The Child's Secret Page 9

  ‘Honestly, no,’ Sam said firmly. ‘I’d rather not.’ He pushed it back in Finn’s direction and out of temptation’s reach.

  Finn shrugged. ‘Can’t you get Anna to drive?’

  Anna was already lifting her glass of wine to her lips. ‘Even if I was on his insurance, which I’m not,’ she said with a meaningful look at her boyfriend, ‘I deserve this and I’m not giving it up for anyone.’ She took a gulp and rolled her eyes in pleasure.

  ‘You’ll have to get this one trained up pretty sharpish, Sam,’ Finn said.

  Anna spluttered her drink. ‘Excuse me! We’re not domestic animals and I hope you weren’t suggesting that’s what women are.’

  ‘No, I was simply trying to get a reaction from you,’ Finn said with a widening smile. ‘And it worked.’

  While Finn and Anna had their faux stand-off, Laura exchanged a look with Sam who was sitting diagonally opposite. It was only the briefest of connections, nothing that would risk Finn’s attention, but it was enough to get the measure of Sam. He hadn’t shared Finn’s joke and she suspected he had a very different view of the world to her husband. His green eyes had a softness and depth that made Laura envy Anna, and even when she looked away she could still feel the warmth of his attention, or perhaps she only longed for it.

  ‘Joking aside, it would make sense if I went on your insurance,’ Anna was saying. ‘I could share the driving when we go to the caravan in Wales. Sam! Are you even listening?’

  ‘What? No, Anna, there’s no point in being on my insurance. It’s only an hour’s drive,’ he said.

  ‘You’re going on holiday?’ Finn asked. ‘I can’t remember the last time we went on one, can you, Laura?’

  A smile appeared on Laura’s face as she summoned up the memory. ‘It would have been that trip to Ireland. Jasmine was only a toddler at the time,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, a lifetime ago,’ he said.

  ‘Don’t get too jealous, it’s not a holiday,’ Sam told them. ‘I’m doing some work for a friend of a friend and I promised Anna I’d take her there for the day to measure up the job.’

  ‘He never stops,’ Anna added. ‘He deserves a break.’

  ‘Unlike you teachers,’ Finn said playfully. ‘You have it made, don’t you? I wish I had six weeks off over the summer.’

  ‘You’ve just had plenty of time off, even if it wasn’t your choice,’ Laura reminded him. ‘And you complained nonstop about being at home all day, Finn.’

  Finn was nodding. ‘Yeah, I hated it, which brings us nicely to why we’re here. Even though you’re only on orange juice, Sam, I’d still like to make a toast,’ he said and waited for them to raise their glasses. ‘Here’s to my new best mate, Sam McIntyre, who got me out of a hole and back into work.’ He was laughing as they all took a sip of their drinks. ‘Although right now that’s exactly what I am doing – digging holes.’

  ‘You used to be a foreman, didn’t you?’ Anna asked.

  The smile on Finn’s face was replaced by a scowl. ‘Yeah, until my boss stabbed me in the back. I gave him ten years of my life and had the yard working like clockwork.’

  ‘What happened?’ Sam asked.

  Finn shrugged. ‘A difference of opinion; and then, when redundancies were mentioned, I got bumped to the top of the list.’

  Although Laura knew there was far more to the story than Finn was letting on, she said nothing and watched as the others reacted to the apparent injustice.

  ‘I hope he gave you a good pay off. Ten years is a long time,’ Anna said.

  Finn snorted. ‘Not a penny. He squirmed out of it.’

  ‘That’s not right,’ Sam said. ‘You should have been owed something, surely.’

  Finn raised his hands. ‘I could hardly make a fuss. Laura still works there and we needed at least one person bringing home a wage packet. Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge now. We’re here to celebrate new beginnings.’ He raised his glass again and demolished the first of the two pints in front of him.

  ‘So what about you two?’ Laura asked. ‘Have you been together long?’

  ‘No, not really,’ Sam replied.

  ‘Getting on for three months,’ Anna said in a tone that suggested she was correcting him.

  Laura couldn’t help notice Sam shifting nervously in his seat. Anna had seen it too and said, ‘But we’re still getting to know each other.’

