Casey Watson - The Wild Child - Secrets always find a way of revealing themselves. Sometimes you just need to know where to look - A True Short Story

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Epilogue Why not try …? Exclusive sneak peek: Skin Deep by Casey Watson Casey Watson Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates,

have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperElement 2015

FIRST EDITION

© Casey Watson 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2015

Cover photograph © Vanesa Munoz/Trevillion Images (posed by model)

Casey Watson asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Ebook Edition © August 2015 ISBN: 9780007543113

Version: 2015-07-14

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Epilogue Why not try …? Exclusive sneak peek: Skin Deep by Casey Watson Casey Watson Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Epilogue Why not try …? Exclusive sneak peek: Skin Deep by Casey Watson Casey Watson Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy. HarperElement An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperElement 2015 FIRST EDITION © Casey Watson 2015 Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2015 Cover photograph © Vanesa Munoz/Trevillion Images (posed by model) Casey Watson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green Ebook Edition © August 2015 ISBN: 9780007543113 Version: 2015-07-14

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

Why not try …?

Exclusive sneak peek: Skin Deep by Casey Watson

Casey Watson

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

Write for Us

About the Publisher

‘How about it?’ I asked my husband Mike and our long-term foster son Tyler.

Neither batted an eyelid, because it was the sort of thing they were both used to me saying – Mike because I’d spent most of our marriage persuading him to do things against his better judgement, and Tyler because in the year and a half he’d been with us he’d had ample chance to get to know how I ticked.

I looked pointedly at my watch. ‘Only they’re phoning back in ten minutes and we need to make an executive decision.’

‘I know,’ said Mike, equally pointedly. ‘And I know the one they’ll want. But hold your horses, Superwoman. Let’s stop and think first. Come on. It’s a bit short notice, after all.’ He held his hands up then, presumably seeing my expression, not to mention realising the silliness of what he’d just said. Of course it was short notice. It was an emergency placement! ‘Okay, point taken,’ he said. ‘But, like I said, we should still stop and think first. What with John being on holiday, and everything …’

The mention of the word ‘holiday’ was like rubbing salt in a wound. It was just what we needed, too, but currently couldn’t quite stretch to, our elderly car having recently gasped its last. Yes, we had a new(ish) one, but a car that starts is no match for a week spent on a beach, particularly today, which had dawned hot, dry and sunny but already saw me sweating over a hot stove.

It was Saturday and Tyler had half a football team coming over, not only to go to football, but also to eat the breakfast I’d impulsively promised them before going to footie practice: bacon butties, sausage sandwiches, the lot. That was the sort of hare-brained thing superwomen tended to do as well.

‘John’ was John Fulshaw, our fostering agency link worker, and when it came to taking kids on, everything normally came through him first. ‘I know,’ I said to Mike, ‘and in an ideal world we’d run it all by him, of course we would, but EDT need an answer, and they need it fast.’

‘They don’t have any other options?’ Mike asked, probably seeing his weekend disappearing.

I shook my head. ‘Nope. Well, they say not. Say there’s absolutely no one else to ask.’

‘Eight you say?’ Mike asked. ‘A boy? Eight years old?’

I nodded.

‘And just for the weekend?’ Tyler asked. ‘Because I’m on my soccer skills course next week, aren’t I?’ He grinned. ‘So I won’t be here to help you if he runs you ragged.’

I blew Ty a kiss, bless him. I’d forgotten about that. He was right. He was off at some ungodly hour on the Monday morning and, as he’d pointed out, would indeed be unable to provide an extra pair of hands if our potential house guest did end up staying longer.

I glanced at Mike. We both knew there was no such guarantee that he wouldn’t be, either. We both knew that ‘just a couple of days’ or ‘just for the weekend’ didn’t really mean anything in our line of work. The truth was that once a child was out of imminent danger, safely installed in an emergency placement, then, bingo, the urgency was over. Which meant that (sometimes fortunately, and at other times, unfortunately) the child who you’d agreed to take just for the weekend could end up being with you for weeks and maybe even months.