Joely was propped up against pillows in a hospital side ward, her left arm and shoulder in plaster and several small dressings covering the cuts and grazes on her face creating tiny white islands in a sea of black and purple bruises. Every muscle and bone in her body hurt badly, and her head was throbbing so hard it felt as though it might explode at any moment. Mercifully the CT scan had shown no fractures to her neck or skull so the emergency team had been able to remove her from the brace and spinal board the paramedics had brought her in with, allowing her to move more freely.
Andee was sitting beside her, sprained right wrist in a sling and clumps of mud and grass still in her hair. Joely suspected there was the same in her own hair, although it felt wet so maybe someone had washed it.
“Do you think,” she said, closing her eyes as the pain of spoken words vibrated in her head, “we ought to get someone to photograph us for Instagram?”
Andee choked on a laugh, and moved aside as a busy nurse flitted in to check on Joely. Glancing at her mobile as it rang, Andee said, “Callum,” and clicked on.
Joely’s eyes remained closed as the nurse left and she listened to Andee’s side of the conversation. “Yes, I’m with her now; no, no surgery required at this stage, we don’t know about later. Yes, she’s awake. Third floor, ask at the nurses’ station, someone there will tell you where we are.”
Joely opened her eyes.
Sorry, Andee mouthed. Wrong thing to say?
Not sure of the answer to that, Joely simply shut her eyes again.
After ringing off, Andee said, “They’re on their way up.”
“My mother and Holly are with him?”
“Your mother certainly.”
“So she’s all right?”
“I think so.”
“Do you know if Freda went there?”
“I’ve only spoken to Callum, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about. Would you like me to leave you alone?”
Joely tried to swallow but her throat was too dry. “No, stay,” she said hoarsely. “Unless you want to go. Where’s Graeme? Wasn’t he here a moment ago?”
“He’s gone to see my mother. She’s cooking for us tonight and we thought one of us ought to be there.”
“Then you must go,” Joely insisted. “Please send her my love.”
“I will, but I’ll hang on to say hi to Callum and Marianne.”
Joely frowned as a sharp pain cut between her eyes, but managed a grateful smile as Andee held a glass of water to her lips. “Before they get here,” she said, “I need to thank you for saving my life.”
Andee laughed. “You’re overstating the case,” she assured her, “but I will admit that you came down on me like a ton of bricks.”
With a smile Joely said, “What I don’t understand is how you came to be there. I saw you leave . . .”
“And I came back.”
“But why?”
Andee’s brows arched wryly. “I guess you could say I followed my instincts—although they were a bit late kicking in.”
“But not too late. If you hadn’t broken my fall . . .” She stopped as Andee placed a finger gently on her lips.
“I had some help from the patio roof,” Andee reminded her, “and now perhaps you’ll tell me what the heck you were doing up there.”
“She locked me in,” Joely replied, “and then she disappeared. I thought she’d gone to see Mum, but you say Mum’s here.”
At the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor outside, Andee got to her feet.
“Joely, thank God you’re all right,” Marianne cried as she came through the door. “But look at you. Oh, you poor thing. Does it hurt terribly? How can I give you a hug while you’re trussed up like that?”
“This hand’s not so bad,” Joely informed her, holding up the right one covered in bark burns and scratches and smiling at the way her mother embraced it gently, but as if it were long lost and just returned.
She knew Callum was standing at the door looking at her, she could feel his eyes as strongly as she could his presence, but she wasn’t able to bring herself to look at him yet. There was too much emotion swelling up inside her, relief that he was here, that she’d survived the fall, that he’d returned to their home, that he was the man she’d married, that she was still married to him . . . She didn’t know what to say, or what her heart was really doing, apart from seeming to break all over again. They couldn’t pretend the betrayal hadn’t happened, she couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t pushed him into it, but even if she had, no one had made him go to live with Martha.
In the end, as Andee said a quiet goodbye, Joely said to her mother, “Where’s Holly?”
“We haven’t got hold of her yet,” Callum replied, “but I’ve sent a text telling her where we are and that you’re going to be all right.”
“She’ll probably go to Caitlin’s or Tasha’s for the night,” Marianne added.
Joely gave a nod and closed her eyes. “They’re keeping me in until the morning,” she said.
“We’ll stay with you,” her mother assured her. She glanced over her shoulder at Callum. “Or I can go to get us some drinks while you two . . .”
“It’s OK, I’ll go,” Callum said, and Joely knew he understood that she didn’t want to be left alone with him yet.
“There you are,” Holly said, putting a cup of tea and a cheese sandwich in front of Freda. “Are you sure that’s enough?”
Freda nodded and smiled in a way that made Holly think she was a bit weird, but hey, she’d already come to that conclusion so no surprises there.
“I don’t think Grandma will be back until tomorrow,” she said, sinking into the opposite sofa, and tucking her long legs under her as she checked her phone again. “My mum’s had some sort of fall so they’ve gone racing off to the end of the world to make sure she’s all right. Apparently she is, according to Dad.”