  ‘You watch,’ Finn said to Sam, ‘she’ll have a ring on your finger before you know what’s hit you.’ He tapped the side of his head and then closed his eyes. ‘I predict a long and productive union.’

  ‘Oh, right, you’re a psychic now, are you?’ Anna said, laughing.

  Finn reached out a hand. ‘Would you like me to read your palm, madam, or does the future scare you?’

  Anna immediately took up the challenge and offered her upturned palm. Finn held her hand in both of his and took his time turning it this way and that. Unlike her husband, Laura wasn’t the jealous type and was only slightly bemused by the performance. She was more than used to Finn’s party tricks but glanced over at Sam to check his reaction. It was impossible to tell if it was the sight of Finn caressing his girlfriend’s hand that caused Sam’s apparent discomfort or fear of what Finn might say next.

  ‘Hmm,’ Finn said. ‘I see many, many children in your life. Schoolchildren? Maybe, maybe not …’

  He looked up and winked at Sam before continuing, ‘Ah, now this – this is your love line,’ he said and trailed a finger along the centre of Anna’s supple and supplicant flesh. He gasped dramatically. ‘And what is this I see?’

  ‘Go on,’ Anna asked with more than a hint of cynicism. She hadn’t fallen for Finn’s charm or if she had, she wasn’t letting it show.

  Finn peered closer until his nose was only inches away from the creases of skin that held the secrets of the schoolteacher’s heart. ‘I think it’s …’ he whispered. ‘Yes, it is, it’s a hook! You’d better watch out, Sam!’

  Anna pulled her hand away and swiped it at Finn but he was too fast. They all started laughing and when they settled down again, there were smiles on everyone’s face except Sam’s.

  ‘So what’s up, Sam, have you been bitten once before?’ Finn asked. ‘Now I come to think of it, you do look like someone who’s been kicked in the guts once or twice already.’

  Sam turned the glass of orange juice in his hand and looked into its depths as if deciding how to answer. ‘I was married when I lived up in Edinburgh,’ he said at last, ‘but I left Scotland to make a fresh start and here I am.’

  ‘Was it a bitter divorce, then?’ Finn asked.

  When Sam lifted his head to answer, his eyes revealed the pain that his words would not. ‘It was just the two of us, so it was all quite painless in the scheme of things,’ he said. ‘Anyway, that was a long time ago, and I thought we were here to celebrate new beginnings?’

  Finn raised his second pint. ‘You’re not wrong there, Sam. There’s no point in looking back, it’s what we do tomorrow that counts.’ He gave Laura a meaningful look as he spoke and the smile on his lips tempted one from hers. ‘Isn’t that right, love?’

  Despite Finn’s wise words, he spent the next couple of hours regaling them all with endless anecdotes about his life. Taking up the challenge, Anna told some of her own and the two enjoyed a battle to see who could come up with the most embarrassing or hilarious story. Sam seemed reluctant at first to dip into the past but with a little encouragement from Anna, he too started telling them about the practical jokes he and his colleagues had played on each other when he worked as an estate manager in Edinburgh. Laura was the only one not to take her turn centre stage, but she was no less enthralled by the storytelling, which kept them all entertained long after the other customers had left. The waiters had started clearing the tables around them, but their little group made no move to leave. The bill was produced and Sam insisted they share it, which eventually Finn was forced to accept and Laura was grateful for. In financial terms, th
ey weren’t out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.

  ‘We’ll have to do this again,’ Anna said. ‘I’ll need something to occupy me while I’m a lady of leisure over the summer holidays.’

  ‘There she goes again, rubbing it in,’ Finn declared.

  ‘But the end of term isn’t for another fortnight,’ she said, ‘and in case you’ve all forgotten, tonight is a school night. We’d better be off.’

  Sam had a frown on his face as if he didn’t quite believe the time showing on the clock on the restaurant wall. It was past midnight. ‘I can’t believe how fast the time has flown,’ he said, ‘and yes, Finn, let’s do it again.’

  ‘Do we really have to end the night so soon? It’s still early,’ Finn complained when Laura began gathering up their things. ‘How about you both come back to our house and we carry on?’

