She’d looked away, then. Blushing.
The exact mechanics of that particular form of vasodilation was child’s play alongside the complexities of its causes. Most things were. Edward closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and went back to the matter in hand.
* * *
Lucy was already standing at the nurses’ station when Charlotte returned from her ward round.
‘Hey, Lucy, you look nice. I won’t be a minute. I’ve just got to pick up my coat.’ Charlotte looked around. Just one glimpse of her son after a long day was always enough to lift her spirits.
‘Sure. Why don’t you leave Isaac here with me?’
‘Isn’t he with you?’
‘No. He ran ahead up the stairs. I called after him to wait for you here …’
For one split second the two women stared at each other. Charlotte almost choked as something squeezed tight around her heart, and then instinct and the sure knowledge that she needed to move now took over.
‘Go downstairs, Lucy. Make sure he’s not slipped out of the building. I’ll look for him here.’
She glanced over in the direction of Edward’s office. The view inside was partially obscured by a long, low cabinet, running the length of the glass wall and designed to keep the mess of books and other artefacts under some semblance of control, but she could see that he was no longer sitting at his desk. Not that he’d probably notice if a whole horde of five-year-olds started roaming the corridors, but he’d been the only one there and beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Isaac shouldn’t have gone into any of the treatment rooms. He knew not to do that. All the same she looked, trying not to panic, trying not to cry. Allie hadn’t seen him and neither had Paula. She opened every cupboard, every locked door, just in case. And each time her baby wasn’t there the agitation in the pit of her stomach grew.
‘The receptionist says that he can’t have got out of the building. He would have had to have either opened one of the back doors, and they’re all alarmed, or gone straight past her.’ Lucy arrived back upstairs, red and breathless.
That was something, at least. Mind you, there was plenty of trouble right here that a five-year-old could get into. The swimming pool … Charlotte remembered the swimming pool in the basement and felt suddenly sick.
‘I’ll call Security …’ She grabbed for the phone and then dropped it. Either she was hearing things, or …
Isaac laughed again. That was definitely not a hallucination.
Lucy had heard it, too. ‘Where is he?’ Lucy looked around wildly.
Another laugh. This time deep, round and rich. The kind of laugh that Edward might have, only Charlotte didn’t think she’d ever heard him laugh. Wordlessly she swung round and marched towards the door of Edward’s office, opening it without bothering to knock.
For a moment, in the relief of seeing that Isaac was safe, she didn’t register the scene in front of her. Somehow she noticed that Isaac’s favourite toy, the blue bunny that he carried with him everywhere, was sitting in Edward’s black leather chair, and that Edward was on the floor.
‘Isaac!’ Charlotte gulped out his name. ‘What are you doing?’
Her son looked up at her. Innocent blue eyes and dark blond hair framed the sweet smile which never failed to dissolve her anger and dispel her fears.
‘Hi, Mum. I’m making water.’ He picked up a small red ball from the box in front of him. ‘Look, you take one red one. That’s …’
‘Um … oxygen.’ Edward got to his feet quickly, facing Charlotte with a slightly abashed air. ‘So you’re Isaac’s mother?’
‘Yes.’ She ducked around Edward. She could deal with him later. ‘Isaac, come here, please.’
‘But, Mum, I haven’t shown you. Look …’
‘We mustn’t bother Mr North any more, sweetie. Where did you get that from?’ She looked at the molecule model kit in front of him on the floor. It looked like a great toy and she wished she could afford something like it for Isaac, even if he was a bit young for it at the moment.
‘It’s Edward’s.’ Isaac shot a pleading look up at his new friend, who ignored him completely and sat down in his chair, remembering just in time to pull the blue bunny out from under him before it got squashed. He proffered it to Isaac and when he didn’t show any inclination to take it propped it up against the phone.
It had been a long week, and Charlotte had just about had enough. You could only take so many small crises, each one popping up hard on the heels of the last, before life became one big crisis.
‘Then put everything back in the box and say thank you to Edward. We’ve got to get home.’ Hopefully she could get out of here before the temptation to tear Edward off a strip became too great. Didn’t he realise that someone would be looking for the stray five-year-old who had wandered into his office?
Isaac shot her a look which left her in no doubt that he wasn’t in agreement with that decision, but complied anyway. One down, one to go. Charlotte turned to Edward, who was arranging the blue bunny into a crossed-legs, hands-behind-the-head posture which gave the impression that he was leaning back against the phone, sunbathing.
‘I’m sorry he … interrupted you. We’ll be going home …’
The sheer force of his gaze stopped her. Thoughtful. Intensely blue. And at this moment tainted with an uncertainty that was unlike Edward.
‘Were you looking for him?’
‘Yes. But it’s all right, he’s here …’ Charlotte just wanted to hug Isaac. As soon as she got out of Edward’s office that was the first thing she planned to do.
‘I should have let you know he was here.’
He’d recovered himself now. Whatever emotion he did or didn’t feel was locked away somewhere, no one’s business but his own.
‘That’s okay. I’ve found him now …’ She was shaking. So tired that she was almost in tears. All she wanted to do was get home. ‘Isaac, will you give Edward the box back, please?’
Isaac seemed to have got over his disappointment and carefully collected up the box and laid it on Edward’s desk. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Edward gave Isaac a guarded half-smile and a little formal nod and her son copied the expression in return. ‘Don’t forget … What’s his name?’
‘Stinky.’
Edward raised one eyebrow. ‘Well, don’t forget Stinky, then.’
He looked up at Charlotte and she tried for a smile.
‘Will you stay a moment, please, Charlotte?’
This was the last thing she needed right now. She knew that Isaac shouldn’t have been running around the clinic on his own. Edward didn’t need to tell her that, and it went without saying that it wouldn’t happen again. ‘Isaac, will you go and sit with Lucy, please? Just for a minute.’ She pointed to the patients’ seating area outside.
‘Here.’ Edward leaned forward, towards the boy, proffering a handful of change. ‘Get something for yourself and Lucy from the vending machine. D’you think Stinky wants anything?’
‘No, he doesn’t. He’s not a real rabbit, you know.’
‘Of