‘Scammed? What are you talking about, Mum?’
‘Somebody’s turned up here claiming you’ve fathered a small child. Is the supposed mother here too? Has she been leeching off you financially?’
‘Emily’s mother is not here,’ said Nick, voice tight. ‘And no one has been leeching off me. Carla’s dad is dying. She had to go to be with him and had no one else to leave Emily with.’
‘A likely story,’ said David. ‘You ring up this Carla and tell her to pick up that child and take her home. I’m not having some bastard in my house. And you’ve got no money of your own, so it’ll be me who has to pay for this. That’s not going to happen.’
‘No,’ said Nick, ‘what’snotgoing to happen is that I’m going to call Carla.’ Nick’s voice was firm, and with a shock he realised he was standing up to his father. For the first time in his life.
‘Wait a moment, young man—’
Nick carried on despite his father’s remonstrations. ‘I made Carla a promise,’ he said. ‘I’m waiting for the results of a DNA test, but there’s no doubt in my mind. Emily is my child. She’s your grandchild, and you’ll have to get used to it, because we’ve nowhere else to go. You’re stuck with us. Both of us.’
His parents started talking over each other, their voices growing louder and more panicked by the second.
Nick couldn’t bear to speak to them any longer. He turned on his heel and strode to his bedroom. He paused at the door, torn. Then he ducked into the room, grabbed a pillow and duvet, and carried them to the spare bedroom, making a nest on the floor beside Emily. If she woke again in the night, he didn’t want her bumping into his parents. He’d be there for her. And he was determined to stay there for her, whether they liked it or not.
Chapter 37
Kitty was setting up her classroom, ready for the day, when a knock came on the door. ‘Come in,’ she called, expecting to see a member of staff. Instead, it was Nick who popped his head around. Her cheeks flushed hot.
‘Oh, um, Mr Andrews, hello. Uh, um, what are you doing here? Is everything all right?’
Nick walked into the room, Emily tugging on his hand.
‘Come and see my pictures, Nick,’ Emily cried, while he threw an apologetic glance at Kitty. ‘Come and see what I’ve done.’
She dragged him to the far wall of the classroom, where Kitty had set up an art gallery of the children’s work.
Kitty joined them. ‘Emily’s very good at drawing, isn’t she?’ she said, trying to get control of her heartbeat, and the situation. What was he doing here? The children weren’t meant to arrive for ages yet.
Sam wandered into the room, two mugs of coffee in her hands. ‘Oh, hi, Nick. What are you doing here so early? School doesn’t start for another forty-five minutes.’
‘I, um…’ Nick appeared very flustered. ‘I wondered if I could have a quick word with Miss Brown.’
Sam peered from Kitty to Nick and raised her eyebrows. Kitty wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
‘Emily,’ said Sam, ‘could you come and help me outside? I need to set up the sandpit.’
‘OK.’ Emily let go of Nick’s hand and ran to Sam.
Kitty mouthed a ‘thank you’, although she wasn’t feeling all that grateful. After what had happened the night before, the last thing she wanted was to speak to Nick. She’d hoped to avoid him and had even been planning to ask Sam to greet the children as they came in.
‘Sorry,’ Nick said as soon as Emily and Sam had left the room. ‘I wanted to check you’re OK.’
‘I’m fine,’ said Kitty. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Who was she kidding?
Nick stared hard. ‘You know why.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Listen, about what happened …’
Kitty grew hot. ‘What happened was a mistake,’ she managed. ‘It’d been an emotional evening, and emotion got the better of me.’
‘And if my parents hadn’t turned up?’ he asked.
Kitty didn’t know how to respond. She turned to a table and began setting out a series of dinosaurs on a large plastic tray.
‘Kitty.’ Nick placed a hand on her shoulder.
Kitty shrugged him off and stopped putting out the dinosaurs. She braved him face to face, keeping her voice steady. ‘Nick, last night was a mistake. Neither of us is in the right place to start something new.’