  Laura’s heart sank. It wouldn’t be the first time that Finn had brought people back to the house unannounced, although usually she was at home tucked up in bed when such offers were made.

  Sam put his arm around Finn’s shoulder. ‘You seem to be forgetting that I’m stone-cold sober while you, unless I’m very much mistaken, are a little the worse for wear. And as Anna has just pointed out,’ he continued firmly, ‘you have work tomorrow.’

  Sam looked over at Laura for support but she had made her views known to her husband earlier and wouldn’t repeat them, not now that Finn had been drinking. She simply shrugged her shoulders and, to her relief, Finn gave Sam a drunken hug.

  ‘I suppose I had better be on my best behaviour. I can’t risk getting my marching orders again. I don’t want to let you down, mate.’

  It was Anna who pulled them apart. ‘We’ll have to watch these two, Laura. It looks like there’s a bit of a bromance going on. You take yours and I’ll take mine.’

  If there had been any tension at the beginning of the night, it was all but forgotten as Laura walked back to the car with Finn. He had his arm around her and was contentedly humming to himself. Finn was quick to make friends, but other than his constant drinking companions, he found it difficult to keep them. Most people couldn’t cope with his mood swings or his petty jealousies, and while common sense told Laura that Sam would be another casualty, she hoped that he would be around for a good while yet. If tonight was anything to go by then he was a good influence on her husband and Laura could do with an ally.

  Driving away from the restaurant, they drove past Sam’s Land Rover, which was still parked. The interior light was on and she could see Anna with her head on Sam’s shoulder, gazing up into his face. Sam was looking out of the window and, as Laura passed, she caught his eye and he smiled at her. She felt something come alive inside her that shouldn’t be there and it made her glance guiltily at her husband, but Finn was already dozing. A deep sigh left her body as she refused to listen to the voice in her head that told her that there might be a price to pay for the arrival of their knight in shining armour. Trouble inevitably followed good fortune in the Petersons’ lives as surely as night followed day.

  14

  Friday 24 July 2015

  It was the long wisps of hair that gave her away, like thin strands of gold floating in the late-afternoon breeze. Sam had spent the day working on a landscaping job and, despite feeling exhausted, he had been checking around the park one last time when he spied the telltale signs that the Allerton Oak had a visitor.

  He could have left without Jasmine ever knowing he had seen her but he didn’t need much of an excuse to extend what had already been a busy day; so busy that he hadn’t yet had the chance to reply to a text from Anna asking if he would like to meet up for dinner – or at least that was what he was telling himself. School had broken up for the summer, and if these first few days were anything to go by, then Anna was intent on spending as much of her free time with Sam as she possibly could. The open and honest discussion they had had about their relationship hadn’t changed a thing and it would be down to Sam to protect them both from falling too deeply.

  A dry twig crunched underfoot as he approached the tree and the wisps of hair quickly disappeared, as if the trespasser had been swallowed up by the great oak. He half expected her not to be there as he walked around the circumference of the tree, but Jasmine’s bright blue eyes were on him as he came into view. Despite his noisy approach she looked startled and not a little guilty. He stopped in front of her and rested his hands on the railings that kept out everyone except a determined eight-year-old.

  ‘You’re not supposed to be in there.’ He was trying to sound firm, but a part of him was glad to see her keeping the old tree company.

  Jasmine was wearing a yellow summer dress that had stains the same shade of green as the moss-covered branches. There were similar coloured stains on her knees, which she had pulled up to her chest as she watched him. She blinked at Sam but otherwise didn’t respond.

  Afraid that she might burst into tears if he spoke too harshly, he added, ‘Does your mum know you’re here?’

  As she shook her head, Jasmine’s hair fell in front of her face but didn’t hide her completely. The similarities between mother and daughter were striking and although there was a little of Finn there too in the set of her mouth and the dimple on her chin, Jasmine’s nose and eyes were a reflection of Laura’s. He hadn’t seen either of them since the night of the school play although he had shared more than the odd pint with Finn who always seemed to be in the pub when Sam met up with Anna. But, like Jasmine, her mother had been playing on his mind too despite his best intentions.

