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Back Where The Story Starts Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. 55
  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
  63. BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  65. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

But she was here and more or less healthy, and that was obviously the most important thing. And now she had a name. Clio.

The name decision made, Charles went off to make a start on the birth announcement cards whilst Grace took a nap. She hadn’t asked him what it was that he needed to think about that took him all the way to Scotland. The last thing she thought as she drifted off to sleep was that she must remember to do that.

24

24

LEAH – NOW

What are you doing on Sunday?

I looked at Clio’s text and ran through my diary in my mind. Well, that was easy – nothing. Catching up on housework, washing school uniforms, cooking – basically nothing.

Nothing, I texted back. Why?

Fabulous! came the instant reply. Well you are now. I’ll be at your front door at 2. Wear something nice.

I looked at the message again to see if I’d missed something vital. It was unsatisfactorily vague. Where were we going? Were the children invited, too? What did ‘something nice’ mean? Did the kids also need to be smart? I could text back and ask for more details, but actually it didn’t really matter. Whatever Clio was planning could always be abandoned if I didn’t fancy it when the time came.

My life seemed to be running pretty smoothly just then. Clio and I were getting along really well. She was less like a rabbit in the headlights and seemed far more relaxed around me. I no longer felt like she was watching her every word in case she said the wrong thing (which was a relief), and the kids absolutely adored her.

Poppy was keeping out of trouble, too, so there’d been no reoccurrence of her fighting. She’d finally confessed to what had caused the fight in the first place. Stacey’s nasty daughter had called Noah ‘a half-caste bastard’ and Poppy had just seen red. I wasn’t sure what to do about it. It was probably easiest not to do anything, to just ignore it and move on. In fact, that’s probably what I would have done before I became a mum. Now that I was, though, things were very different. Taking the easy path was no longer an option. Now I had to do what was right.

So I rang school and explained what had wound Poppy up. They made all the right noises about it being unacceptable, against school policy etc., but nothing had actually happened to Cindy as far as I could tell. I decided the best thing to do was just to let it go, after all. I had played my bit and so had Poppy. Noah’s honour had been defended, and hopefully nothing like that would happen again. If it did, I thought, I might end up belting Cindy Waters myself.