‘So...’ The gossip was correct, then. ‘You are a genius?’
‘They called it “gifted” when I was a kid. Now it’s called High Learning Potential.’
The twitch of his lips told Charlotte that they were just labels, which Edward didn’t set much store by.
‘I don’t need to be a genius to know that there’s more to your situation than what you’ve told me.’
There was a lot more. Charlotte grinned at him almost automatically, the way she did whenever anyone offered anything that sounded a bit too much like sympathy. ‘Really?’
‘Yeah, really. And you’re not going to convince me otherwise with that smile, either. Even if it is a very nice one.’
Stop now. One thing at a time. Having Edward as a concerned friend was already turning her universe upside down. It was a bit too soon for compliments.
‘You’re right, that’s not all. My husband had...I think it’s probably fair to say has...a gambling addiction.’
‘And that’s why you left him?’
‘I wasn’t that smart. I didn’t know about it until the bailiffs started calling. The first one was the day after Isaac’s second birthday.’ She sighed. She didn’t need to go into details; he was getting the gist. ‘I started out by paying his debts. He promised me that he’d stopped, and I believed him.’
‘But he lied?’ He was blunt, but there was no brutality there. Just the truth.
‘Yes, he just kept on racking up the debts. Internet gaming sites, card games... He maxed out our credit cards and I dipped into the money I’d inherited from my parents just to keep a roof over our heads.’ Charlotte gulped in a breath of air. This time she was going to do things better. She had to for Isaac’s sake.
‘But you couldn’t hold it together.’ Another flat, emotionless statement of the inevitable facts.
‘I did for a while. Then he left. That was eighteen months ago. I sold the house, paid off all the debts, and managed to scrape enough together for a deposit on a smaller house. Made a new start for Isaac and me.’
Edward just nodded.
Caught in the force of his concentration, Charlotte realised that Edward was not an absent-minded, other-worldly creature. He was thinking things through, his ruthless single-mindedness not allowing a single detail to escape.
‘Does your husband know where you are?’
‘Yes, he knows. I was hoping that he’d come and see Isaac but he never has.’
Charlotte heaved a sigh. She didn’t need to tell him about the thing that had damned her the most—it didn’t affect the problem at hand. Anyway, it was humiliating. Even more so than having to admit she was being chased by her husband’s debtors.
She met those blue eyes again. Ever questioning, but not as judgemental as she’d feared.
‘And you said your divorce is in the pipeline?’
‘Yes. I have the Decree Nisi and I’m waiting for the Decree Absolute. I’m hoping that he won’t throw any spanners into the works and put in a last-minute objection.’
‘Do you have any reason to think he will?’
‘No... Maybe... I don’t know. Peter’s not exactly the most predictable of people.’ Charlotte sighed. ‘He’s not strong. He’ll do whatever gets him through the day and forget all about the consequences for tomorrow.’
‘You don’t trust him.’
Damn right she didn’t. She had very little reason to. ‘No, I don’t. The men who called this morning aren’t the only people looking to get paid. I had a telephone call last night from someone who said I owed money for a mobile phone bill.’
‘Do you?’
‘No!’ She was protesting too much again. ‘My phone’s a pay-as-you-go...’
Charlotte reached for her handbag to show him the phone and Edward stopped her, laying his hand on her wrist.
‘It’s okay.’
‘It isn’t. The divorce won’t protect me if he’s managed to raise a line of credit in my name, and I’ve no money to pay off any more of his debts.’
It was as if she and Isaac were being dragged back into the nightmare that she’d worked so hard to get out of, and there was nothing she could do about it. Charlotte gulped back the tears, pulling her hand away from his grasp.
‘What did you tell them?’ He was still calm, almost icy cool. Still focussed on the facts.
Charlotte took a deep breath. She should try to sound a little more grateful, Edward had already helped her more than he had any reason to. ‘I said that I had no knowledge of the account in question and asked them to put everything in writing and send it to me.’
‘Good. We can start making enquiries on Monday. In the meantime, is there anyone that you and Isaac can stay with?’
‘Not really. My parents are dead and I don’t have any brothers or sisters...’ She tried to smile, make light of it, but Charlotte had never felt so alone. ‘We’ll be okay. I’ll take the phone off the hook and lock the door...’
‘You’ll stay here.’ Even Edward seemed surprised at his uncompromising words.
‘No! I mean...Edward, it’s kind of you to offer, but I couldn’t think of it.’
‘What about Isaac? I gather that Sunday mornings are a favourite time for debt collectors to make their calls. He’s old enough to know what’s going on now.’
Low blow. He’d found the spot where her guilt was almost unbearable. ‘I thought he was too young to remember. But when those men called this morning...’
Isaac had understood exactly who they were and had launched himself at them, trying to drive them away, trying to protect her. Charlotte had managed to keep hold of him, and the men had smirked at each other as she bundled him back into the house.
She heard Edward sigh.
‘Look, you need to get yourself and Isaac out of the firing line for a few days, until you have a chance to sort this out. I’ve plenty of room here—there are two spare bedrooms upstairs—and you’ll both be safe.’
He didn’t mince his words, or dress it up to make it sound as if she had a choice, but he was right. She did need to get her son away from this nightmare, and she had nowhere to take him.
‘Charlotte.’
He reached out to her, his finger tipping her chin upwards. His shrewd blue eyes saw straight through her. There were no excuses, no way that she could just fob him off with something.
‘Where else are you going to go?’
HE HADN’T MEANT to be cruel, just to look at the situation rationally. But when she finally gave way to her tears, her forehead sinking until it almost touched the surface of his kitchen table, her body trembling with the effort that it seemed to take her to cry, Edward realised that she wasn’t the only one who was in over her head. He didn’t feel equal to this—not the crying woman at his kitchen table, or the vulnerable child on his sofa—and the knowledge that he was way past the point of dispensing some good advice and leaving them to it wasn’t helping much.
‘Hey.’ He reached out, touching her arm tentatively with the tips of his fingers. ‘Charlotte, please don’t.’
She ignored him, and it had been a stupid thing