Before Harper could think of the right thing to say, Amy had gone. She stood for a moment at the foot of the stairs, inhaling Amy’s perfume, wondering what it was that had just happened. Had she blown it, whatever “it” was, or might have been? Oh well, thought Harper, trying not to feel the sting of disappointment, it’s probably for the best.

Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

Is it said that River Mumma lives in the cool depths of water. She sometimes comes up to sit on a rock and comb her long black hair. If you see her, do not look at her. If you catch her eye, she may draw you down with her, where she may live but you may not. If she catches hold of you, all manner of terrible things will happen. No one knows exactly what, because no one she’s got hold of has ever come back to tell the tale.

Traditional Jamaican

AUGUST 16TH
FOUR WEEKS AND SIX DAYS OLD
9:30 A.M.

“This is cosy, isn’t it?” said Ruthie, who’d come for a visit.

The hospital seemed to think that one extra visitor meant that there needed to be two nurses on duty, one for each twin. The room, designed for one person to sleep in with a baby, held five adults plus the two infants. Pauline leaned on the windowsill while the other nurse stood by the door like a sentry.

Patrick breathed out through his nose. The babies, held by Patrick and Ruthie, were intent on Lauren. They never seemed to blink. Every now and then, they raised up their arms and made that sea-bird sound, almost in synch, puppets on the same string. Patrick frowned, and she studied him. Could he see it, too? How different they were from before, and how strange?

Lauren turned towards him, her smile fixed in place. Her eyes flicked towards the nurses. Get rid of them, she tried to say with her eyes.

Patrick cleared his throat, turned to the nurses. “Do you both have to be here?”

The two women looked at each other. The shorter one said, “Well, I could wait outside, I suppose. Unless you want to?”

“I’ll go,” said Pauline, launching herself towards the door, which she flung open in her hurry to leave. It closed slowly and clicked shut after a minute, cutting off the sound of her quick retreating feet in the corridor. Lauren breathed out.

Patrick raised an eyebrow. “Are you two, um, getting on OK?”

No, thought Lauren, I hate that nosy bitch. “Yes,” she said, “it’s fine. It’s odd, being watched all the time, that’s all.”

Leaning against the wall, the remaining nurse’s eyes followed the birds out of the window but she was listening, assessing, judging. Lauren could tell.