Mike Shevdon - Sixty-One Nails

"We don't know. It was this strange hollow voice. Alex answered it and spoke to them. She said they told her they had news of a gift she was going to receive and they wanted to bring it to her. She told them she was away on holiday, but they insisted they would bring it to her wherever she was. Niall? Are you there?"

"Yes. I'm here." If they had found a way to reach Alex then things were worse than I thought. "Did she tell them where you were?"

"No. She thought it was one of those competitions that are always ringing up trying to make you call expensive numbers. She just told them she didn't want anything and hung up."

"Thank goodness for that. Did they ring back?"

"Not so far. She's had it switched off, though, as she can't text her friends and it was just wasting the battery."

"Don't let her switch it back on. In fact, take it off her."

"I can't do that, Niall. It's her phone. She saved up for it."

"Well, tell her not to turn it on until I tell her it's safe. Make her promise."

"I can tell her, but you know what she's like. She can't be out of touch for five minutes without getting withdrawal symptoms."

"Tell her it's important. No. Better still, I'll tell her. Put her on, would you?"

"I will, in a moment. She wants to speak to you anyway. Are you all right?"

I was touched by the concern in her voice. "I'm fine. Did you get away OK? No problems?"

"What's happening, Niall? What's going on?"

"It's complicated, but we're sorting it out. I think it will be OK. Just bear with me."

"Niall, this better not be some sort of joke."

"It isn't, really. You're somewhere out of the country, yes?"

"Yes. We need to be back for Monday morning, though."

"Not unless I call you first, to let you know it's safe, OK?"

"I have to get her back for school, Niall. We can't stay here."

"No. You stay where you are until I let you know it's clear. I don't care about school or anything else. Just trust me, OK?" There was silence on the other end of the line. "Katherine?"

"OK, but you'll call me as soon as you can. You won't just leave me hanging here?"

"As soon as it's clear. I promise."

"Don't do anything stupid."

Normally that admonition would have sparked a harsh come-back, but I could hear the worry in her voice. "I won't. Take care of yourselves."

"We will. I'll put her on now."

There was some background noise as the phone was passed across.

"Dad?"

"I'm here."

"Dad, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm OK. I'm fine."

"Mum said you were in some sort of trouble."

"It's nothing I can't handle, I just don't want you and your mum dragged into it, that's all."

"She said someone was trying to hurt you."

"They tried, babe, but I'm ahead of them. Listen to me, now. I want you to keep your phone switched off while you're there, OK? It doesn't work abroad, anyway."

"But it's working. It rang."

"That's why you have to switch it off, sweetheart."

"But, Dad?"

"Alex, please. This is important. I don't want anyone to know where you've gone until I've sorted things out and they might use the phone to find you, understand? You have to do this for me."

"OK, I'll switch it off."

"Give the battery to your mum for safe keeping and then it won't switch on by mistake, OK."

"It won't. It doesn't do that."

"If you give the battery to your mum, I'll buy you some credits for it when you get home. How about that?" Bribery would usually succeed where parental authority failed.

"Well, OK, I suppose."

"Thanks, babe."

"Dad, when can we come home?"

"Soon. I'll call you."

"What do we do if you don't call?"

"Your mum will know what to do, sweetheart. I'll call you. Until then, I want you to stick with your mum. She'll look after you."

"It's not me I'm worried about." She suddenly sounded like her mother.

"It'll be OK. I promise. Go and give your mum a hug and I'll call you in a day or so when this is all sorted out, all right?"

"OK."

"You take care now."

"No. You take care."

"I will."

"Bye."

I waited to see if Katherine would come back onto the line, but it beeped at me and dropped the call, leaving me looking at the phone and wishing I had some way to explain.

I put the handset back on the cradle and the phone disgorged leftover coins into the change tray with a chunking sound. I collected them and pushed out of the phone box, walking over to where Blackbird lay looking at the clouds. I sat down beside her.

"Are they safe?"

"Yes, but they had a phone call like Claire's on Alex's phone. How did they know the number?"

"Maybe they called directory enquiries?"

"I made sure it's not listed. They're not supposed to give out the number."

She rolled over so that she could lean on her elbow and look at me. "Where are they?"

"I don't know, away somewhere."

"That's probably best," she remarked. "They should be safe once the ceremony is performed with the proper knives again. It will reinforce the barrier and stop them crossing so easily."

"Will we ever be safe again?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Never. Better get used to it."

It struck me how different she was from Katherine, how much more independent. But then Katherine was looking after our daughter, which rather put a dampener on the independence thing.

Something had changed, though. Usually when I spoke with Katherine there was a bitterness from things unsaid or things that should never have been said that our separation hadn't salved. Like an open wound, it festered between us and leaked poison into my relationship with my daughter. But this morning had been different. I found myself worrying about Katherine and Alex, their safety and welfare still forward in my thoughts, but I wasn't left with the feeling that I had failed to meet even the basic standards of fatherhood. I didn't feel bitter about what she'd said, or not said. I was just worried, scared even.

I realised I loved them both. I loved Alex, of course, she was my daughter and the centre of my world, but it was a shock to realise I still loved Katherine. I had thought all of that had been burned up in the conflagration that was our divorce. Instead I found I still cared for her and it still mattered to me that she was safe, and if possible, happy. It was like putting down a burden I hadn't realised I been carrying. Perhaps I had finally begun to heal.

I had been daydreaming and came back to myself looking down into dark green eyes full of sky. She was watching me.

"You were miles away," she said.

"I was thinking."

"What about?"

"About how a woman I've known for a little over fortyeight hours could turn my life upside down and hand it back to me."

She shoved me playfully in the chest and, unbalanced, I rolled backwards. She scrabbled to her feet and leapt on top of me landing on my stomach. Catching hold of my wrists she pinned them to the grass with unexpected strength and then pressed her lips to mine until I stopped struggling and started cooperating.

She rubbed the end of her nose against mine. Shadowed by her hair, I looked up into her eyes seeing the green spark in them rekindled.

"You're insatiable," I told her.

"Impossible," she agreed, nodding slowly and brushing my nose with hers. That look of proprietary possessiveness came back into her eyes.

"Don't say it," I told her.

She leapt to her feet and grabbed her bag in one fluid movement and was walking off across the field while I was still getting to my feet.

"You'd better get used to it," she called over her shoulder.

I trailed after her, shaking my head and wondering what on earth I had got myself into.

The lane to the farm was bright with sunshine and filled with wildlife. A fox trotted casually across our path and we saw clouds of starlings circling overhead until they wheeled away. Kestrels hovered overhead searching for tiny prey in the grass, ignored by the sheep grazing in the fields beyond the wire fences. Blackbird curled her hand in mine and I was able to pretend for a while that we were simply walking.