Free Change of Life by Anne Stormont

little git!”
    “This isn’t about you, Adam.” Jenny spoke gently and put her hand on Adam’s arm. He shook her hand away and filled a bin bag with all the broken bits he had gathered.
    “Quite,” said Sam. She squeezed my hand. “Come on, Mum, I think you should go to bed and I’ll bring you up that cup of tea.”
    I remember being vaguely shocked that Sam was making me a cup of tea - that was a first. She gently pulled me to my feet.
    As she guided me towards the hall she turned to the other two. “Once Mum’s settled I’ll go and collect Maxy from Ruby’s and I’ll get us a takeaway for tea on the way back. Can you two finish clearing up in here and that washing needs to go in the drier.”
    At the foot of the stair my eldest child gave me a motherly hug and said, “On you go. I’ll just be a couple of minutes getting your tea. Why not have a nice bath before you go to bed.” I clung to her, and wondered at the very concept of a grown up Sam.
    I found my voice, “Thank you, sweetheart, I’m so sorry about-”
    “Don’t be. Go and have a soak.”
    I did as I was told. I drank my tea in a wonderfully hot and bubbly bath. I lay back in the water. I looked at my diseased breast and I cried for it. Then I thought of Heather and Robbie and cried for them. Later, when I was in bed and propped up on several pillows, trying to eat some of my share of a Chinese takeaway, there was a knock and Lucy came in. Lucy, my dear friend for more than thirty years, was here, exactly when I needed her to be. I pushed my tray away as she approached and sat down on the bed. We hugged.
    “How did you..?” I could say no more. I cried again, but this time with relief. It was so good to see her.
    “Sam phoned me, asked if I could come over.” She took my hand and stroked my hair. “What’s been happening to you, Rosie?”
    I first saw Lucy Montgomery in the assembly hall on our first morning at the Edinburgh High School for Girls. We were waiting, along with the rest of the new intake, to be called forward into our classes. Heather was instantly at home, talking to lots of girls she’d not met before. But Lucy looked as nervous as I felt.
    When our names were called for the same class, she came over and linked her arm through mine. Her fair hair was in two long plaits. She was petite and pretty. She told me she lived with her parents and her brother on their farm in East Lothian and that she’d hardly ever been to Edinburgh before that day. She said, “I think I’ll be your friend,” and smiled up at me. And that was it, we’d been friends ever since.
    Lucy held my hand as I told her the events of the past couple of days. She gasped when I told her about Robbie and about slapping Adam. But mostly she listened without comment. However, when I voiced my suspicions about Tom being Robbie’s father, she couldn’t help interrupting. “Oh no, Rosie, no, you’ve got that wrong –you must have! Tom wouldn’t, not Tom.”
    “I don’t know what else to think. I mean why would he keep Robbie a secret all this time? They were attracted to each other –him and Heather – you must remember?”
    “Well –yes – I suppose so. But with Tom, it was surely just the fact that you and Heather were identical – he wasn’t going to be repulsed by her, was he? And Heather, she was your sister – she wouldn’t have done anything. Anyway – she had other –interests.”
    “She was a junkie – you can say it, Lucy –she was a no-hope, heroin junkie. Why not sleep with Tom? She had nothing to lose. She and I weren’t even speaking at the end of her life.”
    “Yes, I know – but Tom and her – I don’t think so. But it’s what you think and I’m sorry. I only hope you and Tom can get past it. There’s more though, isn’t there – more you have to tell me?”
    “Yes, there’s more.” I took a deep breath and told her about the cancer. Then she hugged me and we both cried.
    “So now you know. You know it