“Aren’t you worried?” Freda asked.
Holly shrugged. “Dad said there was no need to be.”
Freda leaned forward to pick up her plate. “Thank you for this,” she said. “I hadn’t realized I was hungry until you asked.”
Holly shrugged again. “I expect Grandma would want me to look after you while you wait. Sorry, but who did you say you are again?”
“My name’s Freda.”
“Cool. So, Freda, will you be staying the night? If you are, I won’t have to go and crash with a friend. I could stay here with you as my responsible adult.”
Freda bit into her sandwich.
Picking up the peanut butter sandwich she’d made for herself, Holly said, “You don’t say much, do you? I thought it was supposed to be teenagers who are monosyllabic, or whatever the word is.”
“Monosyllabic is correct. You look like your grandmother when she was your age, although you seem to be missing something, I can’t quite work out what it is.”
Holly frowned in puzzlement. “Was that like . . . Did you just insult me?” she asked.
Freda drank some tea. “I’m not sure.”
Holly took a bite of her sandwich and eyed the woman curiously, but as another text turned up on her phone she tuned out of Freda and into the friend who’d messaged. After a while she was bored with him and seeing Freda had finished her tea she said, “Would you like any more?”
Freda said, “Aren’t you going to ring your mother?”
Holly glanced at her phone. “Yeah, I expect so, later.”
“You don’t sound as though you care for her very much.”
Holly’s blue eyes darkened as she scowled. “She’s my mother, of course I care for her.”
Freda said nothing.
“She’s just a bit,” Holly shrugged, “you know, like a zombie sometimes.”
“She didn’t seem like a zombie to me,” Freda said.
“You mean you know her?”
Freda nodded. “I locked her in a tower so she couldn’t get out, but it seems that she did.”
Holly balked and blinked. What the heck was this woman on? “You locked her in a tower?” she repeated.
Freda nodded.
She couldn’t be serious. “When? Why?”
“It’s quite a long story, but I have it here, all written down if you’d like to read it.”
Deciding she probably needed to get away from this nutjob, Holly said, “Well, actually, I think I might . . .”
“It’s about your grandma when she was your age,” Freda interrupted. “Your mother has been helping me to write it. We’ve made quite a lot of progress, but it isn’t finished yet. Please say you’ll read it.”
“And if I don’t you’ll lock me up in a tower too? I don’t think so.”
Freda laughed. “I promise not to.”
Holly regarded her carefully, torn between the instinct to get the heck out of here and an odd sort of fascination to find out what other freaky stuff she might say. And if she had a story about Grandma . . . That could be interesting. “So it’s you Mum’s been working with on this mystery assignment?” she probed.
Freda nodded. “It had to be secret or we couldn’t have surprised your grandmother. She knows about it now, but we haven’t got the end quite right yet. We were almost there, but then Marianne had to rush off.”
Holly’s attention was caught by her mobile phone again, and by the time she’d finished a fast-moving group chat with her closest mates she’d half-forgotten what the old lady had been on about.
“Here it is,” Freda said, pushing a large brown envelope toward her. “You sit there and read it while I go into the kitchen and wash up these few dishes.”
It was shortly after nine the following morning when Andee turned up at the hospital with a bag full of essentials. “Jeans and sweater from my wardrobe,” she announced, dropping the bag onto a chair next to Joely’s bed, “plus newly bought undies from M&S. I’m not sure how well any of it’s going to fit, but it’ll be better than going home in that.”
Joely arched a brow as she glanced down at her white paper gown. It was crumpled and spotted with blood from her scratches, and torn under her good arm. It was also very revealing at the back.
“You’ll also find an assortment of cleansers, deodorant, moisturizers, that sort of thing in there,” Andee added.
Wincing at the pain in her shoulder, Joely said, “I hope Mum or Callum paid for it all. If not . . .”
“They did, apart from the jeans and sweater, but you can send them back when you have no more need for them. How are you feeling?”
Joely grimaced. “You mean apart from as if I’ve fallen from a great height, bounced on my shoulder, and landed on my life-saving friend? Not too bad.”
With a laugh, Andee said, “You’ve definitely got more color than when I left you yesterday, most of it black and blue, I admit, but your eyes are brighter.”
Joely batted her lids and almost wished she hadn’t. Her head was still pounding and moving her limbs wasn’t a pleasant experience either. Still, the painkillers should kick in again anytime now, and after she’d managed a shower (with a nurse’s help) she should be ready to leave. “Is Mum still at yours?” she asked, maneuvering her legs over the side of the bed and grimacing at all the scrapes and bruises. Marianne had gone to Andee’s around three in the morning to get some rest while Callum had stayed to keep an eye on a sleeping Joely. Though he was nowhere to be seen now, having slipped out during the early morning checks, he’d been there when Joely had woken up, fast asleep in the chair.
Everything felt all right with him here, even though it wasn’t.
“She’s probably on her way here by now,” Andee replied. “My mother’s bringing her.”
“That’s kind of her.”
