Page 24 of The Condemned (Echoes from the Past #6)

SEVENTEEN

London, England

Quinn had just finished folding the laundry when she heard the doorbell. She had invited Sylvia over, knowing she desperately wanted to visit with her and the baby. Quinn had offered to make lunch, but Sylvia had told her not to bother. She was bringing something.

Quinn buzzed her up and set the basket of laundry out of sight. The flat was chaotic enough with all the packing boxes and bags intended for charity. Quinn opened the door to find Sylvia bearing a large tray covered with foil.

“Steak and ale pies,” Sylvia said as she handed the tray to Quinn and began to divest herself of her coat and scarf.

“I keep making Jude’s favorite dishes. I think if I make the right thing, he’ll be tempted to eat, but he doesn’t have much of an appetite these days,” Sylvia explained.

“He nibbles on toast in the morning and buys chips for lunch when he’s at the hospital. ”

“He’ll turn a corner, Sylvia. You’ll see,” Quinn said.

“These things take time.” She felt guilty for feeding Sylvia platitudes, but she had no idea what to say, or what would help.

Jude was on a journey of recovery. It might take weeks, months, or years for him to beat his addiction.

She didn’t dare think, even to herself that he might relapse.

“Shall I make us a salad to go with the pies?” Quinn asked as she turned toward the kitchen.

“Sure, why not? May I?” Sylvia asked as she approached Alex, who was lying on his activity mat.

“Of course. ”

Sylvia carefully lifted Alex off the floor and cuddled him against her soft jumper. Alex, who normally broke into a smile when picked up, stared at her with deep suspicion. His expression seemed to be saying, One wrong move, lady, and I’m calling for Mum .

“He’s grown,” Sylvia said wistfully. “He’s starting to look more like you.”

Quinn poked her head out of the kitchen. “You really think so?”

“I do. I know everyone says he’s the spitting image of Gabe, but there’s something in his gaze that’s all you.

He will change all the time, you know. Logan looked just like his father when he was little, but then he began to resemble me by the time he started school.

He still looks like me,” Sylvia said proudly.

“Jude still looks like his dad. Always has.”

“I never knew Jenna personally, but I do see something of her in Emma from time to time. She must have something of her personality as well. She takes us by surprise sometimes,” Quinn said, recalling the request for a Harry Styles poster.

“Girls are more difficult than boys. Everyone always says so. I wouldn’t know,” Sylvia muttered. Having given birth to two girls and abandoned them, she had no inkling of what it was like to raise daughters. “Have you had any word?” Sylvia asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Alex instantly brightened when he saw his mother. Though he didn’t reach out his arms, he leaned toward Quinn with his whole body, demanding to be taken from this strange lady.

“He wants you,” Sylvia said. “I’ll make the salad.”

Quinn took Alex and kissed his downy head.

He pressed his cheek against her breast and sighed as if he’d come home.

“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Quinn said, replying to Sylvia’s earlier question.

“I wish Rhys would call, but it’s early days yet.

I keep looking at Jo’s photos. There are so many online. She looks like Seth.”

“Yes, I think so too. I wonder what she’s like,” Sylvia mused as she sliced several tomatoes. “Do you think she’ll agree to see me?”

“I really can’t say, Sylvia. At this stage, I just hope she’s all right.”

“Me too.” Sylvia stopped cutting and stared toward the window, obviously needing a moment to compose herself. “I’d give anything to do everything over again,” she said softly. “I’ve made such a mess of my life.”

Quinn opened her mouth to offer another platitude but promptly closed it.

Sylvia had made mistakes, serious ones. No one, least of all Quinn, could tell her she’d done the right thing.

She hadn’t needed to keep her children, but the least she could have done was go through the proper channels rather than abandon her twins the way she had.

Even if she’d left them together, things might have turned out differently for the girls.

Now, thirty-one years later, Quinn and Jo had yet to meet, and Sylvia might have another chance at establishing a relationship with a daughter she’d walked away from, if Jo was forgiving enough to allow it.

“Let’s take it day by day, shall we?” Quinn said instead. “I will let you know as soon as I hear from Rhys.”

“It’s not like he’ll ring me himself,” Sylvia said bitterly.

Quinn didn’t reply. Rhys’s relationship with Sylvia was a complicated one, and she had no desire to get in the middle.

Nor did she often mention Seth in front of her birth mother.

Sylvia and Seth had yet to meet again after all these years.

Neither one had any desire to see the other, despite sharing two children and a grandchild.

“How is he? Rhys, I mean,” Sylvia asked. “I heard what happened from Logan. ”

“As good as can be expected. He’s sad.”

“He never loved her, you know,” Sylvia said as she popped the two pies into the oven and began to set the table. “It’s the baby he wanted. Had I been ten years younger?—”

“I’ll just nurse Alex while the pies are heating,” Quinn interjected, having no desire to rehash Sylvia’s relationship with Rhys.

She secretly agreed that Rhys hadn’t really loved Haley but had no wish to betray his confidence and feed Sylvia’s curiosity.

Quinn left the kitchen and settled on the sofa.

Alex was already smacking his lips, ready for lunch.

She’d fed him only two hours ago, but he seemed ravenous as he latched on, sucking furiously.

“You should talk to your pediatrician about starting him on solids,” Sylvia said as she emerged from the kitchen and sat across from Quinn. “He’ll stay full longer and sleep through the night.”

“He sleeps through the night now, but you’re right, I think he’s ready for something a little more satisfying.”

Sylvia chuckled. “I wouldn’t call baby food satisfying, but it will make him happier.”

“I think a steak and ale pie would make him happier,” Quinn joked.

The pies really did smell divine, and Alex wasn’t immune to the appetizing aroma.

Quinn saw him sniffing curiously at the air once he finished nursing.

She buttoned her top and carried him to the bedroom, where she put him down in his cot and turned on the baby monitor.

“See you later, little man,” she said, smiling down at him.

“I expect you to be sound asleep by the time I come back.” And hopefully you’ll sleep long enough for me to visit with Mary , Quinn added silently.

She didn’t think Sylvia would stay too long, which was just fine.

Their visits were still awkward, and without the adorable distraction of Alex, they had little to talk about.