A Mother Like You

by Ruby Speechley

  ‘Do they ever come back?’ Izzy asked.

  ‘Yeah definitely, they don’t like being beaten.’

  ‘So are we doing the haunted room today?’ Izzy followed them into the first room.

  ‘Yeah, we’ve set up the Haunted Manor House Room for a taster of the experience.’

  ‘How will that work?’ Kate scribbled in her notes.

  ‘I lock you in for ten minutes and see how you get on. There will be loads of audio and visual elements to scare the pants off you. Are you both good at problem-solving puzzles?’

  ‘I’m not.’ Laughed Izzy. ‘I hope you are, Kate.’

  ‘Depends. So what level of scary is it?’

  ‘I’d say it’s off the scale. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?’ he laughed.

  ‘Yeah, ’course, I want to see what my fellow workmates are made of,’ Izzy said.

  ‘So are there emergency exits in case of a fire?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Yes, and there’s always one of us on hand if you suddenly needed the loo for example. We had one woman here a few months ago whose water’s broke.’

  ‘Oh God, don’t say that.’

  ‘Why? You’re not expecting, are you?’ Rupert’s eyebrows shot up.

  ‘Wow, I’d never have guessed,’ Izzy said.

  ‘I’m not even halfway yet.’ She pressed her hand over the curve of her bump, hidden by her coat.

  ‘You’ll be fine; I’ll dial it back a bit, don’t want you having the baby early, do we?’

  ‘Thanks,’ Kate said.

  ‘So there’s the Horror Room, Zombie Room, adventure, mystery, sci-fi or haunted. Each has a mixture of puzzles and clues, some easy, some more difficult which is why it takes a good team effort. There are padlocks and keys hidden behind clues using magnets and electronic systems. It gives a good variety for all levels of ability. As I said, each room is decked out with audio and visual to give a fully immersive experience. You’ll have a dedicated Game Master to look after you all the way through.’

  ‘Sounds good, so can we have a go in the haunted house now?’ said Izzy.

  ‘Someone’s keen. Yeah, it’s all ready for you. There’s a spooky baby theme. Is that going to be okay for you?’ he asked Kate, looking from her to Izzy and back again.

  Kate felt Izzy’s gaze pressing into her. She didn’t want to lose this client by chickening out. If this was a successful event, Kate had a feeling Izzy would use them again. ‘Sure, I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Right, come this way.’ Rupert took them down a dark corridor to a wooden door with There’s No Escape daubed on it in fake blood.

  ‘Here we are. Welcome to Morton Manor. You’ll be safer taking those off.’ He pointed to Izzy’s stilettos. ‘You’re trapped in three-year-old Abigail’s bedroom, and you need to find and save her baby brother and escape before the clock strikes midnight.’

  He unlocked the door to a dim room. A single candle was burning in a silver candlestick on the mantlepiece. Slow, languorous trumpet music in a 1920s style eerily crackled out of an old-fashioned wireless. Izzy slipped off her shoes, tucked them in her briefcase and strode in. Kate followed in her sensible flats. The door banged shut behind them followed by the rattle of bolts sealing them in. There was a musty smell of dust and damp. The room was larger than she expected, full of dark chunky oak furniture, brown stained walls, wooden floorboards and a threadbare Persian rug. In one corner stood a cot. Next to it, a child’s toy pram and on the mantlepiece a clock ticked loudly.

  ‘Can you see the first clue?’ Kate asked, but when she turned round, she couldn’t see where Izzy had gone.

  You’re not afraid of the dark, are you? The angelic voice of a child echoed round the room.

  ‘Izzy, where’ve you gone?’

  Don’t hurt us, Mummy, I promise I’ll be a good girl. The little voice pleaded.

  The curtains at the window started to billow, and the sound of a grizzling baby unnerved Kate. She rubbed her bump.

  ‘Seriously, Izzy, is that you behind the curtain?’

  Help me, can you help me? The child’s voice had a desperate tone.

