Page 6 of Seven Letters

‘Black coffee,’ Riley said.

‘You have to eat something. You can’t sit through school on an empty stomach, love,’ Mia said. She’d heard from thehead of the senior school that some of the girls in Riley’s year were teetering on the edge of eating disorders. Last year’s obsession had been self-harm. What next?

‘I’m not hungry. The coffee will keep me going. Stop fussing all the time.’

Johnny waved a spatula at his daughter. ‘Here, I’ll throw an egg on and you might be tempted.’

Five minutes later, Riley was tucking into a poached egg and brown bread. Johnny was so much better with her. Mia knew she needed to try a lighter approach, but banter with Riley didn’t come naturally to her. It sounded fake.

She glanced at her watch. ‘OK, we have to go. I promised Sarah I’d pick Izzy up on the way. She has an appointment with her obstetrician for her twelve-week scan.’

Riley got up and went upstairs to get her schoolbag.

‘Do you think she’ll find out the sex?’ Johnny asked.

‘They can’t always be sure this early in the pregnancy, but I think she’s going to ask if they can tell on the scan or not.’

‘I know one man who’d be very happy to have a son.’ Johnny put the saucepan in the sink.

‘Yes, Adam would definitely love a mirror image of himself.’ Mia grinned.

‘Ah, sure, what man wouldn’t?’

Mia bit her lip.

‘I didn’t mean me, Mia. You know I’m happy with Riley. She’s our miracle and I know how lucky we are to have her. But do you mind Sarah having another?’

Mia walked over and kissed her husband. ‘No, and don’t go bringing that up. Riley is enough. I have no regrets and don’t think I ever do.’

Johnny held her close. ‘Thanks.’

Izzy sang ‘Let It Go’ for the zillionth time as Sarah plaited her hair. Her headache was throbbing but, still, the sound of her little girl singing made her smile.

‘Will you tie the plaits back with this bow, Mummy?’ Izzy asked.

‘Of course.’ Sarah did so and smiled as her seven-year-old swirled around, trying to get a good view of the back of her head in the mirror on her wardrobe door.

The room was a princess parlour. Sarah knew she’d gone a bit overboard, but she was a girly girl and so was Izzy. The carpet was pink, the curtains were pink, the bedspread was white with pink hearts on it. The lamp beside her bed was pink and her desk chair was also pink. Sarah had chosen different shades, so it wasn’t a complete pink onslaught.

‘I love my hair.’ Izzy threw her arms around her mother’s waist. ‘Am I squishing the baby?’ she asked.

‘No, sweetheart, not at all. No matter how big my tummy gets, I want you to give me your amazing hugs.’ Sarah stood up and began to tidy up the hair bobbins and clips, putting them back into the glass box on Izzy’s desk. Keeping her voice breezy, she asked, ‘Izzy, are you finding school OK? Is maths getting too hard for you?’

‘Not hard, just boring. I only got three wrong in the test yesterday. I got seven right.’

‘So you’re not struggling to follow any of the work?’

Izzy admired her plaits in the mirror. ‘No. Why?’ She suddenly looked anxious. ‘Did Miss Dixon say something?’

‘No, sweetie, she didn’t. I just wanted to check everything was all right.’ Sarah kissed her daughter’s button nose. ‘But if you ever find anything difficult just tell me.’

‘OK, Mummy.’

Sarah folded Izzy’s unicorn pyjamas and placed them under her pillow. ‘Are Rebecca and Mya being nice to you?’It had been a week since the ‘incident’ and nothing had been said at school, but Sarah wanted to make sure Izzy wasn’t having any trouble with the witches’ daughters.

‘Why do you keep asking about them?’ Izzy rolled her eyes. ‘I told you already I don’t play with them. They just read books at breaktime, which issoooooboring.’

‘That’s fine. I just want to make sure everyone is being nice to everyone else. And if anyone is ever mean to you –’

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