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She saw the line of Edward’s jaw stiffen as it became apparent that she had spoken too soon.
‘More than you can count. Even if you ride on the bus all day. The first prime number is two. Then five …’
By the time he’d worked his way up to twenty-nine and shown no signs of flagging Charlotte decided to step in. At this rate they could be driving to Birmingham and back before either Isaac went to sleep or Edward got to the point where he could no longer work out the next prime number in his head.
She turned in her seat to face Isaac. ‘Edward’s got to stop counting now, sweetie, because he’s driving and has to keep his eye on the road. I’ll explain all about prime numbers when we get home.’
‘Okay.’
It was nice having her in the car. She smelled good—like soap and roses. Rose soap, maybe. Edward ran through all the possibilities in his head and surprised himself with how delicious each of them was.
She didn’t just smell nice; she was nice. Whenever he saw her with the clinic’s clients she was always the same. Gentle, reassuring, and yet with a hint of fun about her. She made people smile. But Edward couldn’t help but think there was more. When he’d seen her at the bus stop the other day, huddled under her umbrella in the pouring rain, there had been a defeated slant to her shoulders that had made him want to stop, but his nerve had failed him. Getting involved with people wasn’t what Edward did.
‘You must like jazz?’ She was stretching her legs out in front of her. Smiling.
‘Very much,’ he said. ‘You?’
‘I don’t really know. I’ve not listened to much. I like this.’
‘Good.’ He could have left it at that. Would normally have left it at that. But against his better judgement he wanted to prolong the conversation. ‘Most people just automatically say they love jazz, irrespective of whether they’ve listened to any.’
She gave a little laughing nod, as if she knew just what he meant. ‘It’s one of those things that you’re meant to like, isn’t it? I mean if you admit to not knowing much about jazz, then it’s like owning up to being some kind of barbarian.’
‘I don’t think you’re a barbarian.’ He thought she was a damn sight more honest that most people.
He was rewarded with one of the smiles that she was so free with. This one seemed just for him. ‘That’s all right, then.’
Charlotte asked him to drop them in the High Street, but when Edward insisted on taking her all the way home she directed him to a quiet backstreet. Small houses—many of them shabby and unkempt. He parked outside a house with a neat front garden. The front door badly needed a paint job. Charlotte jumped out of the car, unbuckling Isaac’s seat belt while Edward took her shopping bags out of the boot.
‘Can I carry these in for you?’
‘No. No, that’s okay, thank you. Thanks for the lift.’ She picked the bags up with one hand and took Isaac’s hand with the other. ‘I’ll see you on Monday.’
‘Bye, Edward. Thank you …’
She shot a glance of approbation in her son’s direction and then turned away. Suddenly it seemed that she couldn’t get rid of him fast enough and a vague feeling of disappointment nudged at him.
‘Bye, Isaac. Nice to meet you …’
The boy twisted his head around as his mother marched him away, and gave him a grin, but Charlotte seemed caught up with her shopping bags. There was nothing to keep him so Edward got back into his car. As he turned in the road he noticed in his rearview mirror that the front gate was sticking and that she was struggling with it. He almost stopped the car and got out again, but then she kicked it and it snapped open, and she walked up the front path without looking back.
Charlotte slammed the front door closed behind her and dropped her shopping, leaning back against the door. Home. Half of her wished she was still in Edward’s car and that they really had been driving to Birmingham and back. Newcastle, even. The other half was glad that he was gone before he’d had a chance to see the threadbare carpet in the hall and the second-hand furniture in her sitting room.
‘Is Edward your boss, Mum?’
‘He’s a surgeon. At the clinic.’
‘So he makes people well? Like you do?’
‘Yes, darling.’
Isaac nodded. ‘He’s nice’
Charlotte found herself smiling again. ‘Yes, he is, isn’t he?’ She picked up her shopping bags. ‘Now, let’s see what we’ve got for supper, shall we?’
It was only a short drive from Edward’s house back to Charlotte’s, but it was like travelling from one world to another. The trendy shops and cafés gave way to houses which seemed even more run-down than they had yesterday evening, and when he drove slowly along Charlotte’s road it didn’t seem any more salubrious than the last time he’d been here.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have come. At ten o’clock on a Saturday morning she could be out, or having a lie-in … anything. But he was here now, with Stinky sitting next to him on the front passenger seat. If she wasn’t there, then maybe Stinky would fit through the letterbox.
