Tempted by the Single Mom

by Caroline Anderson

  She dithered for a moment, then nodded. ‘If you could.’

  ‘Of course. I’ll follow you. I’ve got my bag in the car.’

  * * *

  It was a Colles’ fracture. He could tell that much as he got out of the car, and he could see at a glance that it was going to need surgery.

  Ellie was busy comforting Evie, who was crying in Liz’s arms, and Oscar and Maisie were sitting on the edge of the drive looking a little shocked.

  ‘Take them home, I’ll deal with this,’ he said gently, and she nodded, put them in the car, collected their bags from the hall and left him to sort it out, so he headed over to the man sitting on the front step, guarding his arm.

  He crouched down and smiled at him, noticing that he was pale and sweaty and clearly in shock.

  ‘Hi. Steven, isn’t it? I’m Nick Cooper, I’m a new colleague of Ellie’s. She asked me if I could come and lend a hand. Do you mind if I have a look?’

  ‘No, that’s fine,’ he said, but he was very reluctant to move his fingers, and the fracture was clearly displaced.

  ‘Can you feel your fingers?’ he asked, touching them gently in turn.

  ‘Yes, but they feel weird. It’s broken, isn’t it?’ Steven said, and he nodded.

  ‘Yes. Yes, it’s definitely broken, and you’ll have to go to hospital. I think you could do with an ambulance, or at least a paramedic with a decent sling before we try and move you. I’ll give them a call—unless you’ve already done it?’ he asked Liz, but she shook her head.

  ‘No. No, I just rang Ellie and sat with them. I thought she might be able to help me get him in the car. Thank you so much for coming. It’s such a help. The little ones were getting upset—’

  She bit her lip and turned away, and he laid a hand on her arm and squeezed it gently.

  ‘It’s OK, I’ll call an ambulance.’ He pulled out his phone, passed on the information and crouched down again.

  ‘Steven, can you remember how you fell?’

  ‘Oh—no, not really. I was feeling a bit odd—hot, sweaty—and then I was on the floor and my arm was killing me. No idea how I got here.’

  ‘Mmm. Sounds like you might have had a little blackout. Have you ever fainted before, or felt as if you might?’

  ‘Not exactly, but I’ve felt close to it once or twice.’

  ‘Recently?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, I—I’ve been feeling a bit weird, but I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.’

  ‘I can’t believe that!’ Liz said, sitting down abruptly beside him on the step. ‘What were you thinking, not telling me? Is that why you haven’t wanted to drive?’

  He let out a little sigh and nodded. ‘I didn’t want to make a fuss.’

  Nick grunted. Jim Golding had been the last person to tell him that and he’d died a couple of minutes later. He gave Steven a firm look.

  ‘You need to make a fuss when things don’t feel right. I’m not saying there’s necessarily anything drastic wrong, but it’s really important that you get things like that investigated, because falls are dangerous and they don’t tend to happen spontaneously. Let me get my bag and have a listen to your chest, and then I’ll give you some pain relief while we wait for the ambulance.’

  His heart sounded steady, if a little fast, so Nick drew up ten mg of morphine and delivered it slowly over five minutes into a vein in his other arm. By the time he’d done that the ambulance had arrived, so he ignored his ringing phone for the third time in as many minutes and turned his attention to the crew.

  ‘We were just round the corner having an ice cream and thinking it was a bit too quiet,’ the paramedic said cheerfully, so Nick introduced himself, gave him the details of what he’d found and the drugs he’d given, handed over his patient, made sure Liz was OK, got back in his car and pulled out his phone.

  Four missed calls now. She must be worrying. He’d go round to hers and put her out of her misery.

  * * *

  What on earth was going on?

  The moment she opened the door she could hear running water, and as she stepped into the hall and felt the carpet squelch under her shoes, the sinking feeling in her stomach got a whole lot worse.

  The dishwasher. She’d put it on as they’d left the house on Friday morning, and it must be leaking. Damn.

