Free The Ice Marathon by Rosen Trevithick

sponsorship.”
    “And they’re just going to hand over the money even if you
don’t do it, are they?”
    “It’s too soon!”
    “It’s in two weeks, and you’ll be back in no time,” I told
him, forcing myself to smile. I looked down at baby Joseph. Could I do this
beautiful boy justice by myself? Four months ago, I didn’t even know he existed
and now he was here in my arms needing food, love and continuous attention.
    Above all, I worried about what I would do if I became
depressed or manic. At such times, I could barely look after myself. Still, at
least I had Simon’s parents now. Judy, particularly, seemed lovely and she’d
been so supportive when I’d had that relapse.
    “Let’s see how things go,” Simon conceded. “There’s no need
to make a decision today.”
    “All right,” I agreed. “Let’s see how things go.”
    Simon started fiddling with his camera again. I hadn’t seen
it before.
    “I didn’t know you were into photography?”
    “Oh, I don’t know how to use it, yet …”
    The next thing I knew, Simon’s mum had entered the room, she
hurried over at such speed that she only just managed to stop when she got to
the bed.
    “Hello Judy,” I said with a smile.
    “How is he?” she asked, bounding towards me with enthusiasm
and reaching towards him. For a moment, I thought she was going to lift him out
of my arms, but she just held his little hands in hers.
    “He’s perfect,” I told her. “Would you like to hold him?”
    Her eyes became glassy. “Yes please,” she squeaked.
    I noticed that Simon’s father, Gerald, had entered too. He
watched from the side of the room, expressionless like a potato.
    “There will be more tests, but so far the signs are
positive,” explained Simon.
    Gerald frowned.
    “He’s healthy!” I told him. “I just know .”
    He continued to scowl.
    Simon snapped away with his new camera, making very
professional-sounding shutter and clicking noises.
    “Would you like one with you in?” Judy asked him.
    He looked uneasy for a moment.
    “Come on!” said Judy, “Of course you want to be pictured
with your new family.”
    This was awkward. I’d never had my picture taken with Simon
before. We just weren’t that … close. Now here we were, being photographed
together for the first time, with our baby. It felt somewhat surreal.
    “I do, yes,” said Simon. “It’s just that it’s a very
expensive camera.”
    “I’ll be careful,” Judy assured him, shooting me an amused
glance. She practically had to prise the camera out of his hands.
    Simon put an arm around me and we smiled for the photo. It
felt as though Joseph and I had intruded on somebody else’s family scene. Now
we would be immortalised in the Moran family album, and I hardly knew these
people.
    Judy asked, “Have you chosen a name?”
    I let Simon tell her. “Joseph.”
    “Oh!” she said, clutching her heart as Nicky had done.
“That’s lovely.”
    Then, she turned to me. “And how are you?”
    “I feel … healthy,” I told her. And I did, I really
did.

Chapter 9
    It may be hiding, but I knew it was there. A horrible, blood
curdling, face prickling, heart-rate-accelerating beast. A beast in my airing
cupboard. I had seen one before – lots of them in fact – but not one this bad.
Where was that big, black, hairy, frightening house spider?
    My thoughts immediately turned to Joseph – what if the
hideous creature crawled onto my baby – my beautiful baby! I shuddered. I had
to call Simon.
    Wait! What was I thinking? It was quarter past one in the
morning. You don’t call the father of your five-day-old child out in the middle
of the night because of a spider. No matter how much it made my skin crawl, it
was just a spider.
    I decided to go back to bed. Joseph had settled and I should
be grateful for this chance to catch up on my sleep. I hurried back into the
bedroom, checking my footing as I went. That particular bastard spider may be
hiding in the airing cupboard