Читать книгу Lies Between Us: a tense psychological thriller with a twist you won’t see coming - Ronnie Turner - Страница 20

The sonographer smears on the gel and runs the probe across Jules’s bump. ‘Ahh, here we are.’ She smiles at the screen. ‘All seems well. I know you asked for another scan because you were worried but this little one is a very healthy baby. Would you like to know the sex?’

John looks at Jules and she nods. There isn’t much point in keeping it a surprise now. ‘Yes.’

‘A boy. A little boy.’

Jules puts her head against the headrest and stares at the screen, her face awash with emotion. She covers her eyes but he can see the glint of a tear under her little finger. He leans forward and kisses her head. The doctor jumps up from her seat and makes her way to the door. ‘I’ll give you a minute.’

‘She… she secretly wanted a brother! She told us she didn’t mind but I saw her mark the calendar with the date her baby brother would arrive. She… she wanted a brother.’ Jules leans into his shoulder and sobs. John wraps his arms around her.

This is supposed to be a happy time. A time to treasure, but instead here they are like this. For a moment, John wonders if it is a dream. This can’t actually be happening. When they return home, Bonnie will be sitting on the sofa with a book or playing a board game with Don. She’ll look up at them and smile, running over, trying to look at the scan photo. That is the way things will be. Except they won’t, will they?

Jules rummages through her bag for a tissue, pictures and make-up falling out. John pulls one from his pocket and hands it to her. This is their reality: who can get a tissue quickest. He knows he shouldn’t be having these thoughts. He and Jules are healthy, their second child is on his way and they will find Bonnie. They have hope. Hope. Such a feeble thing, such a wavering, useless emotion. No. They must be positive, otherwise what’s the point? Bonnie, if – when – they find her, will return home to a mum and dad who are no use to her. They have to be positive.

‘Jules.’ He wipes hair from her eyes and smiles. ‘Jules, Bonnie would want us to enjoy this. She’d want to be here with us. Right now she’d probably be sitting here—’ he pats the examination bed ‘—and staring at the screen with that look she gets when she’s excited. She’d be jumping into my arms and telling me all the things she’s going to do with him.’ John wipes her cheek and holds her hand. ‘She’d be telling us about the books she’ll write for him, the jokes she’ll tell him. She’d be happy. Excited. And when she comes back, when the police find her, we need to be ready. She needs to come home to a happy house, not to us as we are.’

Jules tucks her hair behind her ear and nods slowly, her face regaining some of its composure. ‘You’re right. I know you are.’

‘What do you want to call him?’ John gestures to the screen, mesmerised by their baby.

She runs her hand across her stomach, smiling. ‘Bonnie wanted to call him Bertie.’

‘Bertie it is.’

*

She pulls on his hand and points to the floor. ‘Just a minute, Daddy. I dropped a penny.’ She leans down, chubby fingers reaching out. He stops her. ‘Leave it, sweetheart. It will give someone good luck.’

‘Will it?’

‘Yes.’ John kneels down and squeezes her hand. ‘In an hour or two, someone will see that penny. And they’ll kneel down like you and I are doing now. They’ll pick it up and for the rest of the day they’ll have good luck. All because of you. Because you left it there for them to find.’

She smiles and looks from him to the coin. ‘Really?’

‘Really, really.’

She fumbles through her pink purse and gently drops another next to it. ‘Now they’ll have more luck.’

John nods and grins. He takes her hand and they walk down the street. When they come back, the money is gone and Bonnie smiles all the way home.