Page 27 of Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital

‘I suppose she’s been feeding you poison, has she?’ Mike snarled, but the only effect it had was for Chloe to pull her shoulders back straight, as she turned towards Alice and Zara.

‘Girls, could you go and get me a drink please?’

‘We can stay and hear this; we all know what Dad’s been up to. It’s bloody obvious. And he hasn’t even said he’s sorry about Beau.’ Zara shot her father a look of absolute disgust, but Chloe was right, the girls didn’t need to be part of this conversation and Wendy shouldn’t be there either.

‘Come on, love. Chloe wants a drink, and I’ll come down with you. I think she needs to be on her own with your dad for a little while.’ She turned to look at Chloe, and silently mouthed the word, ‘Okay?’ waiting until the other woman had nodded before hurrying the girls out of the door.

‘He’s doing to her what he did to you, isn’t he?’ They were barely out of the door before Alice asked the question, and Wendy wasn’t going to lie for him any more.

‘I think so, but what happens now is for Chloe to decide.’ Ushering her daughters along the corridor, she wanted to say so much more, and to tell them she hoped Chloe found the strength to walk away far sooner than she had. What Mike had already done to Chloe was unforgiveable, but the way he reacted in the next half an hour or so would be the true measure of the man,and Wendy had a horrible feeling he’d come up shorter than ever.

Alice had got another call, this time from Chloe, asking if they could all come back up to the room, and telling her that her father had left.

‘I think I might hate Dad.’ Zara looked down at the floor and then up at her mother, as they reached the corridor where Chloe’s room was. ‘How could he just go off and leave Clo after this? Do you think he’s even held Beau?’

‘I don’t know, sweetheart, but maybe Chloe asked him to leave.’ The last thing Wendy wanted to do was defend her ex-husband, but she didn’t want her daughters to hate him either; for their sake, not his. She didn’t need to make any space for Mike in her life any more and, if she could, she’d have arranged it so that she never had to see his face again. But she understood that the girls might want him in their lives, and she wasn’t going to stand in their way if they did. Sometimes children were capable of forgiving a parent for unimaginable wrongs, and if there was even a slight chance that her daughters might one day want to try and rebuild their relationship with Mike, she was going to encourage them to leave the door open so that they could. But if it was him that wanted it, and not them, she’d happily help them slam that door in his face when the time came.

‘Clo asking him to go doesn’t excuse what he’s done.’ Zara was adamant and, when Alice agreed, all Wendy could do was nod. Zara might not technically be an adult yet, but her daughters were grown women in so many ways. They were far from stupid; they’d seen Mike’s behaviour with their own eyes.They knew he hadn’t been playing golf, and they’d seen him lash out and try to blame Wendy for Chloe’s reaction to his excuses.

Wendy looked at her daughters as they reached the hospital room. ‘All we can do is be there for Chloe; I’ve got a feeling she’s going to need as much support as she can get.’

‘I always knew I had the best mum.’ Zara planted a kiss on her cheek, giving Wendy a warm glow. It wasn’t a sentiment her youngest daughter had ever shared before, and it hadn’t been one she’d anticipated either. ‘But even I didn’t expect you to be this kind to Chloe. I doubt she’ll ever forget it, and I know I won’t.’

‘Me neither.’ Alice linked her arm through her mother’s on the other side, and Wendy tried and failed to blink back tears for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Whatever bitterness she’d held on to for all the wasted years with Mike, he’d given her the most amazing children.

‘Chloe.’ Wendy said her name gently as they entered the room. At first glance it looked as if she had fallen asleep, but she was staring down at her son, who she was holding close to her chest, and her head shot up as they came in. Chloe’s eyes were bloodshot and the shadows beneath them almost violet. Wendy had an overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around both Chloe and Beau, so instead of second-guessing whether she should act on it, she just did it. When Chloe rested her head on Wendy’s shoulder, she knew she’d done the right thing.

‘He didn’t even want to hold Beau, he barely looked at him.’ Chloe gave a shuddering sigh as Wendy finally released them both. ‘He just kept saying I needed to put all of this behind us, and that we could try again. Like Beau is replaceable. You understand he’s not though, don’t you?’

There was so much hope in Chloe’s voice. She needed someone to say that they understood, but it wasn’t something Wendy needed to pretend to go along with. She completelyagreed with Chloe. Another child might fill her empty arms, but it would never replace her son, and she’d always feel his loss and wonder what might have been.

‘Of course I do. But maybe Mike is in shock.’ She was slipping back into old habits, despite telling herself she wouldn’t do it any more, and defending him, not for his own sake but for Chloe’s. But Chloe was already shaking her head.

‘He wasn’t shocked enough not to try to lay the blame at everyone’s door but his own. He said you were trying to turn me against him, but he did that all by himself.’ Chloe looked towards the girls, but Alice shook her head.

‘You don’t need to try and protect me and Zara. We’ve seen it for ourselves.’

Chloe nodded, wiping away a fresh crop of tears with the back of her hand. ‘I asked him if he’d ever really loved me, or whether he only proposed because I was pregnant. I didn’t need to wait for an answer, I saw it in his eyes.’

‘He doesn’t deserve you, he never has.’ Wendy put an arm around Chloe’s shoulders, and she could feel her shaking.

‘Maybe not, but I can’t help thinking that I’m fundamentally unloveable. It was part of the reason why I wanted a baby so much. Children always love their mums, don’t they? Even the mums who aren’t any good.’ Chloe couldn’t stop the tears any more, no matter how hard she tried to wipe them away, and one plopped on to the blanket swaddling Beau.

‘You’re an amazing mum, not many mothers would have the strength you’re showing and you’re far from unloveable.’ Wendy looked towards her daughters, knowing she’d have their support. ‘The girls love you. That’s been obvious to me from day one.’

‘We do.’ Zara’s response was emphatic, and Alice was nodding too.

‘I wasn’t expecting to, when I found out you weren’t that much older than me. Dad is many things that aren’t all that great, but I can at least say he has impeccable taste in the women he’s asked to marry him.’

‘Thank you.’ Chloe managed a half-smile, but the tears still weren’t slowing down. ‘I’m just so scared of being on my own again, especially when I have to leave Beau. The last thing I want is to go back to Mike, but I don’t know where to go, or where to start trying to find somewhere else to live.’

‘You don’t have to.’ As she said the words, Wendy knew she should probably have run it by Gary before she made the offer she was about to make. But she was even more certain that she needed to make the offer. She also knew that, unlike Mike, Gary was everything a good man should be, and that he’d never turn someone like Chloe away. She needed a safe space to stay until she was strong enough to face the future, and Wendy would do whatever it took to make sure she had one. ‘I want you to come and stay with me and Gary. It means the girls can see you whenever they want to.’

‘I couldn’t ask you to do that.’

‘You didn’t. You and Beau became a part of my daughters’ family when you got pregnant, which means you’re a part of my family too. And, right now, you need to be with your family.’ Wendy held her gaze. ‘I’m not taking no for an answer.’

‘Thank you.’ Chloe’s bottom lip trembled, as a fresh crop of tears began to fall. Wendy couldn’t fix Chloe’s heartbreak, but she’d do whatever she could to help her find a way through it. After all, no one was better qualified to navigate the devastation that Mike was capable of leaving behind than she was.

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