Claiming Noah (21 page)

‘Forget what I said, this is him, it's Noah!' She stared at the front door, which was visible from her car, and felt her pulse racing as panic took hold of her. She shouldn't have run off like that; what if the man realised who she was and left with Noah before the police could arrive?

‘Diana, please calm down,' Sergeant Thomas said. ‘Now, tell me who this man is.'

She explained everything as clearly as she could through her excitement. There was a moment of silence after she finished and Diana worried that Sergeant Thomas was going to dismiss her, but then he spoke. ‘I'll check this out for you, but will you promise me this is the last time? You shouldn't be out scrutinising strangers like this. And if this is him, then it's not safe for you to go to his house alone. He could be dangerous.'

She thanked Sergeant Thomas and relayed the eBay account and address details to him. He agreed to call her as soon as they had investigated it.

•  •  •

For the next two days, Diana didn't leave the house. She tried to distract herself with housework, cleaning months of dust from underneath furniture and on top of shelves where it had accumulated as a thick, woolly layer. She cleaned windows until they gleamed and reflected a desperate-eyed woman staring back at her. She watched inane programs on television without bothering to follow the plots. Mostly, she sat staring at the phone, willing it to ring with news of Noah.

On the second day after her conversation with Sergeant Thomas, the phone rang as she was pulling a load of clothes out of the washing machine. She let the clothes fall to the floor as she ran to answer it.

‘Diana? It's Sergeant Thomas.'

‘Was it him?'

There was a pause on the other end of the phone and then Sergeant Thomas spoke again. ‘I hadn't told you this yet, because I didn't want to get your hopes up, but we've been following a lead for the past few weeks, based on a report from a hospital that there was a discrepancy with a child's medical records. You wouldn't believe it, but it turns out it's the same child you enquired about.'

She clutched the phone tighter. ‘What does that mean? What are you telling me?'

‘Diana, it's Noah. We've looked into it and we know that for sure now. We have him; we have your son.'

Diana felt the world stop turning. She tried to remember how to make her mouth form words. ‘It's him? You're sure?'

‘We're sure. We found out the man you met had a prior criminal conviction, and the details in his criminal record matched the details we've pulled together during our investigation. When my officers went to check him out, they confirmed it was the guy we've been looking for.'

Diana sank to the floor, still clutching the phone to her ear. ‘Oh my God. You have him? And you have Noah? Where is he?'

She could hear the smile in Sergeant Thomas's voice. ‘He's at the hospital getting checked out.'

She sat up straight, alert. ‘What happened? Was he hurt?'

‘No, he seems absolutely fine, it's standard procedure to do a medical and psychological assessment for this type of situation. There's a process we need to go through before we can release him – mainly legal stuff – but I'll drop him over as soon as I can.'

‘When will that be?' Diana asked.

‘Shouldn't take too long. Later this afternoon, most likely. You'll have your son back with you before you know it.'

Diana's hands were shaking so badly she could barely hang up the phone. She stared at the front door, overcome with a mixture of disbelief and rapture. After six hundred and thirty-eight days of hell she had only hours to wait before her son, her baby, would come through that door, back home to her.

Saturday, 1 February 2014

C
atriona and James had decided they wanted to throw a party for Sebastian's second birthday. Partly because they knew Sebastian would enjoy celebrating his birthday with his friends, but also because it was James's fortieth birthday a week later. They had it all planned: they would have a lunchtime party for Sebastian with his day-care friends and then, after the kids went home and Sebastian was asleep, exhausted from the onslaught of food and presents, they would put on a barbecue dinner for James, a party for grown-ups.

They had been planning the joint birthday celebration for a month. The invitations were out, the jumping castle had been ordered and the menu had been finalised. Fairy bread, finger sandwiches, mini meat pies and sausage rolls for Sebastian's party; pig on the spit, sausages and steak with salads and plenty of alcohol for James's party.

