’ she told her best friend. ‘Definitely something.’
Kate looked at her for a long time before she replied.
‘Something,’ she agreed, nodding, her eyes sad. ‘But not my something to tell. Can we leave it at that?’
Lily nodded. Though she was intrigued, her friend’s rare sombre tone had pulled her up short and warned her to stop digging.
‘So you and my brother, then...?’
‘It’s not like that.’ The denial came to Lily’s lips as soon as she realised what Kate was getting at. ‘I don’t think he wanted to be here at all. He looked like he was going to bolt the whole time.’
‘So why didn’t he?’
True to form, Kate had hit on the one question that Lily had been searching for an answer to—to no avail.
‘I’ve no idea.’
‘I’ve got one or two,’ Kate said with a sly grin. ‘So what happens with the baby now?’
Another question Lily had no answer to.
No doubt between the hospital staff and the police someone would be arranging for a social worker to visit her. But she had no intention of letting her niece be looked after by anyone but herself. She knew that she could look after her—she already ran a business from home, and had flexibility in her hours and her work. It was one of the things that she enjoyed most about her job as a freelance web designer—the chance to balance work and home life. She’d manage her work commitments around caring for the baby—whatever it took to keep the little girl safe and with her family.
‘She’s coming home with me.’
Lily gulped at the baldness of that statement, and backtracked.
‘Until we can find Helen.’
‘Right. And then you’re going to hand her over to a woman who’s been living God-knows-where and doing God-knows-what for years?’
‘Helen’s her mother—’
‘And she seems pretty clear about who she wants taking care of her daughter. I’m not saying that taking her home is a bad thing—she’s family. Of course you want to look after her. I’m just saying it looks like it might be slightly more commitment than a regular babysitting gig. Are you ready for that?’
Ready for a family? It was what she’d wanted for as long as she could remember. She’d been lucky after her mother had died. She’d been placed with a wonderful foster family who had slowly and gently helped her to come to terms with her grief. She’d certainly been luckier than her sister, who, at sixteen, had decided that she was old enough to look after herself.
They’d exchanged letters and emails, but over the years they’d become less and less frequent, until now she couldn’t even rely on a card at