  ‘Stay here,’ she told the children, sitting them on the stairs, and she opened the kitchen door and gasped at the devastation.

  Part of the ceiling was down, water streaming steadily through the joists from upstairs and splashing on the ruined kitchen units, and the light fitting was dangling at a crazy angle. Starting to panic, she ran up and opened the door of Maisie and Oscar’s bedroom and found a repeat of the scene downstairs.

  Sagging plasterboard, loft insulation hanging down and funnelling water straight onto a huge slab of sodden plasterboard on Maisie’s bed—and above, in the loft, she could see the underside of the water tank.

  Why was it leaking? How?

  And she didn’t even have a loft ladder so she couldn’t get up there to see what was happening. Not that she’d know what to look for.

  She stared around in disbelief, totally overwhelmed by the level of damage, paralysed by the shock.

  What do I do? The children. Get the children out...

  She ran back down to the children, scooped up Evie, grabbed Oscar’s hand and towed him down the hall, Maisie on her heels, and as she opened the front door she heard a crash and a shudder ran through her. Another ceiling somewhere?

  She ushered them out of the door before anything else happened, and rang Nick. He didn’t answer, not then and not the next three times she phoned him, and then reaction set in and she started to shake.

  What if it had happened while the children were asleep? They could have been killed in their beds!

  She had to take them somewhere else—somewhere safe, but where? She couldn’t go back to Liz and Steven’s, because they wouldn’t be there, but she could go to Lucy and Andy. At least there they’d be safe. Except they were away for the weekend and might not be back yet.

  Nick, where are you? I need you...

  She put them in the car out of harm’s way and was about to call him again when his car pulled onto the drive.

  She’d never been so glad to see anyone in her life.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  SHE LOOKED AWFUL.

  Damn. He should have called her back. He might have realised she’d be worried. He got out of his car and strode towards her.

  ‘Hey, Ellie, he’s OK—’

  She shook her head. ‘No. No, it’s not Steven,’ she said, her voice sounding really weird, and the bottom dropped out of his stomach.

  ‘Ellie? What on earth’s happened?’ he said, and she fell into his arms and burst into tears. He gathered her up against his chest and held her tight, swamped with guilt for ignoring her calls. What if something dreadful had happened?

  ‘Ellie, talk to me. What is it? Is it one of the children? What’s wrong?’

  She shook her head. ‘No. It’s my house. There’s a leak—there’s water everywhere and everything’s ruined...’

  He looked past her, past the children sitting in the car, on through the open door, but he couldn’t see anything. He gave her another quick hug, let her go and put his head inside, and he could hear water running still. Not a good sign.

  ‘Any idea where it’s leaking?’

  She nodded. ‘The tank in the loft. At least, that’s where the ceiling’s down, under the tank. I’ve never been in there but I imagine that’s what’s leaking.’

  ‘Where’s your stopcock?’

  ‘Um—under the sink, but the kitchen’s trashed, so’s their bedroom, and the water’s running off the wires, too. I just had to get them out—’

  Her face crumpled again, and he reached out and rubbed h
er arm gently. ‘Of course you did. Stay here, I’ll make sure it’s safe. Where’s the mains switch for the electricity?’

  ‘Under-stairs cupboard, right in front of you.’

  ‘OK. Back in a minute.’

  She nodded, and he went in and glanced through the kitchen door and winced. She was right, it was trashed, but he wasn’t going in there until he’d checked the power was off because the water was streaming down the dangling cable of the light fitting and the floor was awash, but at least the ceiling was already down and nothing else was going to happen.

  He found the electricity supply under the stairs and discovered it had already tripped out, so at least it was safe and she hadn’t been in any danger. Good. He turned off the mains switch and picked his way through the sodden plasterboard, turned off the stopcock under the sink and listened.

  The trickle of water slowed to a steady drip. Good. That was that solved. Now for the cause. He went upstairs, squelched across the landing and looked in the bedroom above the kitchen.

