CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I’m just in the door after finishing my shift at the bakery when the home phone rings.
I dive on it and it’s Zak at the other end.
‘She’s having every test under the sun to find out what happened,’ he says, sounding far away and distracted. ‘But the good news is she’s sitting up and she’s well enough to be worried about the café.’
I laugh softly. ‘She would be.’
‘She was all for drafting in her sister to take over while she’s out of action. But I’ve told her the café will have to stay closed until she’s out of hospital and feeling better.’
‘That’s the best incentive there is for her to follows doctors orders and get well!’
He chuckles. ‘That’s what I thought.’
When he hangs up, I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s conscious and making plans. That has to be a good sign. Now, all we need is for the tests to reveal nothing sinister.
Zak’s family have driven up from Bournemouth to see Sylvia and they’re all staying overnight in a nearby hotel. I asked if he’d be staying, too, but he said he’d have dinner with them at the hotel then drive back here alone. I’d braced myself to hear him say that the mysterious Beth would be among the party, but knowing he was returning here by himself seemed to rule that out.
I feel relieved that he’ll be back tonight, partly because I’ll be anxious for news from the hospital. It hit me this morning just how fond I’ve grown of Sylvia in the short time I’ve lived in Sunnybrook. The idea of her no longer being at the helm of The Little Duck Pond Café would be too heart-breaking for words.
I call Mum, hiding my worry over Sylvia behind a forced smile. Phone conversations with Mum tend to be very one-sided these days because she can’t remember what she’s been doing that day. So I usually end up babbling cheerfully about anything that comes into my head to fill in the pauses.
After my call, I sink exhausted onto the sofa, wondering if I’ve even got the energy to put the kettle on. What with Mum and Zak taking their toll on my emotions, and now Sylvia, my mind seems to be in a constant whirl of uncertainty these days.
The doorbell intrudes into my tired daze.
A second later, I hear a key in the lock, a shout, and then footsteps scrambling up the stairs. I only have time to register that it definitely doesn’t sound like Zak, when the door bursts open and there stands a stranger.
‘Oh.’ I stare at her in astonishment. ‘Hello.’
My unexpected visitor stares back at me with huge brown eyes. She can be no more than four years old. Her long, dark hair is tied up in a ponytail with a pink ribbon the same shade as her dress. She smiles shyly and leans back against the wall, twisting her dress between her knees.
‘What’s your name?’ I ask her gently, thinking she must be one of Zak’s relatives. Maybe a niece? I know he has a sister . . .
‘Maisie. Maisie Moo.’ She gives me a gap-toothed smile. ‘That’s what daddy calls me sometimes when he’s being silly.’
‘Does he?’ I smile back. ‘And where’s your daddy now?’
‘He’s gone to see Auntie Sylvia at the -’ She screws up her face, looking for the word. ‘The hopital.’
I nod. ‘She’s there to get well again.’
‘I like Auntie Sylvia. She lets me play with all her animals.’
‘Ah, yes.’ I think of the wooden forest creatures taking up every inch of space on her windowsill. She must mean those. ‘They’re lovely, aren’t they?’
She nods. ‘There’s a very lot of them,’ she says solemnly.
I grin. Oh, aren’t there just!
‘My daddy’s always busy so he can’t come and see me very often. But I’ve got a big picture of him in my bedroom at my grandma’s house.’ She opens her arms wide to indicate just how big.
‘Oh. Well, that’s nice, isn’t it?’
I stand up, just about to ask her who she’s with, when I hear footsteps on the stairs and an anxious female voice calls up, ‘Maisie? Are you all right? I wish you’d waited for me like I asked you to, love.’
I’m expecting Maisie’s mum, but the woman who appears in the doorway looks to be in her sixties. She’s tall and elegant in a navy shift dress and jacket, and her neat white hair is tucked behind her ears, giving her a youthful look.
Maisie runs to her and the woman hoists her up in a hug, a grunt escaping.
‘Oof.’ She looks at me with a comical grimace. ‘Not a baby any longer.’ She tweaks the little girl’s nose, making her laugh. ‘Are you, Maisie, my love?’
She walks forward and we shake hands, while I still have no idea who she is.
‘So sorry we barged in on you like this, Ellie. Zak thought you’d be at your mum’s so he gave me the keys to the flat so we could let ourselves in.’ She frowns. ‘I heard about Sylvia. Zak phoned with the awful news this morning when we were already on our way here, so I called in at the hospital to collect the keys from him.’
