Kate Hardy - A Forever Family - Their Christmas Delivery

‘And Freya’s mum did say that there were problems with the stepfather. Maybe there had been a huge row or something,’ Amy suggested, ‘and one of the neighbours had tried to intervene, and Freya’s mum thought that someone had called you to complain about the way she was treating her daughter.’

‘I still think she’s hiding something. She wouldn’t look me in the eye,’ Jane said. ‘Does Freya have a close friend she might have confided in?’

‘Her best friend Alice is the most likely person,’ Amy said.

‘Do you have her details? And this comes under the safeguarding stuff for Freya, if you’re worrying about data protection,’ Jane added quickly.

Amy powered up her laptop, logged into the school system and wrote Alice’s details down for Jane.

‘I could have an unofficial word with her, maybe,’ Amy suggested.

Jane shook her head. ‘No, you need to leave this to official channels. If Alice tells me something helpful then I can do something to help Freya.’ She sighed. ‘Poor kid. I kind of hope your theory’s wrong.’

‘So do I,’ Josh said, ‘but I have a nasty feeling that we’re right.’

‘I’ll be in touch, then,’ Jane said. ‘And thank you for everything you’re doing. Obviously we’ll get you financial recompense for—’

‘No,’ Amy cut in. ‘It’s nice to be able to do something practical to help. Call it a Christmas gift to Hope and her mum.’

‘Seconded,’ Josh said firmly. ‘We’re not doing this for the money.’

‘OK. Well, thank you,’ Jane said. ‘I’ll go and have a word with Alice.’

* * *

When the social worker had gone, Josh looked at Amy. ‘Are you all right?’

She nodded. ‘Just thinking about Freya.’

‘Hopefully Jane can intervene and get her the help she needs,’ Josh said. ‘Hey. I could cook us dinner tonight.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously. You’ve made me rethink about my cooking skills, since you taught me how to make that salmon thing.’

‘OK. That’d be lovely.’

‘I’ll just go and get some supplies,’ he said. ‘I can’t keep raiding your fridge.’

‘You mean, I don’t have anything in my kitchen that you can actually cook,’ she teased.

He grinned. ‘Busted.’

‘I’ll print out the photos we’ve taken of Hope and stick them in her book while you’re gone,’ she said.

‘And label them,’ he said, ‘because your handwriting’s a lot neater than mine.’

‘Agreed.’

‘Anything you need from the shops?’

‘No, it’s fine.’ She kissed him lingeringly. ‘See you later.’

In the supermarket, Josh bought ingredients for spaghetti Bolognese. Pudding would definitely have to be shop-bought, he thought, and was delighted to discover a tiramisu cheesecake in the chiller cabinet. He knew Amy liked coffee ice cream, so this looked like a safe bet.

And then he walked through the healthcare aisle and saw the condoms.

He didn’t have any, and he guessed that she didn’t either. It wasn’t quite making an assumption; tonight wasn’t going to be the night. But at some point in the future he was pretty sure that they were going to make love, and it would be sensible for them to have protection available. And he had a feeling Amy would be a lot more comfortable using condoms than any other kind of contraception, given her history.

Putting the packet of condoms in his basket felt weird. He hadn’t even had to think about this for a long time; during most of their relationship, Kelly had been on the Pill. Or so he’d thought. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d bought condoms. But this made him feel like a teenager, nervous and excited all at the same time.

He shook himself and added a bottle of Pinot Grigio to his basket. And then, by the checkouts, he saw the stand of flowers. He couldn’t resist buying a bunch for Amy—nothing flashy and over-the-top that would make her feel awkward and embarrassed, but some pretty gerberas and roses in shades of dark red and pink.

When he got back to the flat, she greeted him with a kiss.

‘For you,’ he said, handing her the flowers with a flourish.

She looked delighted. ‘They’re gorgeous. Thank you. That’s so sweet—you didn’t have to.’

‘Apart from the fact that men are supposed to buy their girlfriends flowers, and you’re officially my girlfriend,’ he pointed out, ‘I wanted to.’

She hugged him. ‘And I love them. Gerberas are my favourite flowers.’

‘More luck than judgement,’ he said. ‘And I’ve cheated on the pudding.’

‘Need me to do anything to help after I’ve put these in water?’

‘Nope. Though I’d better run the pudding by you, in case you hate it.’

‘Oh, nice choice, Dr Farnham,’ she said when he showed her the box. ‘Tiramisu and cheesecake—there isn’t a more perfect combination.’

He laughed. ‘Just don’t look at the nutritional label, OK?’

‘Would that be doctor’s orders?’ she teased.

‘It would.’ He smiled at her. ‘Go and sit down and carry on with whatever you were doing.’

‘Reading a gory crime novel.’

‘Go and sit down and I’ll make dinner.’

She looked intrigued. ‘So is it going to be a cheese toastie or the famous spaghetti Bolognese?’

‘Wait and see.’

Except it went disastrously wrong. Not only did he burn the sauce badly enough to ruin the meal, he actually set off the smoke alarm.

And Hope took great exception to the smoke alarm. She even managed to drown it out with her screams.

Amy walked into the kitchen, jiggling the screaming baby in an attempt to calm her. ‘Open the windows and flap a damp tea-towel underneath the smoke alarm,’ she said. ‘I set it off when I first moved in and my toaster decided not to pop the toast out again after it was done.’

It didn’t make him feel any better, but he followed her instructions and eventually the smoke alarm stopped shrieking.

Hope, on the other hand, took a fair bit longer to stop shrieking, and he’d completely run out of songs by the time Amy had warmed some milk and given the baby an unscheduled feed in an attempt to stop her screaming.

‘Sorry. I don’t think I’ve ruined your saucepan. But it’s a close-run thing.’ He grimaced. ‘And there’s no way I can serve up dinner.’

But Amy didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. She just laughed. ‘These things happen. Stick the saucepan in water and we’ll soak it for a while. I’m sure it will have survived. And we’ll get a takeaway for dinner. Do you fancy Indian, Chinese or pizza?’

‘Pizza. And I’m buying, because dinner was supposed to be my treat tonight,’ he said ruefully.

‘We’ll go halves,’ she said, ‘and you do the washing up.’

‘Including the burned saucepan. Deal.’ He sighed. ‘It’s the last time I try to impress you,’ he grumbled.

She kissed him. ‘Don’t try to impress me. Just be yourself.’

Being himself instead of being who other people wanted him to be was what had led to a rift between himself and his family, and he was pretty sure it had also contributed a fair bit to the breakdown of his marriage.

But then again, Amy wasn’t anything like Kelly or his family. Maybe it would be different with her. Maybe he’d be enough for her.

He hoped.

After the pizza—and after, to Josh’s relief, he’d managed to get her saucepan perfectly clean—they spent another evening of what really felt like domestic bliss. Amy switched on her stereo and played music by some gentle singer-songwriters that had Hope snoozing comfortably, while the two of them played cards for a while and then stretched out on the sofa together, spooned together with his arms wrapped round her waist and his cheek against hers.