  Poor Ellie. No wonder she was in bits. He could hardly see the beds for the sodden plasterboard, the wet loft insulation hanging from the rafters had water dripping steadily off it, and he could see the tank through the gaping hole. Almost definitely the culprit.

  He went back to the landing and looked up at the loft hatch. It wasn’t hinged, which meant it wouldn’t have a ladder. Great. It just got better. He dragged a chair out of her bedroom, stood on it and stretched up, tipping the hatch cover out of the way, then hauled himself up and made his way across the loft using his phone as a torch.

  As he’d suspected, the float had sheared off the arm so there’d been nothing to stop the cold tank endlessly filling, but the overflow which should have stopped the flood was still submerged, so it must be blocked. Spiders’ webs? Very likely. It had happened in his parents’ house, although they’d found it before it could do any harm.

  Unlike Ellie. Her house was going to be out of action for weeks, maybe months. They’d be homeless.

  Except they wouldn’t, he realised, the inevitability of it settling in him like a familiar weight. He couldn’t allow that.

  He found a bit of wood lying around and wedged the arm up in case the stopcock leaked, then lowered himself down and went back to her.

  She was sitting in the car with the children, and she turned her face up to him, her eyes red-rimmed but dry now.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘It was the tank overfilling, and the overflow must be blocked. I’ve turned off the water, wedged up the arm so it can’t refill the tank, and the power’s off so it’s safe to go in, so you’d better go and find what you need for the night. You’re coming back to mine.’

  ‘Yours?’

  ‘Well, there’s no way you can stay here, not without power or water. It isn’t practical. You’ve got no beds for the children, no kitchen, no bathroom facilities you can use—nothing.’

  She stared at him blankly. ‘Nor have you—well, not beds, anyway. Um—I’ll try Lucy, see if she’s back—’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ he said firmly. ‘And before you say it, you can’t go to Liz, she’s got enough on her plate with Steven. And I have got beds. You’re coming back to mine.’

  She shook her head. ‘But—we can’t! You don’t want us all there!’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Ellie, of course I want you! And I’ve got three spare bedrooms. Why on earth not use them?’

  She kept staring, searching his eyes, and then finally her shoulders drooped and she nodded. ‘OK, if you’re sure—but just for tonight, and I’ll sort something out tomorrow. And I don’t need to go back in. They’ve got overnight things in my car.’

  ‘And you? What about yours?’

  ‘I hadn’t packed when Liz rang. I didn’t have time to think about it.’

  He nodded. ‘OK. Well, lock it up and we’ll sort it out in the morning.’

  ‘How? We’re at work.’

  Her eyes were desperate, the situation overwhelming her again, so he took charge, took the responsibility off her shoulders without even thinking because that was what he did, what he’d always done all his life.

  ‘You’re not,’ he said firmly. ‘Not now. You need to deal with this, Ellie. I’ll cover you.’

  ‘How? We’re all stretched. I’ll have to work. I’ll make a few calls in between. I’ll be fine—’

  ‘Don’t think about it now,’ he said, quietly but firmly. ‘Come on, let’s get you back to my house and settled in, find the children something to eat and then we can talk about it. OK?’

  She nodded, to his relief, and he leant in and smiled at the children. ‘Hey, guess what? You’re all going to come back to my house for a sleepover. That’ll be fun, won’t it? Do you remember coming to my house?’

  They nodded, their little faces brightening.

  ‘Is Rufus there?’ Maisie asked, and he grinned.

  ‘Yeah, and he’ll be really pleased to see you all. Come on, then. Let’s go!’

  * * *

  It was still warm enough to be outside, the late afternoon sun slanting down into his garden, but Ellie felt chilled to the bone. She sat huddled on a bench while the children played on the grass with the delighted dog, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil going on inside her.

  Not that she minded that at all. She’d rather they had no idea, because the more she thought about it, the worse their situation got.

  She hugged her arms around herself and shuddered. She had no idea where Nick was or what he was doing. He’d sent them all out here into the garden, and gone back inside. Sorting out beds?