The only person on the guest list who had caused some conflict between Catriona and James was Spencer. After what ended up being two months staying with them, Spencer found a job as a groundskeeper for the Auburn Botanic Gardens, nine hectares of parks and gardens in Sydney's west. He said the role suited him perfectly because they didn't ask questions about his criminal record and he got to spend his days outside in the sunshine, a luxury he had sorely missed during his years of imprisonment. It appeared that Spencer had remained true to his word that he would stay on the right side of the law this time; no more schemes, no more law-breaking. Given his turnaround, and the way Spencer had behaved while he was staying with them, Catriona would have happily invited him to Sebastian and James's party. It was his new girlfriend she didn't like.

Not long after he moved out of Catriona and James's home and into a small apartment in the western suburbs of Sydney, near the botanic gardens, Spencer met a girl named Jessica. Jess. She was the type of woman Catriona despised; a clingy, demanding and dependent partner who seemed to rely on Spencer to dictate her mood and make all of her decisions, even if the decision was as minor as what to order from the menu at a restaurant. It got to the point where even her appearance annoyed Catriona. Jess was in her mid twenties, but she dressed like a teenager in short skirts, tight pants and sheer tops. Catriona never felt that she dressed conservatively but she did dress her age, and next to Jess she felt like a veritable grandmother.

Not surprisingly Jess, who had quickly moved in with Spencer, didn't seem to bother James, and he had tried to force a relationship between Catriona and Jess by organising a series of dinner parties, restaurant outings and barbecues. But the more time Catriona spent with Jess the less she liked her, and James had eventually given up. That was until James insisted that Spencer and Jess should both be invited to his birthday party.

‘He's my best mate,' James said. ‘Do you really expect me not to invite him?'

‘You can invite him,' Catriona said. ‘I'm happy for Spencer to come. It's
her
I have the problem with. Can you imagine what she'd wear to Sebastian's party? She'll look like a prostitute. My friends will be thrilled with her parading around in front of their husbands.'

James let out an animated groan. ‘She's not that bad. Honestly, the way you talk about her you'd think she doesn't wear any clothes at all. She's still in her twenties, give her a break.'

‘Yeah, and that's the other thing,' Catriona said. ‘How do you think people will react to seeing a forty-year-old man with a girl in her twenties? It's pathetic, that's what. He's a stereotype for a man going through a mid-life crisis.'

‘Leave him alone, he deserves a bit of happiness.'

‘Yeah, well, he's definitely found himself a bit of
something
.'

Catriona ended their argument as Sebastian toddled into the kitchen. Upon seeing his mother he sped up his pace and hurtled himself against her knees, laughing hysterically. Catriona picked him up, balanced him on her hip and shot a final comment to James as she started to prepare Sebastian's lunch.

‘Well, don't expect me to talk to her at the party. She can come, but I'm not going to talk to her and neither are any of my friends. She'll just have to entertain herself.'

James rolled his eyes. ‘That's really mature of you. Aren't you about thirty years too old to be giving someone the silent treatment? Are you going to get someone to pass her a mean note at recess as well?'

Catriona thought about what James had said while she cut the crusts off Sebastian's sandwich. With an audible sigh she acknowledged to herself that he was right, she
was
acting like a little girl, but she couldn't bear to be in the same room as Jess. She had no idea what Spencer saw in her, apart from the obvious physical attraction. But even that bothered her. Why was it that men never stop desiring young girls? She would look like a fool if she dated a twenty-something boy, but men seemed to be able to get away with it. The double standard was infuriating.

Sebastian broke Catriona out of her reverie by tugging at her sleeve and pointing at the sandwich and apple she was holding just out of his reach.

‘Sorry, honey,' she said, carrying him to the table and placing the plate in front of him.

As he ate they performed their usual routine, during which Sebastian bombarded her with questions about everything in their living room. He had only a smattering of words and phrases in his repertoire so far, but ‘What's that?' was a well-used one. Catriona liked that he was inquisitive, but there were only so many times she could explain what a vase was before she lost her patience.

