His blood made my hands slippery. “We’ll have to get him back to the house—I can’t see.”
Alex carried Edwin back at a gentle jog, and by the time we had him sitting up on the kitchen table he was hiccupping between sobs and managed to keep still enough to be cleaned up. There was a one-centimeter gash near the top of his right ear. So much blood from such a tiny wound.
Alex and I looked at each other over the top of his head.
“I think I’d better take him to the doctor,” I said. “He might need stitches.”
“I’ll drive you down there,” he said.
“But there’s no room in your car.”
“It’ll take two minutes. He can sit on your knee.”
The receptionist when we walked in was displeased, but the nurse who called us through couldn’t have been kinder. She cleaned the wound and closed it with tiny strips of sticking plaster, and gave Edwin a lollipop and a sticker for his bravery.
“Can I have one too?” Alex asked, and she actually nudged his chest as she chuckled at him. I gritted my teeth.
We sat for a few minutes on the bench on the village green,giving Edwin time to finish his lollipop. Alex stretched his arm along the back of the bench, behind Edwin’s head, and if I’d leaned in a tiny bit, his fingertips would have touched my bare shoulder. Helen, Ruth’s pregnant friend, waddled past and smiled at us. Alex ruffled Edwin’s hair and then grimaced at me over his head.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m just so relieved it wasn’t any worse,” he said. I nodded.
A screech of brakes on the high street made us both turn to look, and my heart jolted at the sight of Ruth sprinting across the grass toward us, her car door gaping open behind. A van tooted. Alex stood up.
“My God! What happened?” She dropped to her knees in front of Edwin, who pulled his shrunken lollipop out of his mouth with a pop and giggled at the sound. She looked from Alex to me, and back to Alex.
“What happened?” she asked again, and her voice had dropped an octave; the consonants exaggerated in a way that made my skin tingle.
“He tried to climb the gate and he slipped,” Alex said. “We were going to pick some blackberries.” He pulled Ruth upright to face him, placed a hand on her shoulder, and then put his other hand gently on her cheek. “He’s fine, Ruth. It was a little cut, but the nurse cleaned it up and he’s completely fine.”
She twisted away from him and dropped back down in front of Edwin.
“Tell me what happened, darling?”
“Missus Pamela Larch gave me a lolly,” Edwin answered, waving it at her and then poking it back in.
“Before that, Edwin. How did you hurt yourself?”
Alex and I exchanged a glance. His forehead was crumpled, and I wanted to squeeze his hand and say,It wasn’t our fault.
Edwin swung his legs back and forth, avoiding his mother’s eyes.
“I fell off the gate, Mummy. I was just trying to climb it. It had the bolt on.”
“It’s supposed to have the bolt on, darling. To keep you safe.” She stood up again, without looking at either of us. “We’re going home, Edwin. Put your stick in the bin, please.”
“Ruth—” Alex said, but she shook off his hand.
“He’s all I have left, Alex,” she hissed, as Edwin skipped over to the trash bin and then sauntered back to take her hand. They set off toward her car.
I looked from Alex to the retreating figure of my employer.
“Go,” he said. I jogged after them. While Ruth fastened Edwin into his car seat on one side, I went round and eased myself into the back seat from the other side. She didn’t comment, and didn’t speak to either of us on the short drive home.
Something held me back from apologizing as we entered the hall, but I touched her gently on her arm.
“Why don’t you go and sit down, and I’ll bring you a cup of tea?” I said.
