The Nurse's Secret Son by Amy Andrews

Author:Amy Andrews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

SOPHIE’S legs shook all the way to her car. Daniel’s accusations had hurt. She heaved in a breath and closed her eyes hard to stop the tears that were threatening. She’d cried too many tears over Daniel Monday.

But the tears were easier to stop than the memories, and as she drove to Arabella they crashed all around her and flooded her with their smells and voices. Michael’s funeral replayed in her head, the grief and sorrow still there two years on.

The heady smell of roses that Charlie had cultivated over the years and picked from Arabella’s rose garden to place on the coffin. The poignant notes of the flute that had played as Michael had been committed to the ground. The smell of the rain hitting the earth as the drizzly weather had mirrored the sombre mood.

The utter misery of Wendy’s sobs as she’d thrown soil into the hole in the ground and Max’s confusion as he had grizzled and clung to her, too young to understand but canny enough to know something really awful had happened.

People had been so kind. Marquees had been erected in Arabella’s gardens and everyone had made a special effort to seek her out and express their deepest sympathies. Even Daniel’s presence hadn’t managed to pierce the bubble of grief that had encapsulated her. Her husband, her best friend was dead. Michael…

Later that night Max had taken for ever to go to sleep. He had cried for his daddy and she had lain with him, hugging his little body close, their tears mingling. She had rocked him gently and crooned ‘Beautiful boy’ to him, just as Michael had done every night of Max’s life. Finally they had both fallen into an exhausted sleep.

Sophie woke a few hours later taking a few seconds before she orientated herself and the unrelenting grief settled around her again. She got up carefully and didn’t know what to do with herself. She couldn’t face going to bed. Lying alone in the king-sized bed was too painful to think about.

She wandered around the house for a bit, finally coming to the formal lounge. She moved to the bay window and absently fingered one of the two comfy, over-stuffed chairs that faced each other. A low coffee-table that held the chessboard separated the two.

This room held so many memories. This was where John had taught the three of them to play chess. Michael hadn’t been overly interested but Daniel had and so, therefore, had she. The hours they had spent, the games they had played, sitting on these chairs.

A noise from behind disturbed her and she turned to discover Daniel standing in the doorway.

‘Sophie,’ he said in a voice that echoed her misery and grief.

She didn’t answer him. Just turned back to cast her unseeing gaze to the river view. She heard him approach and could feel her body tremble with a build-up of emotion.

‘I’m so sorry, Soph,’ he whispered, and placed his hands on her shoulders.

And it was her total undoing.

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