E for England Read Online Free PDF Page B

way by yourself. How old were you?’
    â€˜Fourteen. I stayed until I left school then went back to England to university.’
    â€˜Did you see your mother in all that time? I don’t know how she could bear not seeing her child for years. I couldn’t.’ Her eyes filled with horror at the thought.
    â€˜She visited once and I went back once for Christmas but it didn’t work very well.’ Hideous. Strained silences, polite conversation between mother and son grown strangers, and always the hovering black shadow that was his stepfather. Never forgiving, never accepting. Bitter and hard towards the boy he believed had wilfully destroyed his family.
    Now the sympathetic grey eyes swam with tears. ‘Oh, Hugh that’s awful. So sad.’
    â€˜Yes, it was awful at the time but I’m a big boy now. All grown up.’ He forced a smile.
    Annie sat back in her chair, kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet under her. ‘Does being a doctor help? I suppose it would. Help you understand and cope, I mean.’
    Hugh nodded. ‘I’m not a psychiatrist but I have read a bit which has certainly helped me understand the situation with my stepfather. It’s a common enough problem.’ Common didn’t reduce the pain for the individual; it just meant more people suffered the same way.
    â€˜Your aunt and uncle must be wonderful people taking in a troubled teenager. James must be like a brother.’
    Now his smile was genuine. ‘Yes. And his big sister is terrific, too. Harriet. She’s married and expecting.’
    â€˜Good for her. Babies are very exciting even if you don’t want any of your own.’
    â€˜That’s true.’
    Annie topped up their glasses and studied the bottle whose contents had dropped dramatically. She put it down and picked up her glass. ‘Here’s to babies.’
    Before Hugh could respond a voice wailed, ‘M-u-u-m-m-y-y-y.’
    Annie leapt to her feet and headed for the bedrooms. Hugh sprang up and followed, heart pounding with irrational fear. That cry had sounded distressed. Thank God Annie was home. She so nearly hadn’t been.
    Her voice sounded softly but he couldn’t hear the words. He waited outside the door, ears straining. Was the child ill? A nightmare?
    She came out and nearly walked into him.
    â€˜Oh!’
    â€˜Sorry. Is everything all right?’
    â€˜Mattie has a sore throat. I’ll get him a lozenge to suck on.’ She went into another room and came back a moment later.
    Hugh said, ‘I’ll go, Annie. You need to take care of him.’
    â€˜I’ll only be a minute. You don’t have to go.’
    â€˜I should. It’s getting on a bit. Thanks for the wine. Goodnight.’
    Annie bit her lip, glanced at the child’s darkened room, then up at Hugh. ‘Okay. Goodnight. See you later.’
    Hugh nodded and headed for the door.
    Leonie arrived home from the shops on Saturday brandishing a cardboard tube as well as the shopping and said, ‘Where are the kids?’
    â€˜In their room playing with Lego.’
    â€˜Look what I bought.’
    She pulled out a rolled up poster and unfurled it on the table. It was a children’s alphabet chart with big coloured capital letters on a white background.
    â€˜What’s that for?’
    â€˜Men from A–Z. And I got these as well.’ She produced two thick felt-tipped pens. One red, one blue.
    â€˜Let me guess. Red for good, blue for bad, or the reverse.’
    â€˜Got it in one. Red for hot.’
    â€˜Are you serious?’ Annie groaned and began putting groceries away.
    â€˜It was your idea.’ Leonie slapped a few items in the fridge then spread the chart out on the table and held it in place with a vase and Annie’s and the kids’ library books which were waiting to go back to the shelves that afternoon. ‘I never would have thought of it.’ She uncapped a pen with a