Chapter 34
Crows filled her head. Crows, dirty water and people dressed in black. Their faces were hidden and they were leaping into the water, scores at a time.
Freya snapped open her eyes and took in her surroundings. It was familiar. It was her and Nicholas’ bedroom. It was home. She was filled with relief.
Willis climbed up onto her and pressed his cold, wet nose into her cheek.
‘Hey, boy,’ Freya said, stroking his fur as he turned around and around in circles.
Everything hurt. It had been almost a week and everything still hurt. Just breathing made her chest ache and she had been confined to the bedroom, by order of Dr Stone. She was sick of it. She hated being dependent on Nicholas to look after her. It was driving her crazy and, as sweet as it was he was seeing to her every need, what she really wanted to do was get up and get back to being the one who gave the orders. On the bedside cabinet was a plate of fish, potato and green vegetables Nicholas had made her for lunch. She hadn’t been able to touch it. Just looking at the food made her feel sick. Even though her stomach was empty.
Her empty stomach. It growled on cue, as if to let her know it hadn’t been satisfied. Freya placed her hand under the duvet and smoothed the skin with her hand.
Her abdomen wasn’t entirely empty. There was still a baby growing inside her and he or she was probably hungry too. Perhaps it was time to give healthy food a try.
She looked over at the plate and nausea rose in her throat. Before she had the chance to think anymore about eating it, the phone rang.
She snatched it up before Nicholas answered from downstairs.
‘Hello.’
‘And how is the patient doing today?’ Emma asked her.
‘Oh, Em, it’s great to hear your voice.’
‘How are you feeling? I rang late last night. Nick said you were asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you.’
‘I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping. If I sleep, it means Nick has less time to keep on about me seeing a therapist to get over the trauma. I mean, which trauma does he want me to talk to them about? I could be having two-hour sessions twice a week for the rest of my life and it still might not be enough.’
‘He’s so worried about you. You and the baby. He just wants to do what’s best.’
‘I know. But can you imagine what a field day any therapist would have with me? I can’t go there. I don’t need to go there.’
‘None of this is your fault. You have to keep focused on that. You’ve been let down by most of the people in your life. They’ve done that to you because of who they are.’
‘I know how to pick them, don’t I?’
‘Well, you can’t choose your family and as for Sasha… it sounds like she did a very good job of being believable.’
‘Yes, she did.’
‘So, I suppose you aren’t really feeling up to a wedding at the moment. Have you rearranged the date?’
‘No, not yet. There’s been so much going on, there hasn’t been a chance and we really want to do it properly.’
‘Oh well, I was hoping I hadn’t wasted a trip.’
‘What?’
‘I stopped by that Chinese you keep telling me about. I just had to see in real life. I got sweet and sour chicken balls, egg foo yung and beef in black bean sauce if you’re hungry.’
The bedroom door opened and Emma appeared, a phone to her ear and a takeaway bag in her hand.
Freya screamed. She leapt out of bed, sending Willis crashing to the floor and enveloped her friend in a bear hug.
‘Careful! Don’t do yourself an injury or Nick will never forgive me,’ Emma exclaimed, hugging her friend tightly.
‘I can’t believe you’re here! This is the best thing! You came all the way from Corfu? All ten hours and…’
‘And a stop in Paris,’ Emma replied, smiling.
Tears were pricking Freya’s eyes as she looked at her best friend. It was so good to see her. She needed her.
‘It’s so good to see you and I love your hair that colour,’ Emma said.
‘It’s good to see you too. So, where’s Melly and Yiannis? They’d better be here.’
‘They certainly are. They’re downstairs with Nick.’
‘Nick knew, didn’t he? He knew you were planning to come over.’
‘How could I not come? After what happened to you, I wanted to come straight away. Nick called me and told me everything and then it was all over the television and in the papers. But he said you needed some time. So we waited until he said you were feeling better. He arranged our flights and here we are.’
‘I’m starting to worry about his knack for concealing things from me,’ Freya stated.
‘I told him not to tell you because I knew you’d try to talk me out of coming all this way with Melly. And I wanted to come. I wanted to see you and your beautiful house and Willis. I think I caught a glimpse of him a second ago. I wanted to see your town and all the people you’ve described to me.’
‘Would you believe Brian quite possibly saved my life?’
‘Would you believe he’s selling t-shirts with “Baby Kaden says Go Maulers Go” printed on them?’ Emma asked her.
‘Actually, yes.’
‘I guess that’s what you’d call a “Brian Episode”.’
‘You’re getting into the Mayleaf way.’
‘So, do you want some of this Chinese food? Or have you already eaten?’ She indicated the plate of food on the nightstand.
‘That stuff? Get real! I’m coming down.’ She picked up her robe and wrapped around her.
‘Are you allowed out of bed? Perhaps we should check with Nick first.’
‘You are joking, right? I need to start reminding him who wears the trousers in this relationship.’
When the two women arrived in the kitchen, Nicholas was holding Melissa in his arms and feeding her a bottle of milk.
‘Aw, would you look at that? He’s a natural,’ Emma said.
‘Hi, Yiannis, it’s great to see you,’ Freya said, kissing the Greek man on the cheek.
‘And to see you too,’ Yiannis responded, hugging her.
‘I thought you were breastfeeding, Em,’ Freya said. She stood next to Nicholas and looked down at the very contented Melissa.
‘I was. All I will say is “puncture wounds”.’ Emma pulled a face.
‘Bottles and teats. Add it to our list,’ Freya said, directing it at Nicholas.
‘Added. Hey, what are you doing out of bed?’ he asked her.
‘You used to say that to me so often when we first got together. It’s nice romance is still such a big part of our relationship.’
‘Feeling better?’ Nicholas asked.
‘Much better now Emma’s here with Chinese food. Em, the plates are in the cupboard over there,’ Freya directed.
‘By the way, this package arrived for you earlier. It’s from Josie. She said she found them while she was cat-sitting and we were at the hospital. She said something about Willis scratching around the back of the sofa and then she said she’d laundered them. Does any of that make any sense to you?’ Nicholas asked her. He indicated a brown paper bag on the countertop.
‘Not a bit. Let’s see… Oh! How embarrassing!’ Freya exclaimed, looking into the bag.
‘What is it?’ Emma asked.
‘Remember those undergarments I told you went missing. The ones I was sure would end up on eBay.’
‘Wild Wednesday?’
‘Wild Wednesday! I can’t believe one of my neighbours has had to handle a pair of my pants.’
Nicholas laughed and Yiannis looked completely bemused.
‘Come on, Yiannis, help me serve up this food,’ Emma said, taking plates to the breakfast bar.
‘Melly’s beautiful, isn’t she?’ Nicholas remarked to Freya.
Freya put her little finger into the tiny hand of the baby and smiled as Melissa tightened her grip around it.
‘Yes, she is. She has her mother’s good looks and her father’s brooding, Greek eyes.’
‘I wonder what our baby’s going to look like.’
‘Hopefully, he or she will have their father’s good looks and restraint when it comes to food and their mother’s dynamic wit and sparkling personality.’
‘And lots of health and happiness,’ Nicholas added.
‘And some normality. Please, God, a shed load of normality,’ Freya begged.
‘Let’s toast that thought with one of Bruce’s chicken balls,’ Nicholas suggested.
‘One? I’ve been out of proper eating action for a week. I hope Emma ordered big.’