Page 93 of The Puck Stops Here

‘What he did to you was wrong, honey, I’m not questioning that. I’m just questioning whether he deserves to be punished for something he didn’t have a say in.’

‘Didn’t have a say in? He had every say!’

‘But you know what his father was like, what his home life was like…’

‘His life was always that way; it didn’t stop him making all those promises and then walking away without so much as a backward glance.’

‘What if he’d had no choice?’

‘There’s always a choice when it comes to answering the phone, but he ghosted me, like I meant nothing, and I deserved better than that.’

‘You did, honey, you did.’

‘And there’s nothing he could say now that would make me feel any different so I don’t understand how you can.’

‘He should’ve answered the phone, he should’ve been there for you, especially when your dad was sent down but…’

Sissi’s eyes welled up and Astrid bit her lip, her friend’s obvious pain making her hesitate. She wanted to tell her about the fight, about the police and Blake, but she couldn’t. Not without betraying Blake’s confidence and she wouldn’t do that.

‘I think he felt that if they stayed, their father would ruin their lives for good.’

‘And what aboutmylife?’ her friend choked out with a sudden fire in her eyes. ‘What about our baby’s life?’

What!Astrid jerked alert.

‘Sissi? Did you just… were youpregnant?’ Her gut rolled, her mind with it. Never had Sienna mentioned a baby, a pregnancy… at sixteen! ‘When heleftyou?’

‘He didn’t know. I tried to tell him but…’ she whispered, eyes blinking back the tears that insisted on falling anyway. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have – I never talk about it. I…’

‘Honey, it’s okay, you can talk to me. God, I wish I was with you…’

Sissi gave her a tremulous smile. ‘Me too.’

‘You don’t have to talk, but…’

Sissi looked away, her eyes turning distant as Astrid absorbed the magnitude of what she was saying. Of how terrified and lost and all alone she truly had been. Astrid’s mother had only been a couple of years older but at least she’d had Granny and Grandpa. She’d had support. She’d had love.

Sissi had had no one.

‘I found out after he’d left…’ she said softly, her tearful gaze returning to the screen. ‘Everything was such a mess. I didn’t know what I was doing, how I was going to cope, how I was going to tell Dad… I just needed him, Aiden. I knew that if I spoke to him, he would make it all okay, that I wouldn’t be alone. But he wouldn’t answer the phone. I called and called. I wasn’t begging for him to come back to me, I was begging for him to just bethere. For me and our child.’

‘Oh my God, Sissi…’

‘And then… I lost the baby,’ she whispered. ‘I wasn’t taking care of myself, I was so broken over Aiden, then my dad was involved in that car accident; he was going to prison. My whole world was falling apart, and I… I miscarried.’

Astrid pulled her robe close, shivering with the weight of it – what her friend had gone through all alone, her loss and her continued pain. ‘I’m so sorry, honey.’

‘It was my fault. If only I’d looked after myself properly. If only I’d?—’

‘No! No, you can’t see it that way. You can’t blame yourself.’

‘But I do. I blame myself and I blame him. For all his broken promises and for not being there when I needed him the most.’

‘Yeah…’ Astrid nodded, she got it now, truly got it. How Aiden had swanned on with his life while poor Sissi… a miscarriage. She couldn’t bear it. ‘I’ll make him pay, love, I promise.’

And the sooner the better… for her own heart’s sake, too.

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