‘They said they don’t know why it happens – it just does,’ Jack said, sounding completely defeated. ‘We didn’t plan to have a baby so early on, but that doesn’t mean I hadn’t got my head around being a dad.’
‘I know,’ Elle replied sympathetically.
Jenny returned from the coffee machine and handed him a cup. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘And please, get yourselves home. There’s nothing anyone can do here.’
‘Do you want us to fetch you anything?’ asked Jenny.
‘No, I’m fine. Mim should be here any second, and she’s picked us up a few bits and pieces – in fact here she is now.’
They all looked up to see Mim hurrying through the doors of the hospital. The second she locked eyes with Jack he shook his head. ‘We’ve lost the baby,’ he murmured, the tears still falling. Taking him in her arms, she whispered, ‘I’m so sorry, Jack.’
Elle looked at Jenny, who nodded towards the door. They slipped away quietly, leaving Jack and Mim in a tight embrace of grief.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Elle and Jenny travelled back home in a taxi together. They sat in silence for the whole journey – there was nothing more they could do or say. When the taxi pulled up outside Elle’s house, they hugged each other and said goodnight.
As Elle stepped into the house, she saw that Pippa had been kind enough to leave the living room light on for her, which Elle switched off before wearily climbing the stairs to bed. She peered around Pippa’s bedroom door to see she was fast asleep. After getting changed for bed, Elle opened her phone. She had only two per cent battery left. Her thoughts turned back to the second before the ambulance doors were shut, when her gaze had locked with Noah’s. She didn’t have a clue why he was there, but he’d recognised her, he’d said her name. She loaded up his socials, wondering if he’d sent her a message or if there might be any posts explaining why he was there, but as soon as his profile loaded, the phone died.
Exhausted, she put her phone on charge and slipped under the duvet. The moment her head hit the pillow, Elle was asleep.
* * *
When she woke the next morning, her mood was sombre and her thoughts immediately turned to Eleni and Jack. It had been such an awful end to what should have been a lovely fun evening. Hearing a gentle rap on the door, she looked up as Pippa popped her head around the door with two mugs of tea. ‘I took a punt you were back. I thought you might like one of these.’
‘Thank you.’ Elle sat up in bed and clasped one of the mugs. Pippa slid into the bed next to her.
‘What do you say in situations like this?’ murmured Pippa.
Elle shook her head. ‘I’ll text Jack in a little while to see if there’s anything we can do, but in situations like this, you always feel helpless. It’ll be something they need to deal with together.’
‘Why do bad things happen to nice people?’
Elle shrugged. ‘Sometimes life is very cruel.’
They sipped their tea for a moment. ‘How was your journey home with the lads?’
Pippa sighed. ‘Strained. Aiden ignored me for most of the journey and just fiddled about on his phone. I tried to make small talk but that’s exactly what it was – I’d ask a question and he’d answer in a few words or less. Other than that, we travelled home in silence.’
‘What was Wilson doing at this point?’
‘He was resting his head against the window with his eyes closed, but I’m pretty sure he was just pretending to be asleep to avoid having to make conversation. The taxi dropped him off first…’
‘Which just left you and Aiden in the taxi alone.’
‘Yes, so I took the opportunity to ask him if something was wrong and it was just like we’d feared.’
‘He knows you slept with Wilson.’
Pippa nodded. ‘Yes. Apparently, Wilson confided in Jack that we’d spent the night together and that he wanted to see me again. Then, last night in the pub, Jack asked Wilson how we were getting on.’
‘In front of Aiden?’
‘Yes, which was a little unfortunate, and as you can imagine, Aiden wasn’t very impressed with me. I tried to explain it was just one of those things, a spur-of-the-moment decision, but he just stared resolutely in the other direction until the taxi pulled up outside our house. It was awful. If I could turn back time…’
‘But remember, you haven’t done anything wrong. If you wanted to be with Wilson, you could be. You’re not, because you prefer Aiden.’
‘I do feel crappy about it all though.’