Cars lined the pavement, and he had to drive past her house to find a parking spot. As he did so he caught a glimpse of her on the doorstep, between the broad backs of two men who seemed to be crowding close in on her. What he could see of her stiff, upright frame, screamed that there was something wrong.
Edward accelerated into a free space. ‘Don’t move, Stinky. I’ll be back in a minute.’ He lunged out of the car, and down the road, to where her front gate stood open.
‘Charlotte!’ Now that he was closer he was sure that he was right. She was dressed in sweat pants and a tee shirt, bare feet on the doorstep, but she stood as tall as she could, the door almost closed behind her, her face fierce and determined. ‘What’s going on?’
She stared at him as if he’d just landed from another planet. One of the men swung round to face Edward, his pudgy face harsh. ‘Nothing to concern you, sir. Just a bit of business with the lady.’
Her face had flushed bright red. Tears rimmed her eyes, before she quickly brushed them away. These guys were bad news. They stank of the kind of aggression which dressed itself up in cheap suits and a nasty attitude.
‘Then you have business with me.’ Edward pushed in between them and stood next to her on the step. He wanted to put his arm around her, ask her if she was all right, but this wasn’t the time. ‘Step back. Now.’
They stepped back. The anger that was raging in his chest must have been showing in his face, because the expression on the face of the larger of the two became slightly less belligerent. Edward pressed his advantage. ‘Now, what’s all this about?’
‘Are you this lady’s husband, sir?’
‘I’m her legal advisor.’ Suddenly Edward was mightily glad that he’d left Stinky in the car. This was rapidly beginning to look like a confrontation of some sort, and holding a battered blue rabbit in his hand wouldn’t have helped.
He felt Charlotte’s fingers on his arm. ‘No, Edward. Please.’ Her voice was almost a whisper.
If she wanted him to go, she had another think coming. Edward didn’t shift his gaze from the two men. ‘Who are you? Do you have some identification?’
One of the men reached slowly into the inside pocket of his jacket and drew out a wallet. Opening it, he held it out for Edward to see.
Debt collectors. What had Charlotte got herself into? No time for that now. A child’s whimper sounded from the other side of the door and he felt Charlotte’s small, convulsive movement against his arm. ‘Go inside, please, Charlotte. Close the door.’
She looked up at him. Cheeks pink, her lovely eyes still brimming with tears. She hesitated, obviously torn between going to comfort her son and dealing with the men on her doorstep.
‘Go and make sure Isaac’s okay.’ He spoke gently to her and she nodded quickly, disappearing inside the house.
One down, two to go.
He turned to the two men. ‘I assume you’re not in possession of a court order with regards to this property?’
‘No, sir.’ Somehow the man made that sound like a threat.
‘In that case I’m asking you to leave now. I’ll speak to you when you’re standing on the pavement.’
The men exchanged a look. Obviously they considered that browbeating him was a different matter from a lone woman and a child, and Edward didn’t bother to conceal his disgust as they turned and took their time in walking down the path.
‘There is the matter of an unpaid debt, ma’am.’
Edward looked round and saw Charlotte back in the doorway, pulling a pair of sneakers on. She must have settled Isaac and come back out again.
‘You don’t speak to her. If you’ve something to say, then say it to me.’ Edward had just appointed himself, unasked, into the role of protector, but he didn’t care. No one else was around to do it.
‘I need to speak to the lady.’ The man’s voice suddenly became gentle. He’d seen a way in and was trying for it. Be nice to her, then divide and conquer.
Edward looked round at Charlotte. It was one thing to expect her to go along with his instructions at the clinic, but here … Here she had Isaac to think of, and she wasn’t going to give that responsibility away too easily.
‘You can speak to my …’ She walked down the path and stood next to him. ‘My legal advisor.’
The man pressed his lips together. ‘In that case …’ He turned to Edward. ‘We’re looking for this lady’s husband. We have reason to believe he’s here—’
‘He isn’t,’ Charlotte broke in vehemently. ‘I haven’t seen him for over a year.’
‘We’d like to check, madam.’ Deftly the man had turned back on Charlotte.
