Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
Mollie looked up at the sound of Erica’s voice. For a moment, a flash of recognition, of pleasure in seeing her mother, crossed her face. But then it was replaced with a scowl. ‘How did you find me?’
Erica was level with her now and every inch of her wanted to throw her arms around her daughter and keep her close. ‘We were so worried about you.’
Mollie looked doubtful. ‘Who’s we?’
‘Me and your dad. We’ve been looking everywhere. How did you know how to get here?’
‘I’m not stupid, Mum. And I am thirteen.’
She said thirteen in the tone that you might use for ‘adult’ or ‘grown woman’. If only she knew how Erica still saw her as that tiny little girl who loved to throw tea parties for every toy in the house ‘because it’s not kind to leave anyone out, Mummy’.
How she’d navigated the trains in to London and out again to get here was not important right now. She was just overjoyed to see her. Braving the anger on her face, she reached an arm around her shoulders. ‘I’m so glad to see you, sweetheart. I need to call Dad and let him know you’re okay.’
‘Okay?’ Mollie practically spat at her. ‘I’m not okay. Everything is awful. Everything.’
Though her voice was dripping with anger, there was a vibration to it that suggested tears weren’t far away. ‘We know, love. We know that there’s been some awful things that’ve happened and we want to?—’
Mollie leaped away from her as if she was on fire. ‘What do you know?’
She didn’t want to have this conversation out here, but she needed Mollie to know that none of this was her fault. ‘We know why you needed the money, sweetheart. It’s going to all be okay. Dad’s here, too and we’re going to sort everything out.’
If she’d thought that this would be a relief to Mollie, she was quickly proved wrong. She practically roared her response. ‘You don’t know anything. You think you do. You and Dad think that you can sort everything out the way you think is best, and me and Ben just have to go along with it. But you don’t know.’
Erica had never seen her daughter this angry. She had to let Andrew know that she was found, but she couldn’t just call him while Mollie was exploding in front of her. Quickly she fired off a text.
I’ve got her. She’s safe.
Towards the shoreline, gulls cawed at each other as they fought over something in the water. Wind whipped Mollie’s hair across her face and she pulled it away, her cheeks red with rage.
Erica needed to go carefully. Right now, the most important thing was getting Mollie home. Once they were there, they could work out how they were going to deal with everything that was going on. ‘Let’s walk back to the high street and find your dad. We can collect your things from the apartment and talk, then go back and pick up your brother and?—’
‘Of course you want to hurry back to Benjamin. Why would you want to be here with me? I’m so sick of it. I’m so sick of Ben being your favourite child.’
Her words slapped Erica far harder than her open palm could’ve done. ‘He’s not my favourite child. I don’t have a favourite.’
Mollie’s laugh was cruel. ‘Yes, you do. I’ve always thought it, but now I know it. Because now I know what really happened in the fire.’
Fear crept up the back of Erica’s neck. ‘What do you mean?’
Mollie stamped her feet onto the pebbles like a petulant toddler. ‘I know what you did. I heard Dad talking on the phone about it two weeks ago. He told them about the fire when we were younger. And he described what happened. I know the truth now.’
Andrew was talking to someone about the fire? What had he said? ‘I don’t know what you mean, Mollie.’
‘Stop lying to me!’
She was crying hard now as the wind took her breath. She needed to be comforted, held, loved. But Erica didn’t dare to try. ‘I’m not lying. I don’t understand what you’re saying.’
Fists clenched each side of her, Mollie’s words came out like bullets. ‘I know exactly what happened that day. When the house was on fire and Dad was at work. I’ve always wondered why I have scars and Benjamin doesn’t and now I know.’
Erica couldn’t bear this. What had she overheard from Andrew? Please don’t let her say it. ‘Mollie, whatever you think you heard?—’
‘I don’t think! I know! Dad said it on the phone and I got every word. I know that you chose to save Benjamin over me.’