“She wanted to say hello to you, but she has an appointment at the renal clinic in about an hour.”
Joely frowned. “Is she OK?”
“I’m sure she’s fine, but they’ve run some tests because she’s been a bit under the weather lately.” She checked her phone as a text arrived. “Callum’s gone to fill up the car,” she relayed. “Are you sure you’re OK to go back to London today? You’re very welcome to stay . . .”
“I’ll be fine,” Joely assured her, “and we’ve already put you out enough. I don’t suppose anyone’s heard from Holly this morning?”
“Not that they’ve mentioned, which reminds me.” Reaching into her bag she pulled out Joely’s mobile. “The screen’s cracked, I’m afraid, but Graeme thinks it’ll probably still work once it’s charged.”
“Thanks.” As Joely took it she wondered why it, more than anything else, was transporting her back to those terrifying minutes before the fall. She suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy and put a hand to her head as she tilted forward.
“Take it easy,” Andee said, catching her gently. “Maybe you should lie down again for a few minutes?”
“I’m OK,” Joely said weakly. “I just . . .” She attempted a smile. “I think I’ll be haunted by the great escape for a while to come.” After waiting for her senses to settle she said, “I should try to get hold of Edward, her nephew . . . Does anyone know where she is?”
“I haven’t heard anything,” Andee replied. “You said last night that you thought she’d gone to see your mother?”
Joely glanced up as a nurse came to check on her and gratefully accepted more painkillers. Once she and Andee were alone again she explained as quickly as she could about the real purpose of the memoir. By the time she’d finished Andee was frowning worriedly.
“Do you have any idea where the other brother is now?”
Joely shook her head. “I’m pretty sure he went to prison when it all happened, and considering what he went in for there’s a good chance he changed his name when he came out to try and start a new life.”
“So do you think he might be behind this memoir in some way? I mean, could it be his idea?”
“I guess anything’s possible. All I can tell you for certain is that she told me ‘the moth’ was my mother, and the next thing I knew she’d locked me in the tower and disappeared.”
“And you presumed she’d gone to see your mother, but Marianne’s here. Have you asked if she’s seen her?”
“I haven’t really had the chance, but . . .”
“Maybe we should start by getting someone to go and check if Freda’s back at the house.”
“And at the same time they could pick up my things? I really don’t want to go back there myself anytime soon.”
Andee turned around as another nurse came into the room ready to take Joely for a shower.
“Are you sure you can manage?” the nurse asked, coming to help Joely up. “We can easily find you a wheelchair.”
“Let me try walking,” Joely responded and holding her broken arm and shoulder steady she used her good hand to push herself to her feet. A moment later her mother came in bearing coffees and croissants and Joely sat down again. “Please let me eat first,” she said to the nurse. “If you had any idea how hungry I am . . .”
The nurse checked her watch, but made no objection as she went off to fulfill other duties.
“Two life-savers in one room.” Joely smiled, taking one of the croissants, and unable to stop herself she devoured half of it in one bite.
Marianne’s expression was wry as she glanced at Andee and offered one to her too.
“Thanks, not for me,” Andee replied. “I should go to check on Mum.”
“She’s in Costa, on the ground floor,” Marianne told her. “You will let us know how she gets on with her results, won’t you?”
“Of course, and I’ll make sure someone collects your things,” she said to Joely.
Showering her paper gown with crumbs as she replied, Joely said, “The nephew’s card is in my handbag. His name’s Edward Martin.”
Andee gave her a thumbs-up and Joely looked at her mother to see if anything about the name had affected her, and it clearly had. Joely’s appetite faded. “Have you seen her?” she asked, her head starting to pound again.
Marianne shuddered slightly as she nodded. “She came to the house. I didn’t . . . I hadn’t met her before, but I knew who she was. She’d already sent me a copy of the memoir.”
“So you are the girl she got me to write about?”
Marianne nodded again. “She wants me to admit that I lied . . .” She pressed her fingers to her mouth. “It was so long ago . . . I’ve told her what happened, but she doesn’t want to believe me.”
“Did she . . . ? Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. I left her at the house when we got the news about you. I expect she left soon after we did.”
Joely swallowed drily and looked up as Callum came in with more coffees and croissants. Her heart hadn’t fluttered this way since they’d first met, and seeing his dismay that Marianne had beaten him with breakfast made it fold around all the love she had for him. “Have you spoken to Holly this morning?” she asked, taking one of his croissants so he wouldn’t feel left out.
“No,” he replied. “She rang last night to ask how you were and she sent her love. She wants you to call as soon as you can.”
“I’ll do it now,” Joely said and held out a hand for someone’s phone.
Marianne passed hers over. “She probably won’t be awake yet on a Saturday morning, but I’m sure she won’t mind if it’s you.”
“She’ll think it’s you,” Joely reminded her as she scrolled to the number.
The phone rang several times at the other end telling her Holly probably was still asleep, but then it stopped and Joely was about to say, “Hi, it’s me,” when to her horror Freda’s voice said, “Hello, Marianne. How’s Joely?”