“I’ve been so worried about you. And Frank...” She stopped; Frank’s troubles were the last thing Dylan needed to hear about right now. “Frank misses you too” was all she said.
Libby faltered, feeling self-conscious talking to someone who couldn’t hear her. On the other side of the curtain, she could make out the soft chatter of the nurse as she changed the old man’s dressing, but her words were indecipherable.
“Esme sends her love; she’ll come to visit you later. She was the one who found you here. I went looking for you, at your flat...”
Libby took a deep breath.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend, Dylan? Your dad told me and I didn’t want to believe him, but then I heard she was here...”
Libby trailed off and it was a while before she spoke again.
“Simon’s asked me to move back in with him.”
She studied Dylan’s face, looking for any twitch or movement, but he remained motionless. She looked down at his hand resting on the edge of the bed.
“I know if you were awake you’d probably tell me to run a mile. But I’m scared, Dylan, scared to do this all alone. I thought I was strong enough after everything that’s happened, but now I’m not so sure.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Libby saw something move and she snapped her head up. But it was only the curtain blowing in a breeze as the nurse walked away.
“I think I’m going to say yes to Simon. It’s what’s best for the baby, so it can grow up with its biological father. And I think it might be what’s best for me too.”
Libby stopped, half hoping that Dylan might suddenly sit up and tell her she was making a terrible mistake, but he didn’t move. She reached out and touched the bandage on his head, running her hand along where his Mohawk once sat.
“I wish it hadn’t ended up like this, Dylan. I wish things could have turned out differently.”
From inside her bag, Libby heard a buzzing sound, and she reached down and pulled out her phone. Simon’s name wasflashing on the screen. She stared at it for a moment, then slipped it back into her bag.
“I have to go. I need to speak to Simon.”
Libby stood up but didn’t walk away immediately. She looked down at Dylan, at his peaceful, handsome face. Then she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.
“Good-bye, Dylan. I love you.”
The words slipped out of Libby’s mouth before she realized what she was saying. Tears stinging her eyes, she turned and hurried out of the ward.
CHAPTER
42
Three Months Later
Libby let herself out of the house and walked up the road toward the bus stop. There was a chill this morning, her breath visible in the autumn air, and she pulled her coat around her body as best she could. She’d not bothered to buy a proper maternity coat, thinking it was a waste of money, but at thirty-four weeks pregnant, she was beginning to regret not having anything that would cover her ever-expanding bump.
It was only a ten-minute bus ride to the library, where she and Simon were attending an NCT course today. It had been his suggestion that they go, as a way for Libby to make “mum friends,” as Simon had put it. And it was true that she hadn’t done much socializing since she’d moved back to Surrey; with everything she needed to do to get ready for the baby’s arrival, she’d not had much spare time.
As Libby approached the library, she heard her phone ringing.
“Si, I’m just arriving,” she said as she answered.
“Libs, I’m so sorry but I’m not there yet. I’m still at therugby club. The bloody car has broken down in the car park and I’ve got to wait for the RAC to come.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I don’t know; the engine won’t start. I’m so sorry; will you be okay going on your own?”
Libby stifled a sigh. “Sure, I’ll be fine.”
She hung up and headed into the library, where a librarian pointed her toward a meeting room at the back. When she got to the door, Libby glanced in. There were five couples, all sitting in chairs arranged in a semicircle, facing a middle-aged woman wearing a cheesecloth top and floral boots. The woman was holding a plastic model baby and what looked like a knitted breast. There were two empty chairs in the semicircle.
