‘Marion and Hugo. They’re going to take Bertie from me.’
‘Liv, calm down. How are Marion and Hugo going to take Bertie? It doesn’t make any sense.’
After a series of deep breaths and several false starts, I explained my meeting with Marion.
‘The total bitch. The complete, utter arsehole weasel of a bitch. She can’t do that.’
‘She can. They have money. I don’t.’
‘Yes, but anyone with half a brain can see you’re an amazing mum to Bertie. I bet he’d stand up in court and swear to it if he was allowed.’
‘I’d never put him through it.’
‘What about Rob? What does he say about all this?’
‘God knows. All our communication so far has been through Marion. Either he doesn’t have a mobile phone or won’t share the number, so I have to call his parents’ landline, and Marion screens all the calls.’
‘Bitch face bitch. Liv, let me go to the bank. We’ll fight this together.’
‘I won’t let you do that. The amount of money we’re talking about is too much. If we try to fight it, you can guarantee Hugo and Marion will use all means at their disposal to drag the process out for as long as possible in order to make it as expensive as possible. It would leave you bankrupt, and we can’t have two siblings bankrupt.’
‘I’m sure Dad would help.’
‘Dad needs to keep his money for his care. I’d never see his quality of life compromised over something like this.’
‘Then what are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. Everything’s such a mess.’
‘I’m coming up there.’
‘No, Cass, you don’t need to do that.’
‘You can’t stop me. I’ll have to arrange cover at work, but Jasper’s just finished his four on, so he’s got the next few days off. He can watch the kids while I’m away.’
‘OK, but don’t say anything to anyone except Jasper. I don’t know what I’m going to tell Bertie.’
‘Nothing for the moment. Marion gave you a week, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘Right, so you’ve got a bit of breathing space.’
‘Barely.’
‘OK, go home, have a bath, straighten yourself out. I’ll try to get there in time to do the school run with you. You’re not going through this alone, OK?’
‘OK.’
‘When you get home ask Harry if I can stay for a couple of days.’
‘Will do. Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
The usual twenty-minute walk from the village to the farm took me the best part of an hour. I dragged myself along the track, exhausted from the emotional shock of Marion’s announcement. Every hundred metres, my emotions would swing violently from anger, to hope, to despair. I turned my situation round and round in my head, trying to find a solution I knew deep down didn’t exist. It was a David and Goliath situation, only in this case, David didn’t even have a sling, and his hands were tied behind his back.
When I reached the farm, I assumed everyone was out, until I saw a pair of booted feet poking out from beneath the Land Rover. Harry must have heard my feet on the gravel, for she slid back on a trolley, her face covered in oil.
