avert what was going to happen next.
She’d felt herself crash down the metal-edged stairs. Lying at the bottom, against the closed gates that led into the station, she’d sobbed for Mark—but he had already gone.
* * *
The sound of the door opening brought Kate back to the here and now, her heart thumping to the beat of memories that suddenly seemed new and raw again. Whatever had made her think that moving away would allow her to leave all that behind?
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you jump.’
She wasn’t aware that she had jumped. Just that the familiar feeling of dread was back again, threatening all she’d done to chase it away. Kate couldn’t let it back in.
‘I’m okay. Really. I just have to get back to normal.’ She wasn’t even sure what normal was at that moment. Her nerves were jangling with alarm, and she was acutely aware of every sound outside the window—even the cars, passing in the road outside, which normally went unnoticed.
‘Sometimes normal doesn’t quite hack it.’ He spoke quietly and Kate realised that she must have snapped at him. She took a deep breath.
‘I’m sorry. It’s just a shock. I thought I’d be safe here...’ Kate pressed her lips together. Something about Ethan made it all too easy to talk.
‘Safe?’
‘I moved up to Yorkshire from London a couple of years ago. I reckoned it couldn’t happen...’ Kate shrugged. Of course street crime happened here. It just hadn’t happened to her, and that had given her a false sense of security.
‘Something like this happened to you in London? Were you hurt?’ Not only did he make her want to talk, he listened as well, reading between the lines. It was a lethal combination.
‘I... Look, I appreciate your concern, but I’m all right.’ Kate hung her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Maybe he wouldn’t see that she was crying. ‘I know what to do next and I really need to just get past this. I don’t want to talk about it any more.’
She felt the brush of something on her cheek. When she opened her eyes, Ethan was wiping a tear away with a tissue.
‘Okay.’ He gave her a smile. ‘But I should warn you that closing your eyes builds up the pressure.’
Despite everything, Kate choked with laughter. ‘That’s your considered medical opinion, is it? That if I close my eyes my head will explode?’
‘Risk averted.’ He gave her cheek another dab with the tissue and handed her a fresh one.
* * *
She was trying so hard to get on top of this. And she wasn’t giving herself any time to be hurt or frightened—just swallowing it all down, to a place where it could do the most harm. Her free spirit seemed crushed under the weight of it all.
But she clearly wanted him to back off, and she was probably right. Ethan had no qualms about tending to her injuries, but anything else... That was wandering into the realms of emotional support, and Kate would be better off looking for that elsewhere.
‘When did the police say they’d be coming?’ She’d dried her eyes and seemed more composed now.
‘About another half hour. I’ll wait with you.’ He held up his hand to quiet her protests. ‘They said they wanted to speak with me as well. I saw the guy’s face.’
She nodded, and Ethan wondered whether Kate had. If so, she seemed intent on burying that as well.
‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at Jeff now.’
Actually, he did mind. She’d just had a frightening experience and she should be concentrating on herself. But, if Ethan couldn’t calm her, it seemed that Jeff could. When she stroked his head she stopped shaking and a little colour returned to her cheeks.
‘When you’ve finished your tea...’
ETHAN WOKE EARLY. There was something wrong about today and right from the start he felt off-balance.
His first thought wasn’t for Jeff, sleeping peacefully in the dog basket in the conservatory. Nor was it for his son, Sam, who he could hear playing upstairs, driving his toy cars up and down the wall. It was for Kate.
She’d told him she was all right so many times, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t. Perhaps she’d feel better this morning, but Ethan doubted it.
He picked up his phone and put it down again. If Kate had managed to get some sleep last night, she wouldn’t welcome him waking her just to ask how she was. And Ethan doubted that he’d get any kind of meaningful answer. She’d just repeat the mantra she’d been using last night.
I’m okay.
For about fifteen minutes she had seemed okay. Ethan had let her examine Jeff and she’d suddenly snapped out of her shocked misery and into an easy, professional manner. For one moment, he’d envied Jeff her smile and then decided that whatever worked, worked.
Ethan could understand wanting to get on with life. When his wife had died eighteen months ago, his work had given him some relief. It was something that occupied his mind fully, temporarily driving away the pain and guilt.
Kate’s not your responsibility.
That ought to be his mantra. Jenna’s death had brought Ethan’s own responsibilities into sharp focus. He’d let his wife down, too busy and too tired to notice that she was more than just a little under the weather, as she’d claimed. And now he had to concentrate all his energies on giving Sam the love he needed. If Kate’s smile tempted him to forget that, then he had to turn away from it.
‘Dad?’
Ethan turned to see Sam in the kitchen doorway. ‘Hey, Sammy. Got my hug for me?’
Sam ran into his arms and Ethan hugged him tight. He’d promised his son this, during the dark days after Jenna had died. A hug every morning and one at night. Last night, he’d driven home as fast as he could, afraid that he wouldn’t make it, but Sam had stayed awake, falling asleep in Ethan’s arms almost as soon as he’d made good on his promise.
‘Grandma said a lady was hurt by bad men. And you saved her.’
Ethan resisted the impulse to tell Sam that Grandma was exaggerating again. Didn’t every kid need to know that his Dad was capable of chasing away the shadows?
‘It was just one bad man. I shouted and he ran away.’
‘But you saved her?’ Sam gave him a deflated look.
‘Yes, I saved her. What would you like for breakfast?’ At the weekend, breakfast was their time, and Sam got to choose whatever he wanted.
‘Bangers and mash!’
Ethan raised his eyebrows, and Sam cackled with laughter. It seemed his son was
