Dangerous Love (15 page)

She spoke into the phone again. “Are you still there, Katie? Listen, love, I’m going to keep talking to you, okay?”

She nodded at Len and he helped her into her coat. At least it wasn’t snowing now, although the sky was full of clouds.

Len’s chest felt sore as they trudged up the hill towards the cliffs. Lally was hanging onto his arm, talking to Katie all the time, trying to keep her calm.

That poor girl. Her grief was so raw. So painful.

Lally’s voice was soft and comforting, yet firm. She sounded like someone who knew what she was talking about – and she was stopping Katie from jumping.

When they got to the cliff, he could see Katie standing at the edge, her coat billowing out behind her, caught by the breeze. She wasn’t wearing gloves and the hand clutching the phone against her ear was red. She turned as they approached and slipped the phone into her pocket.

“Don’t come any closer,” she said.

“Katie, love,” Lally said gently. “Come away from the edge. Please.”

She passed her phone back to Len. He was about to call for help when it bleeped at him and the screen went dark. Oh, hell. Dead battery.

“I can’t, Lally,” Katie said and she looked over her shoulder and seemed to stumble a little. Len took a step forward and Lally clutched his sleeve.

“I know you’re hurting,” she said.
“I just want him back, Lally,” Katie said and her sadness wrenched at Len’s heart.

“I know you do,” Lally said. “But it’s not your time, sweetheart. Come away from the edge now, please.”

“I can’t.”

“I don’t think you really want to jump,” Lally said. “That’s why you called me.”

Almost without Len noticing, Lally was edging closer and closer to Katie. The girl looked ready to collapse. She was shivering. She hadn’t dressed properly for the cold. She’d dressed like someone who didn’t give a damn.

“What about David?” Lally said. “Have you seen him since… I mean…?”

Katie shook her head from side to side and stumbled again.

“Maybe we should call him, love,” Lally went on. “He’s still very fond of you, you know. I know he wanted to get back together before…”

Katie let out a shriek of anger.

“Yes, he did and I said no. I couldn’t forgive him. Okay, he said it was just one night, but he betrayed me, Lally. I didn’t know that Jay had heard us talking. He must have been so upset when he heard me tell David there was no chance.”

Her foot slipped and she almost went over. Lally gasped. Len sprang forward again.

He checked out her footprints in the snow. No one else had been up on the cliffs today. It looked as if Katie had been staggering about all over the place, pacing up and down. It was a miracle she hadn’t already fallen over the edge.

But she had started out further up and now she wasn’t at the worst part. What was he thinking? There was no good place to fall over the edge!

“You still love him, don’t you?” Lally said.

“Of course I do,” Katie cried. “I never stopped.”

“Let me call him,” Lally said. “Please.”

“No.”

“Take my hand, love,” Lally said, reaching out. Len held his breath, then let it out when Katie reached out. What happened next was so fast, it hardly registered.

One minute Lally was holding Katie’s hand and the next Katie was sliding backwards and both women disappeared from view.

He ran to the edge, screaming Lally’s name and he almost collapsed with relief when he heard her call out.

“I’m all right! Soft landing!”

“Is Katie okay?”

“Yes,” Lally called. “But she’s out cold. I don’t think she hit her head – I think she fainted.”

They must have gone all the way to the bottom!

“How about you? Are you hurt, Lally?”

“No. It’s not very steep here. We landed on the sand. I’m a bit sore,” she broke off for a second. “But I haven’t broken anything.”

“I’ll get help,” he yelled. “Hold on! Don’t move!”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lally shouted back and she tried to laugh, but he heard her choke on a sob.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Regan picked up her uniform and it smelled clean and fresh. And it had been ironed. She could hear laughter coming from the living room. She’d woken with Bonnie nuzzling at her face and it had taken her a few seconds to remember where she was and realise she wasn’t in her own bed.

Bram had left a dressing gown hanging on the door for her too. She pulled it on and went into the living room.

“We’ve made some cakes, Mummy,” Georgie said. “Would you like one?”

They’d made dozens of cupcakes with swirly lurid coloured icing and sprinkles on the top.

“We made rather a lot,” Bram said sheepishly. “They taste a lot better than they look. You could take some into work with you.”

“I’d like that,” she said. “Is it okay if I have a quick shower?”

“Have a long one if you like,” Bram said. “Dinner won’t be ready for another hour.”

“Dinner?”

“You didn’t think I’d send you to work on an empty stomach did you?”

