Gina glanced at her rather speculatively when she opened the door, and Briony knew that despite her attempts to disguise it, the other girl had noticed her bruised mouth, although she was too tactful to comment.
‘I’m sorry I’m a bit late,’ she apologised. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Fine. Are you all right?’ Gina asked bluntly. ‘You don’t look well.’
‘I’ve got a headache.’ It was true. Her head was pounding and she was shivering even though it wasn’t really cold.
Paolo insisted on carrying Nicky downstairs for her, and he barely stirred. Lucky Nicky, Briony thought enviously. If only her life was as simple and uncomplicated as his!
* * *
Nicky was crying, the thin sound punctured her nightmare. She wanted to go to him, but she couldn’t move. Something was holding her back, preventing her from reaching her son. She clawed desperately to be free, calling to Nicky to wait for her, but then he turned round and his face was Kieron’s, cold and hatefully mocking.
‘No…!’ The sound was torn from her throat, and she opened her eyes groggily, the bedroom spun round, and waves of nausea rushed over her as she tried to lift her head from the pillow.
Migraine! She slumped back, trying to force her mind to concentrate on where she had put her pills. It was ages since she had last had an attack, and she had no need to ask what had caused this one.
Nicky had recently been promoted from his cot to his own small bed, and she could hear him padding about in his own room. She glanced at the alarm clock, knowing that it would be impossible for her to go to work. Her attacks, although rare, were unbelievably violent. Sickness and temporary paralysis were merely two of the symptoms she had suffered in the past, and she reached for the phone intending to call the paper. As she did so, she heard Gina’s key turn in her front door, and the Italian girl hurried into the bedroom, her expression concerned.
‘So you are ill—I thought you must be. What is it?’
‘Migraine,’ Briony croaked. ‘I was just trying to ring the office.’
‘Leave all that to me,’ Gina said firmly. ‘Now where are your pills? Would you like a drink?’
Before she went she insisted on straightening Briony’s bed and bringing her a mug of tea. Nicky toddled in to look at her with huge, grave eyes, his voice sympathetic as he murmured, ‘Mummy got bad headache?’
It was bliss to feel sleep steal over her as the pills began to take effect. As Briony knew from past experience, the only cure for such an attack was sleep. By tomorrow she could well be fully recovered, although a little weak, and her last conscious thought was that now Kieron would have an opportunity to try out her substitute.
It was evening before she woke up, and she knew the moment she opened her eyes that the pain had gone. As always after such an attack her body felt terribly weak, and it seemed to take twice as long as usual to go through the motions of washing and dressing.
When she knocked on Gina’s door, Nicky greeted her joyfully, his ‘Mummy better?’ making her flesh melt with love.
Gina insisted on her eating with them, announcing that Briony was far from well enough to prepare a meal.
‘You do too much,’ she scolded. ‘And this weather we’ve been having doesn’t help.’
It had been unusually warm, but Briony knew that the close atmosphere was not really responsible for her illness. Gina’s little girl was just starting to talk, with Nicky acting importantly as interpreter. She was a lovely child, with huge pansy brown eyes and thick lustrous curls, and watching her and Nicky together, Briony felt another pang of guilt that Nicky was an only child. He was already so protective and sweet with Caterina, and she, knowing female that she was, played up to him with coy smiles and flashing dimples.
Gina and Paolo were good company. They were really her only close friends. After her experiences with the Press Briony had been wary of confiding in anyone. She had returned once to the village where she had been brought up, but the story had spread like wildfire and she had been treated like an outcast. Sir Arthur had been very well thought of locally, although people didn’t have much time for his son, and Briony had left, vowing that she would never return.
‘Oh, by the way, I spoke to your boss,’ Gina announced carelessly, unaware of the effect of her words. ‘He was most concerned when I told him you were ill.’
‘You didn’t mention Nicky?’
Gina looked puzzled. ‘No.’
Briony sagged in relief, forcing a smile. ‘It’s just that the people at work don’t know about him.…’
Although Gina accepted the explanation, Briony sensed that she was curious and prayed that her friend would never have occasion to set eyes upon Kieron.
Nicky chattered unceasingly as she got him ready for bed. He paused in the middle of telling her how brave he had been when Paolo threw him up in the air, studying her reproachfully.
‘Why haven’t I got a daddy?’ he asked tremulously.
‘You’ve got me,’ Briony said casually. ‘Aren’t I enough?’ She knew she wasn’t being fair, but Nicky was still far too young to appreciate the complexities of adult relationships.
‘I want a daddy as well,’ he insisted stubbornly, refusing to let her hug him. ‘You can’t play with me properly like a daddy can.’