Julia sighed. “I’d love to, but I can’t leave the club, and I want to keep an eye on Mum.”
Excuses, her conscience taunted her.
“When will she come out of the hospital?”
“Any day now,” Julia said, a yawn escaping and slurring her words.
“You must be tired. I’ll let you go to bed. Dream of me, sweetheart.” The phone clicked, disconnecting the call before she could reply.
“They’re letting me out for good behavior. Next week.” Her mother’s first words on seeing Julia stride into her hospital room.
Julia dropped onto the seat beside her mother’s bed. “That’s great. Do you need me to come and pick you up?” Although her mother moved slowly, she looked so much better after the heart surgery. “You have roses in your cheeks again.”
“That’s what Janet said. Janet will pick me up. I will stay with her. It will be quieter and I won’t have to tackle stairs. How’s that young man of yours getting on? Have the newspapers stopped printing stories about him?”
“I try not to read them. I miss him.”
“Of course you do,” her mother said. “How is he getting on with the child?”
“Good.” Julia pulled out her phone and showed off the photos Ryan had sent her.
“I didn’t realize he looked so much like Ryan. You told me he did, but I thought you might have exaggerated.”
Julia frowned, accepting the phone back. “Why would I do that?”
“I’m not blind, Julia. You’re here and Ryan and Alex are in Tauranga. If you’d really wanted to go with them, you would have found a way, which leads me to believe the pair of you had a disagreement.”
“Quite the detective.” Julia didn’t bother hiding the bite in her reply. Her mother knew her well.
“It’s only natural the appearance of a child—another woman’s child—would upset a relationship.”
“I lost a baby after Ryan and I married. This…” She waved her hand when her mother started to speak. “Alex’s appearance in our lives rattled me, and I’m afraid I panicked a little.”
Elise’s forehead crinkled. “A baby. Oh, hon. You should have told me.”
“I was a mess. I told no one the details, not until recently.”
“But you and Ryan are still talking?”
“Every day. Sometimes more often. He sends me texts and photos.”
“Communication is an important thing in any marriage. Your father and I never talked. That should have clued me in,” her mother said ruefully.
“You never talk about him.”
“Maybe it’s time I did,” her mother said. “I’ve watched you with Ryan. That boy has feelings for you. You care for him too, otherwise you wouldn’t be so cut up about your current separation.”
“I miss him, and I want to get to know Alex.”
Her mother’s eyes sliced through her. “You’re worried about rejection, about Ryan leaving you.”
“My father didn’t exactly hang around, and he’s never wanted to see me.”
“Some men are arseholes.” Her mother was blunt, her attitude uncompromising. “We were both better off without him. He was a rich kid, playing at slumming it. When his family learned about my background, they did everything they could to split us up. Francis never put up a fight. All he wanted was wealth and the good times that came with plenty of money.”
“But you told him about me?”
“Of course I did.”