  Kate’s pulse drummed in her head. A bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling began to flicker and swing from side to side.

  You won’t find me. I’m watching you.

  ‘Izzy?’

  The cot gently began rocking.

  You can’t get out. You’re going to die in here.

  ‘Izzy, come on, I can’t see you.’ Kate pulled back one of the curtains, but there was nothing there. White strobe lighting lit up the room for a few seconds before falling into total darkness. Kate was grabbed from behind and her face pushed against the cold stone wall.

  ‘Did you like your little gift for the baby?’ It was Izzy whispering close to her ear, gripping Kate’s hands behind her.

  ‘What? That was you? Why?’

  ‘Because you can’t have this baby.’ Izzy reached round and gripped Kate’s bump, pressing her whole body into Kate’s back so she couldn’t move.

  ‘Why? Was it you sending me nasty messages?’

  ‘And the rose. Did you like it? I thought you’d appreciate my note: “counting down the days until you die”.’ She shoved Kate harder, her knee digging in the back of her thigh.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Kate tried to move, but Izzy dug her fingers into her bump like the claws of a digger. Kate screamed, but the grizzling baby became louder. Her mind flipped back to Frankie standing up in her cot, crying for her. ‘You’re hurting me,’ Kate sobbed. Why couldn’t Rupert hear her? She tried to think where the emergency exits were when he’d shown them the layout of the room.

  ‘Why should you have everything that was supposed to be mine?’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘James was supposed to marry me, have babies with me.’

  ‘You’re Bella?’ Kate thought back over the messages, but there hadn’t been any clues pointing to her.

  ‘Yes, his ex-fiancée, Isabella. And when you came on the scene, James lost interest in me.’

  ‘What are you talking about? He was single when we started working together, and we didn’t get together straight away.’

  ‘Is that what he told you?’

  ‘I’m not the reason why you split up.’

  ‘Yes, you are.’ Izzy pushed her hand to Kate’s head, banging it on the wall.

  ‘But you’re the one who gave him an ultimatum. You left him because he didn’t want to have children.’

  ‘He would have changed his mind if he hadn’t met you.’ She dug her fingers deeper into Kate’s bump. ‘I hate you,’ she shouted in Kate’s ear. ‘You think you’re something special, don’t you?’

  Kate screamed and tried her hardest to curve backwards, but Izzy’s knee pushed into her back keeping her upright. Kate screamed again.

  The door suddenly unbolted, and Izzy pulled away. Kate slumped to the floor.

  ‘Come back.’ Rupert ran to the opposite corner of the room. Behind a curtain, the emergency door had been pushed open. A gust of wind blew in followed by car exhaust fumes as Izzy drove off.

  ‘Help me, please,’ Kate cried, cupping her bump.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  James arrived as the police were leaving. Kate was sitting with Rupert in the foyer when he rushed in. She stood up and flung her arms round him.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  She nodded, clinging on to him.

  ‘Tell me what happened. I could barely understand you on the phone.’

  Kate was unable to speak trying to hold in her tears.

  ‘Are you sure it was Bella that did this to you?’

  Kate nodded.

  ‘I thought you were meeting someone called Izzy from Shapeshifters?’

  ‘She’s your ex. Her name is Isabella, isn’t it?’

  ‘God, yes.’

  ‘She told me she was supposed to marry you and have your babies, not me.’

  ‘But we were over years ago. Why is she trying to hu
rt you?’

  ‘She seemed to think I was on the scene before you two broke up. That it’s my fault you split. That’s not true, is it?’

  ‘No. You may have started working at New World by then, I don’t remember, but we didn’t start going out for a while. There was definitely no overlap. I would not do that to either of you.’

  ‘That’s not what she thinks. She thinks I’ve stolen her life and doesn’t believe I deserve this baby.’

  ‘That’s crazy. I thought she’d moved on, settled down with someone else who wanted kids. Susie said she was happily nesting, although that was a while ago.’

  ‘Susie knows her?’

  ‘Well yes, we used to go out drinking as a foursome.’

