Amy opened the door nervously, like someone who was terrified of being attacked on her own doorstep. As her eyes alighted on Emily, they widened in horror. ‘Em! What are you doing here?’
‘I’ve come to see you.’ Emily tried to keep her face passive but she was so shocked by Amy’s appearance that it was a huge effort. It was only a week or so since she had last seen her but she seemed to have aged years in that time. ‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’
Amy hesitated and for a moment Emily thought she might refuse but eventually, reluctantly, she opened the door a bit wider and moved to one side. Emily stepped into the hallway and immediately shivered. It was a beautiful house. Perfect, in fact. But there was something cold and forbidding about it. The air seemed to hang thick with tension. They faced each other awkwardly. ‘I was worried about you. Sophie told me about your phone call. I thought it best I come round.’
Amy reddened. ‘I’m fine. I just had a bad moment. I felt terrible for Sophie. About what happened.’
Emily nodded. ‘Why are you wearing a scarf? It’s boiling hot.’
Amy’s eyes slid away. ‘Sore throat,’ she muttered. ‘I thought it might help. Anyway, do you want a coffee?’
Emily nodded. ‘Yes, please. Where’s Megan?’
Amy busied herself making coffee while Emily pulled up a chair at the kitchen table. ‘She’s out with her nanny.’
Emily watched Amy as she moved around the kitchen. She was hunched over and her hand kept moving to her neck to adjust the pale blue cashmere scarf she had wrapped around it. It was obviously irritating her. ‘Why don’t you take that scarf off, Amy? It looks really uncomfortable.’
Amy stopped spooning coffee into the cafetière and turned to look at Emily. Without her saying a word, Emily knew.
‘Look, Amy, you don’t have to stay. You have options.’
‘No. Actually I don’t.’
There was such a defeatist tone to her voice that it made Emily prickle with annoyance. ‘There are always options, Amy. You could come and stay with me for a while.’
‘In your little flat?’ Amy put the coffee down in front of Emily and shook her head. ‘There wouldn’t be enough room for us all.’
Emily sighed with frustration. ‘We’d manage. For goodness’ sake, Amy, the most important thing is your happiness… And your safety,’ she added, aware that she was overstepping a boundary.
Amy picked up her cup and took a sip of her coffee, deep in thought. ‘But, Megan… he’d make sure…’
‘Bring her with you, of course,’ Emily urged, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice. ‘Pack a few things and come with me now. Before he gets home.’
Amy’s hands started to shake. ‘I don’t know…’ she said, her breath catching. She looked like an animal caught in a trap.
‘You do know. Come on, Amy, you need to leave. You can’t carry on like this.’
Amy’s face hardened, as if she was steeling herself for battle, and she stood up shakily. ‘Oh God,’ she whispered to herself. ‘What am I doing? OK,’ she said, giving Emily a pleading look. ‘OK. Wait here.’
Emily waited, her heart pounding. It was ten past four. As the hands of the clock creaked through the minutes, she inwardly prayed that Nick wouldn’t come home early for some reason. She hated to admit it but she was scared of him. It seemed impossible and ridiculous to be scared of that handsome, charming, thoughtful man, who had so beguiled them all at the beginning. She imagined how it must be for Amy, living with that fear day after day.
By the time Amy reappeared, clutching a large overnight bag, it was almost four thirty. Emily stood up and swallowed, meeting Amy’s terrified eyes with what she hoped was an encouraging expression. ‘OK. Let’s go.’
Amy’s eyes widened. ‘I can’t go without Megan! We have to wait for her to come home.’
Emily’s heart sank. ‘Of course.’ She sat back down. ‘When will she be back?’
Amy looked at her watch. ‘Soon. They’ve been gone an hour.’
Emily nodded. ‘OK. Well, just make sure you’ve got everything you need so that we can leave straight away.’
‘I have.’ Amy sat down opposite Emily and stared at the clock, as if willing it to stay put. After what seemed like an hour but was only five minutes, the front door opened. ‘That’s them!’ Amy jumped up and ran to greet the young nanny, who was pushing Megan in an expensive, upmarket buggy.
She wheeled her into the kitchen and gestured towards Emily with a quizzical expression. ‘Oh… Suki, this is my good friend, Emily,’ Amy gabbled the introduction.
‘Hi,’ Suki said, without looking at Emily.
Emily took an instant dislike to her. ‘Hi,’ she replied, her chilly tone matching Suki’s.
Suki bent down and began to undo Megan’s straps.
‘Oh no! It’s OK, leave her. We’re going out.’ Amy picked up her bag.
‘Really? It’s nearly time for Megan’s tea.’ Suki tilted her head, so that her mane of golden hair fell in perfect ripples over her right shoulder. She was undeniably beautiful but Emily could tell from the malicious glint in her cold blue eyes that she was as hard as nails. She was no friend of Amy’s, that was for sure.
‘Yes, Amy’s coming shopping with me,’ Emily said, standing up. Without realizing it, she had automatically squared up to Suki.
‘Oh. OK.’ With a last suspicious scowl at Emily, Suki shrugged and unhooked her handbag from the buggy. ‘Well, I guess I’ll just go and watch TV for a while…’ As she walked out of the kitchen, she was already texting on her mobile phone.
Emily looked at Amy, who she could see was quivering with fear. How the hell had Nick had this effect on her? And how could she stand sharing her child with someone as vile as Suki? ‘Ready?’
