Free Homecoming by Catrin Collier

they have a problem,’ he suggested coyly.
    â€˜The same kind who hit the headlines when they kill a girl.’ She shook her head. ‘You really should have been more careful. But then that was never easy with Ems. When she came around with us she was always stripping off at the drop of a hat.’ Taking the whisky bottle from him just as he was about to fill his glass for the fourth time, she stared at him thoughtfully.
    â€˜Why are you looking at me like that?’ he snapped.
    â€˜Can you be one hundred per cent certain that this baby is yours?’
    â€˜You said it yourself, everyone’s dropped Ems; she hasn’t seen anyone else in months.’ He snatched the bottle back.
    â€˜Mums and Pops are away this weekend.’
    â€˜That’s why I invited Ems to lunch on Sunday. She was moaning that I never bring her here any more.’
    â€˜Not lunch, Robin. A party, we’ll round up some people and invite her to stay over tomorrow night.’
    â€˜None of the girls will come if they know Ems will be here.’
    â€˜But the boys will.’ She refilled her glass.
    â€˜I can’t see how that will help.’
    She thought rapidly. She had an idea, but she knew Robin wouldn’t like it and it might not work. But if it did … ‘First things first, Robin, you need to find out if she is pregnant.’
    â€˜And how do you propose I do that? Ask Pops to stay so he can examine her?’
    â€˜Of course not. I’ll talk to her.’
    â€˜And you think she’ll tell you after you’ve cut her for almost a year?’ he sneered.
    â€˜We were close. And, as I said, she could never keep a secret once she’d had a couple of drinks. But we’d better make it look like a real party. Invite the old crowd, that boy with red hair …’
    â€˜Thompson.’
    â€˜That’s the one.’ The only thing Angie could recall about Thompson was that he’d had the most enormous crush on Emily.
    â€˜And if she tells you she really is up the duff?’
    â€˜We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.’
    â€˜I suppose even if it’s bad news at least I’d know where I am with her. You’re a brick, Angie. Thanks.’
    â€˜Phone,’ she prompted.
    â€˜We’ll need some girls and if they know Ems is coming …’
    â€˜I won’t tell them until after they arrive. Then, if anyone cuts Ems or is foul to her, it will give her all the more reason to drink and me the chance to worm the truth out of her.’ She picked up the cue and returned it to the rack. Robin went into the hall.
    Emily had been her closest friend and as a consequence knew more about her than was desirable in view of the Murton Davieses’ fall from grace. She hadn’t been comfortable with Robin’s refusal to ditch Emily or Emily’s insistence on remaining in Swansea. There was nothing quite so embarrassing as meeting someone who presumed on old friendship when that friendship no longer existed. And Robin was right about one thing; her boyfriend, Julian, didn’t like her brother’s liaison with Emily any more than their parents did. Much as he and his family adored her, they would never welcome the sister-in-law of Emily Murton Davies into the Pickering Jones family.
    But – and it was a huge ‘but’ – if tomorrow’s party went according to her plan, Emily would have to leave town and they’d never move in the same social circles again.
    Robin looked in on her from the doorway. ‘Thompson’s coming and bringing a couple of friends.’
    â€˜Good.’
    â€˜I’d better get back to it.’
    â€˜The more the merrier,’ she called after him, as he returned to the telephone.
    â€˜Jack, they’re beautiful.’
    â€˜Real gold and sapphires,’ he said proudly.
    Helen kissed him. ‘Could you afford them?’
    â€˜No, but I did. Put them