‘Okay,’ Kayleigh sniffled, and she obediently followed Grace into the back room.

Grace made her a coffee instead of vodka and gave her some tissues.

‘Was Jake planned?’ Kayleigh asked as she wiped her eyes with the tissue.

‘No, not exactly. But he was very much wanted.’

‘By Nathan too?’

Grace knew it would hurt her, but she couldn’t lie and say that Nathan wasn’t over the moon when he found out about Jake. That would be so unfair to both of them.

‘Yes, by Nathan too.’

‘Why didn’t he want our baby too then, Grace? I did do it on purpose, you know,’ she whispered. ‘I saw how much he loves Jake, and how much he idolizes you, and I wanted that too.’

Grace almost laughed then. ‘Trust me, Kayleigh. Nathan does not idolize me. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth.’ She wondered where the girl got such a notion.

Kayleigh looked at her, eyes and her mouth wide in shock. ‘Are you kidding?’ she sniffed. ‘You’re the only one he’s ever really loved, Grace. You are the yardstick by which we are all measured.’

Grace smiled in response. What the hell was she supposed to say to that?

‘Why didn’t he want our baby?’ she howled again, and Grace could see she had a flair for the dramatic, while realizing that she hadn’t answered Kayleigh’s original question.

‘Maybe it was just too soon, Kayleigh.’ she said softly. She really wanted to scream at her though, or even slap some sense into her. What the hell was she thinking?

‘What’s the fucking matter with her now?’ Nathan bellowed as he walked through the door to the back room.

Kayleigh looked at him wide-eyed with fear, making Grace want to wrap her in her arms and protect her from the monster, but she didn’t of course.

‘She’s just had a couple of drinks too many, that’s all, and was feeling a bit ill, weren’t you, love?’ Grace said to Kayleigh as she helped her up from the stool.

Kayleigh nodded frantically as though she’d been worried Grace was about to tell him the truth. Grace put her hand on Nathan’s arm. ‘She really needs to get home and get to bed,’ she told him. ‘Lots of TLC is what you need, eh, Kayleigh?’

‘All right, let’s go,’ he said gruffly and led her out of the door.

As she was leaving, Kayleigh mouthed a thank you to Grace, who felt like a fraud. It was gratitude she didn’t deserve. She should have rescued that poor girl from him; but who was she kidding? She hadn’t even been able to rescue herself.

But now all that was about to change …

Chapter Seventy-Three