“Bram’s making toad in the hole,” Georgie said. “With roast potatoes and gravy.”

You could almost think they were a proper family Regan thought as she showered. Almost. But Bram was pleasant to her only for Georgie’s benefit.

And he wasn’t kidding about learning to cook properly.

The television was on in the living room when she came back dressed and ready for work and the weather was the main topic on the news. It had caught everyone on the hop and most of the country was unprepared for the severity of it.

“I haven’t seen snow like this here for years,” Regan said. “It’s very unusual. I don’t want you driving me to work tonight, Bram. I’ll walk in from here. It’s not far.”

“You’ll never make it on foot,” he said.

“I’m not sure you’ll be able to drive either,” she replied. “They said not to go out unless your journey is really necessary.”

“And it’s necessary to get you to work don’t you think?” he said. “You’ll be needed at the hospital.”

She stared at him. He was wearing a thick cream Arran sweater and jeans and his hair was slightly tousled.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” she said quickly. “I was miles away.”

Remembering how good it felt to be in his arms and realising that it was never going to happen again, that’s where she was.

“Sit with Georgie,” he said. “Dinner won’t be long.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay to have Georgie again tonight?” she said. “I could get in touch with Lally…”

“Of course I’m sure. Doug will be here and if I do have to help out in the surgery, Sue will keep an eye on Georgie. They get on really well.”

“So I gather,” she said. Damn! She hadn’t meant to sound so snippy.

But she didn’t want to think too much about Sue. Sue with the pretty face and long black eyelashes – that’s how Georgie described her.

She could see through into the kitchen and watched him as he worked. How he’d changed from the guy that used to buy ready meals to put in the microwave. She’d changed too. Five years was a long time.

“Do you have to go to work, Mummy?”

“Yes, darling, but it won’t be for much longer. I’m changing my shifts so I’ll be home more and working when you’re at school. You’ll be able to go back to school once your cast is off. Are you looking forward to it?”

“Yes, I miss my friends. I miss…” Her eyes filled with tears.

The doctor had advised keeping her at home until her arm was out of the cast. They wanted her to have time to come to the terms with Jay’s death too. The school had been very helpful, sending work home so that she wouldn’t fall behind. It had helped so much too with Georgie’s bonding with Bram. Not that they needed help in that department.

Regan put her arm round her and pulled her close. “Hey,” she said. “It’s all right. Everything will be okay.”

Bram had just put their food on the table when his phone rang. Regan watched his face go pale. He looked at her, then away.

“I understand,” he said. “Hold tight. I’m on my way.”

Regan was already rising to her feet. “What’s happened?”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen.

“It’s Lally,” he whispered. “There’s been an accident. I have to go.”

“I’m coming too.”

“No, you stay here with Georgie.”

“But if Lally’s hurt, I can be of more use than you,” she said. “You stay here with Georgie.”

He looked at her for a split second, then picked up the phone and spoke to Sue. It seemed like only seconds later that footsteps pounded up the stairs from the surgery then a middle-aged woman burst in. She had big eyes and enormous long black eyelashes and she was pretty, but she was probably old enough to be Bram’s mother.

“You sure about this, Sue?” he said.

“Of course I am!”
“Let’s go,” Bram said, gathering up his gloves and hat.

“Go,” Sue said kindly when Regan hesitated. “I’ll look after Georgie. We’ve spent a bit of time together and she’ll be fine with me. I’ll stay here while she eats her dinner and then she can come downstairs. I’ll bring her back up to the flat when we close and I’ll stay with her until you get back.”

Georgie was perfectly happy with Sue and Regan looked questioningly at Bram as she pulled on a pair of his track suit trousers that he’d insisted she wear. They drowned her, but at least she’d be warm.

“A couple of times when Georgie’s been here, I’ve been called in to help out downstairs,” Bram said with an impatient huff. “She’s been fine with Sue.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to, Regan. Your face says it all.”

“As it happens, my face says nothing! Georgie’s mentioned Sue to me several times. She’s very fond of her.”

“So am I,” he said. “She’s been great. She even helped me choose the stuff for Georgie’s room.”

“I guessed you hadn’t done it on your own.”

“Thanks a bunch,” Bram pretended to look hurt and he came close to smiling, then he turned and ran down the stairs.

The snow was deeper than ever. Bram flung open the door of his 4x4.

“You’re not driving in this?” she said.
“Have you got a better idea?” he said. She hadn’t. “Then get in. We’re wasting time.”