‘You have no right of entry to this property. The lady’s already told you that the person you’re looking for isn’t here, and that she doesn’t want you in her home.’ Edward folded his arms to indicate that this was now an end to the matter.
‘Fair enough. But do you know where he is?’ The question was aimed at Charlotte again.
This time she gave her answer to Edward. ‘I don’t …’
He nodded, laying his hand on her arm with as much tenderness as he could muster. ‘They’re allowed to ask you whether you know where the person they’re looking for is. It’s entirely up to you whether you answer or not.’
‘We haven’t lived together for eighteen months. I have the name of his solicitor.’ Her voice was almost a whisper, her eyes pleading. Not just for him to help her get rid of these men. For him to understand.
‘Can we have that at least … please?’ The word please seemed to stick in the man’s throat and he took another step forward, as if this was an invitation into the house.
‘Wait there.’ Edward turned to Charlotte and she nodded. She knew as well as he did that if she could give these men something it might get them off her back. ‘Go and get it, then.’
She hurried inside and Edward indulged in a staring contest with the men, open hostility buzzing between them. She returned, clutching a piece of paper with a hastily scribbled address on it, and gave it to Edward. ‘Here it is.’
Edward turned back to the men on the pavement. ‘Right. The lady hasn’t seen her husband in months, and she doesn’t know where he is. She’s given you every assistance she can in locating him, and this ends her involvement in the matter.’
‘All right.’ The man snatched the paper that Edward proffered. ‘And you’re sure you don’t know where he is?’
‘Doesn’t sound very likely to me,’ his companion sneered, forcing home the point. ‘Doesn’t he want to see his own kid?’
Edward heard Charlotte’s sudden intake of breath and fought to stay in control of the fury that swept over him in a red-and-black wave. Much as he’d like to, getting into a fight with these guys wasn’t going to help. ‘You’ve asked your question and you’ve got your answer. You know full well that the law prevents you from harassing this lady any further or from speaking to a minor.’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘You’ve got ten seconds to get going before I call the police.’
The two looked at each other, grins on their faces. Edward wondered how many people actually followed through with that threat. He started to thumb the numbers on the screen.
‘All right, mate.’ The larger of the two, who was obviously the lead man, held up his hands in surrender. ‘We’re going.’
‘Tell your head office to expect a letter, confirming the information that this lady’s given you. She knows nothing more which will assist you, and she wants no further contact with you.’ Edward pressed his advantage home.
The two turned without a word and Edward watched them lumber off down the road and climb into a shiny SUV. Business was clearly booming for them.
‘Go and see to Isaac. I’ll just keep an eye out here for a couple of minutes.’ The SUV roared past them down the road, with the engine being gunned so that it made as much noise as possible.
He looked around. Charlotte was still there, her face burning so red that he probably could have warmed his hands on it if he’d needed to.
‘Thanks, Edward. I’m sorry you had to see that.’
‘It’s not your fault. Those guys had no right to act the way they did.’
Her gaze dropped to the cracked paving stones at their feet. ‘Yeah, I know. It was such a shock to see them on the doorstep, and they were so intimidating.’ She looked as if she was about to burst into tears and then visibly pulled herself together.
Turning, she hurried back up the path and opened the front door. ‘I’m really grateful to you, Edward. I’ll …’ She had the grace to flush an even deeper red before she gave him his marching orders. ‘I’m sorry, but I need to go and see how Isaac is. Will you excuse me? I’ll see you on Monday.’
The door closed, and Edward found himself standing alone. What was he supposed to do now? Charlotte had made her intentions more than clear, and he supposed he should leave. But he was damned if he was going to leave a woman and child alone in this situation.
Edward strode to his car, snatched Stinky up from the front seat, and walked back to her front door.
CHAPTER THREE
ISAAC WAS WHIMPERING in her arms. He was trying to be brave, but his little body was shaking as he clung to Charlotte. She wanted to go and find those men and punch them. More than once.
There was a noise at the letterbox and she tried not to jump. Isaac fell silent, staring at the door.
‘Charlotte? Charlotte, I have Stinky here. That’s what I came for this morning. He’s too big to put through the letterbox.’
She thought about telling Edward to leave him on the doorstep. She might possibly have been able to, whatever the consequences later on, if she hadn’t seen the look on Isaac’s face. It was as if he’d just seen the cavalry, riding hell for leather over the horizon.