Amy hesitated. ‘Yes. No.’
Emily tried not to let the prickles of irritation she was feeling show. Amy bent down and stroked Megan’s face. The little girl tilted her dark head towards Amy’s hand and smiled a gummy smile, instantly reminding Emily of Jack at the same age. It was such a magical time, when they were just beginning to talk and walk. ‘Drink?’ Megan said, with another imploring smile. She was adorable.
‘You want a drink, darling?’ Amy kissed Megan’s forehead. ‘OK, Mummy’s going to get you a drink and then we’re going out.’
‘Get out?’ Megan replied, tugging impatiently at the straps holding her into her buggy.
‘No, sweetheart, just stay there for a minute while I get you a drink.’ Amy was already filling a baby cup with water.
‘Want to get out!’ wailed Megan, her bottom lip protruding. Emily knew there was an almighty tantrum brewing. She recognized the signs. ‘Why don’t I take her out of her buggy and carry her?’
Amy nodded, flustered. ‘Sure. Oh damn!’ The cup she was trying to put a lid on tipped over and the water pooled onto the floor. While Emily undid Megan’s straps and lifted her out of her buggy Amy was mopping up the spill with kitchen paper.
Emily looked at the clock nervously. ‘Come on, Amy. We really need to go.’
‘I know!’ Amy finished mopping the floor and refilled the cup.
‘Right, put your bag in the pram and I’ll carry Megan. Oh no…’ She tailed off as a familiar smell reached her nostrils.
‘What?’ Amy looked up at her in alarm.
‘I think someone’s nappy needs changing. But, look, let’s just leave and we can find a loo somewhere along the way.’ As if on cue, Megan burst into noisy tears, her little fat cheeks flaming red.
Amy instinctively reached out for Megan and cuddled her to her chest, stroking her hair. ‘No, I’ll change her. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.’ She whisked her out of the room before Emily could object.
The sense of foreboding that Emily had started to feel began to grow. She somehow knew what was going to happen next before it happened. Sure enough, the front door opened and Nick walked in. ‘Hi, Emily,’ he said, with a wide, even smile. He kissed her on both cheeks and threw his arms out. ‘This is a lovely surprise.’
Emily narrowed her eyes at him. He was convincing, she’d give him that. No one would ever guess what a nasty piece of work he was. ‘Hi, Nick.’
‘Where’s Amy?’ He gazed around the kitchen, as if expecting her to materialize from one of the cupboards. As he did so, his eyes alighted on something. Emily watched in fascination as he walked over to the large sideboard behind the table and moved a candle just a couple of centimetres to the right. Then he swung around and smiled again at Emily, sending a chill down her spine.
‘She’s just upstairs changing Megan.’
‘Ah…’ There was an awkward pause. Then Nick spotted Amy’s overnight bag. ‘Going somewhere, were you?’
Emily hesitated, aware that this was potentially a dangerous situation. ‘Shopping,’ she said, her tone as light as she could make it.
Nick’s smile slipped a fraction and he looked at his watch theatrically. ‘Odd time to go shopping. Ah, and here she comes,’ he added, as Amy’s footsteps could be heard on the stairs.
Amy rushed into the kitchen carrying Megan and sat her in her pushchair seemingly not having noticed Nick leaning against the sideboard. ‘Sorry, that took longer than I thought.’ She did up Megan’s straps and stood. ‘Right, let’s go quickly before I change my mind.’
‘Why don’t you leave Megan here, darling? You don’t want to be bogged down with a pram on your shopping trip.’
Amy jumped as if she’d been shot. ‘Nick! What are you doing home so early?’ she stammered, her pale cheeks flaming instantly.
‘Oh, I got a text from Suki. She wanted me to help her with something. Anyway, sweetheart,’ he continued, unstrapping Megan and lifting her out of her buggy, while Amy watched open-mouthed. ‘At least you can go shopping unencumbered, eh?’ He cuddled Megan and began to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet, making her giggle with delight.
Amy looked helplessly at Emily. Emily felt a sudden, desperate urge to punch Nick hard in his smug, handsome face. Only the fact that he was holding Megan prevented her. ‘Nick’s right,’ she said, knowing that her voice was quavering with anger. ‘We can shop unencumbered, Amy. Come on, let’s go.’ But she already knew that Amy wouldn’t be coming with her. She couldn’t. If she left without Megan, he would see to it that she never got her back.
Amy shook her head, almost imperceptibly. ‘Maybe another day?’ Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
For a moment, Emily considered snatching Megan out of Nick’s arms and telling Amy to run but there were too many risks and besides, he was so much stronger than her. Instead, she nodded, holding Amy’s desperately sad eyes with her own, trying to convey to her that everything would be OK. But she felt defeated. As she made her way towards the door, she turned to look back at Nick. ‘I like Amy’s scarf,’ she said, fixing him with a cold stare. ‘A nice present from you, I take it?
Nick’s dark eyes clouded and he pointedly turned his back on her. ‘Goodbye, Emily. Lovely to see you as always.’
As Amy opened the front door to show her out, Emily hugged her, whispering in her ear. ‘Call me as soon as you can. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, I will come and get you. You can’t stay here.’
Amy let out a low, guttural sob. ‘I can’t leave either,’ she whispered back, her voice hoarse.
As the door closed behind her and Emily trudged down the beautiful stone steps, she felt as if she had just abandoned a puppy in the middle of a motorway.