Page 30 of The Little Cottage by the Cornish Sea

When I came down, Piers’s lawyer was already in the study and they were discussing my situation.

‘Kate, come have a seat. This is my mate, Lee Simmonds. Lee, this is Kate Miller. I’ll leave the two of you to it.’

It was strange, but also a relief, to see how quickly Piers had taken to my new identity. ‘Stay,’ I whispered. ‘Please.’

Without saying anything, he sank back into his seat as Lee opened up legal pad.

‘So,’ he said. ‘Piers’s been filling me in on your situation. Mind if I ask you some questions?’

He came with Piers’s guarantee, so I nodded.

‘Okay, so how long had you and your ex-boyfriend been together?’

Forever . ‘Five years.’

‘And how was the relationship in the beginning?’

I bit my lip. ‘It was great. Like any other happy relationship.’

‘Any major fights?’

‘No, never.’

‘Nothing at all?’

I shrugged. ‘No. Will started off as a really happy bloke. Then at one point, he began to come home more and more stressed each day. I’d ask him to open up but he’d say he didn’t want to talk about it. So I’d leave it at that.’

Lee began to scribble away. ‘And then?’

‘And then, one day, when he came over really late and I asked him where he’d been, he told me to mind my own effing business.’

Next to me, I could feel Piers tense as he ran his hands up and down his thighs, but he said nothing.

‘Did you ever suspect that he had someone else?’ Lee asked. You could tell he was used to all this kind of stuff. Ugly stuff.

I nodded. ‘Just recently. Does it make any difference?’

‘Not in your case, no. Not with a baby on the way.’

At first, I resented Piers for revealing my business to his lawyer, but I reasoned with myself. It had to come out sooner or later, and it was for the best.

‘Is he the father?’ Lee asked, never lifting his eyes from his agenda.

Of course he is , I almost snapped, but bit my lip. ‘Yes.’

He put his pen down and looked at Piers, then at me. ‘Unless we can prove he is violent, he has the right to see his own child. I imagine he’ll push for that pretty hard.’

‘Well, he’s never been physically violent, but he’s threatened to hurt me before. I have screenshots of his texts.’

Again, Piers’s hands slid along his thighs.

‘Did you tell the police?’

I shook my head.

‘Did you tell anyone at all?’

‘No.’

Lee looked at me directly. ‘I’ll be frank with you, Kate. Threatening texts aren’t enough to stop him from seeing the baby on a regular basis once it’s born. Unless you sue him for sole custody.’

Buckets of ice-cold water splashed down my spine and I gasped.

Piers took my hand, holding it in his. ‘We’ll get it sorted, won’t we, Lee?’ he said flatly. Obviously, Piers was not used to being denied much from his lawyer.

Lee’s eyes swung down to acknowledge the gesture but he said nothing and I could feel my ears slowly beginning to burn.

I fished my mobile out of my pocket and tapped on the screenshots of Will’s messages that I had sent to my new phone from my old one.

The minute they came up on the screen, I flinched, almost as if he was in the same room with me.

I leaned over and passed it to Lee, wanting to spare Piers the ugliness of it all.

But I could feel Piers scanning Lee’s face, whose only reaction to Will’s violent nature was the shooting up of his eyebrows, but he said nothing.

‘Don’t forget that Will stole the company documents. She saw them in his home,’ Piers said.

‘Without any witnesses or proof of that or of any physical abuse, this isn’t enough to hold up in court. Right,’ he said giving my mobile back to me and shuffling his documents.

No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening! I had to stop Will from ever laying eyes on Baby.

‘I’ll get on it and let you know what’s what.’

That’s it? I wanted to cry. You can’t do anything more to protect my baby?

‘Thank you, Lee,’ I heard Piers say said. ‘We appreciate your help.’

He lifted his thumb and nodded at Piers, who got up to follow him to the door.

Barely sitting upright on the settee, I was spiralling, desperate to protect my baby. Maybe the solution was to run away again. I didn’t want to leave Starry Cove and this semblance of a life I’d finally managed to eke out, but there was no way I could risk my baby’s life.

When he was gone, Piers turned back to me and kneeled before me, taking my hands in his. ‘Hey, are you all right?’

I knew he wanted to help me. But he couldn’t. Nobody could. I had to get through this alone. No more depending on a man or even expecting anything from them. No more doing their bidding just because they seemed charming. I would never again fall into that kind of trap.

‘I have to go,’ I said, getting to my feet.

‘Go where?’

‘I don’t know. Far from here. My baby and I aren’t safe here.’

‘Of course you are. Will nor the police have no idea where you are.’

‘They’ll find me!’ I cried, now out of control. If it had only been about my life, I would have accepted my fate. But not my baby. She wasn’t going to live in fear as I did!

