Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.
HarperElement
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperElement 2017
FIRST EDITION
© Cathy Glass 2017
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017
Cover photograph © Deborah Pendell/Arcangel Images (boy, posed by model); Shutterstock.com (background)
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
Source ISBN: 9780008187569
Ebook Edition © February 2017 ISBN: 9780008187606
Version: 2017-03-02
Contents
Chapter Eight: Plans for the Future
Chapter Ten: Another Matter Entirely
Chapter Twelve: Why Did They Stop Loving Me?
Chapter Thirteen: Angry Outbursts
Chapter Fourteen: Nobody’s Son
Chapter Fifteen: An Eerie Noise Outside
Chapter Eight
Lin and Jill both telephoned on Monday morning for updates on the weekend. I was able to say that the visits had gone very well and I outlined what we’d done. Lin thanked me and said that Debbie was in court on another case for most of the week and she’d be in touch when she had a moment, but in the meantime she’d keep her updated. When I spoke to Jill she said, ‘Good luck, Cathy. You’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up. You know where I am if you need me.’
‘Thanks, Jill.’
I’d written a simplified version of the timetable of introduction for Alex and had pinned it to the cork board on his bedroom wall so that each morning he knew what was happening that day, and he could tick it off at night. The telephone call on Monday from his family was a little laboured to begin with. Alex hadn’t had much experience of using a telephone and answered his mother’s questions politely, but with one word, so it made conversation a little difficult.
‘Have you had a good day at school?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Alex replied.
‘Have you had your dinner?’
‘Yes,’ Alex said.
‘Did you eat it all?’
‘Yes.’
It was similar when Edward spoke to him. Edward asked Alex which subjects he liked best at school and he said, ‘Games.’ Edward followed it through by asking which games in particular he enjoyed and Alex said, ‘Football.’ And so it continued. But it didn’t matter that the conversation was a little awkward, as this call would still achieve its purpose: to maintain and develop the bond that was starting to form between Alex and his new family, and which would gather momentum towards the date when he moved in.
However, conversation became easier when it was James’s turn to talk to Alex. Alex visibly relaxed, and after they’d both said hi Alex asked James if he’d made any more robots. James said no because he had homework to do. I was sitting beside Alex on the sofa during the call, and he replied that he had homework too – reading and science. They then spent some time discussing the ills of homework and how it should be banned so they could play all evening at robots and similar. Eventually James said he had to go and practise his violin, and Rosemary came on the line again to say goodnight to Alex. When they’d finished Alex passed the phone to me and Rosemary said she was pleased James and Alex had had a good chat, and then confirmed the arrangements for the following evening – that they would be with me at about 5.30 for dinner and would stay approximately two hours. Rosemary apologized that she still couldn’t say for definite that Edward would be joining us, but he would do his best to leave work early.
On Tuesday morning Alex was so excited that his mummy, daddy and brother were coming again that it was no surprise he told his teacher. At the end of school she came out to see me in the playground.
‘Alice Cork,’ she said. ‘We met briefly before.’
‘Yes.’
‘Alex has been telling me all about his new family. He’s so excited. His social worker spoke