“What happened, do you know?” she said as they set off.

“It was Len who phoned,” Bram said. “He was hardly making any sense. I don’t know where he was calling from – he said something about not having his mobile with him and the landlines being down. Knowing Len he was knocking on doors as soon as he came to houses and asking to use their mobiles.”

He drove out carefully. The car struggled a little at first, but he eased it over the snowy roads. Every time the wheels snatched or they slid a little, Regan gripped her seat, gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut.

“So what did he say?” It was like getting blood out of a stone.

“It seems Lally and Katie went over the cliff.”

“What?”

“Now don’t overreact,” he said calmly. “It wasn’t at the very high part, but further down where the fall isn’t great…”

“You can’t dress up something like that, Bram! What the hell were they doing on the cliff in this weather?”

“Len said something about Katie intending to throw herself off.”

“Oh, no.”

“It’s a long shot, but you haven’t got Katie’s husband’s number have you?”

“I do as it happens,” she said. “He called me after… after…” She couldn’t say it. “I kept his number anyway. It’s in my phone. Do you think I should ring him?”

“Yes. If it was… someone I cared about and he clearly still cares about her, I’d want to know.”

The back end of the car slid and he righted it again with no fuss and carried on as if nothing had happened. Regan gripped her seat even tighter.

“What if we’re killed?” she thought. “Who will take care of Georgie?”

They were going to the rescue of the one other person in the world she would trust to take care of her daughter.

“Don’t worry,” Bram said as if he’d read her mind. “We’re all going to get through this. I wouldn’t have let you come along if I thought it was dangerous.”

“You don’t own me, Bram.”

“I didn’t say I did, but Georgie needs a mother and I’ll do everything in my power to protect hers. Make that call, Regan.”

David answered. She didn’t know him all that well, but he always seemed nice. She knew he’d had a fling with a woman from work and that Katie hadn’t been able to forgive him. She knew too that he’d wanted to come back, but Katie wouldn’t have him.

Quickly she told him what had happened.

“Can you get down here?”

“I’ll leave right away. I’ll get there somehow. How bad is she hurt?”

“I don’t know yet, David,” she said. “Just drive carefully.”

Bram had turned onto the road that led up to the cliffs. In the distance she could see the figure of a man waving his arms.

“There’s Len!”

There was no wind, but clouds obscured the moon. If the wind picked up and it started to snow again, it would soon turn into a blizzard. The last place you wanted to be in a blizzard was at the top of a cliff. But it wasn’t windy and it wasn’t snowing – yet.

Regan’s stomach knotted.

Len ran towards them and fell flat on his face in the snow.

Bram stopped the car and jumped out. Regan followed. By the time they reached him, Len was struggling to his feet.

“Thank God,” he said. “This way, quick! It was Katie,” he went on breathlessly. “She called Lally and said she was going to jump. She thinks she’s got nothing to live for.”

He broke off and clutched at Bram’s arm.

“You’ve got to help them, Bram. They’ve fallen all the way to the bottom.”

“Is help on the way?”

“You’re it,” Len said. “The emergency services are stretched to the limit and they’re going to get here as soon as they can, but right now, we’re their only hope.”

“It should be sandy at the bottom at this point,” Regan said, trying desperately to get her bearings, trying to remember what the tides were doing.

“Lally said they’d landed on the sand. She thought Katie had fainted, but hadn’t hit her head.”

“Good.”

“I’ll bring the car up closer,” Bram said. “I’ve got ropes in the back.”

Regan stared at him in shock. Her best friend was down there and now the father of her child planned to go over the edge.

“The tide will be in too far to go round via the beach. This is the only way.”

That was right. Regan visualised the beach. The cliffs dipped in here and people often got caught on the little patch of beach, trapped by the incoming tide.

“Regan?”

“Do what you have to do, Bram.”

This wasn’t the section of cliff where Jay and Georgie had gone over. It wasn’t as steep and the rocks not as sheer. And if Lally and Katie had fallen without injuring themselves, then Bram going over with a rope would be much safer.

He wound the rope round his middle.

“We should wait for the helicopter,” Len said.

“You called me up here,” Bram said. “Because you know as well as I do that we can’t afford to wait.”

He fastened the rope to the tow bar, then Len moved the car until the rope was taught.

“Take it slow, Len!” Bram yelled. “Regan, you’re going to have to guide him.”

There wasn’t time to think. Regan nodded and lifted her hand, ready to give Len the signal to reverse.