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Back Forgive Me Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Prologue
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Chapter Fifty
  53. Chapter Fifty-One
  54. Chapter Fifty-Two
  55. Chapter Fifty-Three
  56. Chapter Fifty-Four
  57. Chapter Fifty-Five
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
  60. About the Author
  61. About the Book
  62. Read On
  63. Praise for Susan Lewis and Her Books
  64. Also by Susan Lewis
  65. About the Publisher

“She’s not right, you see,” he said, “I mean in the head. She’s not mental or anything, well, I suppose she is a bit, but she understands things and she’s got feelings like anyone else.” He took a breath and then another, showing that talking about his mother affected him deeply. “She tried to stop me from going that night,” he told them. “She said it didn’t matter what they did to us we couldn’t go round hurting other people just to save ourselves. I saw straightaway after that she was right. No way did you deserve what I did to you. I swear I didn’t see you going back into the house. On my ma’s life I’d never have done it if I had. I wish I hadn’t done it anyway . . .” His voice fractured as he pressed his bunched hands to his head.

“It’s OK, son,” Dan said comfortingly, “this is a big thing you’re doing and it’s bound to bring up a lot of emotions, probably more than you’re expecting.”

Marcy watched the lad take gulps of air and press his fingers into his eye sockets as though to stem the tears. She wondered how it might have felt to hear Dan call him son. Had anyone ever called him that before, with affection? It was no surprise, with everything happening, that he was having such a struggle to rein in his emotions. If she allowed herself to think too much about it she’d have trouble reining in her own.

“Tell us what happened after you started the fire,” Dan said, when Archie was ready again.

“I can’t really explain what happened after,” Archie answered. “I mean, I knew it was happening, and I got myself clear the way I’d been told to, but when I got into the trees it was like I couldn’t make myself stop watching. It was nothing to do with making sure the whole place went up, I wasn’t even thinking about that . . . I just couldn’t make myself run like I was supposed to.”

“How long did you stay?” Dan asked.

Archie shook his head as though he were trying to recall a dream. “If this doesn’t sound too weird,” he said, “it was like I was hypnotized or something, you know kind of in a trance. I heard someone shouting that they’d called 999 and I even thought for a minute it was me doing the shouting.