  There was a double in the room next to him in a jumble of other furniture, she knew that, and a pile of bed bits and two single mattresses in the next room, but the first of the bedrooms had all the boxes stacked in it and there was no way he could deal with those in a hurry. No matter. They could share one room, if necessary. They’d be fine. At least they’d be dry and safe.

  She glanced at the bedroom windows but she couldn’t see any sign of movement. What was he doing?

  She could always go and investigate, but she couldn’t let the children out of her sight, so she stayed there, hugging her arms and wondering if it was her punishment for spending the weekend with him instead of at home.

  So much for her happy little bubble.

  * * *

  She was still shaking.

  He’d seen her through the bedroom windows, and she’d looked cold and confused and—well, devastated wasn’t too strong a word.

  He gave the last duvet a tug, went into the kitchen and made her a hot drink and took it outside.

  ‘Here,’ he said softly. He perched beside her on the bench at a discreet distance and put the mug in her hands, and she wrapped her fingers round it and breathed in the steam. ‘Is it tea?’ she asked, her voice sounding far-away and worryingly unlike her.

  ‘Yes. Here. I’ve brought you chocolate.’

  He held it out, and she gave him a sideways look. ‘Are you giving me first aid, by any chance?’ she asked with a wry smile, and he smiled back.

  ‘Rumbled. But you’re in shock, Ellie,’ he said gently. ‘It’s a lot to take in, but you don’t need to worry about tonight, at least. I’ve made the beds. I thought you’d want Evie in with you, so I’ve pushed the double bed up against the wall so she can’t fall out that side, and I’ve built the twin beds in the other bedroom for Maisie and Oscar, so they’ll be together.’

  ‘How have you even got so many beds?’ she asked, totally unexpectedly, and he had to hide the smile.

  ‘I told you. I have sisters with children. We had the beds in our house in Bath so I just brought them with me.’ He waved the chocolate under her nose. ‘Here. Eat it.’

  She glanced down, then took it from him and ate it, her eyes on the children again as if she was checking to make sure they were sti
ll safe.

  ‘They’re OK, Ellie,’ he said softly. ‘Nothing happened to them.’

  ‘But it might have done. If that ceiling had come down while they were sleeping—’

  ‘But it didn’t. Nobody was there, nobody was hurt.’

  ‘That was just sheer luck. Nick, how am I going to clean it all up? How can I get the water out of the carpets? And I’ll never get that filth out of their bedding—and the kitchen! All the things on the side—the kettle, the toaster, all the storage jars...’

  He could almost hear her mind working, cataloguing the extent of the disaster, and as it sank in she turned her head and looked up at him, her eyes lost.

  ‘Nick, what do I do now? Everything’s going to need replacing—where on earth do I start?’

  To hell with the discreet distance. He shifted closer, put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her up against his side. ‘You contact the insurance company in the morning, you tell them what’s happened, and you hand it over to them. You do have insurance, I take it?’

  ‘Of course I do, but what will they do? Get a plumber, I suppose, and then what?’

  ‘They’ll clear the house of anything that’s been damaged, put in dehumidifiers to dry out the structure and once it’s all dry they’ll repair it, redecorate and re-carpet it, replace the damaged furniture and light fittings, maybe refit the kitchen—’

  ‘But...that’ll take weeks!’

  ‘It will. It’ll be several weeks, maybe even months, but that’s fine. You’re all safe, you’ve got somewhere to live—don’t worry. It’ll all work out, Ellie.’

  She shook her head and eased away from him, her face looking stunned as the enormity of it all sank in.

  ‘We can’t stay here that long. It’s not fair, it’s not reasonable, and it’s the last thing you want.’

  ‘No, it isn’t,’ he said, trying to sound convincing, but she was shaking her head again.

  ‘Yes, it is! You told me you were ready for a quiet life. Believe me, there’s nothing quiet about life with my children, and I can’t live on eggshells in case they upset you—’