  ‘Are you here with someone?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you allowed to be in the park on your own?’

  ‘I usually come with Keira and her sister but Leah’s staying at her friend’s house and Keira didn’t want to come. She says the Wishing Tree is just a lump of old wood and doesn’t believe it has special powers. She’d only be a nuisance if I did bring her anyway,’ Jasmine said so quietly that it was difficult to hear her above the gentle soughing of the tree’s branches which heaved its lush green canopy of fresh leaves to the skies.

  ‘So you’re not allowed here on your own,’ Sam concluded from her evasion of the question.

  ‘I don’t live that far. Just over the road.’ She tipped her head in a westerly direction.

  ‘Aren’t there busy roads to cross?’ he said.

  ‘I used the pedestrian crossing.’

  Sam wasn’t reassured. ‘I know this is your local park and I expect it’s very familiar to you, but you shouldn’t come here on your own, Jasmine,’ he said, then wondered how to proceed with the lecture. How was he meant to tell her that she shouldn’t trust strangers while at the same time get her to trust him long enough to get her home safely?

  ‘I wanted to make sure the tree was all right,’ she said. Jasmine glanced over her shoulder as if she were inviting the oak to join the conversation.

  ‘It’s lasted a thousand years and I think it’s going to be safe for a good while yet.’

  ‘It is still really strong, isn’t it?’ she said, placing a hand against the bark as if she were giving the gnarled wood some reassurance.

  ‘Yes, it is, and now that you know it’s safe, how about we get you out of there and on your way home? If your mum doesn’t know you’re here then there’s probably a search party out for you as we speak.’

  ‘Mum’s at work. Natalie was looking after me and she probably thinks I’m still in the garden with Keira. Keira won’t tell and I wasn’t going to be away long.’

  ‘Maybe we should phone and let Natalie know,’ Sam suggested.

  Jasmine had her pink notepad wedged between her chest and her knees and, poking from behind it, what looked like a mobile phone. She pulled it out to show him. ‘It’s my dad’s old phone and I only use it for the camera. It doesn’t have a SIM card any more.’

  ‘We can use my phone.’

  ‘I can’t remember her number.’

  ‘All the more reason to get
you home, then. Someone will be missing you by now.’

  The curious look on the lost girl’s face sent a shiver down his spine. It was the same one he had seen on Laura’s face when he had spied her that very first time in the school hall, as if she was used to people looking right through her and was shocked to discover that she wasn’t a ghost after all.

  When Jasmine stood up, it was with noticeable reluctance, and even then, rather than go towards Sam, she turned to face the tree. She appeared indecisive as she moved her hand towards one of the trunk’s open wounds and then quickly withdrew it again. Sam didn’t need to see the note to know she had slipped it inside the hollow, but as she tilted her head upwards and waited for the tree to make its decision, Sam strained his ears too. He wasn’t sure what answer came back, but the little girl seemed happy enough as she scaled the overhanging branch with ease and refused the guiding arm Sam had offered.

  ‘You’re sure it’s strong, aren’t you?’ she asked, needing Sam’s confirmation before she allowed him to lead her away.

  ‘When you look at the Wishing Tree, all you see are the massive branches that have to be propped up because the poor old trunk can’t take the strain,’ Sam told her, purposely using the name he had christened it with because he knew that was how Jasmine thought of it. ‘But have you ever wondered how much of the tree is underneath your feet? Its roots reach out wide, at least as wide as the tree itself and some of those roots will be as thick as branches.’

  Jasmine looked down as her mind built up an image of the network of roots that kept her tree firmly anchored. ‘You mean like an iceberg? Only one third of an iceberg is visible above water,’ she said as if reciting from a book. ‘We did about them in school.’

  Sam smiled. ‘Yes, exactly like an iceberg.’

  ‘But there are loads of trees in the park that have fallen over,’ she said, looking around her and settling her eyes on a gap in the fir trees where Sam knew there was a toppled tree just out of sight.

  ‘They’re different species of tree. Oaks can’t be felled quite so easily,’ he added, which was closer to a white lie than he would like.