The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham

Author:Michael Robotham
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scribner

AGATHA

* * *

Rory had a good night. He slept beside me in the double bed. I woke every half hour and put my hand on his chest, checking to make sure. I do not feel guilt or shame. My contrition has been overtaken by love. My sense of self has been erased. Rory is all that matters. I could lie next to him for the rest of my life, staring at his beautiful face, putting my forefinger into his little fist, brushing my lips across his forehead, listening to his fluttering heart.

I whisper to him, “You are my fifth baby. Fifth time lucky. Five is my favorite number.”

The sun is up. I’m cradling Rory in my arms, looking in the mirror, picturing myself in the eyes of others. His head is a funny shape—a little squished on one side like a very cute alien, but that’s likely to pass in a few days.

Holding up my phone with one hand, I take photographs, selfies, smiling as though my face might break from happiness. The pictures are emailed to Jules and Hayden and Mr. Patel and my landlady and all of my friends. I tell them about the days since his birth, constructing a narrative, setting the timeline in people’s minds and memories.

When I came in last night the front desk was empty. There were two teenage girls talking on the stairs, who paid little notice to a woman carrying a baby in a sling. I stepped around them and unlocked my door. Having showered and changed, I fed Rory and then turned on BBC news. There was no mention of a baby being taken. It was still too early.

This morning it’s a different story. The screen shows a reporter standing outside the hospital, talking to the camera. I turn up the volume.

“At this stage details are scant, but police have confirmed that a woman posing as a nurse abducted a newborn baby from the Churchill Hospital in Central London last night. The baby boy was only ten hours old when taken from a maternity ward by a woman in a nurse’s uniform who claimed the newborn needed a blood test. The alarm was raised by the baby’s father and the Churchill locked down, but the woman had already left the hospital.”

The footage switches to police cars parked in the street and detectives entering the doors.

“The name of the family has not been released, but police are appealing to the kidnapper to surrender the baby to police or medical services. Sources are also suggesting the newborn may need medical attention.”

“Rubbish!” I say to Rory. “You’re perfectly fine, aren’t you? They are such worrywarts.”

Letting the TV play in the background, I warm up a bottle in a sink full of hot water. Rory doesn’t seem to like the baby formula, either that or he’s not sucking strongly enough. When he latches onto my little finger he seems to get the idea, but he turns his face away from the bottle after one or two sucks.

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