Part 13 (2/2)

'Thanks.' I switched off my phone and lay down on the rumpled bed, feeling totally sick. I'd been fobbing Mark off about my so-called 'flat' for weeks and now he was going to see this horrible room. But I was past caring. Thank G.o.d we were off down to Bournemouth in a few days and leaving it all behind. This had been the worst week of my life. Why had everyone been so b.l.o.o.d.y awful to me? I'd only done what anyone else would have done under the circ.u.mstances, and anyway, it was time they were all jolted out of their little suburban heaven, d.a.m.n them!

Chapter Eighteen.

Karen had given Peter his tea early, bathed him and put him to bed. He'd just about worn her out today, whingeing and crying for Adrey all day. Simon had insisted that she stay at home to look after him. There had been a horrible scene about it last night when she got home from Susan's flat. Karen shuddered at the memory.

By the time she'd arrived home Adrey had gone. Simon had put Peter in his car seat and driven her to the station. He was waiting for her when she got back from her mother's. She found him sitting in the living room with a face like thunder and the moment she got in, he started.

'I hope you're proud of yourself!'

Karen began to take off her coat. 'Well, I'm sorry but Louise was certain you were kissing her,' she said. 'How was I to know...?'

'You didn't wait to find out, did you,' Simon stormed. 'Just came steaming in, throwing accusations around like confetti. That poor girl! It was the last thing she needed, or deserved after the news she'd just had.'

Karen winced. 'I know that now and I'm really sorry.'

Simon snorted. 'Too little, too late. She won't be coming back, thanks to you!'

Karen hung up her coat and came back to sit down opposite Simon. 'Well, I'll write a letter of apology to her.'

'I'm sure that will be a big comfort to her but you still won't get her back,' he said sarcastically. 'She said she'd have to stay anyway, to support her mother.'

'Oh, then it isn't all my fault?'

'So you think that makes it all right then, do you? Bursting in and accusing the poor girl of seducing your husband. And have you even given a thought to how humiliating it was for me?'

'I've said I'm sorry.'

'Have I ever given you any reason not to trust me?'

'No.'

'Then why start now at the worst time possible? And since when have you taken anything Louise said as gospel?'

Karen sighed. 'I don't know. I was tired, I suppose. Adrey is very pretty and just lately ...'

'Just lately you've had no time for me or Peter. You're always too tired and preoccupied. You were suffering pangs of guilt, that's it, isn't it?' Karen's shoulders drooped and he went on: 'Incidentally, in case you're wondering, I put Peter to bed. You're so self-centred you haven't even enquired about your son!'

'Well, I guessed you'd put him to bed, obviously. And I told you, I'll write to Adrey and apologize. I suppose we'll have to get Peter into a nursery now,' she said, half to herself. 'Either that or ask Mum to-'

'Oh no! We'll do nothing of the sort,' Simon broke in. 'From tomorrow you'll be taking care of him.'

Her eyes widened. 'But that's not possible. What about my cla.s.s?'

'I'll get a supply teacher in until I can replace you. You're packing the job in right away, Karen; at least until Peter goes to school. I've had enough. You're a wife and mother. That should take priority.'

So here she was, stuck in the house all day with a fractious child and a whole heap of ironing that Adrey hadn't had time to do before she left. And all thanks to Louise. Karen ground her teeth at the thought of how much she'd like to wring her sister's neck. Why had she believed what she said? She had to admit that Simon had been right. If she faced up to the truth she knew it. She had been neglecting her home and family lately. Once home from school, she had been too tired to play with Peter too tired to listen to Simon's news when he came home, and at bedtime, too tired to make love. It was weeks since she had shared any intimate moments with Simon and if he had strayed she knew that she would only have had herself to blame.

But to have to stay at home day after mind-numbing day felt like a punishment. Peter was adorable, of course, and she loved him to bits, but to be restricted to the conversation one could have with a two-year-old, or, worse, with the other mothers cl.u.s.tered round the swings in the park, obsessed with which supermarket was the cheapest or which were the best nappies, was enough to drive her mad. A wail from upstairs told her that Peter was awake and demanding attention again. She sighed. Maybe she'd put him in his buggy and walk round to her mother's. It would pa.s.s the afternoon and by the time she got home it would be Peter's teatime.

Susan was pleased to see them both and immediately put the kettle on for the inevitable cup of tea.

'What are you doing home at this time of day?' she asked as Karen took off Peter's coat.

'Simon has insisted that I give up my job now that Adrey has left,' Karen told her. 'She's not coming back. Thanks to Louise I made a complete fool of myself yesterday. That poor girl had just received a devastating telephone call and then I burst in with my accusation. Simon was absolutely incandescent with rage when I got back, and that was when he insisted that I give up the job at once and became a full-time mother.'

Susan smiled sympathetically. 'Well, I can't really say I blame him, dear,' she said. 'Peter needs his mum and you know, you never get these lovely baby years back again.'

Privately Karen thought it was just as well but she didn't say so. Like Simon, Susan held the old-fas.h.i.+oned notion that a woman's place was in the home. 'Peter is missing Adrey,' she told her mother. 'He's been really difficult all morning nearly driven me balmy with his whingeing.'

Susan pulled the little boy onto her knee. 'Poor little chap,' she said, dropping a kiss on the toddler's blond head. 'At this age, stability and routine are important. I'm not surprised he's upset. If you want any help, Karen, you know I'm always willing to lend a hand, don't you?'

Karen smiled. 'Yes, I know you are, Mum, and I'm really grateful. I might take you up on that.'

'It's not as if I'll be doing anything else,' Susan said wistfully. 'Ted came round with a bouquet of flowers while Louise was here one morning. I was out and I'm afraid she told him where to go in no uncertain terms.'

'She had no right to do that,' Karen said. She looked up at her mother. 'Although you weren't going to think of starting the relations.h.i.+p up again, were you?'

Susan sighed. 'I don't know. I really miss him. Maybe I should have given him more of a chance to explain.'

Karen snorted. 'Huh! What's to explain?'

Susan sighed. 'Ah well, I'll never know now, will I?'

'Why can't Louise keep her meddling nose out of other people's business?'

'I think that's what they call the sixty-five thousand dollar question,' Susan said.

Chapter Nineteen.

When there was a ring on my bell on Sat.u.r.day morning, my heart jumped into my mouth. Ever since the break-in, I'd been really nervy and the landlord had refused to do anything about the broken door, saying that it was down to me to get it repaired.

I picked up the entry-phone. 'Who is it?' I called from behind the chest of drawers that had been securing it ever since the break-in.

'It's me Mark.'

With huge relief, I buzzed him in and when I heard him outside, I pushed aside the chest and opened the door. He looked at me quizzically. 'What's with all the furniture removal?'

'Being burgled isn't something to joke about,' I told him. 'As I told your sister, I came back on Thursday night to find the place had been thoroughly gone over and the door still isn't fixed.'

He looked around. 'What are you doing in a dump like this anyway?'

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