Least Said (53 page)

‘Heard
about
you
at
the
school,
did
she?’
Jon
nodded,
and
not
waiting
for
my
reply
he
added,
‘Your
fame
is
spreading.’

‘I
think
I
saw
that
lady
at
school
this
morning,’
William
chimed
in,
‘she
was
dropping
off
her
little
girl.’

‘Her
“little
girl”
is
a
year
older
than
you,
Will,
and
apparently
she
has
three
other
children
–
three
more
daughters.
The
others
are
all
at
Brankstone
High,
one
is
doing
A
levels
during
this
school
year,
one
doing
GCSEs
and
the
third
one
has
just
started
there.’
Once
I
started
filling
in
all
the
details
I’d
been
given
I
couldn’t
seem
to
stop.

‘Four
children,’
Will
blinked,
‘all
of
them
girls?’
He
didn’t
look
or
sound
very
impressed.

‘So,
was
the
cake
for
one
of
them?’

I
usually
appreciated
Jon’s
interest
in
what
I
did,
but
not
on
this
occasion.
I
prodded
a
piece
of
broccoli
with
my
fork,
picked
it
up
and
then
put
it
down
again.
I
could
no
more
have
eaten
thatm
or
anything
else
from
my
plate,
than
fly
to
the
moon
at
that
moment.

‘Let
me
guess?’
Jon
continued
when
I
didn’t
answer,
‘A
Frozen
themed
cake
for
the
youngest
girl?’

William
screwed
up
his
face.
‘She
won’t
want
anything
to
do
with
Frozen
,’
he
dismissed,
‘that’s
just
for
babies.
I
reckon
Harry Potter
,
because
big
boys
and
girls
of
my
age
still
like
Harry Potter
.’

This
was
a
game
they
sometimes
played
and
usually
I
went
along
with
it
quite
happily,
but
at
that
moment
my
nerves
were
strung
so
taut
they
were
about
to
snap
and
there
was
more
I
had
to
say
–
something
even
more
shocking
than
the
fact
that
my
ex-lover’s
family
had
moved
into
area.

‘It’s
not
a
child’s
cake
at
all,’
I
said,
scarcely
believing
how
steady
my
voice
was,
‘it’s
an
order
for
an
adult
cake.
It’s
for
Gareth
Montgomery.
He’s
Catrin’s
husband
and
the
girls’
father
and
also
the
new
sports’
master
at
William’s
school.
He
specialises
in
rugby,
apparently.’

Once
the
words
were
spoken,
once
they
were
out
there
in
the
open,
the
absolute
horror
of
the
situation
I
found
myself
in
hit
me
with
such
force
that
I
gasped
out
loud
before
running
for
the
downstairs
cloakroom.

I
felt
as
if
I
had
aged
years
by
the
time
I
returned
to
the
kitchen,
where
the
remains
of
the
meal
had
been
cleared
away
much
to
my
relief,
and
Jon
and
William
waited
anxiously.

‘Come
and
sit
down,’
Jon
urged,
jumping
up
and
coming
to
place
his
arm
tenderly
around
my
waist,
before
leading
me
to
the
sitting
room
as
if
I
were
a
precious
and
rather
elderly
lady.
‘Bring
a
glass
of
water
for
Mummy,’
he
told
Will
over
his
shoulder.
‘She’s
not
very
well,
but
she’ll
be
fine
in
a
moment.
It’s
nothing
to
worry
about.’

Encouraging
me
into
a
chair,
Jon
checked
that
Will
had
left
the
room
before
he
knelt
in
front
of
me
and
asked
the
obvious
question.
‘Could
you
be
pregnant?’
I
didn’t
miss
the
note
of
hope
in
his
voice
and
that
made
me
feel
even
worse,
if
that
was
possible.

Shaking
my
head,
I
wished
with
all
my
heart
that
it
was
indeed
pregnancy
that
had
made
me
sick
to
my
stomach.
‘No,
I’m
not
pregnant.’

‘Upset
tummy
then?’

‘Yes,’
I
saw
Will
edging
his
way
round
the
door
holding
a
glass
of
water
that
was
much
too
full,
though
he
was
carrying
it
very
carefully,
and
added,
‘Just
a
bit
of
a
dodgy
tummy.
Must
be
something
I
ate.’

Food
poisoning
would
have
been
infinitely
preferable
to
the
chain
of
events
beginning
to
unfold,
events
that
were
directly
linked
to
my
actions
of
seven
years
ago.
I
didn’t
know
how
I
could
stop
this
insidious
flow
of
contamination
that
threatened
to
expose
me
and
my
thoughtless
behaviour
of
that
time,
and
destroy
everything
I
held
dear.

I
had
no
idea
at
all
about
what
to
do.
I
was
way
out
of
my
depth
in
this
dreadful
and
unforeseen
situation.
All
these
years
I
hadn’t
thought
through
any
of
the
possible
consequences
of
my
actions,
just
lived
my
life
quite
happily
believing
I
had
got
away,
if
not
with
murder,
then
with
something
that
would
be
equally
as
bad
in
Jon’s
eyes.