Read Online The Well by Peter Labrow - Free Book Online Page B

more than a folk tale, was now coming true. I accepted it as a story , thought Helen. Because I never thought it would come true. But if it is true… She shuddered. Parts of the story deeply unnerved her, however unruffled she might be on the outside.
    “I don’t know –” started Abby.
    “The fact is, you need to be here. You know it. Let me do this. I can do this.” Helen paused. “You need to be with Sammy and you know it.” Her words were direct, but contained no ill feeling. Abby and Helen had only once come close to arguing; they resolved differences with honest discussion.
    They held each other’s gaze for almost a minute and, not for the first time, Abby thought that Helen’s deep brown eyes were (with the exception of Sammy, of course) the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
    Finally, Abby smiled. It was a warm, grateful smile, radiating something she felt deep within her. “I love you,” she said.
    Helen smiled back and kissed her. “I know it.”
    The door creaked. Standing there, Lady Mango in hand, was Sammy. Her eyes were bleary and unfocused.
    Abby and Helen drew apart, but not because they’d been caught out. They didn’t hide their relationship from Sammy. Indeed, they only kept one secret from her – although that was a biggie. It was something they had hoped to keep secret for a few more years, but the next few days would determine that.
    “Hey Sams,” said Abby, opening her arms wide.
    Sammy wandered over to her mother and sat on her knee. “Hi Mummy,” said Sammy. “Hi Helen.”
    “Hi baby,” said Helen, ruffling Sammy’s already tousled hair. “How are you feeling?”
    “Fine,” she said. “What’s for breakfast?”

4
     
    “Come on, sleepyhead.”
    Jim screwed up his eyes against the late morning sun and groaned. “What time is it?”
    “It’s after ten. Come on, let’s get this day on the road. We’ve missed breakfast, we’ll have to get some out.”
    Jim sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He was surprised to find that he didn’t have a hangover. He didn’t feel terribly bright, though.
    Already showered and dressed, Sarah was partway through putting on her make-up.
    “How long have you been up?” he asked.
    “Not long. Less than an hour,” said Sarah, concentrating on applying her mascara. “I don’t want to sleep the weekend away and – well, I was thinking about the kids.”
    Jim sighed to himself. He’d never really had much of a problem leaving Matt alone. Matt and he didn’t exactly spend much time together anyway. Before they moved to Bankside, Matt would either be out with his mates or in his bedroom; since they moved, he’d not really made many new friends so he stayed mostly in his bedroom, talking to his old mates on the Internet – although he had started to spend more time with Becca. Jim wouldn’t have seen much more of Matt if he’d been in the same house all weekend. If either he or Sarah should be worried about one of their kids, it should be him – which was why Jim couldn’t understand quite how much Sarah fretted about Becca. Matt didn’t really care what his father thought, but Becca wouldn’t knowingly do anything to upset Sarah.
    When Sarah’s protective nature first collided with Jim’s more easy-going temperament, it had created some conflict in their relationship. Given Matt’s bumpy past and often-abrasive nature, Sarah couldn’t understand why Jim didn’t mind leaving him on his own. Before they moved in together, Jim would mostly stay at Sarah’s house rather than she at his. It made some sense: Matt was the older child; theoretically old enough to be left alone. (Sure, Jim would come home to an untidy house, but what do you expect from a teenage boy?) Yet when Sarah came to stay at Jim’s house she always brought Becca; Sarah never left her at home or with friends. For months, they never had any time alone. And, the first time the two of them had gone away alone, it had been a disaster. Becca had