Mum kept bringing home new “husbands” from time to timeEmily could remember three. But none of them stuck around for long. Theyd leave. Mum would cry, hug her, and say, *”Dont worry, love. Every dog has its day.”* Then shed head off to work.
The last one lasted two weeks, but when Mum stopped buying him whisky, he got miserable and eventually disappearedalong with her favourite earrings from her jewellery box. She didnt report him. Said it was her own fault.
After that, things were quiet for about five years. Emily started hoping she and Mum might finally settle into a peaceful life. No such luck. When she turned fifteen, Mum fell in love. She couldnt stop gushing about himhow kind he was, how wonderful, how much he adored her.
Emily was happy for her, really. Mum deserved some joy. The first time Mum brought Jonathan home, Emily liked him too. He was in his late thirties, dressed smartly, only had one drink at dinner, and cracked a few funny jokes. When she went to bed early, leaving them chatting in the kitchen, she half-expected to see him still there in the morning. But an hour later, she heard the front door slam. Gone.
Next morning, Mum was still swooning. Said he worked in local council, very respectable, worried about appearances. Hed suggested moving in with him after the wedding, but theyd stay put for a year while Emily finished schoolsomething about redecorating.
Emily watched Mum glow. At forty, shed stopped caring how she looked, resigned to being alone forever. Now she was almost girlish again.
***
Jonathan and Mum got married just before term started. Emily buried herself in schoolwork, prepping for exams. Hed ask if she needed helpshed thank him and say she was fineand hed retreat to his study. Polite, always knocking before entering her room.
They even became friends. She stopped feeling shy around him, chatting at dinner about school drama. Jonathan listened, genuinely interested.
As for Mum? She bloomed. He spoiled hernew earrings, then a gold necklace.
The year flew by. The flat was done, time to move. Jonathan asked if Emily wanted to come. *Plenty of room.* But shed finished school, felt grown-up, wanted independence. Not that she could afford itbut Jonathan waved that off. Shed enrol at the local college, hed help her land a decent job later.
Before they left, he squeezed her shoulder. *”Visit whenever. Well pop in toome or your mum. Need anything? Just ask. Were family now.”*
For her graduation, they gave her a silver locket. She adored it, spending ages admiring it in the mirror.
Mum had hesitated. *”Isnt this a bit much?”*
Jonathan just chuckled. *”Who else is going to spoil her?”*
Mum beamed. Shed landed the best man.
***
Once theyd moved out, Emily started her solo chapter. At first, it was lonely. She visited often, always welcomed. Then she got used to it, trips became rare. Sometimes Mum dropped off groceries or cash. Other times, theyd bump into each other in town. Everyone busy, always working.
College life suited her. Weekends, shed visit Mum and Jonathan, filling them in.
Then came the news: Jonathan had a year-long work assignment abroad. Mum was going too. *”Dont worry, well send money.”*
Emily saw them off at the station. Mum teared up, but Emily laughed. *”Mum, Im nearly seventeen! Ill be finepromise I wont throw wild parties.”*
Hugs, laughter, then they were gone.
***
They lived far away. Came back for two days at Christmas, showered Emily with gifts. She spent all evening unwrapping them.
Months later, Mum called. The assignment was extendedtwo more years. Jonathan would swing by to pack up extra things, rent out the flat. Shed come too, but work wouldnt allow it.
Emily came home from lectures to rustling in her room. Peeked in.
*”Ohyoure here already?”*
Jonathan turned, grinning. *”Hello, Em. Just clearing some space.”*
He blinked. Shed changed in a yearcurves, makeup, a new confidence.
Emily dumped her bag. *”Let me change, then Ill cook.”*
As she pulled off her jumper in the hall mirror, his reflection caught her bare shoulders. He shook his head. *Get a grip.*
Dinner was pleasant. News exchanged, old jokes revived. She made up the spare bed, vanished into her room. She heard him shower, pad to the kitchen.
Jonathan couldnt sleep. That glimpse in the mirror
Emily turned a pagethen froze. He stood in her doorway. Just a towel. Strange look in his eyes.
*”Did you need something?”*
***
Three days later, he left. Emily exhaled, tried to forget. Three months on, he was back. It happened again.
Shame clung to her like grease. Then came the nausea, the dread. The test.
She called him repeatedly. He always *”would ring back.”* Finally, he did.
*”Missing me that much?”*
*”Im pregnant.”*
*”Bloody hell. HOW?”*
Just what he neededhis big promotion looming, now this could wreck everything.
*”Emily, listen. Ill send cash. Sort it out. No baby, no scandal. Got it?”*
She clutched her head. Disgrace. Kicked out of college, whispers everywhere. If they found out who the father wasMum would never survive it.
A week later, Jonathan arrived with money and an address. A cottage, miles away. *”Go there. You cant get it done without parental consenttoo much paperwork. Find some village woman. Pay her.”*
Terrified, she sobbed. He hugged her. *”No one can know. Itd destroy us all.”*
He left next dayMum none the wiser. A week later, so did Emily.
***
The village was bleak. She found the cottage, fumbled for the key. Once settled, she hunted for the village woman. A toothless granny pointed her to a house by the woods.
The woman scowled. *”What dyou want, sinner?”*
Emily burst into tears. The woman softened, handed her water.
*”Please, can you”*
*”No, girl. Say it plainyou want me to murder your bairn.”*
Emily fled, the crones laughter chasing her.
What now? Alone in this godforsaken place
***
Andrew had returned after serving time for manslaughter. A fight outside a pubsome louts harassing a girl. He hadnt meant to kill one. The blokes dad was somebody important. Hed done his stretch, craved quiet now.
His grans old cottage stood isolated. Hed fixed it up, sold organic produce to folks from the city. Fished at dawnbest time for it.
That morning, checking his nets, he spotted a figure on the cliff. A girl. Arms outstretched, holding
He plunged into the river just as the tiny bundle hit the water. Surfaced, grabbed it.
Onshore, he swaddled the screaming newborn in his coat when the girlno, *woman*jumped in after it. Panicked, she kept diving. Hed have to knock her out or shed drown them both.
Back at the cottage, he cleaned the babys cord, rigged a makeshift bottle. The motherbruised, half-drownedwoke gasping.
*”Who?”*
*”Andrew.”*
She lunged for the baby. *”Give her back!”*
He did. Watched the girl crumble, weeping over the child shed tried to kill.
***
Over stew that night, they talked.
*”We cant stay hidden forever,”* he said. *”Need to register her. Sort things properly.”*
She spilled everythingthe stepfather, the shame, the witch.
Andrew made a call. Next morning, a councillor friend arrived with a registrar.
*”Shes underage,”* the woman muttered outside.
Andrew shrugged. *”Forgot to mention. What now?”*
*”Only way is if you marry her. Put your name on the birth certificate.”*
He smirked at Emily. *”Well, fancy becoming Mrs. Carter?”*
She blushed. *”Were causing you so much trouble”*
***
That night, they toasted with a thimble of wine (after shed fed baby Charlotte).
*”Call your mum,”* he said. *”Shell be frantic.”*
*”What do I tell her?”*
*”The truth. Well, most of it.”*
Mum sobbed down the line. *”Where ARE you?”*
*”A year later, as Emily sat in her mothers garden watching Andrew teach little Charlotte how to skip stones across the pond, she realisedfor the first time in her lifeshe didnt feel like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