  Kate bit her bottom lip trying to control her tears. Susie again. How else would she have found out about Kate?

  ‘So Susie is still in touch with her, is she?’

  ‘I don’t know. I guess she probably is.’

  Was Susie really her friend or had she told this ex about her deliberately?

  ‘So what did the police say?’

  Rupert came over and joined them. ‘I’ve given them all the CCTV from that room, although much of it was in darkness or obscured by the curtains. I’m sorry I didn’t spot something sooner. I guess I took my eyes off the ball, thinking you two were business associates just checking the place out.’

  ‘It’s not your fault. Neither of us realised she was going to turn into a psycho.’

  ‘Fortunately, we’ve had cameras installed in the car park recently, so they’ll be able to track her car down soon enough.’

  ‘I’m taking you to A & E.’ James stood up.

  ‘Do I have to? I feel fine now. I just want to go home. I’ve had enough of hospitals.’

  ‘I know you have, but we need to get you checked out, to make sure the baby’s okay and so any injuries are on record.’

  * * *

  Back at home later, she could hear James talking on the phone with Susie. It was the first time she’d ever heard him raise his voice at her. His words were muffled because of the closed door, but Kate guessed Susie had been in touch with his ex.

  She’d been given the all clear at the hospital. The baby was growing well, thankfully. The skin on her stomach was tender and the nurse had told her to expect bruising and to take photos of it to use as evidence later.

  James brought her in a cup of camomile tea and sat on the bed next to her.

  ‘Susie remembers posting on Facebook about me “finally going to be a dad” to a private group of old work friends, but she clean forgot that Bella was a member as she never posted or commented on anything.’

  ‘Do you think Susie told her things about me?’

  ‘She promises she’s not seen or spoken to her for months. Last she heard from Bella was in July after she’d split up with her fiancé. Apparently, they’d been trying for a baby for a few years and after tests they found out he couldn’t have kids. She was cut up about it. The boyfriend before that, who she went out with after me, was quite a bit older and already had three kids and didn’t want more. Susie says she did ask about me, whether you and I were still together.’

  ‘Did she think you were going to get back together?’

  ‘I haven’t got a clue. I just hope the police find her.’

  The police told them the next day that Isabella had vanished. Her Shapeshifters company was fake. The homepage was all there was, and the contact details had been removed. She’d rented the Porsche for the day and returned it after leaving the Escape Rooms. According to the taxi driver who picked her up from the car hire place, she had a suitcase in the back and was due to fly out of Heathrow that evening, but she didn’t say where to. She’d been staying in a hotel, which she had checked out of that morning, before she met up with Kate. The policeman said that Isabella could be anywhere in the world by now, but it looked very much like this was the end of the harassment.

  Kate hoped they were right.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  February 2019

  It was a snowy day at the end of February when the stiff cream envelope arrived through the letterbox. Inside was an evening invitation to Frankie and Matt’s wedding that August. It was their first contact in a few days since their last phone call. Just before Christmas, Kate had written telling her about the attack on her by Isabella. Frankie had been horrified and called her straight away. A flurry of conversations followed by letter and phone back and forth and an exchange of cards and a Skype call at Christmas. A note with the invitation read:

  Dear Kate,

  Sorry I’ve been quiet for a few days, I’ve been so busy painting! We’re in London for my new exhibition in May and wondered if we could drop by to see you and James. I’d love to meet my grandmother too and hope she can be there.

  Would Saturday 11 May be convenient for everyone?

  Best wishes, Frankie

  ‘It’s good you’re both making such an effort,’ James said when Kate showed him the invitation. ‘It’s not top table but she didn’t have to invite us at all, did she?’

  ‘No, she didn’t,’ Kate agreed. In fact it was a welcome surprise and she couldn’t help smiling. She hadn’t expected to be invited, although she’d not said so to James. He was still basking in Fearless Events winning Best Innovative Business at the Hemel awards night the week before. She’d scooped Best Businesswoman, which she was delighted with, but strangely it didn’t feel as important any more. She was pleased she and Frankie were gradually getting to know each other, but nothing could make up for those lost years.

