“It was a late night. She’ll sleep until we pour cold water over her,” Billy joked. That was indeed the case at times.
“Not when something important is happening,” Rosa answered. She stood up. “I’ll see you in a bit. You need to let your mum know we’re here.”
Billy nodded and followed Rosa out of bed. “Might as well do it now.” She pulled on her robe, then looked at Rosa. “Here, put this on.” She took it off and held it out.
“That’s a lovely thought, but I think our daughter might question where I got it from.”
“True.” Billy put it back on. “Okay, I’ll go down and make us some coffee and breakfast. You sneak in and pretend to wake up.”
They shared a grin, Rosa inching forward. “I like waking up with you.”
“I like it too.” Billy kissed her nose, then watched as Rosa grimaced. “I’ll brush my teeth.”
Rosa cracked the door open and stepped out into the hall. She’d taken two steps when the bathroom door opened and Imogen stepped out, blinking at her.
“Mum?”
Rosa stopped in her tracks, her brain going into overdrive. Imogen’s brow furrowed, eyes narrowing. Rosa’s mind raced, trying to get ahead of whatever Imogen was about to ask.
“Morning. I thought I’d let you sleep. Ma and I have been talking about how to—”
The door behind her opened, then Billy stepped out, straight into the wide-eyed stare of her daughter.
“Hey,” she said as nonchalantly as she could, understanding instantly they’d been caught. “Ah, that saves us the problem of waking you up.”
“Yes, I was just saying how we were discussing what to do next.” Rosa turned to Billy with a look she hoped Billy could read.
“Uh huh.” Billy nodded, clearly getting the memo. “Yep. I’m going to get breakfast going and wake up Gran, though as you’re up, maybe you can do that and surprise her.”
The idea filtered through to Imogen. She grinned. “I can do that,” she said brightly, though her eyes still darted back and forth between the pair of them. “I’ll get dressed and come get Gran a coffee to take in.”
Billy stepped forward, walking ahead of Rosa. “I’ll have that made in a jiffy.” She turned quickly to Rosa. “I’ll have one ready for you, too, when you come down.”
“Thank you, that would be lovely,” Rosa said, finally looking away from Imogen.
For several seconds they all stood in place and then, as if on cue, they moved—Billy to the stairs, Rosa and Imogen to the bedroom.
Once inside, Imogen said, “You’re not lying to me, are you?”
Rosa stiffened. “About what?”
“Like, Ma didn’t wake you in the night with terrible news about Schultz and you’ve been in there working out how to tell me?” Her voice cracked and her eyes moistened. “Because I’m okay. If you need to tell me something like that, I can handle it.”
Rosa saw through that bravado in an instant.
“No, sweetheart, that’s not what happened.” She stepped towards Imogen and pulled her in for a hug. “We’ve not heard anything about Schultz. Billy will probably call the hospital in a minute, though, and check in.”
“Okay.” Imogen sniffed. “Just…I know I need to be brave if—”
“You stop right there.” Rosa pulled back to look into Imogen’s face. “You do not have to be brave. There won’t be any pretending to feel something other than what we’re feeling, and if you’re sad or scared or any other emotion, you’re allowed to show it and let it out.” She gripped her chin gently. “Do you understand me?” she asked softly. “We don’t pretend we’re okay. We feel it, and we say it.”
Imogen nodded. “Okay.”
Rosa smiled. “Good, so I’m going to get a shower. I’ll be quick.”
Chapter seventy-six
Imogen gently knocked on the door, and when there was no response, she twisted the knob and opened it wide enough to look in and see her Gran still sleeping.
