“What happened when Dad got home?” he says. The protest in his voice is gone, replaced with a coldness that makes it clear he resents having to ask her anything. “What happened when he got back from the station and found...?”
For a long, still moment, the rest of us try to straighten the facts in our minds. Did they find anything amiss, Dominic and Vera, when they returned to Summerbourne from the station?
“Dad didn’t know about Kiara,” I say quietly. “He took Edwin and Danny to the station, and he left me here, and I was still here when he got back. Wasn’t I?”
We all look at Laura, and she takes a deep breath.
32
Laura
July 1992
ISAT ATthe kitchen table after Alex and the midwife and the baby had gone. I ate a bowl of cornflakes with milk, and then a second one, wiping tears from my cheeks between mouthfuls. No figure appeared from the back of the garden, but I had neither the physical nor mental strength to go out and look for Ruth and Seraphine.
I guess I’d been sitting at that table for around fifteen minutes when Dominic’s car pulled up on the drive. Vera appeared in the kitchen first, carrying Danny in the infant car seat, and Dominic and Edwin clattered in behind her. Dominic didn’t make eye contact with me, but muttered something about Ruth and headed off upstairs.
Vera cooed at Danny as she lifted him from the car seat. “Where’s your mummy, little baby boy? Are you hungry? We need to fatten you up, don’t we?”
The chair scraped the tiles as I stood. My baby son. Whenhe whimpered, my hand reached toward him involuntarily. Vera frowned at me.
“Laura, you look dreadful. Were you up all night? You should go back to bed.”
“Where’s Mummy?” Edwin asked, peering out at the garden.
Dominic strode into the kitchen. “Where are they, Laura? Where’s Ruth?”
My knees gave way, and I dropped back onto my chair. I pointed through the open doors. “She went out.”
“What?” Dominic said. He and Vera exchanged glances. “Why?”
The baby boy whimpered again. I shook my head, watching the tiny mouth open and close.
“How long ago?” Vera asked.
Dominic said, “Did she take Seraphine with her? Laura?” When I didn’t respond, he turned to Vera. “I’ll go and find her.”
“Do you have bottles?” Vera asked him. “Formula?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I’ll come with you,” Vera said. I thought she was about to hand the baby to me, but Dominic intercepted, scooping him out of her arms and carrying him to the day nursery. A creaky cry trailed behind him as he returned, and he shut the door firmly.
“Sit tight. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” He rested his hand on my arm for a moment, his wide eyes searching mine, and then the two of them hurried off down the garden.
“Danny’s hungry,” Edwin said, watching the retreating figures.
“Yes.”
“I hope Mummy comes back soon.” He helped himself to cornflakes, and I poured milk onto them for him.
Dominic ran back across the lawn within a few minutes, with Seraphine in his arms. He went straight to the phone in the hall.
“Ambulance, please. My wife’s unwell. She’s just given birth, she’s very confused. I’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself.”
I held my breath, watching Edwin’s face. He stirred his cornflakes, frowning.
“On the cliffs,” Dominic said. “No, she won’t listen. I need someone here right now.”
