Chapter 22
Nicola had spotted Lulu on the beach, but they had avoided actually encountering each other. That was impossible here at the house. Lulu and Kate stood in the shade of an ancient copper beech tree, watching Pete ripping open the garbage bags.
“You’re only going to have to pack them again,” Kate said.
“This is uncalled for,” Pete said, sounding outraged.
“I don’t think so. I want you out. This wasn’t your house to move into.”
“Beth knew about it,” he said. “I’m not saying she was happy about the situation . . .” He glanced at Nicola. She had gotten out of the car with Tyler and was standing off to the side. She felt mortified to be there, facing Kate this way. “But she let them stay here.”
Them, Nicola thought. Not us.
“She was so caring,” Pete said. “She wanted the baby to have a good place to live until I could find somewhere else.”
“She had her own baby to think about,” Kate said.
“Your other son,” Lulu said.
“Please, stop,” Nicola said. The mention of Matthew made her go weak in the knees. “We’ll leave.”
“Hey, you stop,” Pete said loudly, practically yelling, scowling at her. “I’m dealing with this.”
Nicola flinched, and Kate saw. Nicola felt shame, having Kate hear him talk to her that way.
Kate drifted closer to her and Tyler. She moved like a sleepwalker, close enough so Nicola could feel her warm breath on her forehead.
She was staring down at Tyler. Nicola’s arms tightened around him.
She felt Kate’s eyes casting a spell on him.
Nicola shivered, thinking of Maleficent, but Kate’s expression was gentle.
“My sister’s baby didn’t get to be born,” Kate said.
“Kate, I am so sorry about Beth,” Nicola said, the first chance she’d had to say it, or even see Kate.
Kate didn’t raise her gaze from Tyler.
“Could I hold him?” Kate asked.
Nicola felt shocked by the request, but her instinct was to reach out, hand her baby to Kate.
Pete came over and stood between them, blocking her.
But Nicola stepped around him. Dark-red light stippled through the leaves of the copper beech, tiny flames from the sky.
Nicola heard Pete swear as she put Tyler into Kate’s arms.
Kate held Tyler awkwardly, a woman unaccustomed to holding an infant. Tyler had been asleep, but he stirred, opened his eyes wide, looking into a stranger’s face. Nicola’s arms tensed, ready to grab him back.
“I wish I could have held my nephew,” Kate murmured.
“I’m so sorry,” Nicola said again. Kate looked up, and for a long moment their eyes met and held.
Kate’s were red rimmed, filled with emotion—rage, sorrow?
No, it was anguish; Nicola recognized that now.
She felt it herself, for Beth. Kate started to hand Tyler back to her, but Pete grabbed him.
It startled Tyler, and he began to fuss.
“Let’s go,” Pete said, facing Nicola. “We’ll check into a hotel. Something temporary.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Kate said. She stared at Pete with hatred. And then, as if she wanted to say the one thing that would hurt him most, “Nicola and Tyler can stay here. Not you.”
“They’re my family,” Pete said. “Where they go, I go.”
“Sam’s your family too,” Kate said. “She needs to be at home.”
“I thought she was staying with you,” he said. “I thought you had poisoned her against me.”
“Beth wouldn’t want me to do that. The last thing I want is for Sam to live with you. But you’re her father, and Beth would want you to take care of her. Sam wants that too. It’s already done, Pete. I dropped her off this morning. She’s waiting for you.”
Nicola felt wild inside, hearing this exchange. Thinking about Beth, about Sam, about the mess she had helped create. What had she been thinking, that she and Pete and Tyler could ever have a normal life after this?
“Kate’s right,” Nicola said, forcing her voice to stay calm. “Sam needs her home and her father. But I don’t think Tyler and I should stay here, Kate.”
“Really? Where are you going to go? Nowhere near Sam, that’s for sure,” Kate said.
Nicola panicked. Kate was right; she had nowhere to go. She couldn’t return to live with her mother and face all that criticism of Pete, the constant litany of how her mother believed he had murdered Beth.
“So,” Kate said. “I assume you’ll stay.”
Pete looked at Nicola with that intense expression that scared her. It was pure rage, and it contained a warning.
He wanted her to say she would go with him, let him check her into that hotel, but she stepped back to let him know she would accept Kate’s invitation and stay here.
“Thank you, Kate,” Nicola said, trying not to sound meek. “I would like to stay.”
Kate put the key in her hand. Nicola’s fingers closed around it. Something made her look straight at Pete, and despite the hateful fury in his face, she didn’t look away.