‘Right.’ I smile. ‘And you are . . . ?’
She looks surprised. ‘I’m Beth, Maisie’s grandma.’
‘Oh.’
I stare at her, a million thoughts running through my head at once.
This is Beth? The woman who Zak calls most nights?
So what about Maisie? Who does she belong to? Where are her mum and dad?
I don’t feel I can ask outright, so I smile and say, ‘Maisie was telling me she has a big photo of her daddy at your house!’ I hold out my arms the way Maisie did.
Beth laughs and sets Maisie down with a relieved sigh. ‘She does indeed. Zak hates it but Maisie insisted so he has no option!’
My head swims with confusion, and as my legs appear to have lost any ability to support me, I sit down rather suddenly on the sofa.
‘Please have a seat.’ My voice sounds faint and far away. I indicate the chair and Beth plops down with Maisie on her lap.
I swallow hard, struggling to process this latest shock. ‘So . . . Maisie is Zak’s daughter?’
Beth frowns. ‘Oh, sorry, I assumed you would know, what with sharing the flat with him. I thought . . . aren’t you . . .?’ She breaks off awkwardly.
‘What?’ I’m confused for a second. Then suddenly, realising what she’s getting at, I feel myself blushing fiercely. ‘Oh, no. God, no! We’re not together or anything.’ I laugh loudly to indicate what a completely ridiculous thought that actually is.
Beth looks at me oddly. Then she strokes Maisie’s hair, her face softening. ‘Anyway, so yes, Maisie stays with me.’ I catch a fleeting sadness in her eyes, but the next moment, she’s smiling brightly at her grand-daughter. ‘Don’t you, love?’
Maisie nods shyly at me. ‘But I’ll see my daddy today!’ she sings, her face lighting up with joy. Then she turns, with a worried look, to Beth. ‘I will, won’t I, Grandma?’
Beth smiles. ‘You will, my pet.’ She stands up. ‘Now, come on, let’s leave Ellie in peace and go and feed those ducks we spotted.’
I listen to them go off happily downstairs. Then I watch them from the window as Maisie runs down to the edge of the duck pond and Beth tries her best to keep up and stop her grand-daughter falling in the water.
I feel a little tug on my heart. Maisie looks so like Zak. She has the same dark hair. The same penetrating dark eyes with their apparent ability to see right through to your thoughts.
Why didn’t he tell me about her?
Where is Maisie’s mum?
And why does she live with Beth?
Now that I know of Maisie’s existence, I can understand better why Zak seems so weary and despairing at times. There must be a reason the little girl doesn’t live with him.
But whatever that reason is, how heart-breaking must it be for Zak to be separated from his daughter like this?
*****
I’m in the kitchen an hour later, wondering if I should start preparing a meal for tonight, when Beth and Maisie arrive back.
Maisie runs into the living room and comes back holding up a doll. ‘Here she is.’
‘Great.’ Beth smiles. ‘Ellie, we just popped back to get Maisie’s things. Zak is taking us out for an early dinner with the rest of his family, but we’ll be staying here tonight if that’s all right.’
‘Yes, of course.’ I immediately start pondering the sleeping arrangements.
‘We were going to be heading back home tonight. That was the plan. But with everything that’s happened today, it makes sense to stay over. Zak says he’ll sleep at Sylvia’s tonight and Maisie and I can bunk up together here.’
Footsteps on the stairs herald Zak’s arrival. When he walks into the hallway, Maisie shouts, ‘Daddy!’ and races towards him, He scoops her up in a giant hug.
‘Ready, Maisie Moo?’ He laughs, holding her tightly and growling like a bear, making Maisie shriek with delight. My heart melts a little, seeing them together.
Zak catches my eye over her shoulder. The look on his face is guarded and sheepishly apologetic at the same time.
‘It looks as if someone’s pleased to see you!’
I smile brightly at him and his face relaxes.
‘And I’m very pleased to see her!’ He tickles Maisie and she squeals happily, trying to escape his grasp.
Beth is watching them with a wistful smile on her face and I wonder again where Maisie’s mum is.
‘Would you like to come out to dinner with us?’ Zak asks as they prepare to leave.
‘Thank you. But an early night is on the cards for me, I think.’
He nods. ‘We won’t be late back.’
And then they’re gone.