Placing the phone back down in the cradle, Eve pulled herself out of her wheelchair and with the aid of the worktop that she used for support, she marvelled at the secret she kept. With her eyes on her toes, she stared disbelievingly at the movement so many had said would be close to impossible.
With one eye on the clock, she guessed that she had at least an hour before Kate would arrive and their mother would trounce in and the circus would begin. Which meant that she still had just about enough time and in her haste, she forced her feet to move just one inch at a time, until she stood before the bowl of bread mixture that she’d left rising for the past couple of hours.
Removing the cling film, she punched down the dough. Then she turned it out onto the worktop, and began to knead it with force taking great pleasure in the full body work out that kneading gave her. The aches and pains of sitting all day were replaced with something different and with an irritated look at the wheelchair, she prayed for the day when maybe she could throw it away for good.
Pummelling the dough even harder, Eve felt her legs suddenly give way. She grabbed at the worktop, felt her fingertips miss and breathed in deeply as she dropped to the floor. An act on its own that would have once left her traumatised, but now it was the dough slipping from the side that made her scream.
Alerted by Eve’s squeal, Max rushed into the kitchen and stopped, waiting for his command. But when Eve simply began to laugh, he bounced around like a tiny pup and looked completely undecided as to what he’d jump on first – her or the dough. It was a tough decision. Eve being sat on the floor normally meant work. But today was different and he ran to her, checked that she was okay and then rolled onto his back, and waved his feet in the air.
‘Oh, Max. What would I do without you?’ She tickled him and laughed as he playfully rolled from his back to his front. For a moment, Eve stopped tickling him as her thoughts drifted off, until a short, sharp bark caught her attention. ‘Oh, Maxy, we don’t want Mother to stay here, do we?’
In Eve’s mind, her mother staying with her wasn’t even up for debate. She was annoying and interfering, and the moment she found out that she could stand, she’d insist on more physiotherapy and more medical interventions. Neither of which Eve wanted. This time, she was determined to do things her way, at her own speed even if that meant it took her longer. She shook her head and with a final stroke of Max, she pulled herself back up and into her wheelchair, determined that she’d be able to walk unaided, before anyone found out.
Angrily, Eve thought back to how independent she’d been and cursed inwardly that she’d been the one to end up in a chair. She hated the way people looked down at her, pitied her and spoke over her, as though by being in a chair she was less capable or intelligent than anyone else. And even though it had been the accident that had put her where she was now, she resented the chair and all that went with it.
So why, when the sensations had returned in her feet, had she hidden it from everyone? Deep down she knew that Kate would be more than delighted: so why had she felt the need to keep this a secret from her twin sister?