‘What's that?' Sebastian pointed at a tall lamp behind the couch.

‘It's a lamp. It helps us to see when it's dark.'

Sebastian cast his gaze around the room before settling on a silver frame containing a photo of Catriona's parents. ‘What's that?'

‘Who's that?' Catriona corrected. ‘That's your Nanna and Pa. You know them. You'll see them again at your birthday party.'

Satisfied with the response, he turned his attention to his lunch instead. ‘What's that?'

‘It's an apple, you know that. Stop stalling and eat your lunch.'

Sebastian rewarded her with a toothy grin before shovelling a piece of apple into his mouth. Catriona sighed and ran her hands through Sebastian's hair, which made one of his curls stand on end. She adored him, but he drove her crazy with his noise and relentless questions. She sometimes found herself longing for the calm and quiet of the life she and James had before Sebastian. It seemed a distant memory.

•  •  •

The morning of Sebastian and James's joint birthday party brought with it an unwelcome surprise. When Catriona climbed out of bed, parted the curtains and looked out the window she could see an infinite stretch of dark grey clouds. It was an ominous sign on what was supposed to be a day of celebration. They had set up a small marquee in the backyard the night before in anticipation of the less-than-desirable weather that had been forecast, but if the rain was heavy enough that it collected in the roof of the marquee then it was likely to collapse on them all.

‘Don't worry about it, babe,' James said, coming up behind her at the window and sliding his hands around her waist. He wore only pyjama pants, and with his bare torso and his hair ruffled from sleep he looked much younger than his almost forty years. Catriona always thought he looked sexy when he first woke up. He had a ruggedness about him that seemed to disappear as soon as he shaved, dressed and put on his glasses.

‘It's such a shame,' she said. ‘I wanted the day to be perfect for you both.'

‘Hey.' James turned her around so she was facing him. ‘It
will
be perfect. A bit of rain isn't going to change that. Sebastian definitely isn't going to care. He's going to lose his shit when everyone starts arriving with presents for him.'

Catriona laughed. ‘That's true.' She embraced James and rested her chin on his shoulder. He smelled faintly of sweat with remnants of his aftershave from the previous day. He returned her embrace and hugged her closer to him. It made her remember the way they used to be when they first met, well before the tribulations of IVF and parenthood had consumed their lives.

‘Let's go away,' she said, inspired by a sudden thought. ‘It can be a late birthday present for you. Mum and Dad can look after Sebastian.'

James drew back to look at her. He was smiling. ‘Where did you have in mind?'

‘I don't care. Anywhere. Somewhere near the beach, maybe? We haven't been away just the two of us since Sebastian was born. He'll be okay without us for a few days. He loves hanging out with my parents.'

‘Let's do it,' James said as he leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her lips. ‘It's been far too long since I've had you to myself for a whole weekend.'

‘A weekend alone. I wouldn't know what to do with myself.'

‘I could give you some ideas.'

The baby monitor on Catriona's bedside table emitted the sound of Sebastian crying, letting them know he was awake and wanted someone to free him from the constraints of his cot.

‘Reality calls,' Catriona said. She walked to the door, paused and turned back to look at James. ‘Can you believe he'll be two on Monday?'

He shook his head. ‘It's incredible. I don't know where the time went.'

‘He's not a baby any more.' She leaned against the doorframe, chewing her lip. ‘Do you ever wonder . . .'

‘What?'

‘Do you ever wonder if he has a brother or sister out there somewhere? From that last embryo of ours? It's possible. And maybe they'd even be close in age, depending on how quickly it was given away.'

A look of horror glanced over James's face.

‘What? What's wrong?'

‘Why did you ask that?'

‘It's just something I think about sometimes. Don't you? Don't you ever find yourself looking really closely at kids that look like Sebastian?'

He sat on the bed, his back to her, and looked out the window. ‘No. I don't think about it.'