“All right, no more excuses,” I said, trying to keep my voice light. “We need to leave by half-past. ”
“Okay,” she replied, already distracted. “Oh, did you remember to pick up milk from the shop?
”
“I did. It’s in the fridge. ”
“Well, no, because Bethany’s on her way around, and I really don’t want to run out. ”
“We’re not going to run out of milk.
”
She didn’t answer. She just turned to our son, who’d wandered into the kitchen. “Oh, hi. There you are.
I’ve packed your football kit for tomorrow, okay? ”
He looked past her. “Um, where’s Jodie? ”
“She’s gone.
”
“Gone where? ”
“Don’t know, don’t care. Kicked her out last night because she almost killed your Auntie Sarah. ”
The kid’s face went pale.
“Oh. Right, um, but—”
“No buts. She’s gone, and she’s not coming back. In fact, I don’t want her name mentioned in this house again.
Today is all about Harper. It’s Harper’s day, yeah? ”
“Okay, but—”
“There’s no buts. ”
I could feel the tension crackling in the room.
This was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives—bringing our newborn daughter home from the hospital after months of watching her fight for survival in an incubator. But nothing about our family had ever been simple. “You all right? ” I asked softly.
She ignored me, turning back to our son. “Listen, do you think you can manage to not have any more marathon midnight gaming binges? ”
“Yeah, I can. ”
“You sure?
Promise? ”
“Promise. ”
“All right, well, if you want your console, it’s upstairs in our room, back of the wardrobe. ”
I watched him slink away, shoulders hunched.
He’d always been a quiet kid, but lately he’d been even more withdrawn. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him. “Right, come on,” she said. “Let’s get us to the hospital.
”
—
The car was full of nervous energy. She’d insisted on checking the car seat straps about five times before we even started the engine. “Make sure it’s properly attached and that the straps are tight,” she said. “I have used a car seat before, you know.
”
“Well, not for a long time, you haven’t. ”
“You’re going to drive? ”
“Why would you drive when you could have a fit at the wheel and crash the car and kill us all? ”
I winced.
We both knew she was worried about my seizures. I’d had one a few months back, and it had scared her more than she’d ever admit. “Are you all right? ” she asked, her voice gentler now.
“I’m fine. ”
“We need to turn the engine on. ”
“I know that. ”
She stared at the hospital building ahead of us, her hands trembling slightly.
“I just… I never thought we’d be here taking her home. ”
“I know. It’s mad, isn’t it? She’s had doctors and nurses keeping her alive.
Now it’s just us. ”
“Yeah, but they wouldn’t have let us take her home if she wasn’t strong enough, would they? ”
“Yeah. Did you really think we wouldn’t get here?
”
“Sometimes. You? ”
“Yeah. Lots.
But here we are. ”
She let out a shaky breath. “We’re in the car park. ”
“Yeah, we made it, didn’t we?
”
“Shall we go home, then? ”
“In a minute. ”
I knew she needed a moment. We all did.
This little girl had been through more in her first months than most people experience in a lifetime. And now, finally, she was coming home. —
Later that afternoon, I drove to the prison to visit my mother. She’d been locked up on a murder charge, and the whole family was still reeling from it.
“I’m visiting her this afternoon,” I’d told my sister earlier. “Oh, give her my love, won’t you? ”
“You’ve not been yet? ”
“No.
It’s all a bit tense, you know. Someone coming back and trying to pretend everything’s normal, but I mean, what’s normal? ”
“Well, having my mom in jail on a murder charge isn’t exactly normal. ”
“No.
Tell her I’ll see her when I can. ”
I sat across from her in the visiting room, the glass between us feeling thicker than it looked. “Carla’s coming tomorrow,” she told me. “Nick said he can come as soon as he can.
”
“That’s nice. ”
“I think she’s going to sack me. ”
“Sack you? She can’t sack you.
You’ve not done anything wrong. Don’t be so ridiculous. You were only acting in self-defense. ”
She looked down at her hands.
“Listen, I did what I did, okay, and I need to take responsibility for that. I’m going to have to face the fact that I’m not going to be able to attend any family get-togethers for a very long time. ”
I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to tell her she’d ruined everything.
But I couldn’t. She was still my mother. “Look at her,” my partner said later, gesturing to Jodie, who was sitting outside the house scrolling through her phone. “Sat there like a cat in the world.
