Page 66 of The Midnight Secret

‘...What?’ He was disoriented but alert, off the bed within a moment and staggering to the door.

Flora twisted from her position on the window sill to get a better look.

‘...Landon?’ James’s voice was deep with tiredness. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘May I come in?’

James stepped back.

‘Mrs Callaghan,’ Landon nodded, a small frown crossing his face as he took in their general state of disarray. Flora realized James was in only his trousers; she was wearing just her slip...Clearly they hadn’t been expecting visitors. James had been at the door before either of them could collect themselves.

‘You’ll have to forgive appearances,’ James muttered. ‘We’ve been feeling...under the weather.’

Landon made a noncommittal sound. Flora noticed he was carrying a large brown paper bag.

‘What can we do for you?’ James asked.

‘I’ve found a way into the quarantine unit.’

Flora gave a small gasp, but James’s eyes narrowed. ‘...But you said it was impossible. The biohazard security...?’

‘Let’s just say I’ve befriended a nurse there. We’ve had a couple of dates these past few days...I persuaded her to give me this.’ He held up the bag, looking over at Flora as James took it from him and looked inside.

‘It’s a nurse’s uniform.’

Landon nodded. ‘Only Mrs Callaghan can go in. My...friend has given me her rota: shift changeover times, tea breaks...Plus the patient list. If we time it accurately, your wife can get in there and into the woman’s room before the next shift starts their rounds.’

James looked at Flora with wide eyes, disbelief slowly marbling with joy. Could this really be happening? They’d been granted a second chance?

She pulled the uniform out of the bag: a white, mid-calf-length dress, white soft-soled shoes, a white cloth hair cap and a mask that looped over the ears, covering her mouth and nose.

‘When can we go?’ she asked, her voice little more than a breath. It hurt so much to hope. To become solid again.

‘Can you be changed and downstairs in twenty minutes?’

James nodded on Flora’s behalf.

‘Then I’ll take you over there. You can follow in your car.’

He left the room quickly, and they stared at each other. Was this really happening? Flora began to dress, her heart racing, fingers fumbling on buttons as James began to pace and plot.

‘We need to go about this the right way,’ he murmured. They had never planned on Flora being the negotiator. James was better placed, not just as a businessman, but for being more emotionally removed. He had no history with these women. But Flora...she had once seen Lorna as a friend, had trusted her with her health and her baby’s life, only to be betrayed in the most heinous of ways.

‘You said that Lorna’s not like Mary? That at heart, she’s a good person?’

‘She is...Shewas. But I don’t know any more. I never would have thought Lorna could do what she did to me.’

‘Love can make people do crazy things,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘But she’s been locked up in quarantine for over a month now, with no contact with Mary beyond letters. That will have given her time to reflect while she’s been all alone. She might well have been having regrets. Second thoughts.’

Flora shook her head. ‘I doubt it. She’s come this far.’

‘But if it wasn’t her idea in the first place...she might have gone along with it because Mary so badly wanted a baby. We saw how determined she was about keeping him, especially if she can’t bear a child herself...But that might mean this was never Lorna’s personal crusade. If she wasn’t the driving force behind it –that’sour way in. At heart, she’s a nurse. She helps people. She has a conscience.’ He jabbed a finger at Flora, finding conviction in the plan. ‘You never know – seeing you here and giving up the baby might be a relief for her. She might want to do the right thing but just not know how.’

Flora thought about what he had said, trying to contain her hopes. Even if all this was true and Flora could appeal to Lorna’s better nature, could Lorna hold any sway over Mary? Last night, Mary had showed them her determination to be a mother: the child was lying inherarms, the paperwork in her name. She held all the cards.

But the lion was known by the scratch of his claws. And as Flora set the nurse’s hat upon her head, she reminded herself Mary wasn’t the only one with a sharp swipe.

Landon pulled up on the opposite side of the street to one of the wooden grain stores, James just a couple of feet behind him. Flora looked around at the empty docks as her husband cut the ignition. Small icy banks of dirty snow were heaped alongside the road, the sky hanging so low it almost bumped their heads. A bleak, depressive mood was hanging over the whole city, not just her.

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