Dominic settles into a wicker chair in the small café in Silver Oaks. The rain is sheeting down and the tarmac is steaming. He remembers the rain of his childhood, falling on a tin roof, spattering a dirty window pane, creating rivulets in the dust, making the soil heavy and dark. The sky, grey in the morning, grey at bedtime. The sun struggling through the clouds, like a headlamp in the fog. Day after day of winter rain, everything cold, his trousers permanently damp from the knees down.
Dominic’s waiting for Harry. The café has become their regular meeting place since he first took her to meet their mother a few months ago. A cup of coffee, and then they’ll make their way to her room, spend some time with her before Dominic gets back in his car, hits the paths he likes to run and then heads back home and into the shower before Kate and Maddie get back from Greenhills.
The doctors don’t advise spending too long with Martha. It’s good for her to see them, they say, and now she knows who they are, their visits brighten her week. But she’s frail, easily tired and twenty minutes – fifteen even – is as much as she can cope with. Dominic and Harriet spend half an hour or so chatting. Catching up on the week that has passed, catching up on the years they were separated. Harriet wishes the two families could meet – let in-laws, nephews and nieces, cousins, get to know each other. Dominic has promised this will happen. Soon, he tells her. ‘I just need a little more time, Harry. Especially now, with Noah …’
Harry understands, of course she does. I’m holding you to that promise, Gabe. He’s Gabe to her, and she’s Harry to him, and every Sunday afternoon, their Mum is just a few metres away.
But today, as he waits for Harriet to arrive, his phone rings. Kate’s on the other side, frantic, and Gabe becomes Dominic. ‘Oh, Dom, I thought you’d be running, thank God you took your phone with you. Dom, you have to phone the tracking company, you know the one, for the car—’
‘Kate,’ he cuts across her. ‘Kate, what is it?’
‘The children, Dom. Noah and Maddie, they’ve gone.’
‘They’ve what? How?’
Harriet’s walking in now, sees her brother and waves. Dominic holds up a hand, mouths a ‘Sorry’ at her as he listens to Kate and tries to make sense out of her panic.
‘They were here, with me at Greenhills and then Maddie – well never mind about that – the thing is, they were here, Noah and Maddie, and then they were leaving.’
‘And you couldn’t just go after them? Pick them up?’
‘No, no, Dom. I couldn’t. The thing is, they were in my car.’
‘What? Noah was driving? Kate, that’s impossible, he doesn’t know—’
‘No, not, Noah. Juliet – Bart Ryan’s daughter. She was driving and—’
‘The Ryan girl? Driving our children? Why—’
‘I don’t know, Dom! If I knew …’ Kate’s voice is breaking. ‘It’s not important for now. What I need you to do right now is get on to the tracking company and tell them I need to know where they’re going. Where they’ve gone. Mr Bill will take me to them.’
‘I still don’t understand—’
‘It doesn’t matter, Dominic! Can you just do that and we can sort everything out later? I’m so worried. What if Juliet has an accident? She’s got our children with her.’
‘Yes, yes, of course.’ Kate’s words are making sense now, her panic and fear spreading to him. ‘I’ll do it now.’
Dominic cuts the connection and scrolls through the names in his phone, searching for the number of the security company.
‘What’s the matter, Gabriel?’ Harry can see just how worried her brother is.
‘It’s Noah and Maddie. They’ve taken Kate’s car and we’ve no idea where they’ve gone.’