Public Property (45 page)

Her empty stomach.
It growled
on cue
, as if to let her know it hadn’t been satisfied
.
Freya placed her hand under the duvet and smoothed
the
skin with her hand.

Her a
bdomen wasn’t entirely empty.
T
here was still a baby growing inside her and he or she was probably hungry too. Perhaps it was time to give healthy food a try.

She
looked over at the plate and nausea r
o
se in her throat. Before she had the chance to think
anymore about
eating it
,
the phone rang.

She
snatched it up before Nicholas answered from downstairs.

‘
Hello
.’

‘
And how is the patient doing today?
’
Emma asked her.

‘
Oh
,
Em
, it’s great to hear your voice
.’

‘
How are you
feeling? I rang late last night.
Nick said you were asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you
.’

‘
I’
ve been doing a lot of sleeping.
I
f I sleep it means Nick has less time to keep on about me seeing a therapist to get over the trauma
. I mean, which trauma does he want me to talk to them about? I could be having two hour sessions twice a week for the rest of my life and it still might not be enough.’

‘
He’s so worried about you
,
Freya
.
You and the baby.
H
e just wants to do what’s best
.’

‘
I know
.
B
ut can you imagine what a field day any therapist would have with me
? I can’t go there. I don’t need to go there.’

‘
None of this is your fault
.
Y
ou have to keep focused on that. You
’
ve been let down by most of the people in your life
. They’ve done that to you because of who
they
are.’

‘
I know how to pick them
,
don’t I?
’

‘
Well
,
you can’t choose your family and as for
Sasha
…w
ell it sounds like she did a very good job
of
being believable
.’

‘
Yes
,
she did
.’

‘
So, I suppose you aren’t really feelin
g up to a wedding at the moment.
H
ave you rearranged the date?
’

‘
No, not yet
.
T
here’s been so much going on there hasn’t been a chance and we really want to do it properly
.’

‘
Oh
well, I was hoping
I ha
d
n’t wasted a trip
.’

‘
What?
’

‘
I stopped by that Chinese you keep telling me about
.
I
just
had to see in real life
.
I got sweet and sour chicken balls, egg
foo
yung
and beef in black bean sauce if you’re hungry
.’

The bedroom door opened and Emma
appeared,
a
phone to her ear and a takeaway bag in her hand.

Freya scream
ed. She lea
pt out of bed, sending Willis crashing to the floor and enveloped her friend in a bear hug.

‘
Careful! Don’t do yourself an injury or Nick will never forgive me
,’
Emma exclaimed
,
hugg
ing
her friend tightly.

‘
I can’t believe you’re here! This is the best thing!
You came all the way from Corfu?
All ten hours and…’

‘
And a stop in Paris
,’ E
mma replied, smiling.

Tears were pricking Freya’s eyes as she looked at her best friend. It was so good to see her. She needed her.

‘It’s so good to see you
and I love your hair that
colour
,’ Emma said.

‘
It’s good to see y
ou too. So,
where’s
Melly
and
Yiannis
? They’d better be here.’

‘They certainly are.
T
hey’re downstairs with Nick
.’

‘
Nick knew
,
didn’t he?
He knew you were planning to come over.’

‘
How could I not come
,
Freya
?
A
fter what happened to you I wanted to come straight away
.
Nick called me and told me
everything and then it was all over
the television and in the papers. B
ut he said you needed some time.
S
o
we waited
until
he said you were feeling better
.
H
e
arranged our flight
s
and here we are
.’

‘
I’m starting to worry about
his knack for concealing things from me
,’
Freya stated
.

‘
I told him not
to tell you because I knew you’d
try to talk me out of coming all this way with
Melly
. And
I wanted to come. I wanted to see you and
your beautiful house and Willis.
I think I caught a glimpse of him a second ago. I wanted to see
your town and all the people
you’ve described to me.’

‘
Would you believe Bria
n quite possibly saved my life?’

‘
Would you believe he
’s selling t-shirts with “
Baby
Kaden
says Go Maulers Go
”
printed on them?
’
Emma asked her.

‘
Actually, yes
.’

‘
I guess that
’
s what you
’
d call a
“
Brian Episode
”.’

‘
You’re getting into the
Mayleaf
way
.’

‘
So
,
do you want some of th
is Chinese food
?
O
r have you already eaten?
’ She indicated the plate of food on the nightstand.

‘
That
stuff? Get real! I’
m
com
ing
down
.’ She picked up her robe and wrapped around her.

‘Are you allowed out of bed? P
erhaps we should check with Nick first
.’

‘
You
are
joking
,
right? I need to start reminding him who wears the trousers in this relationship
.’

When the two women arrived in the kitchen
,
Nicholas
was
holding Melissa in his arms and feeding her
a
bottle
of milk
.

‘Aw,
would you look at that? He’s a natural
,’
Emma
said
.

‘
Hi
,
Yiannis
, it’s great to see you
,’
Freya said, kissing
the Greek man on the
cheek.

‘
And to see you
too,’
Yiannis
responded, hugging her
.

‘
I thought you were breastfeeding
,
Em
,’
Freya
said. She stood next to Nicholas and looked down at the very contented Melissa.

‘
I was
.
A
ll I will say is
“
puncture wounds”
.’ Emma pulled a face.

‘
Bottles and teats
.
A
dd it to
our
list
,’ Freya said, directing it at Nicholas.

‘
Added
.
H
ey
, what are you doing out of bed?’ he asked her.

‘
You used to say that to me so often when
we first got together.
I
t’s
nice romance is still such a big part of our relationship
.’

‘
Feeling better?
’
Nicholas
asked
.

‘
Much better now Emma
’
s here with Chinese food.
Em
,
the
plates are in the cupboard over there
,’
Freya directed.

‘
By the way, this package arrived for you earlier
. I
t’s from Josie
.
S
he said she found them while she was
cat
-
sitting and we were at the hospital. She said something about Willis scratching around the back of the sofa and then she said she
’
d laundered them. D
oes any of that make any sense to you?’
Nicholas asked her
. He
indicat
ed
a brown paper bag on the
countertop
.

‘Not a bit.
L
et’s see
..
.O
h
!
H
ow
embarrassing
!
’
Freya excl
aimed, looking into the bag
.

‘
What is it?
’ Emma asked
.

‘
Remember those undergarments I told you
went
missing
. The ones
I was sure would end up on
EBay
.’

‘
Wild Wednesday
?’

‘
Wild Wednesday
!
I can’t believe one of my
neighbours
has had to handle a pair of my pants
.’

Nicholas laughed and
Yiannis
looked completely bemused.

‘
Come on
,
Yiannis
, help me serve up this food
,’ Emma said, taking plates to the breakfast bar.

‘
Melly’s
beautiful isn’t she?
’
Nicholas remarked
to Freya.

Freya put her little finger into the tiny hand of the baby and smiled as Melissa tightened her grip around it.

‘
Yes she is
.
S
he has her mother’s good looks and her father’s brooding Greek eyes
.’

‘
I wonder what our baby
’
s going to look like
.’

‘
Hopefully he or she will have their father’s good looks and restraint when it comes to food and their mother’s dynamic wit and sparkling personality
.’

‘
And lots of health and happiness
,’
Nicho
las added.

‘
And some normality
.
P
lease
,
God
, a shed load of normality,’
Freya begged
.