I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes Julia is sitting beside me.
‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t here,’ she says, clasping my hands in hers. They feel cold and her cheeks are ruddy, as if she’s just come in from a brisk walk. ‘Your mum has just told me what happened.’
‘Where were you?’
She looks sheepish. ‘Out. With Nathan. We decided to go for a stroll around the village. We’ve talked …’
‘And?’
‘It’s going to be a long road ahead. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive him. But we have Ruby to think about. She needs a mother and a father now. I don’t know how it’s all going to work – if Nathan will even get custody of her – but he’s her real father and he wants to get to know her. She has no idea yet that he’s her dad. We can’t rush it but …’
I squeeze her hand. ‘I’m so pleased.’
‘Ruby’s been through so much.’
‘She knew, I think,’ I say, ‘about what Selena was doing. That she wasn’t as ill as her mother made out.’
Julia frowns. ‘How do you know?’
‘Because Nigel – Selena’s husband – turned up earlier. I think Ruby overheard part of their row.’ I fill her in on what he said. As I’m talking, Julia’s face turns a strange colour and she looks as though she’s about to faint. ‘Julia?’ I say, concerned.
‘Oh, God.’ She groans, putting her head in her hands.
‘What? What is it?’ I’m half standing up, the duvet gathered under my armpits, ready to call someone.
She indicates for me to sit down, so I do. I wait for her to say more.
She collects herself and straightens, a look of resolve in her eyes. ‘It’s nothing. Really. I’ve not eaten. I’m just feeling a bit faint, that’s all.’
‘Okay,’ I say, although I don’t believe her. When I spoke about Ruby and Nigel something seemed to occur to her. But I can’t press her on it. She’s already closing up.
Maybe it’s something to do with the Munchausen syndrome by proxy. ‘Ruby’s health definitely seems to be improving. Do you still think it was all fabricated? Ruby’s illness, I mean?’
She nods. ‘I really do. Selena has had a traumatic past. Your mum told me about her upbringing and how she was treated by her own mother. Maybe she was getting the attention she felt she deserved through Ruby. I don’t know.’
I remember how she’d looked at Evie in the garden that day, with something close to hatred. Was it because Evie was getting the attention she felt she and Ruby deserved? I suppose I’ll never know.
‘It’s just so sad,’ I say, my eyes filling with tears at the thought of Ruby being subjected to that. And then I remember something. ‘Before you and Nathan arrived, Selena woke me in the middle of the night. She said Ruby was fitting. But when the paramedics arrived she was fine. She woke me and Adrian saying her phone had died. When they were at the hospital I found her phone. It was partly charged.’
‘She wanted the attention from you and Adrian. That’s why she called you before she phoned for the ambulance. For the drama. I doubt Ruby even had a seizure. She probably had a temperature that would have gone down with Calpol.’
‘I tried to give her some Calpol but she walked away,’ I say, remembering. ‘Now I know why.’
We stare at each other in silence. Eventually Julia says, ‘Ruby will never have to go through that again. At least something good has come out of Selena’s death.’
The next morning Mum accompanies Nathan, Julia and Ruby to the park. I know they’re planning to tell her the truth about who her dad is. I watch them troop out of the house with a heavy heart. Ruby’s already been through so much.
‘You’d better tell the girls,’ says Adrian, watching me.
‘She’s my niece,’ I say, as it hits me for the first time.
I go upstairs to find Amelia and Evie. I still feel slightly breathless but I have my inhaler with me. Evie is playing with her teddies in the corner of her bedroom and Amelia is lying on the bed with her diary resting on her knees. Her expression is dark. She’s never been a smiley child, but over the last few days she seems almost shrouded in misery. I sit beside her on the bed and see the words ‘I HAVE A SECRET’ in large letters before she whips away the diary, snapping it shut.
‘What do you want?’ she barks.
I wonder whether to mention what I’ve just read. I decide on another tack. ‘Honey, is everything okay? You’ve not been yourself for days.’
She scowls. ‘Duh, not surprising when someone has died here.’
