Page 74 of The Holiday Cottage

Oh, what did it matter? All that mattered was that Imogen wasn’t lying in a ditch or worse. For now, that was enough. The sense of relief was enormous.

“Sara and I will go straight there now. And Miles—” she swallowed “—thank you.” She ended the call and looked at Sara. “He’s bringing her to Holly Cottage. Let’s go.” She stood up and looked round the kitchen, flustered. “She didn’t eat anything at lunchtime. She must be starving. I’ll wrap some of the chicken and take the loaf I baked this morning. There’s chocolate cake in the tin. Sara, could you grab that?” She glanced at Sara and saw her typing a message into her phone. “What are you doing?”

“I’m asking Patrick to come straight here and take the girls.” Sara pressed Send.

Dorothy felt guilty. “I can do this without you. Patrick is Christmas shopping, and you have to take the girls to their party soon.”

“I’m coming with you. There’s no avoiding it now. Imogen needs to know the truth, and it might be easier if two of us are telling it. And I need to see her, and talk to her, and tell her—” She gave her mother a helpless look. “I don’t want her feeling badly about us. And also, now that we’ve come this far, I want to find out more about her life. I hope that’s not going to be upsetting.” She rubbed her fingers over her forehead and gave a wan smile. “Who am I kidding? The whole thing is upsetting.” Her phone buzzed and she checked it. “There. Patrick says he’ll be here in five minutes. He was already on his way home from the village, so good timing. He can spend an hour with them and then take them on to the party.”

“That’s kind of him.” This time Dorothy didn’t argue. She wasn’t sure she could do this without Sara. SheneededSara. Was that wrong? Sara was a grown woman, but she was still Dorothy’s child. Her job was to protect her child, wasn’t it? Although she’d failed utterly in that goal with Tina. How did you protect a child who had no wish to be protected? Who seemed to embrace the very things that kept Dorothy awake at night?

She and Sara had been together through all of this, right from the beginning. Sara was the one person who knew all of it. Maybe it wasn’t wrong to accept the support she was so freely offering. Maybe this was something they both needed to do.

Sara put her phone down. “How did Imogen come to be with Miles?”

“I don’t know. But I’m relieved that she is. She was so very upset when she left here.” It broke her heart to think of it. “I was afraid something had happened to her.”

“If she’s with Miles, she’ll be okay. He’s good with anything distressed, animal or human. I still remember that night he stayed with me while you went to the hospital.” Sara stood up and stuffed a few of her belongings into her bag. “Is she going to talk do you think? Or is she coming back to Holly Cottage to pack up her things and leave?”

Dorothy felt her stomach lurch. That was her biggest fear. That Imogen wouldn’t listen, or that she’d listen but not believe them.

“I don’t know. But we’re going to tell the truth and hope that’s enough.”

She packed the loaf, the chicken and the cake into a bag, and by the time she’d finished, Patrick had arrived.

He brought with him an air of calm capability, as well as a fair amount of new snow. He tugged off his boots in the doorway.

“Anyone home?”

Both girls heard his voice and emerged from the TV room.

“Daddy! Why are you here?” Ava was delighted to see him, but suspicious. “You said you were doing your Christmas shopping.”

“I’ve finished my shopping and the village is looking so Christmassy with the snow and the decorations I thought I’d take you and Iris there for a treat.” Patrick scooped up Ava and held out his hand to Iris. “It’s a Daddy and his girls trip. And then I’ll take you to your party afterward. Who is excited?”

Iris beamed and slid her hand into his. “I am.”

“Me too.” Ava put her arms around his neck. “Can we go ice-skating? I want to see if I can twirl on the ice.”

“Not today. We’ll keep that treat for a different day.” Patrick grabbed the girls’ coats from Sara and also the bag with their change of clothes.

“Will Imogen be here when we get back?” Ava was clinging like a monkey. “She said she’d make Christmas decorations with me. WhereisImogen? She didn’t eat her chicken.”

“Perhaps we’ll see her later.” Patrick brushed the question aside with a light touch. “Now let’s get going so that we can see those shop windows before everything closes.” He shifted his gaze to Sara. “Call if you need me.”

She nodded, and Dorothy felt a lump form in her throat as she saw the look they exchanged.

She was pleased that Sara had Patrick. That the two of them had each other.

Patrick had been more of a son to her than Tina had ever been a daughter. It was funny how life turned out. Sometimes it was the people closest to you who disappointed you the most.

Patrick left with the girls, and Sara picked up her coat and then put it down again.

“I’m scared.”

“Of Imogen?”

Sara looked at her and her eyes said everything. “Of reliving the past. And that’s what we will be doing if we tell Imogen the truth. I don’t really want to go there. It took so long to get my life into a good place after Tina left.”

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