‘Just ignore her,’ said Maddy.
‘Sorry. That’ll be eighty pence.’ Nuala handed the bag to Kate. ‘But wouldn’t it be weird if that-did happen?’
Maddy rolled her eyes in despair. ‘And I have to live with her,’ she told Kate.
‘What about Sophie?’ Along with the rest of the town, Kate knew that Sophie had been prescribed a course of antibiotics as a precautionary measure. ‘Is she OK?’
Maddy smiled, touched by her concern. ‘She’s absolutely fine.’
Marcella turned up as Kate was leaving. Marcella had a ten o’clock appointment at the hospital’s antenatal unit and she was hitching a lift into Bath with Maddy.
‘Got everything?’ said Marcella as Maddy loaded the cool-boxes into the car along with a bag containing clean clothes for Juliet.
‘I’ve got everything. Have you got everything?’
Smugly, Marcella held up her pink raffia basket. ‘Antenatal notes. Spare knickers. Wee sample.
What more could a woman need?’
The basket was heavier than that. Pulling it open and surveying the contents, Maddy said,
‘Pickled gherkins, a pomegranate, two orange Kit Kats and a tube of tomato puree, by the look of it.’
‘Don’t curl your lip at me like that,’ Marcella protested. ‘I have a blood sugar level to think of. It doesn’t do to get peckish.’
Having dropped Marcella off first, Maddy parked the car and made her way over to the intensive therapy unit. There was a family, distraught and sobbing, in the waiting room. When Juliet emerged from the unit, Maddy hugged her hard, then said, ‘Shall we go outside?’
They found a bench in a patch of sunlight between two buildings. Shaking her head, Juliet said wonderingly, ‘I’d almost forgotten how it feels to be in the sun.’
She looked exhausted.
Maddy said, ‘How’s Tiff?’
‘Still alive. Still in a coma. They did another brain scan yesterday.’ From somewhere, Juliet dredged up a smile. ‘Thank Sophie for the cards, will you? They’re beautiful. How is she?’
‘Good. Missing Tiff.’ Maddy hated having to ask, but it was only fair they should know. ‘Has Oliver seen the paper this morning?’
‘The Mail? Yes. Poor Oliver.’ Juliet shook her head. ‘Poor Estelle too. What a hideous mess.’
Fiddling with her car keys, Maddy said, ‘I’m actually feeling sorry for Kate. And I never thought I’d hear myself saying that.’
‘I feel like it’s all my fault.’ There was anguish in Juliet’s eyes. ‘Maybe Tiff being ill is my punishment for getting involved with Oliver in the first place.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Maddy. ‘You know it isn’t.’
‘Oh God, I’m so tired I don’t know what to think any more.’ Checking her watch, Juliet gathered up the bag of clean clothes. ‘Thanks for these, anyway. Say hello to Jake, and give Sophie a big kiss from me.’
They headed back to the ITU. As they approached the corridor they both heard the sound of hysterical sobbing behind the closed door to the waiting room.
‘What’s happening in there?’ As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Maddy regretted them.
‘It’s Donna’s family. Donna was a hit and run yesterday.’ Juliet kept her voice under control.
‘She’s eighteen. The doctors have just told them she’s brain-dead.’
Maddy closed her eyes.
‘Anyway,’ Juliet went on, ‘how are things with you? Are you still missing Kerr?’
Maddy instantly felt smaller than she’d ever felt before. Yes she was missing Kerr, of course she was, but compared with everyone else’s problems hers was laughably insignificant.
‘Don’t worry about me.’ Giving Juliet another hug, choking back tears at the thought of Tiff lying helplessly in his hospital bed, she said, ‘Ring me if there’s anything else you need. And give my love to Tiff. We’re all praying for him.’
She actually was, too. Despite never having prayed before.
‘Thanks.’ Juliet wiped her own brimming eyes. ‘Me too.’
Maddy returned to the hospital at twelve thirty after finishing her deliveries. Marcella, waiting for her outside the main entrance, thought how pale and drawn she looked. Supermodels might aim for stick-thin limbs and hollowed cheeks but Maddy looked better with a bit more weight on her. There was an air of defeat about her too. She hadn’t said anything, but Marcella knew why this was.
Well, there was nothing she could do about that. But she could certainly do her best, as a mother, to cheer Maddy up.
‘Lunch,’ Marcella declared as she climbed into the passenger seat of the Saab. ‘My treat.’
‘I’m fine.’ Maddy shook her head. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘Rubbish. Look at you, skinny as a broomstick! You need feeding up, and Nuala can manage without you for another hour. We’ll go to Quincey’s,’ Marcella announced, because this was one of Maddy’s favourite places to eat. ‘And sit outside like proper sophisticated ladies wot lunch.’
When Marcella was in this kind of mood, Maddy knew there was no point trying to argue with her. Within ten minutes the car had been parked and she and Marcella were sitting at a table for two on the broad pavement outside Quincey’s wine bar with two orange juices, two giant menus and — for ever-ravenous Marcella — a vast bowl of olives. The moment they’d finished ordering, Marcella reached down and began delving into the pink raffia basket at her feet.
This was when Maddy, her attention wandering, gazed across the road and saw who was seated in the window of the restaurant opposite.
The sensation was akin to a giant syringe shooting a gallon of adrenaline into her bottom. Sitting bolt upright as if she’d been electrocuted, Maddy stared first at Kerr, in profile to her, then at the glossy brunette sharing his table.
Oh Lord, this was too much.
‘Here we are,’ Marcella gaily announced, waving a small, curling piece of paper.
For a moment Maddy wondered if she’d hired a private detective and was now presenting her with evidence that Kerr had found himself another woman.
‘Take it,’ Marcella urged, ‘it won’t bite you. Can’t bite you,’ she added with a grin. ‘It hasn’t got any teeth yet.’
Kerr was sitting less than twenty feet away and Maddy was having to behave as if everything was normal. She wasn’t even sure she could remember how to breathe.
‘Are you OK?’ said Marcella.
‘Sorry, sorry.’ Guiltily Maddy grabbed the photograph and gazed at the funny little broad-bean-with-legs that was destined to become her stepsister or -brother.
‘That’s his heart,’ Marcella proudly pointed out, ‘and look, that’s his bladder!’
‘Wow, his bladder.’ Willing herself to concentrate, Maddy did her best to keep her hands steady.
Without much success.
‘You’re trembling.’ Marcella looked concerned. ‘Darling, are you sure you’re all right?’
‘I’m fine.’ Glancing over the road, Maddy saw that Kerr and the brunette had finished their meal and were preparing to leave the restaurant. ‘Um, you said he. Is it a boy?’
‘They always call them he,’ Marcella explained. ‘I don’t want to know whether it’s going to be a boy or a girl. It’s because you haven’t been eating properly,’ she scolded, taking hold of Maddy’s hand and giving it an admonitory squeeze. ‘That’s why you’ve gone all shaky. When our food gets here, you’re going to eat everything on your plate.’
The door of the restaurant opened, and Kerr and his female companion stepped out into the street.
Terrified that Marcella might turn round and spot him, Maddy hastily pointed in the opposite direction and said, ‘Ooh look, there’s that actor you like, the one from Casualty!’