CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I wanted to see Billy, but only close family were being allowed in to visit for the first few days, which I found really ironic.
Ada and Skye came in later. I heard Ada’s voice, talking to one of the nurses, so I turned over and pretended to be asleep, only ‘waking up’ when I heard them making moves to leave again.
‘Mum?’ I said, curious to see how they would react.
Both Ada and Skye, on their way out, stopped and turned.
‘Yes, love?’ Ada hurried back over. ‘You’re awake. What can I get you?’
‘Billy. I want to see Billy.’
She smiled. ‘He’s coming to see you later.’
‘And you’re not my mum, remember?’
I saw the hurt on her face and felt a pang of guilt. ‘Skye?’ I still couldn’t call her mum. I doubted I’d ever be able to.
‘Yes?’
‘I need to know who my dad was. I have a right to know.’
A look passed between Skye and Ada, and I saw Ada give an almost imperceptible nod of her head. Skye looked at me steadily for a long moment, as if she was thinking rapidly. ‘I know you do,’ she said at last. Then she turned and walked out.
I watched her go, feeling a deep sense of frustration. Ada leaned over, kissed me on the cheek and said she’d be back later, then she hurried out after Skye. And I lay there wondering if I was ever going to be told the full truth about my birth...
When Cathy, the nurse, appeared a little later to help me sit up, she smiled and said, ‘I think you have another visitor.’ My heart sank. I knew Rori was coming in, but that would be much later, and she was the only one of my family I wanted to see right now.
Then I glimpsed Billy walking over, his arms full of magazines and a box of chocolates.
‘Hey, you.’ He smiled, hovering over me, looking a little awkward. ‘I thought they would never let me in to see you.’
‘Are they for me?’ I took the magazines and chocolates with an approving smile. ‘Thank you. Sit down.’
He pulled a chair over and asked how I was, and – still angry that Skye had just walked away from my question – I sighed and said, ‘Oh, Billy, she won’t tell me. I asked her and she just walked away.’
He looked confused. ‘Who won’t tell you what?’
‘Skye! I asked her who my dad was – is – but she just left without a word.’ I shrugged. ‘Ada, too. It feels like there’s this wall of silence that I’m never going to be able to penetrate.’
His face was strangely tense as he took my hand and squeezed it. ‘Ada said you can’t remember anything from the day of the crash. Is that true?’
I shrugged. ‘Nothing. The last thing I can recall is you turning up at the cabin, but after that, everything’s a blank.’
He swallowed. ‘So... you don’t remember anything after I turned up?’
‘No,’ I snapped. ‘I just said that, didn’t I?’ Billy looked hurt and I felt bad. I was so snappy and angry these days – and not being able to remember those hours leading up to the crash and the trip to hospital was the icing on the cake, making me feel so frustrated.
‘Sorry, Billy. I just feel . . . lost, confused, angry . . . not myself at all.’
‘Yes, well, it’s totally understandable... what you’ve been through. Just take it easy, okay, and hopefully your memory of that day will eventually come back.’
‘What did we do? What did we talk about?’ I asked him.
He gave me a sad little smile. ‘Oh, nothing much. Just the usual. I can’t really remember, to be honest.’
I chuckled. ‘I’m the one who’s supposed to be having memory problems.’
‘Ah, yes. That’s right. Of course.’
‘Billy, are you okay? You seem... awkward, somehow. Is it hospitals? Do they make you uncomfortable?’
‘What? No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m fine.’
I nodded doubtfully. ‘How about you grab some coffee for us from the machine out there?’
‘Good idea.’ He stood up, scraping back his chair, as if he was relieved to have something to do. ‘Then you can open those chocolates.’
‘Hey, they’re supposed to be for the invalid.’
‘But you don’t like white chocolate.’
I laughed. ‘So that’s why you bought these? So you could eat the white chocolate ones? The cheek of it!’
‘Actually, that was all they had in the hospital shop.’ He winked at me and walked off.
I watched him on his way back with the coffees, noting the stiff little smile on his face. Maybe he felt uneasy being here and seeing me all bandaged up like this.
‘It’s all over with Jenna,’ he said, as we chatted. ‘Do you remember me telling you that?’
‘Really?’ I genuinely didn’t remember, but I was relieved to hear it. ‘Oh, Billy, I can’t help feeling it’s for the best. You deserve someone so much nicer and you’ll find her one day. I know you will.’ I studied him wistfully and he blushed and looked down. ‘You’re looking really good these days, you know. You’ve got a sort of healthy “gym glow”. So at least Jenna was good for something.’
He grinned. Then he glanced at his watch. ‘Better go. But I’ll come back tomorrow if that’s all right?’
‘Of course it’s all right. In fact, I’m counting on you. It gets really boring in here.’
Rising to his feet, he glanced at the bedside cabinet. ‘What’s this?’ He picked up the newspaper, which was open at the story about the old theatre, with its head and shoulders photo of Skye.
I shrugged. ‘Just a thing I kept for Skye.’
‘Oh, yes. You showed me it. It’s about that old theatre being refurbished. Aiyanna Silver,’ he read the photo caption aloud. ‘Do you remember I Googled her stage name and it turned out that the meaning of it was “blossom”?’
I stared at him. ‘Yes! Yes, I do remember that. We... we were sitting outside the cabin, just you and I, and it was sunny and we were talking about that story and that’s when you told me it was over with Jenna!’
‘And do you remember anything else?’ He said it lightly, as if it was of no consequence, but there was a strangely hopeful light in his eyes.
I frowned, trying to remember more. But it was no use. I shrugged. ‘The more I try to remember, the more the images kind of duck away around corners so I can’t see them.’
He nodded. ‘It’ll just take some time, I suppose.’
‘Wait!’
‘What is it?’ His eyes were full of expectation.
‘After you Googled Aiyanna, didn’t I ask you to Google her stage surname as well?’
‘Er, yes. Yes, you did. You called me from the car for that specific reason.’
‘Can you remember what you told me?’
He shook his head. ‘It was a load of chemical symbols... I really can’t remember.’
‘Well, let’s Google it again.’ I reached for my phone. It was something important, I was sure. In fact...
‘Oh, my God!’ I looked up at him. ‘That’s why I smashed into the person in front, Billy. Because I was so stunned by what you told me.’
‘Told you?’ He stared at me. ‘What did I tell you?’
With trembling fingers, I Googled ‘Silver’ and read what it said.
‘Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag (from the Latin word, argentum) and atomic number 47...’
My heart was beating so fast, I could hardly breathe. Images were flooding through my mind: Skye and me at the garden centre; Skye realising it was called Argent’s Garden Centre; seeing her in a tense discussion with Gary, which at the time I’d thought was because she disapproved of his interference in my business plans.
But maybe they were discussing something else. Something far more important than that?
Argentum. Silver. Gary Argent.
My head was whirling. Was it just another flight of fancy, like when I thought I might be Zoe’s baby, adopted by Ada!
I looked up and there he was. Standing in the doorway with Skye.
Gary.