Free Thursday's Child by Clare Revell Page A

It was definitely toast and coffee.
    “I’m in the kitchen.” She sounded cheerful, something she hadn’t been around him for a long time now. She smiled as he came in. “I made you breakfast. It’s not much, but it’ll fill a hole. And I worked out the coffee machine. Kind of impressive, don’t you think?”
    “Very impressive.” Surprise filled him, and something touched his soul—a part of him Niamh hadn’t reached in a long time. “And thank you. But should you be standing?”
    “I’m not weight bearing which is what they told me not to do. Besides, I can’t sit down all day long. I also discovered that I don’t like coffee. It smells great but tastes nasty, so I’m sticking to tea.”
    “How did you sleep?” Jared sat at the table. It may only be beans on toast, but it was a sight for sore eyes and a feast for his empty stomach. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. And I didn’t sleep that great, but I never do, first night in a strange bed.” She lowered herself into the chair opposite, setting the crutches against the edge of the table. “Can you say grace, please?”
    “Sure.” Jared obliged and then picked up his knife and fork. “I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well. Hopefully you will tonight.”
    “Well, it can’t be much worse. Do we have any photos? There don’t seem to be any around. I can’t find any apart from the ones on the mantelpiece of you in uniform and me in robes.”
    Jared paused, the cutlery hovering over the food. “No, we don’t have many. Just the few copies I got from your family and mine. We lost everything in a house fire two years ago.”
    “Hence the no thatched roof on the house.”
    “Yeah.” He concentrated on his food, hoping she’d drop the subject. But she didn’t.
    “Only I was thinking, perhaps they’d jog my memory a little. Would Liam have some?”
    “Yeah, he would.”
    “Can we go see him? It’s the weekend, so he’s not working.”
    “I’ll give him a call, and make sure he’s going to be in.”
    “OK, thanks.” She twisted her hair around a finger. “You said the house was destroyed in a fire. Could you take me over to where the house was? I want to see it.”
    Jared nodded, his stomach threatening to eject his breakfast. He didn’t want to tell her about Dayna. Not while she was being civil to him. The old Niamh was almost there, just below the surface of the woman before him. If she remembered or got told about Dayna and exactly what happened the night of the fire, then the shutters would come down and the ice maiden would return. “There isn’t much left now, or there wasn’t last time I was over there. I’ll take you, but I do need to sleep a bit first.”
    “Of course. Sorry, I forgot you were up all night.”
    “No worries. Let me sleep until about one and then we’ll go.” He finished his breakfast and stood. “Thank you. Want me to do the dishes?”
    “I found the dishwasher. I’ll do them. Sleep well.”
    “Thanks.” Jared headed upstairs to his room. He shut the door and pulled out his mobile phone. “Hey, Liam, it’s Jared.”
    “Hey, how are things?”
    “She still doesn’t remember anything. She’s asking about photos and wants to come over and look at yours this afternoon.”
    “Sure.”
    “One other thing, please don’t bring out any photos of Dayna. Niamh knows about the fire, as I had to tell her why we had no photos, but doesn’t know about our daughter.”
    “She needs to know, Jared. Are you sure that lying to her is a good idea? You shouldn’t do anything to impede her recovery.”
    “I’m not lying, just not telling her the whole truth, yet. Niamh’s got enough to cope with right now. Without having to mourn Dayna all over again.”
    “If you’re sure.”
    “Yes, I am. Some memories are best forgotten. For once, ignorance is bliss.”
     
    ****
     
    The morning rain had eased off by noon. After lunch, Niamh made her way down the front path, taking care over each step. Jared