Free The Baby Swap Miracle by Caroline Anderson Page A

Emelia out of their lives by choosing to ignore their son’s marriage, and in a moment of defiance, she picked up the ring and slipped it into her pocket. It was hers, after all. She’d bought it, she’d given it to him. And she had no intention of forgetting the man she’d loved with all her heart.
    She opened the wardrobe, and Sam watched her thoughtfully as she studied the contents. He’d seen her hesitate, seen her pick up the ring and lift her chin defiantly as she’d put it in her pocket.
    And he’d seen the pain in her eyes as she’d turned.
    ‘OK, is this it?’ he asked, breaking the endless silence, and she nodded.
    ‘Yes. Everything at this end. There’s a side door we can use to take it out.’
    ‘OK. You go and sit in the car, I’ll do this.’
    ‘No, I’m OK,’ she said, but she sat down, anyway, on the bed, her fingers absently pleating the cover as he carried the bags and boxes and hangers of clothes out to the car. The packing was a bit haphazard, to say the least, but it didn’t take long to load. It probably would have fitted in her car, at a pinch, he thought. There was something incredibly sad about that small pile of her possessions, and he stood back and looked at it and wondered how after a lengthy relationship she had so little to show for it.
    Shaking his head slowly, he went back into the house and found her sitting where he’d left her. ‘All done.’
    ‘Thank you,’ she said, but she didn’t move, just looked around, her eyes empty.
    ‘I’ll be in the car,’ he said, giving her space to make her farewells, and she nodded.
    ‘I should say goodbye.’
    She locked the door after him, and walked slowly backto the kitchen. Brian was sitting at the table waiting, his face drawn.
    ‘Got everything?’ he asked, and she nodded.
    Then, despite her best intentions, found herself unable to ignore the elephant in the room.
    ‘She had no right to do that, either to me or to him, and neither did you,’ she said softly. ‘You’ve put me through hell, Brian. It was bad enough losing James. To know you and Julia deceived us both like that—it’s beyond immoral. You should be ashamed.’
    He ducked his head. ‘I am. We are. But we thought, a child—’
    ‘You thought a child would replace your son, which shows how little you really knew him, because you could never replace him. He was unique. We’re all unique. You should have respected that and concentrated on loving him instead of scheming to keep a bit of him alive for your own selfish ends.’
    She turned, to find that Julia had come in and was standing behind her, ashen-faced and trembling. ‘Emelia, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking properly,’ she said brokenly. ‘Please forgive me.’
    Emelia hesitated. It would be so easy to walk away and leave it like this, but Julia was right, they’d been out of their minds with grief and under those circumstances judgement could become skewed.
    ‘I’ll try,’ she promised, too hurt for anything but honesty. ‘You may have more trouble forgiving yourself.’
    Julia nodded, sniffing to hold back the tears. ‘I left his ring for you,’ she said then. ‘I thought—you might have left it by mistake.’
    She could feel it in her pocket, pressing into her thigh, and she slid her hand in and pulled it out and handed it to Julia.

    ‘You keep it. I don’t need it now,’ she said gently, and squeezed her hand. It tightened convulsively for a moment, then let her go.
    Sam was waiting for her in the car, and as she closed the front door behind her, he got out and came round and opened the car door for her, his hand touching her shoulder gently.
    ‘All right?’ he asked, and she felt a tear slip down her cheek.
    ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she lied, trying to hold it together at least until they were off the drive. ‘Can we go?’
    ‘Sure.’
    He slid behind the wheel, fired up the engine and pulled smoothly away without another word, as if he realised how hard she was finding