‘Justine says Cassie assumed so but really she had no idea where he’d gone. He didn’t use the work excuse this time, but he was certainly uncontactable. He didn’t answer his phone, he never called her. That was it. He just left. It was then Cassie realised he’d taken her iPad along with all the cash from her money saving jar, which she rarely checked. It likely wasn’t much but that wasn’t the point. Justine also said she was at Cassie’s house one day when a guy showed up looking for Paul. By the looks and sounds of things, it was obvious he was high and looking for his supplier and they deduced it was likely Paul going by what the man said.’
Noah’s jaw tensed. ‘And now I’ve brought Paul back into Eva’s life. I’ll never forgive myself for that.’
‘You weren’t to know. You were trying to do the right thing by responding to his letter.’
‘I realise now that Paul is exactly the man I thought he was when he first turned up at my house – not to be trusted, a liar, a man out for himself and himself only.’
She couldn’t imagine what it must be like for him and she didn’t miss the tension when Eva’s snuffly noises turned into bigger ones that couldn’t be ignored.
‘How about I go?’ Maya suggested. ‘You sit here, I won’t be long, I hope.’
The little girl was surprisingly calm at seeing a stranger and she stopped crying the moment Maya held her in her arms.
Holding her reminded Maya so much of Isaac. She’d longed to have another baby, maybe even two more, but she’d known early on that Conrad wasn’t the man she’d thought he was when she got married and bringing another child or children into that wasn’t what she wanted. It wouldn’t have been fair on them.
After a few minutes, she settled Eva back down in the cot. ‘I think your mummy and I might have had something in common when it came to choosing men. We went for the wrong ones.’ She stroked her head. ‘They’re not all like that, though. Noah isn’t, he’s kind and wonderful and you’re lucky to have him in your life.’
She quietly pulled the side of the cot back up, knowing this could go one of two ways. Either Eva would fall to sleep again after some comfort or she’d scream bloody murder when Maya left the room.
She tiptoed along the corridor and out onto the back porch. Thankfully, Eva had gone for the former. So far, at least.
Noah had got two beers from the fridge. She hoped he hadn’t heard what she said to Eva. ‘Onto the hard stuff, eh?’
‘I’ve not opened yours, wasn’t sure whether you’d want it.’
‘I couldn’t possibly let you drink alone.’ She thanked him when he removed the top and handed her the bottle. If he’d heard her, he wasn’t letting on.
‘You know what you could use,’ she said as they sat there, the darkness surrounding them now. ‘A porch swing, rather than a bench.’
‘A swing?’ She didn’t look at him but she’d come to know when he considered something carefully, he adopted a frown that creased his forehead in a way that suggested he was a man who thought deeply about things that mattered. ‘That might work.’
‘Could be good for Eva when she won’t settle. And for you to kick back after a hard day.’
‘You sound as though you have porch swing experience.’
‘Hardly, my house isn’t big enough for a porch, let along something swinging on it, but I’ve seen it in the movies and always wanted one.’
He nodded but after a beat, his frown was back. ‘What am I supposed to do, Maya?’
‘The man is a turd.’
‘Definitely a turd,’ Noah chuckled. ‘I mean, who does that, walks away from a baby and doesn’t look back? And when they do, they want paying to stay away or they’ll go for custody. It’s all wrong and disturbing on so many levels.’
‘How did Cassie pick up the pieces when he left her and Eva?’
His beer sloshed in the bottle when he brought it down from his lips. ‘She had me and Justine; we were both there for her. Cassie cried a lot in the weeks after the birth. She never explained why and I never pushed her, I assumed a lot was down to baby blues. But she did confide in Justine and I was happy with that. Justine got her to the doctor a couple of times. And then, a few weeks after it seemed that she was going to be messed up forever, it was like a little ray of sunshine came out. She became the Cassie I’d always known, the one who took charge of her own life and who got things done. She became a single parent and somehow managed to blossom doing it.
‘The stronger Cassie got, the more she started to see her situation differently. Justine told me that rather than worrying about the lack of paternal support, Cassie started to feel relief that Paul wasn’t around. She no longer had to worry about the sort of father Paul would be because he was out of their lives. She loved Eva with her whole heart. She swore Justine to secrecy, said she didn’t need me hunting Paul down – which I would’ve done, for the record – and so life continued until…’ His voice broke off and emotion caught in the back of his throat.
Maya couldn’t imagine the devastation at losing a sibling. If it were Julie, she knew she’d fall apart at the seams.
‘What’s your next step?’ She was distracted by the warmth of his citrusy aftershave or shower gel carried on the night breeze. ‘I know you said you’ve got no idea what to do, but you might have to start thinking of a plan. Have you thought about contacting a lawyer?’
‘I haven’t got the kind of money a lawyer will charge if this fight is a long one. Bringing up a kid doesn’t come cheap. And then there’s Paul’s threat that he could very well turn around and say I asked for money to take Eva. Nothing was written down between us; it’s my word against his.’ He put his face in his hands. ‘I could lose contact with Eva for good and I couldn’t bear it if that happened.’
She waited for him to gather himself. He might show hurt and vulnerability, but Noah was strong too and she imagined he wouldn’t want her to see him completely undone.
‘I can’t let that man have Eva, Maya. I can’t. I love her. My sister was glad he was out of their lives, so how can I let him back in?’