‘Now listen to me a minute, Kate. We’re going to go to Tulip Cottage to grab some of your stuff. You’re staying with me, okay? I can’t even think of you anywhere on your own. You’ll be safe here.’

For how long? There was nothing he could do if the police came knocking on his door. But I didn’t want to be on my own tonight. I needed one last night before I took the matter into my own hands.

And I also needed to come clean with the girls now.

It wasn’t fair that I kept this secret from them any longer; I hoped that I would get to them before they saw the video of Will.

Even without knowing my story, they had sensed that I was vulnerable and had grouped to help me, the first being Emmie.

She would listen to me. Even if she decided not to forgive me, at least she would let me explain.

I owed her, and all the girls, that much.

I phoned her to let her know I wouldn’t be able to make it to our lunch.

‘We heard. It’s all over the internet, I’m so sorry. How are you?’

‘It’s all lies, Emmie…’ I assured her. ‘I didn’t steal or blackmail anyone.’

‘Oh, I know that! Your ex is just one of those typical monsters who think they’re entitled to anything they want just for existing. I had one of those too, I told you.’

‘Yes, but this is a mess. I’m sure he’ll try and sue for full custody of the baby. If he finds me, I’m dead.’

‘He won’t find you, Sophie. I mean, Kate. Weird calling you that.’

‘I’m so sorry I lied to you all.’

‘We understand, really. But you’re safe now. Piers will take care of you. We all will. No one from outside is getting to you. You have our word.’

I swiped at my eyes for the umpteenth time that day. I didn’t deserve such nice people around me.

‘Tell you what,’ she said, and I snorted amidst my tears. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘You sounded like Robert,’ I said.

She chuckled. ‘I did, didn’t I? By the way, he’s been fishing around here for news about you.’

‘Well, now he’s got it. Missing and dangerous. Yay me.’

‘Rubbish. I’m coming over. Plus, it will be good to see Piers as well. Just let me close the barge for the day.’

‘You don’t have to do that,’ I protested, but inside, I was grateful that she wanted to come and see me. I missed her lovely company. I missed all the Coastal Girls.

‘I want to,’ she assured me. ‘It’ll do Felicity and me some good to see you. See you in a bit!’

‘Okay,’ I agreed, hanging up and heading for the kitchen to tell Piers that she was coming.

‘You look better,’ Piers said as I entered the kitchen. He and Justin were wearing aprons and peeling potatoes for Mrs Watts while Wolf examined their every move in the hope of some scraps. It was a good thing that I kept Trixie upstairs where she was safe.

‘I am, thank you. Emmie Moon is coming over, if that’s all right?’

‘Of course. Is she bringing Felicity? I love that kid. Justin, please go dig up some more spuds. Emmie loves a shepherd’s pie like you wouldn’t believe.’

Justin nodded and wiped his hands on his apron. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Oh, I don’t know if she can stay for dinner,’ I said.

Piers grinned. ‘We’ll convince her.’

A few minutes later, when I threw the door open, Emmie was bobbing up and down with Felicity in her arms. ‘Hi-lovely-to-see-you-need-a-pee-desperately-please-hold-this!’ she babbled, passing Felicity to me before shooting off down the corridor.

‘Oh, sure, it’s down the—’

‘I know!’ she called over her shoulder and disappeared. I looked down at the gurgling beauty in my arms. ‘She knows,’ I told her. ‘And how are you, Little Miss Moon?’ I cooed. ‘Are you doing well? You’re certainly heavier than the last time I held you. Mummy must be feeding you well.’

Felicity spewed some stuff up which I readily used her bib to wipe up while I attempted to remove her little cardigan one-handedly.

Which wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. And then I began to panic all over again.

Would I be able to do this for my own baby?

How was I going to manage raising her on my own?

And work? I’d have to find a job that would let me do both.

Even if I figured out a way to stay in Starry Cove, Piers had already made it clear that this position was temporary.

And the fact that we had confessed our feelings for each other didn’t mean that things would progress between us. Not after this bombshell.

‘Hey, look who’s here, Little Miss Moon!’ came Piers’s voice from behind. The apron was gone but he had a tea towel over his shoulder and a genuine smile on his face. ‘May I?’

I nodded and surrendered my charge to him, my arms aching. I was going to be absolutely crap at this mother thing, I just knew it. Even Piers looked like a natural, and when Felicity gurgled again, she did it on the tea towel on his shoulder rather than down the front of his shirt.

‘There you go, Missy,’ he cooed and Felicity looked up into his face and giggled.

‘Where’s your Mummy?’ he asked her.

‘She went to the toilet; she’ll be right back,’ I informed him.