‘… a better eye on all of us …’
Kate ducks her head. If she hadn’t been so involved in thoughts of Mr Bill … She looks over now to where he’s seated, talking to Juliet, and sees a tall, compassionate man. Someone who always has a smile for everyone, an encouraging word, a joke to relieve the pressure. A young man with a wife and a baby.
‘When you told me the car was here,’ Dominic’s saying now, ‘all I could think was, they’re safe, my kids are safe. And that was all that mattered. And then I realised, of course, you were here too. And I’d have to tell you … everything.’
Kate nods again.
‘I knew it meant I couldn’t hide my past any longer. And you know what? I didn’t care. As long as Maddie and Noah were all right, it didn’t matter. I spent so long worrying about hiding, I lost sight of the most important thing: the four of us.’
Kate’s face has softened, but she still feels disoriented. ‘It’s so much to take in. Everything I thought I knew – it’s all gone. I need—’
‘Time?’ Her husband’s face is sad. ‘I understand that. Whatever it is you need. I can move out for a while if you think that will help …’
Maddie gasps, and Kate closes her eyes again. This isn’t Maddie’s mess, nor is it Noah’s. They both have enough to cope with, they shouldn’t have to deal with this too.
She waits for fury to come raging through her. That’s what she wants. Rage that will allow her to explode, throw something at Dominic, her coffee mug, perhaps. Throw it and watch him duck. She draws breath as deep as she can into her aching lungs.
‘No,’ she says finally. ‘I don’t want you to move out.’
Maddie slumps against Dominic, and his arm tightens around her shoulders.
‘Thank you,’ he says.
‘What I do want,’ Kate says slowly, as if it’s becoming too much effort to form whole sentences, ‘is to talk. Really talk. With someone like Ellen Turner.’