Keeping Sam by Joanne Phillips

Author:Joanne Phillips [Phillips, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B016MZPWRW
Publisher: Mirrorball Books
Published: 2015-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The two hours Kate spent at the children’s centre with Sam were, as Elizabeth had predicted, stress-free and fun. There was a stay-and-play session in progress, and Kate enjoyed being just another mum spending time with her toddler, stepping in from time to time to negotiate the sharing of a toy, feeling joy whenever her boy came running to her for help or reassurance. But whereas all the other parents would get to take their offspring home at the end of the session, Kate had to walk away and leave Sam with Elizabeth, who would be overseeing the handover back to Kate’s mother.

As far as the other mums were concerned, Kate was just like them, and she was glad of the anonymity. There was one awkward moment when Kate recognised someone she’d gone to school with, a girl called Denise who was now the mother of twin baby girls and a rowdy boy of four, but the woman was so harassed she barely gave Kate a second glance. Kate knew she was practically unrecognisable as the Katherine who had left Corrin Cove at eighteen. She was much thinner now, her hair longer and darker. Life had left its mark on her face – the years spent partying and eating too little and worrying about what Evan was up to had made her drawn around the eyes, her skin pale with fine lines on her forehead. Denise had fared far better, Kate noticed. Blooming with health and vitality, the girl had blossomed into a beautiful woman, and her clothing and manicured nails spoke of an enviously affluent lifestyle.

Kate spent as much time as she could simply gazing at Sam, drinking him in, reaching out to touch his back, his arms, his chunky little legs whenever he toddled past her.

‘It’s like you haven’t seen him for weeks,’ one of the mothers remarked, laughing when Kate swept Sam off his feet and held his soft cheek to hers.

You have no idea, Kate thought.

Too soon, the session was over, and Kate said a tearful goodbye to Sam, who regarded her thoughtfully, clinging onto her skirt with both fists.

‘Bye bye,’ he said, staring up into her face. ‘Bye bye, Mummy.’

Kate walked away, her hand over her mouth, trying to contain all the joy and the pain that threatened to spill over. He had called her Mummy. She wanted to shout it to the world; she wanted to dance and jump with pure pleasure, even while her heart was breaking at having to leave him all over again.

Out in the street, she started to walk in the direction of Bow Hill. A black car, low and gleaming, pulled up alongside her. A man’s voice called her name. She stopped and glanced to her side.

Grinning at her from the driver’s seat, one tanned arm leaning out of the window, was Evan.

‘Give you a lift somewhere?’ he enquired mildly.

Kate fought the urge to run. It was ridiculous: this was Evan. He was Sam’s father, and although he’d hurt her deeply many, many times, there was no need for her to feel so repelled at the sight of him.

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