‘I sincerely doubt he’s going to be that lucid.’

‘Oh, because you’re the expert?’

Max sighed, looking away with a shake of his head.

Hanna looked back at her. ‘I need to have options, Bell. I need to go in first and assess how he is. If he’s calm and lucid, Linus can come in. If he’s confused or distressed or . . . not right, he doesn’t.’

Bell nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘And if he is alert and okay, what are you going to say to Linus?’ Max asked, his voice sounding choked. ‘Are you honestly going to break it to him, in the doorway of that hospital room, that the man he’s about to meet is his real father?’ He stared at his wife with shining eyes. ‘How do you think he’s going to react to that? I mean, the shock – Jesus, the poor child! He needs time to process the facts before he’s presented with the reality! We always said we would tell him together, when he was old enough – the two of us, together –’

‘But we don’t have that luxury now! He’s woken up, and there’s no time left. He’s been nearer to being dead than alive, and we have to put his needs before ours – and before even Linus’s. It’s the very least he deserves.’

Max exhaled forcefully, his body rigid with anger and tension as Hanna suddenly dropped her head into her hands.

‘God, this is an impossible situation,’ Bell said quietly, walking over to her quickly and squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. It was a strange reversal of roles. Though her boss was only six years her senior, their very different lifestyles and choices often left Bell feeling almost adolescent in her company.

Hanna lifted her head again. ‘I just need options, Max, until I know what’s the best thing to do.’

‘Well, you’re his mother,’ Max retorted snippily. ‘So I don’t get a final say in it. I’m not even his adoptive father. When it comes down to it, I have no legal rights.’

‘This isn’t about legalities.’

‘Not yet it isn’t,’ Max said bleakly.

Hanna’s mouth parted. Bell’s, too. What exactly was ahead of them?

‘Uh, look, I’ll keep Linus occupied until you’ve seen him and you know what’s best to do,’ Bell murmured. Hanna nodded, but Bell could feel the tension in her arms, and her skin was icy. ‘Just so I’m up to speed – what exactly has he been told about today? I’m assuming he’ll be suspicious as to the early start and not going in to school?’

‘I’ve told him we’re going on a road trip and having some special time together, just the three of us.’

‘. . . Okay.’ It wasn’t the most convincing cover story Bell had ever heard. She glanced at Max again. His arm was outstretched on the table, his body slumped against the chair. He looked . . . lost. Defeated, almost.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs made them all stiffen, Hanna withdrawing quickly and running her hands over her face and through her hair, as though prepping herself for another day at the office.