  James had been building bridges of his own. A mutual friend had linked him up with Ben online, so they were talking again on Skype and by email. So much wasted time. Frankie said she wanted to paint her family tree and asked her who Kate’s real dad was. She told her as much as she knew – his name was John Stokes and he moved to Australia when he and her mother broke up, but he died in a car crash sometime later. At Christmas, Elizabeth had shown her the newspaper cutting of him and Ray, but it was so tiny and faded, she couldn’t make out his face very well.

  Frankie also asked Kate about Elizabeth’s time at The Foundling Hospital and if she knew anything about the parents who abandoned her, but Kate told her she didn’t know anything except that her grandmother’s name was Edith Liddle and Elizabeth had a twin called Edward who died when he was seven.

  ‘What’s that on the back of the card?’ James asked.

  Kate turned the invitation over and read:

  P.S. Since we last spoke, I’ve been reading all about Hogarth’s involvement in setting up the original Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury back in 1739 – can you believe it was that long ago? He was helping his friend Captain Thomas Coram. One of Hogarth’s most famous paintings, Gin Lane, shows the horror of babies being slung out on rubbish heaps – I expect you know it. Thomas Coram desperately wanted to save children like this.

  It’s taken me a while to get my head round the fact that my own grandmother was brought up in the same institution that was set up all that time ago, but it’s inspired me to paint a new collection purely focussing on today’s homeless situation and families who have to rely on food banks.

  I hope Elizabeth won’t mind but I did a bit of research into her time at Berkhamsted, especially since you said she never found out why she and her twin Edward were left there. I’ve discovered something important about their mother I think she’ll want to hear.

  Kate passed the note to James. ‘What do you make of this?’

  He scanned the page. ‘Don’t you think Elizabeth will want to know?’

  ‘I do, I just wonder if she’s ready to find out.’

  ‘Hang on, there’s another bit,’ James said.

  P.P.S I’m trying to find out what happened to your real dad too. No luck yet.

  ‘How would she be able to find out anything? Especially as he moved to Australia so long ago,’ Kate said.

  ‘Maybe she’ll ask round on social media. Any
thing’s possible once you put a name and a story out there.’

  Even the smallest clue about what he was like or what he looked like would fill a missing piece in Kate’s life.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  May 2019

  Kate lay on the sunlounger for a few moments’ rest to enjoy the May warmth and birdsong. James had gone to pick her mother up and Frankie was due to arrive with Matt in half an hour.

  Her hand glided over her tight, solid bump. She’d not been comfortable in the night and had woken up several times. The fold of her linen top fell open. The dappled sunshine through the leaves of the lime tree turned her bump into a speckled egg. The baby started to shift round, and the imprint of a tiny foot pushed out her smooth skin. She touched it gently, hoping for a response, but the baby seemed to tumble right over, leaving her light-headed. Only a month to go now before she became a mother again. They’d both been excited to find out at the last scan that she was having a boy.

  She leaned back and rested her head. Fragments of memory of the hours around Frankie’s birth floated back to her like falling leaves. Already ten days late by then, she’d tried to work out the pattern of contractions coming every fifteen minutes, occasionally five. Later that night, as she tried to sleep, an intense fire had lashed through her body. She was all alone. Away in Paris on an art project, Paul told her over the phone he wouldn’t make it home in time. All their plans for him to cut the cord and take the first photos – gone.

  In their dim bedroom, waiting for the ambulance, she’d writhed in tangled sheets as if possessed as the new life made its hasty descent through her body, shrugging her off. All alone and too exhausted to focus, she’d held the pink squawking bundle in her arms. Her head had been in a fug for days and weeks after, but everyone expected her to cope with it all on her own. She resented Paul for not being there when she needed him most, and Frankie for putting her through such trauma. She longed for her mother, at least a mother who could help her and care for her. But no one had even asked her if she was okay.