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Chapters (62)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. About the Book
  6. Dedication
  7. Your Worst Nightmare
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. The Answer to All Your Prayers
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. Somebody Else’s Child
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. Sunlight on Water
  60. July
  61. September
  62. Acknowledgements

A look crosses Jack’s face which Evan can’t quite read: weariness, sadness, despair. He glances at Evan, and musters a smile.

‘I’m tired, old lad,’ he says. ‘Nearly all day in that hospital, and a long drive there and back. It’s a good job you didn’t come with us. You’d have climbed the walls with boredom, all that waiting about. Anyway.’ The smile is gone. ‘There’s something I have to say to you, man to man, and I wish to God I didn’t have to say it, because God knows you’ve had enough to cope with in your short life without having any more troubles piled on you. But that’s life sometimes, my boy. Bad things come together.’ Evan’s expression is startled. ‘It’s about your grandma, Evan. You and I knew she wasn’t very well, didn’t we? We’ve known that for a while. But the truth is the doctor has told us today that she may not be with us very much longer. Grandma reckons she’ll be here for Christmas but odds are that won’t be the case. So what I want to say to you is this. You know you’ve been everyone’s priority, don’t you, your mum’s and your dad’s and mine and your grandma’s. Of course you have. You’re precious to us all, more precious than you’ll ever know. But just for a short while – not too short, though, I most sincerely hope – your grandma needs us, and I need you to be a help to me. If you can be fully responsible for some of the work here, then I can have more time to look after your grandma, give her the care she needs so she can be home as long as possible. She wants to be at home, of course. It’s a lot to ask of you, I know, after what you’ve been through, and never think you’re anything but top of my list. Do you understand me? Can we be a team, for your grandma’s sake? You’ll have to be out and about a bit more, and I know that sometimes makes you uncomfortable. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, but it’s a state of emergency, isn’t it? A real state of emergency.’

Jack looks at Evan, and Evan sees desolation in his grandfather’s eyes. Silently he rises from his chair to sit down next to Jack, and takes the old man’s hand in his youthful own.

As Grandpa says, it’s a state of emergency, and that changes the rules. He knows it’s time to speak, but when he opens his lips, it’s as if his throat has closed through lack of use, and he can’t put the words together.