Page 99 of On the Edge

It was a match.

Nel’s mind raced as pieces fell into place.Viv said she was pregnant when Poppy was born, and that she’d miscarried before she’d decided what to do.Nel tried to place these events on a timeline: before Maddie—after Maddie.

The front door banged again.‘Just grabbing some glasses!’Viv called out as she passed the door.

When she entered a few minutes later, holding two glasses of champagne, Nel was still sitting motionless on the edge of the desk.

‘There you go, doll!’Viv passed her a glass.‘To new beginnings!’she said, raising her glass.

Nel lifted her glass and clinked it against Viv’s, still distracted.‘To new beginnings.’

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I just …’

Viv’s eyes looked down to where the book lay open on the desk, next to the photo.Her face dropped.She looked back at Nel.There was a long silence.

‘It was Dad, wasn’t it?’Nel murmured.‘He was your … friend.’

Viv closed her eyes and nodded.

‘How long did it go on for?’Nel wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer, but she had to know.

‘A couple of years.’Longer than any relationship Nel had ever had.

‘When did it end?’

‘The pregnancy changed everything.’Viv blinked and the tears pooled in her eyes spilled down her cheeks.‘Then Maddie died and your dad said it had to stop.’

Nel thought of her dad.Doctor Robert Foley.Principled and virtuous.Such a good man.She’d heard people say that her whole life.She’d always thought she could never measure up to him, but he wasn’t the man she thought he was at all.He wasn’t perfect.

‘Thank god Mum didn’t find out,’ Nel said quietly.

Viv hesitated, and then said, ‘She did.’

‘What?’

‘He chose her,’ Viv said, ‘and she chose to stay.’

Chapter 68

Nel drove back to her mum’s place, debating whether to tell Cath she knew about the affair.She felt strangely off balance, as though she’d discovered a crack in the foundations of her world and now she could see that everything was slightly out of alignment.

She pushed open the front door and tossed her keys into the bowl on the hall table.

‘Mum?’

Silence.

‘Mum?’

She walked into the lounge room, but Cath’s armchair sat empty.Nel couldn’t remember the last time she’d arrived home to an empty house.The quilt Cath had been working on was folded neatly on top of her sewing box beside the chair.Nel dialled her number, but it rang and rang then went to voicemail.She hung up.

She was still standing there, phone in hand, when there was a jangle of keys at the front door.Cath stepped into the hallway, wearing a flattering navy suit Nel hadn’t seen before.She looked ten years younger.

‘Hi.’

Cath jumped.‘Oh!Hello, darling.You gave me a fright.’