Driftnet Read Online Free PDF

fault.’
    Rhona sat down
again, emotionally exhausted. She would let Edward have his say and
go.
    ‘After all, you
were ill,’ he continued, searching for the right words, ‘because of
the incident.’
    She looked at
him, puzzled.
    ‘I should have
made allowances, but I needed...’
    ‘Sex?’
    He was annoyed.
‘Company. You would hardly speak to me, let alone... anyway that’s
what I wanted to talk to you about.’
    ‘Your sex
drive?’
    He cleared his
throat. ‘That’s not funny, Rhona. I am referring to the incident of
course.’
    ‘The incident?’
she repeated in disbelief. The feeling of hysteria that Edward had
generated in her was changing to depression. Edward couldn’t
possibly mean what she thought he meant. The incident? Of course.
What else would Edward call it? But she still had to ask. Had to
make sure.
    ‘What
incident?’
    He ignored her
question, which could only mean one thing. She was right.
    He began again,
his voice a little firmer this time. She found herself
concentrating on his mouth, out of which that word had come.
    ‘I wanted to
speak to you before the by-election,’ he was explaining.
    Rhona stared
over his shoulder. The little boy from the dinosaur room was
heading towards the cafe. He looked excited, clutching an open
jotter in his hand. His teacher bent to look at his drawing, giving
quiet words of praise.
    ‘Rhona?’
Edward’s voice was tinged with annoyance.
    ‘Why are you
bringing this up now, Edward? It was seventeen years ago,’ she said
looking down at her cup, not trusting herself to look at him.
    ‘You know what
the press is like,’ his voice had a jocular tone now. ‘A story like
that about a prospective MP,’ he laughed a little. ‘And I wouldn’t
like your privacy to be violated.’
    ‘My
privacy!’
    The words
exploded from her and the school party at the next table fell
silent, with the awkwardness of children in the vicinity of an
adult argument. Edward looked uncomfortable, then pulled himself
together and smiled vaguely. His discomfort, she sensed, had turned
to intense irritation. She had often irritated him, she remembered.
Whenever she had seemed ‘over emotional’, as he put it.
    ‘I have to get
back,’ she said, standing up and looking at her watch.
    ‘Right.’ He
stood up beside her and spoke firmly as if the end of the meeting
had been decided by him. ‘I’ll walk through the park with you.’
    ‘No you
won’t.’
    He stepped
back, surprised.
    ‘Goodbye,
Edward. And Edward, don’t contact me again... ever.’
     
     

Chapter 5
    Rhona left the
Gallery by the double doors hoping they would swing back and slap
Edward right in his condescending face. What a wanker. She should
have known better. The incident! How could Edward talk about Liam
like that?
    Rhona headed
towards Kelvingrove Park. At her back the children from the primary
school were laughing and screaming as they came through the
revolving doors. They ran down the steps and headed for their bus.
Rhona turned quickly down the avenue of trees towards the river,
shutting out the sound of their laughter. When she reached the
bridge, she stopped, breathless. Below, the water moved sluggishly
between banks of bracken. She leaned on the metal rail, watching
the muddy swirl, and let herself remember.
    It was the
morning they’d taken Liam away. The nurse had given her a pill to
stop the milk coming through. Her nipples were painfully tender
against her night dress, making dark circles in the white cotton.
Liam was lying in the cot beside her, washed and changed. She
reached over and touched his face. The blue-veined eyelids quivered
and the small mouth began to suck at nothing. She remembered the
shape of him, the long legs curled up when she wanted to change
him, the folds of skin waiting to be filled. They had told her he
was perfect. She wasn’t to worry about the birthmark, a strawberry
shaped lump on the inside of his right leg. It would fade.When she
first told Edward she was