‘But I know who he slept with.’ Quinn stares at him.
From the look on Ethan’s face, he wasn’t expecting that. I’m sick to the back teeth of all this. I head towards the door.
‘It was Ruby. I’m sorry, Gemma. I’m sorry that Ethan cheated on you and I’m even sorrier that you thought it was me.’ She takes the coffee from Ethan.
I hate this place and everyone in it. My fists are now balled up and I’m trying hard not to explode. My children are my world. It’s time to leave, so I step out of the studio and along the corridor.
‘Gemma, wait.’ Ethan follows me. He places a hand on my shoulder and steps in front of me.
‘Get out of my way.’
‘We shouldn’t leave Quinn until Harry is with her. I thought she was your friend.’
‘Move,’ I yell. I don’t want to see his face. All I can picture is him and Ruby together.
He holds his hands up and steps aside. My hands go down to my stomach. Beanie and I don’t need any of this drama. We need to leave. I’ll quickly tell Harry that Quinn will be fine then I’m getting the children and leaving.
‘Harry.’ I step into the kitchen area. He’s nowhere to be seen, but Diggerty is still there, eating out of his food bowl. ‘Harry.’
The front door is wide open but Harry isn’t anywhere to be seen. However worried I am, I know Harry is fourteen, that he’s probably just taking some time out or he’s gone to see Morgan.
I hurry up the path. Someone is shovelling snow on Ray’s drive. That’s where Harry must be. As I go to cross the lane, Ray turns up to check his post box, with a shovel in his hand. Tessa is walking from the entrance to the lane.
‘Where’s your car, Tessa,’ Ray says to her.
‘Got stuck in the snow on the main road. I’ve had to leave it there.’
My heart starts banging. I’m trapped, I feel sick. I have to try to get away. Our pickup might still get us out.
Tessa stares at me as she passes.
Ruby is now walking down the lane with a shopping bag, clanking a couple of bottles with each step.
I cross over and stand right in the entrance to her drive. I’m shaking from the cold now, despite having a coat on. My feet are damp and my toes are dead. Ruby frowns and goes to step to the side of me, but I step in her way.
‘What are you doing?’ She frowns.
‘I know what you did. Nice of you to share something extra special with my husband, then me and my unborn child.’ My clenched fists are itching to hit her but I won’t sink that low. Looking at her face, I know I can walk away after dropping that bomb. She doesn’t deny it, she doesn’t even try, and that’s how I know Quinn has told me nothing but the truth. With shaking knees, I hurry to the house.
Ethan catches me up. ‘Gemma, wait.’
I can’t help but let all my frustration out on him. My fists batter into his chest and then I stop dead as I think of Jasmine’s bag that Ethan unearthed in the snug. Jasmine has never been seen since Quinn and I were with her all those years ago. My blood runs cold. That bag, the snug… it’s time to go.
‘Gemma, I deserve all of this. I’m going to help you pack and I’m going to get you and the kids out of here. I’ll just get my phone and things from the snug.’
I drop my fists, relieved that he’s going to help. That’s when I hear Cora shriek. I’ve left her with Morgan all this time and something’s happened. I can sense that was no normal shriek.
Fifty-One
Morgan
I can’t stop Cora from crying so I hug her closely and hope it will pass. I didn’t mean to turn my back on her but I had to go to the toilet, and she slipped off the settee. I don’t know what to do with her. She misses Mum, and Dad is in his own world. He’s been staring at that hole in the wall for hours. I want him to come back up here so I can go to Harry’s because I need to speak to him.
Cora’s cries are giving me a bad head. She isn’t even hurt from that little fall but she’s overtired. I’ve fed her, I’ve played with her, we’ve watched Mika’s Magical Bicycle on repeat, and that song is now making me want to cry along with Cora.
A loud crash at the door makes me jump back into the draining board. The stacked-up plates and pans rattle. Even Cora stops crying as we wait for whoever is out there to unlock the door.
My heart pounds as a key enters the lock, and Mum bursts in. Her skin is normally a light, warm olive colour, but now, she’s pale and her eyes are red and bruised looking, like she’s had no sleep, but she comes in like a storm with the zest of someone who’s downed ten cans of energy soda.
