The Other Mother: a psychological thriller with a twist you won't see coming by Miranda Rijks

Author:Miranda Rijks [Rijks, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2023-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

After clearing up the breakfast things, I check my diary. There’s no way that I’ll be able to concentrate on my clients today, so I cancel all of them. I lie and say that I have the flu. It’s so rare that I do this, I don’t feel too bad. And then I send Naomi a text:

We need to talk.

She replies almost instantly.

Meet on the village green in thirty minutes?

I arrive early, wrapped in a thick anorak and carrying a thermos of coffee. Even though the sun is shining, I can’t seem to get warm. I sit on the bench in front of the cricket pitch. There’s no one around, not even the regular dog walkers, and when Naomi shuffles towards me, her head bowed, I hardly recognise her. It’s as if she’s shrunk in on herself, her shoulders rounded and a beanie pulled down low over her forehead, hiding her mane of hair. She perches on the far end of the bench before turning towards me and briefly closing her eyes.

‘I’m so sorry, Jane. I assume Robert has told you.’

I nod.

‘It was a one-off. A mistake and I promise it’s been eating me up for the past few years.’

‘Well, not that much, otherwise you’d have told me.’

‘How could I? It would have destroyed both of our marriages, and now I’ve got another baby on the way, I can’t tell Lorenzo.’

‘You may have no choice.’

She lowers her eyes. ‘Lorenzo’s a good father, and he worships Florrie.’

I don’t know who she’s kidding: me or herself. Lorenzo is a good father when he feels like it. Naomi starts crying, and whereas normally I would rush to comfort her, today I can’t bring myself to touch my best friend. ‘All I want is to get Florrie back,’ she sobs. ‘Perhaps this is a punishment for the lies I’ve told, for how I cheated.’

I tense. Lorenzo. ‘Do you think Lorenzo has found out that he’s not Florrie’s birth father and he’s taken her to punish you?’

Naomi shakes her head. ‘The police are certain it was a woman who took Florrie from school. He loves her, and he’s as broken as I am. Besides, his mother is over from Italy, and there’s no way that he’d lie to her. He’s scared of the old cow.’ She throws me a watery smile. I know how horrible Maria has been to Naomi and how much she misses her own parents. It reminds me of how little support Naomi has. But I’m still suspicious of Lorenzo; he could easily have an accomplice, some woman who collected Florrie from school.

‘Look, I need a while to absorb everything, but I’m still your friend, Naomi,’ I say. ‘I’ll do whatever I can to help you get Florrie back.’ It’s hard for me to utter those words, but I think I really do believe them.

‘Thank you,’ she whispers. She glances at her watch. ‘I’d better get back.’

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