He marched back into the kitchen and dragged me to my feet, the baby held firmly against his chest with his other hand. I had no choice but to stagger along behind him as he plowed on into the day nursery. He lay Seraphine down at the opposite end of the bassinet to Danny, their feet alongside each other’s. Both babies—the robust little girl and the fragile little boy—made moaning noises and turned their heads from side to side.
“What happened?” Dominic hissed at me. He glanced at Edwin, who hovered in the middle of the room, and managed to gain some control over his voice. “Go back to the kitchen, Edwin, and finish your cereal. Now.”
I swayed on my feet, and Dominic caught me by the elbow, supporting me. He marched me back to the kitchen, out to the patio, propelling me onward each time I stumbled. Edwin sat at the kitchen table and watched us pass, his eyes wide.
“Did you tell her about Danny?” Dominic said. “She’s not making any sense. You’ve got to come and get Vera away so I can talk to Ruth properly.”
He tried to hurry, but I couldn’t keep up with him, and my legs buckled under me at the edge of the lawn. He crouched in front of me, gripping my hands.
“Please, Laura. We need to hurry. Vera’s bound to be going on about the twins, and Ruth won’t know... I need to talk to her alone.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to. Something’s wrong with her. With Ruth. I think she’s hallucinating.”
Bright greenery whirled through my field of vision, and I closed my eyes against a surge of nausea.
“Please.” He half lifted me from the grass. “You’ve got to come. She keeps saying—I don’t know what’s wrong with her—she keeps saying someone’s coming to take her baby.”
I sank my nails into his arm, and he flinched. “He’s already taken her,” I croaked.
He let me drop back onto the lawn and stared at me, and then his gaze flitted to the day nursery windows. “You’re... What’s wrong with you? No one’stakenher. You’re not making sense.”
A siren sounded in the distance.
He gestured at the house. “Both our babies are in there. Seraphine and Danny. I just need to tell her about Danny. Make her understand.” He gave me an agonized look. “Please, Laura. Help me.”
I nodded, and struggled to my feet, but before we made it halfway across the lawn, I fell again. The spinning in my head was worse than ever. Dominic hesitated.
“Go,” I said. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
A siren sounded louder in the lane, and then another.
“Where’s Edwin?” Dominic said suddenly. I followed his gaze through the open back doors. Edwin’s chair at the kitchen table stood empty. Something small and white on the patio caught my attention: a cereal bowl, just outside the kitchen doors, broken neatly into two halves which tilted away from each other, spreading milk and cornflakes onto the stone slabs.
“Edwin?” Dominic called. “Edwin!” He turned a full circle, his eyes searching the windows, the hedge, the trees at the back of the garden. “Edwin!”
I staggered to my feet. “Is the back gate open?”
Dominic stared at me, wild-eyed.
Another burst of siren noise reached us, accompanied by pounding at the front door and raised voices. A man in a green uniform appeared from the direction of the stable block as Dominic turned and ran toward the gate and the cliffs. The medic jogged over to me, and I pointed after Dominic.
“A little boy,” I said. “Edwin. He’s four.”
“We were called about a woman, miss.”
“Yes, but—I think he’s gone to the cliffs as well.”
A police officer appeared behind him, and then another. “Can you give us the keys to the front door, please, Miss...?”
“Laura,” I said. “Laura Silveira.” I took a couple of steps but was seized by a violent shaking. “They’re in the hall table. In the drawer.”
Someone caught me as I stumbled, and helped me as far as the patio, where I sank onto a chair. Harsh voices stuttered from a radio indoors. More sirens wailed in the lane, doors slammed, sharp questions shot back and forth. Men and women in uniform jogged out of the house and away across the lawn. None of them so much as glanced at me.
I didn’t realize my eyes were closed until a woman in green shook my shoulder and made me jump.
“Is there any formula in the house, do you know? For the babies. They’re mighty hungry.”
