Read Online Cold as Ice by Lee Weeks - Free Book Online

then pushed the door back until it jammed on the wood laminate flooring. Jackson ran in, excited. Scruffy followed.
    Danielle folded and rested the buggy against the wall in the hallway and walked through to the kitchen on the right.
    ‘What a lovely place. You’ve done a good job with the decoration,’ said Tracy. Danielle’s place looked like it had come out of a back issue of the Ikea catalogue.
    ‘Thanks. Tea or coffee?’
    ‘Tea will be fine.’
    Tracy took off her coat and put it over the buggy – she couldn’t see where else she should put it – then she stood in the kitchen doorway. Jackson’s drawings were
everywhere. Danielle saw Tracy looking at them.
    ‘It’s hard to throw any of them away.’ She smiled, embarrassed but proud as well.
    ‘They’re lovely colours. Can you tell what they are?’
    ‘Of course!’
    ‘Can you really?’ Tracy peered at the pictures.
    Danielle pointed to a long shape with four sticks coming from it. ‘Look, there’s Scruffy. That’s me, you can see by the hair,’ she added, pointing to a blob with brown on
top. Tracy peered in to get a closer look at the picture.
    ‘Oh yes, I see it now.’
    ‘I know.’ Danielle laughed. ‘It’s an acquired skill. He’s very good for his age actually. He’s able to go to an ordinary school . . . for now anyway. Does
anyone else in the family have Down’s syndrome?’
    Tracy was taken aback. She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘What family have I got anyway?’
    Tracy couldn’t hide it as a look of panic took hold. She hadn’t thought of that – the implications of meeting up with her daughter and the fact that it affected more than just
her. What if Danielle made a nuisance of herself?
    ‘It’s all right – I don’t intend to contact people.’ Danielle turned away and finished making the tea. Tracy instantly regretted her reaction. It was as if Danielle
had read her mind.
    ‘No. I mean I am sure that, given time, everyone will want to meet you.’ She could see by Danielle’s demeanour that she was brittle and trying not to show how much
Tracy’s negative reactions mattered as she poured away a little of the hot tea from each cup and topped up with cold water. Tracy watched her, mesmerized. She wanted to say: ‘I always
do that. I always top up the tea with cold.’
    ‘Um – you have an aunt. My sister Julie and her husband Nigel. They live in Manchester. They have three children all older than you. They have five kids between them. So Jackson has
a few cousins.’ Tracy smiled broadly, trying to make things better.
    ‘My first cousins. They are his second cousins,’ Danielle corrected.
    ‘Yes.’ Tracy stood corrected.
    ‘Do they look like me?’
    Tracy thought about it and shrugged ‘Maybe . . . I’m not sure. Oh, I forgot.’ She went out to her bag by her coat and came back into the kitchen with an envelope. ‘I
brought you a photo of me to show you.’
    She took out a small handful of different-sized photos and came to stand next to Danielle. With the photos was a small box.
    ‘Before I show you the photos I want to give you this.’ She opened the box to show Danielle. ‘This is for you. I got it when I was ten.’ She took out a silver charm
bracelet from the box. ‘I added to it every year. I would like you to have it.’ She held it out for Danielle to take it. ‘Charm bracelets have come back in, haven’t they?
Each one of those charms means something to me.’ Danielle held the tiny charms between finger and thumb as she examined each one. ‘That London bus I got when I passed my driving licence
so I wouldn’t need to take a bus again – that’s when I was seventeen. The ballet shoe I got when I passed my exams at eleven. This Mickey Mouse my parents got me when I was
twelve. Oh, my whole life is here.’ She smiled, delighted to see Danielle’s reaction. ‘You are here too. I bought this silver heart when I became pregnant with you.’
Danielle couldn’t