”
“Right, come here,” I said. “I’m as angry about this as you are, you know. ”
“I doubt that very much. ”
“All right, well, she’s still my sister.
”
“Yeah, who assaulted my sister. ”
“And she’s homeless. She was a victim in all this. ”
“Babe, I’m worried if she stays here, we’re the ones who are going to end up victims.
”
“Look, I still feel guilty for abandoning her, okay? With everything we’ve been through with Harper and the crash and Sarah in jail and now this… I just don’t know. ”
“So now we kick her out? ”
“She’s got no one.
She’s literally got no one. ”
“But that’s her fault, isn’t it? It’s not ours. ”
“Trust me, I’m not happy about this either.
But please, just for a little bit, just until she finds somewhere else. Please. ”
He sighed and pulled me into his arms. “Fine.
Just for a little bit. ”
—
Jodie had shown up at the house the day after Harper came home, standing on the doorstep with a guilty look on her face. “Not interrupting anything, am I? ” she’d asked.
“You are, actually,” I’d said coldly. “So, I spent last night in the police station. Told them everything. They charged me with assault, and they let me out on bail this morning.
I kind of need somewhere to stay, so… just for a little while, till the court date for my sentencing. ”
“Oh, no,” my partner had said. “Not our problem. ”
“Please.
I mean, if you want me to go, I will. ”
I’d grabbed Harper and headed upstairs. “I’ll take her, she feeds better when it’s quiet. ”
I could hear the arguments echoing behind me.
The woman who’d tried to hurt my aunt was now begging to sleep under my roof. And part of me hated that I couldn’t just say no. Because she was family. And family had a way of making you feel guilty no matter what you did.
—
Meanwhile, the drama wasn’t confined to our house. Cassie, a close friend, had cooked up a scheme to expose a man she dated. “I found this website for women who have had bad experiences dating blokes,” she said. “So, you post a photo and ask if anyone’s dated him.
So, I put his picture on. ”
“And? ”
“And bingo. Alison Shipley messaged me right back.
She’d had an awful time with him. Total misogynist. Gets very aggressive if he doesn’t get his own way. ”
“Oh, really?
And you’re sure about this? ”
“You can ask for yourself. She’s on her way here. ”
Ross had come along with us to the café, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
When Alison walked in, the whole table went quiet. “Which one’s Cassie? ” she asked. “Yeah, course she is.
”
“Well, come on. Tell him what he did to you. ”
But Alison didn’t say what Cassie had rehearsed. Instead, she looked at Ross with an apologetic smile.
“I feel bad. I made it up. All that stuff I put on the app. I was having a laugh.
Fact is, he’s a decent bloke. It’s you that’s a bit weird. I’m not into playing games. ”
Cassie’s face went red.
“What? ”
“I’ve said what I came to say. Don’t ever contact me again. See you.
”
And with that, Alison walked out, leaving Cassie humiliated in front of everyone. Ross looked genuinely confused. “Well, sure don’t know what that was all about. ”
“Well, she contacted some woman on a website and encouraged her to badmouth you,” I said.
“That woman told me everything that had happened. I don’t know why she’s changed her story. Did you contact her? ”
“No.
”
“Have you threatened her? ”
“Will you stop it? You can’t keep doing this. It’s embarrassing.
”
—
A few days later, our son came downstairs looking shaken. “Are you all right? ” I asked. “You seem a bit underwhelmed with the whole baby sister coming home.
”
“No. No, it is great. Really great. ”
“It’s all right if you’re feeling a bit jealous, you know, Lil.
I mean, Poppy getting all the attention. Your Auntie Sarah said she wanted to strangle me the day I brought you home from the hospital. ”
“No, it’s not about that. ”
“No?
”
“Where’s Jodie? ”
“I don’t know. She’s probably out committing some crime somewhere. ”
He looked nervous.
“Um, she’s got a gun. ”
I froze. “What? ”
“She’s got a gun and it’s in our house.
”
The words hung in the air like smoke. I stared at my son, searching his face for any sign that he was joking. He wasn’t. “Where?
” I whispered. “In her bag. I saw it when I was looking for my console. ”
I didn’t wait for him to finish.
I stormed upstairs, my heart pounding like a drum. If Jodie had brought that kind of trouble into our home, into the house where my newborn daughter slept, I was going to make sure she never set foot in here again. And I had no idea what I was going to find when I opened that door.