Perhaps he was right. Maybe his five-year-old mind was able to see a little more clearly than hers. She wouldn’t be all that surprised. Edward engendered such a plethora of different emotions in her that her judgement wasn’t to be trusted where he was concerned.
‘I’m coming.’ she called out to him, and took Isaac’s hand, leading him to the door. She took a deep breath and opened it.
She had hardly registered it before, through her tears and her panic, but Edward’s eyes looked a brighter blue than usual. His hair darker. There was less of the suit and tie about him and a great deal more of the enigma, with his dark shirt and jacket giving him an almost dangerous look. Even the blue stuffed toy, grasped lightly in his long fingers, couldn’t dispel the feeling that here was a hero, come somehow to save her.
‘Hey, Isaac.’
He might only have been able to spare her son a half-smile, but it would have melted an ice hotel, launched a battleship, and cracked a grin on the face of a statue.
‘I brought Stinky for you.’
Isaac looked up at him and wiped his nose on his sleeve. Charlotte resisted the impulse to tell him to use a tissue on the grounds that she’d been doing the same herself just a moment ago. This morning Isaac could do anything he liked, as long as she could see just a glimpse of his smile.
‘Thank you.’ Isaac’s voice was small, quavering, and it tugged at Charlotte’s heart.
‘Bit of a morning, eh, little man?’ Edward suddenly seemed to realise that getting down onto Isaac’s level would be a good idea and dropped to one knee, proffering the boy’s toy.
Isaac nodded, reaching for Stinky. Charlotte felt his hand slip out of hers and he walked uncertainly towards Edward, then seemed to throw all caution to the winds and flung his arms around Edward’s neck.
‘Hey … Hey, there.’ For a moment Edward’s hands fluttered awkwardly. Then he wrapped his arms around Isaac, hugging him as if he could hold him tightly enough to make everything all right.
For a moment all Charlotte wanted was to be in on that hug.
‘You know what?’ Edward had got to his feet, taking Isaac with him. Safe and sound in his arms. ‘You and I have a job to do. We’re going to tell your mum that everything’s going to be okay. That we’ll look after her.’
Isaac nodded sagely.
‘I think we could all do with a cup of tea. What do you say?’
‘I want milk.’
‘Good idea. I’ll have some milk, too. And we’ll make your mum a cup of tea.’
‘She likes coffee. The kind with the froth on top.’
Isaac had a tight hold of Edward’s jacket collar, his other arm wrapped around Stinky. Charlotte knew that his tears weren’t too far below the surface, but Edward seemed to be reassuring him with his sheer bulk and unflappability.
‘Okay. Tell you what—we could go out for coffee, if you’d like.’ His gaze moved from Isaac to Charlotte. ‘What do you think?’
‘I …’ She wanted his arms around her so much. His comfort. Charlotte pulled herself upright, squaring her shoulders. ‘We’re all right. Really.’
‘Yeah. I can see that.’ He reached forward, touching her cheek so lightly that she shivered. As his hand dropped to his side his fingers skimmed his thumb, as if he wanted to test the exact nature and volume of the tears he’d brushed away.
‘We can manage, Edward. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t turned up just then, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.’ Good start. That was really going to make him feel that it was okay for him to go away now, wasn’t it?
‘But …?’
‘But I can’t keep you. You must have things to do.’
Edward always had something to do. His head was always buried in a book, or some papers. Even when she’d chanced to see him in the street he was always deep in thought, and half the time he didn’t even acknowledge her, either because he hadn’t seen or didn’t want to see.
‘I don’t think so. In fact I’ve nothing to do today. It’s only fifteen minutes over to my place.’ He pursed his lips, as if he’d surprised himself by the invitation as much as he’d just surprised Charlotte. ‘We’ll get coffee on the way, and we can talk … privately. Perhaps I can help.’
She could have turned his help down for herself, but she had Isaac to think about, and Charlotte had no choice but to grab at any and every offer that came her way. And there was the matter of that nagging need at the back of her head, which wanted her to explain to Edward, tell him that she wasn’t the person that all of this made her seem. She was going to have to swallow her pride and go for coffee.
