Her eyebrows shot up. ‘You’ve been talking about me behind my back, have you?’
‘No, one of the nurses in A and E mentioned it. I’ve been listening to other people talking about you behind your back.’
‘I suppose I did give them a very full list of my symptoms, so they’d recognise them if they saw them again. My right arm and my legs were completely paralysed for some weeks, but I could still talk if I put my mind to it.’ Jon saw a trace of mischief in her smile and almost choked on his drink. She was indomitable.
‘They say doctors make the worst patients.’
‘I was a very good patient. I did exactly as I was told, and tried to smile at everyone, which isn’t all that easy when one side of your face is paralysed. Dr Malik used to say that he didn’t need to explain much to his students, he just sent them to me.’ She took another sip of her tea. ‘I think he was humouring me.’
Chloe was fingering the gold chain at her neck, absently winding it around her finger. She always seemed to wear it, and what hung on it must be of s
ome special significance to her because it was usually hidden inside her clothes. But he could see now that it was a yellowish crystal.
‘Did humouring you work?’
‘Lots of things work. Intravenous immunoglobulin for starters. Good food, plenty of sleep. The kindness of strangers...’
‘Herbal tea and crystals?’ Jon had seen the crystals on the mantelpiece in the sitting room but hadn’t realised that Chloe wore one as well. It surprised him that a doctor should put any store in such things.
‘Who knows? Not being able to move isn’t just something that affects your body.’ She shrugged. It seemed that was where Chloe drew the line. She talked about the physical aspects of her illness freely enough, but Jon knew that the emotional ones could be just as devastating and she kept those to herself.
But he’d have to wonder about that later. He was so tired now that whatever conclusion he came to was bound to be the wrong one.
‘I really should turn in...’ He looked at his watch. It was almost nine o’ clock.
She grinned. ‘Will you sleep? After a cup of coffee?’
‘I needed the coffee to get me up the stairs. I’ll sleep.’
* * *
It was odd that Chloe should note that the house had been quiet for the last hour, because generally it was quiet. But this was a different kind of quiet, one that seemed to curl around everyone in the house, both sleeping and awake.
She heard a whimpering cry from her bedroom and hurried upstairs. For all Jon’s assertions that he could sleep through Armageddon, he’d already proved that a child’s crying was enough to wake him, and Chloe picked Amy up from her cot, soothing her.
‘All right, sweetie. Mummy can’t be here right now, but she’ll be back soon. You’ll see.’ Amy might not fully understand the words, and almost certainly didn’t see all of their implications, but they gave Chloe some comfort.
‘Papa...’ Amy struggled in her arms, and Chloe leaned over, picking up Papa Bear and wiggling him in front of Amy. She quietened for a moment and then pushed him away.
‘Okay then...’ Chloe decided to try something different and started to hum the tune of the song that she’d heard Jon sing to her to quieten her tears.
It appeared that Amy liked rock ’n’ roll a bit better. She settled into Chloe’s arms, staring up at her face for a while and then reaching up, catching the dark yellow citrine that had slipped from the neck of her T-shirt and pulling it.
‘No, sweetie, you’ll break it.’ Chloe pulled the chain over her head, dangling the citrine in front of Amy, who batted it with her hand, seemingly mesmerised by its sparkle in the half-light.
‘See how pretty it is? It’s magic as well. If you hold it in your hand, it makes all the bad things in your heart go away.’
Chloe had needed something like that when she’d been ill. Something to help her summon her courage at the times she’d felt most alone. The crystal had been like a mascot, something for her to hold onto and remember the promises she’d made to herself.
And now she’d made a promise to Amy. She’d promised that, whatever happened, she would make things right, find a way to support Hannah so that she felt confident about being a good mother to Amy. That was one, inviolable promise that wouldn’t be broken. Jon’s promises to help might or might not be followed through, and Chloe couldn’t bring herself to rely on them, however much the warmth in his eyes tempted her to.
‘Mummy’s coming back, sweetie. You’ll see.’ She whispered the words, cuddling Amy tight, and the child’s eyelids began to droop.
CHAPTER SIX
HE’D SLEPT DEEPLY and for enough hours to make him feel human again. When the smell of cooking wafted up the stairs, Jon levered himself from his bed and made for the bathroom. But the time he’d emerged, the smell of coffee had been added to the mix.
He hadn’t expected her to be cooking for him, and when Jon went downstairs to the kitchen-diner he didn’t expect her bright smile either. Both were very welcome.