Page 41 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Have you taken anything?’ he asked.

‘Not yet,’ she told him, with another shiver. ‘Look, I’ll be fine.’

Ryan immediately made up his mind. ‘Not staying in here, you won’t,’ he said. ‘You’re moving into Mum and Dad’s bedroom.’

She began to shake her head. ‘I don’t need to do that.’

‘It was a statement not a question,’ he told her, rolling his eyes. ‘Why is everything a battle with you?’

‘Because I’ve got this far by myself,’ she said. ‘I’m not that weak. I’ve been looking after myself since I was eighteen years old so I’ve had plenty of practice.’

‘Well, if you’d have accepted any offers of wellington boots and a coat yesterday, you might not have caught a chill and be feeling rotten,’ he told her.

‘I don’t need help,’ she replied, jutting out her chin. ‘I get by just fine by myself.’

‘That would be more convincing if your teeth weren’t chattering,’ he told her before asking, ‘What happens if you let people help you?’

‘They normally let me down,’ she told him in a flat tone. With a groan, she sank down onto the bed. ‘My head hurts,’ she murmured.

He suddenly remembered that on the recent occasions that Ethan actually came home, he had always slept on the sofa, laughing and saying that he had passed out having had too much to drink the night before. But that had obviously been a lie.

Katy had instead stayed in the room, putting up with the damp and cold. And she hadn’t complained about it once.

He looked at her once more and saw that all the colour had drained out of her face. Suddenly concerned, he crouched down in front of her and once more felt her hot forehead. ‘You need time to recover,’ he told her gently. ‘Come on. Let’s get you into Dad’s room instead. It’ll be warmer in there.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

But he had already pulled her to stand up in front of him.

‘What are you doing?’ She tried to pull herself away but he held on to her steadfast.

He looked at Katy, made a decision and placed his arm around her. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Where’s your mobile?’ Then he spotted it on the bedside table. ‘Do you need anything else?’

‘Yes,’ she said wearily, as he snatched up the phone and held it against her. ‘I need you to let me lie down.’

‘In a minute,’ he told her, holding on tight to her as he helped her across the room.

‘Please leave me alone,’ she said, but her protest was barely a whisper. He felt her lean her head against his chest. He could feel the heat from her skin through his shirt and he hugged her a little closer as he half-carried her across the lounge.

He kicked the door to his dad’s bedroom open and was grateful that it felt a little warmer in there.

‘I’ve already changed the bedding ready for when Dad was coming home from hospital,’ he said as he led Katy across the bedroom before placing her onto the double bed. She made a half-hearted effort to get up, but he gently pushed her back down once more.

It was then that he registered that she was still shivering. He wrapped her up in the duvet before grabbing a couple of logs and lighting the fire in the hearth.

Then he went into the kitchen and filled up a glass of water, rolling his eyes that she had been sleeping in that freezing bedroom and hadn’t said a word about it. Which made it all even worse.

But by the time he headed back into the bedroom, Katy was asleep. He watched her for a moment before placing another blanket on top of her.

Then he went back into the lounge, leaving her to sleep. But he kept the door open in case she needed anything.

He thought back to what she had said about taking care of herself since she was eighteen years old. Whenever anything happened, his family all gathered together and were there for each other, at least until his mum had left. That hadn’t happened for Katy.

So Ryan decided that, for now, he would be the one to help her. She wasn’t on her own any more.

22

Katy woke up late on Saturday afternoon and wondered where on earth she was. Her mind was muzzy and her head throbbed, but finally she remembered what had happened that morning. She had woken up feeling awful, initially blaming the gin. But with a non-stop bout of shivering and her aching limbs, she had realised that it was something else entirely. Especially because her legs felt very wobbly and she had no appetite. She also had no motivation at all, which would have astounded her, if she hadn’t have felt so rubbish. So Katy had sunk back into bed, hoping that an extra hour of sleep would help her feel better.