Edward had waited in the hallway while she dragged on a pair of jeans, shoved her feet into her sandals and splashed her face with water. Her eyes had looked puffy in the mirror, but she hadn’t wanted to keep him waiting for too long, so she’d dropped her make-up bag into a canvas holdall along with a few of Isaac’s favourite toys to keep him occupied.
They’d stopped at a coffee shop and Edward had ushered them in. Isaac had slipped his hand into Edward’s, tugging at his jacket until he’d lifted him up to see over the counter. He seemed to trust that if he stuck with his new friend no harm would come to them, and Charlotte hoped that her son was right.
Now they turned into a wide street, dappled by sunlight shining through the branches of the trees. Turned again into a short drive, behind a high wall hung with greenery, and came to a halt outside a double-fronted Georgian house, white-painted with slim, elegant lines.
It was quiet here. Far enough from the main road for them to be able to hear birdsong. Charlotte handed Edward the cardboard coffee holder and busied herself with getting Isaac out of the car.
The silence between them was oppressive. Edward seemed awkward as he opened the front door, walking inside without even asking them in, and Charlotte began to wish that she was anywhere but here. Apart from being at home, that was, waiting for the phone to ring again.
‘Well …’ He clapped his hands together awkwardly, like a man who was unused to guests. ‘Here we are.’
‘Yes.’ Charlotte stepped tentatively over the threshold, holding tightly onto Isaac’s hand. Inside the house it was tranquil—a cream-painted hallway, pictures on the walls, green plants everywhere.
‘Let’s go into the sitting room.’ Edward seemed to galvanise himself into action and opened a wide panelled door, ushering them through it.
Sunlight streamed through the front windows onto pale oatmeal-coloured sofas at the front. A TV, nestling unobtrusively in one corner, conceded pride of place to a state-of-the-art sound system. The room ran the full depth of the house, and next to the French windows at the back stood a grand piano.
‘What a lovely room.’ She gave her son’s hand a squeeze, although whether it was to give or receive confidence she wasn’t quite sure. ‘Isn’t it, Isaac?’
Isaac was too busy looking around to reply. At the lines of glass-fronted cabinets, heavy with books. The green plants, arching gracefully around the windows.
‘Come and meet Archie.’ Edward beckoned Isaac over towards the French windows, where a ginger cat lay stretched out on the carpet, basking in the warm sunlight.
‘Is he a lion?’ Isaac looked up at him gravely.
Edward laughed. ‘Well, he’s not very fierce. You won’t need that.’ He gestured towards Isaac’s plastic ray gun, which he’d insisted on bringing along with him.
Isaac stowed the ray gun in his pocket, just in case he’d need it later, and followed Edward over to where the cat lay. He watched solemnly as Edward tickled its ears and then its tummy as it rolled over, luxuriating in his touch.
‘Do you want to stroke him?’
Edward was letting Isaac approach the creature in his own time, and Charlotte smiled as Isaac slowly reached out.
‘He’s growling.’ Isaac snatched his hand away.
‘No, that’s purring. It means he likes you.’ Edward drew back a little, letting Isaac stroke Archie.
‘Be gentle with him, sweetie. Remember that he’s much smaller than you are.’ Charlotte stayed at her post by the door, still not sure whether to accept the quiet welcome of this place.
‘Would Isaac like to watch some TV? While we talk?’
‘Oh. Yes, he might do. Thank you.’ Charlotte took the remote that Edward proffered and found a channel that Isaac liked, turning the sound down to a quiet murmur.
Edward set a low coffee table in front of the screen, put Isaac’s frothed milk onto it and opened a cupboard, drawing out the molecule modelling kit.
Charlotte grinned. ‘You’re going to let him play with your toys?’
‘If I share, then maybe he’ll let me have a go with his ray gun. Will he be all right here?’
‘He’ll be fine. Look, he’s already made a new friend.’ Charlotte nodded towards Isaac, who was talking confidingly to Archie, stroking him carefully.
‘Good. Well, we can talk through here.’
There was a door at the far end of the room, by the piano, and Edward disappeared through it, leaving Charlotte to get Isaac out of his jacket and settle him in front of the television.
She took one last look at Isaac, and then took a deep breath. Time to face Edward now. Now that keeping up appearances was no longer an option it was going to have to be the truth. She just hoped that he would understand.