Chapter 54
‘Will someone please tell me what on earth is going on?’ Rufus asked.
‘Hello, Rufus.’
Rufus turned around. They all did. She’d spotted them standing outside the ambulance.
They all gathered around the back of the ambulance, looking in.
‘Isobel?’ Rufus looked taken aback. ‘Is that really you?’
‘Yes. Yes, it is.’
‘What are you doing here?’ Claire asked suspiciously.
There was an awkward silence.
‘Ahem.’ Rufus coughed into his hand and commented, ‘You’ve got an American accent, Isobel.’
‘That’s just what Reggie here said.’
Reggie looked over at Rufus. ‘Long time, no see, Rufus. I’ve missed you. Wished you’d stopped by Cobblers Yard, but I guess that wasn’t possible – revisiting your past.’ Bridie caught Reggie’s eyes drift to her mum.
‘It wasn’t, not under the … circumstances.’ Rufus glanced at Claire. Their eyes met.
Bridie looked at her mum and dad and wondered what circumstances he was talking about. Bridie’s gaze drifted to Isobel, who was staring at her intently.
Rufus said, ‘Bridie, will you go and wait with … with Kate over there while I speak with Isobel and Reggie?’
Bridie folded her arms. ‘No! Whatever you want to say, I want to hear it.’
Kate said, ‘So do I.’
Bridie felt her sister’s hand reach for hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze that whatever was going on, she was there for her little sister, in her corner.
Bridie turned to her sister and smiled. If there was ever a time in her life she needed Kate, she had a feeling it was now. They both did.
There was a moment’s silence. The young male paramedic in the back of the ambulance had paused sorting through a cupboard and had turned to look at people gathered outside.
Rufus exchanged a glance with Claire. ‘You knew this day might come. We both did.’ Rufus climbed into the ambulance followed by Claire, Bridie and Kate.
The paramedic looked at them all. ‘What are you doing?’
‘We want to speak with Isobel.’
‘No, I’m afraid that’s not possible.’
‘Why – are you speeding her off to the hospital right now?’
‘Well … no, not right now. But once my colleague over there has rounded up the other patient, we will be taking them both.’
‘Good, good,’ said Rufus, settling himself down on the bench opposite Isobel, with Claire, Bridie and Kate also squeezing inside, much to the paramedic’s annoyance.
Isobel turned to the paramedic. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind stepping outside and closing the doors, we’d like some privacy.’
‘This is an ambulance, not a social hub! Next, you’ll be asking for a cup of tea and a biscuit.’
Rufus looked at the young lad. ‘Do you have tea and biscuits?’
The paramedic rolled his eyes and stepped out of the ambulance. Before closing the back doors, he said, ‘I’ll give you five minutes, so you’d better make it quick.’
When the doors clunked shut, they all sat looking at one another.
Kate said, ‘Is she … are you her mother?’
‘Kate!’ Bridie turned to her wide-eyed. She couldn’t believe her sister had just come out with that.
‘What? We’ve got five minutes, and you all heard the paramedic. We’d better make it quick. So I thought – why not just cut to the chase?’ She turned to Bridie. ‘That’s the question you want to ask, isn’t it?’
Bridie nodded her head, avoiding Isobel’s gaze. But her sister was right: that was the question she wanted to ask. Bridie folded her arms. ‘Well? Isn’t someone going to say something?’
Kate whispered. ‘You’re very brave, you know that. I’d be freaking out.’
‘Who says I’m not?’ she whispered back. She raised her voice. ‘I just want to know the truth.’
‘I had a baby called Lucy,’ said Claire.
Rufus turned to his wife. ‘You don’t have to tell—’
‘I think I do.’
Kate and Bridie exchanged a confused glance, both thinking the same thing. They’d thought this was about Bridie. ‘What do you mean, you had a baby called Lucy?’ said Kate. ‘I don’t understand. Is … is Bridie Lucy?’
Rufus breathed a heavy sigh. ‘Let your mother finish.’
‘I carried her to term, but she was …’ Claire swallowed. ‘Stillborn. In London. She would have been around Bridie’s age.’
Bridie glanced at Isobel. Isobel appeared just as shocked at this revelation as Kate and Bridie were.
Kate said, ‘We had no idea. You never spoke of her.’
Claire continued, ‘Rufus had been starring in a show in The Little Theatre by the Sea at the time I was pregnant with her, but the pregnancy had been … difficult. So I was under the care of a consultant at a London hospital. Close to term, I felt something wasn’t right, but I didn’t want to tell Rufus, as I knew he’d walk out on the show and go up to London with me that day.
So … so I travelled to London alone, and my waters broke when I arrived.
I got a taxi straight to the hospital. I kept thinking about surprising Rufus after the show when I sent word from the hospital that I’d had our third child, if the labour was quick.
But something didn’t feel right. Deep down I knew something was wrong. ’
Rufus sat there studying his hands. ‘You should have told me. I would have left the show.’
‘It had been difficult for you, working with the new lead actress after Isobel had walked out months earlier. I convinced myself there was nothing to worry about and decided to go alone.’ She paused for a moment, her expression pained.
‘When I sent word, and Rufus travelled to London after the show, I told him I couldn’t bear to go home straight away to Kate and Jeremy back in Suffolk.
They were looking forward to meeting their little sister. ’
She turned to Kate, ‘You were both too young to remember all this. I’d sent word to the babysitter that I’d gone into labour and might not be back that night, or for several nights, so I’d need someone to look after them.
She was wonderful, the lady from the village, staying with you all week, taking you to nursery school, doing your tea, putting you to bed, while Rufus was in the show. ’
‘I didn’t want to continue doing the show. I wanted to stay with you in London.’
‘I know. But I needed time to come to terms with what had happened.’ She turned to Kate and Bridie.
‘So, when I left hospital, I stayed with your grandad the rest of that week while Rufus continued to perform in the show – I insisted on it, just to take his mind off what had happened. Then one day, one unforgettable day, he came up to London to see me and see if I was ready to come home. But this time was different. He had brought something with him. Someone, in actual fact.’
‘Me?’ Bridie said.
Kate looked at Bridie.
‘Yes – you. The most beautiful baby I’d ever set my eyes on.’ Claire turned to Kate. ‘Not that you weren’t a beautiful baby too, Kate. As was Lucy. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.’
Kate smiled at her mother. ‘Don’t be,’ said Kate, staring at Bridie. She said, ‘Where did you find her?’
Rufus said, ‘On the steps of The Little Theatre by the Sea.’