Page 187 of Take My Hand

“Zak, it’s fine.”

“No,” he said determinedly. “She could have split us up, and I won’t ever forgive her for that.”

We then walked back to school and as Zak squeezed my hand, it felt good to have a small level of normality. Even though the next couple of hours were probably going to be the saddest of my life so far.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Will

Holding Maya’s good hand, we filed into the school hall, slow-footed and sad, like everyone else. After Maddy had gone to school, Sam had called to say he and Lou were going to Ana’s assembly and asked if I wanted to tag along. I didn’t think Maya would want to come, but she’d said she’d be honoured. She’d only met Ana the once, but she mattered to Maddy and that was enough of a reason for Maya.

“There’s Mike and Susan at the front, with Theo,” Lou whispered to me as we took our seats. “I can’t imagine how they’re feeling.”

The idea of what they were going through, filledmewith a fear that I’d never felt before. Thinking that could have been me sat at the front of the hall made panic rise in my chest, and I hoped to God that it was never would be. It made me think about Steven and his son, and what he must have been going through. I needed to decide about the transplant, but more importantly I needed to contact his son, mybrother.

“Is that Ana’s brother?” Maya asked, rousing me from my thoughts.

Theo looked just as shattered as his parents, yet he was the one with his hand in his dad’s and his arm around his mum. He was holding them up even though he looked like he was ready to collapse in a heap himself.

“He’s a couple of years older,” I told her. “Poor kid.”

“Emma’s mum is waving to you,” Sam hissed from the side of his mouth. “She never gives up does she, even on a day like today.”

She was waving her fingers and smiling, and it was totally inappropriate considering why we were sitting in the hall. At least when I gave her a chin dip, she turned back to the front to watch the staff and kids taking part in the assembly troop onto the stage.

“Oh bless.” Maya sighed and clutched her sling. “Maddy.”

My gaze followed Maya’s, and my heart dropped to my boots with a thud. My little girl looked so damn sad. She, Emma and Liv were all holding hands, and they looked so small standing next to Mr Anderson, their head of year, and Miss Coombs, the head of school. There were another couple of teachers who I didn’t know, and Becky Marshall, the head girl, who was clutching a book. All of them looked desolate, but the girls were by far the most overwrought with sadness.

“I can’t stand this,” I muttered, feeling my gut clench. I was halfway out of my seat when I spotted him.

Zak Hoyland.

When he placed his foot on the first step up to the stage, I stood to my full height and took a half stride. That was all it took for Maya to grab my hand.

“Don’t Will. Just wait.”

I looked down to see a raised warning brow. She then looked back at the stage, her eyes urging me to look for myself. When Isaw him pull Maddy into his arms and kiss the top of my head, exactly what I would have done, a sense of relief washed over me.

“They made up,” I whispered.

“I had no doubt.” She gave me a knowing smile. “He’s a good boy and he likes to think he models himself on you, so of course he was going to grovel for something he probably didn’t do.”

“You don’t know he didn’t do it,” I grumbled, my eyes still on the scene playing out on the stage. “The evidence was pretty damning.”

“Believe me when I tell you this,” she replied with a smirk, “there are some awful girls out there, and if he didn’t do it—and I believe he didn’t—then I’m pretty sure one of those awful girls in this world did. Either that or she got some weaselly suck-arse little boy to do it.”

“Christ, you know some horrible people,” I laughed and settled back in my chair watching as Zak held Maddy’s face and said something to her. After she nodded, he kissed her forehead and then went back to his seat. My eyes then moved to Emma who was crouched at the edge of the stage where Liam was reaching up his fingers linked with hers as they talked. “You have a good kid there,” I said to Lou as she shifted in her seat.

“Takes after his dad,” Sam said leaning forward to give me a self-congratulatory smile.

“You know him?” Lou asked.

Maya and I snorted a quiet laugh. “Bloody hell, I love her,” Maya said, placing her hand on my thigh and giving it a small squeeze.

“Yeah, she knows how to keep him in his place.”

Sam leaned forward and tapped Maya’s knee. “I am Liam’s dad really. It’s a running joke that she thinks is funny.”

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