Page 40 of The Silent Patient

“Alicia, darling, listen. There’s something on my mind I want to talk to you about.”

The way he said it made me instantly nervous. I braced myself, fearing the worst. “Go on.”

“I want us to have a baby.”

It took me a moment to speak. I was so taken aback I didn’t know what to say.

“But—you didn’t want any children. You said—”

“Forget that. I changed my mind. I want us to have a child together. Well? What do you say?”

Gabriel looked at me hopefully, expectantly, waiting for my response. I felt my eyes welling up with tears. “Yes,” I said, “yes, yes, yes…”

We hugged each other and cried and laughed.

He’s in bed now, asleep. I had to sneak away and write all this down—I want to remember this day for the rest of my life. Every single second of it.

I feel joyous. I feel full of hope.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I KEPT THINKING ABOUTwhat Max Berenson had said—about Alicia’s suicide attempt, following her father’s death. There was no mention of it in her file, and I wondered why.

I rang Max the next day, catching him just as he was leaving the office.

“I just want to ask you a couple more questions if you don’t mind.”

“I’m literally walking out of the door.”

“This won’t take long.”

Max sighed and lowered the phone to say something unintelligible to Tanya.

“Five minutes,” he said. “That’s all you get.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. You mentioned Alicia’s suicide attempt. I was wondering, which hospital treated her?”

“She wasn’t admitted to hospital.”

“She wasn’t?”

“No. She recovered at home. My brother looked after her.”

“But—surely she saw a doctor? It was an overdose, you said?”

“Yes. And of course Gabriel got a doctor over. And he… the doctor—agreed to keep it quiet.”

“Who was the doctor? Do you remember his name?”

There was a pause as Max thought for a moment. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.… I can’t recall.”

“Was it their GP?”

“No, I’m sure it wasn’t. My brother and I shared a GP. I remember Gabriel made a point of asking me not to mention it to him.”

“And you’re sure you can’t remember a name?”

“I’m sorry. Is that all? I have to go.”

---