‘Don’t look at Hil. She turned my children against me, you old witch,’ Amber said.
Edward noticed how thin she was, thinner than when she was modelling. She looked tired and sad and drawn, and he wished above anything else he could fix whatever was troubling her but she never told him her past and he was so bewitched by her beauty and American confidence, he had taken her on, warts and all, and thought he could fix her. He’d thought he would adopt Myles and they would all live happily ever after.
Except now, he knew it wasn’t ever a realistic plan. Amber was broken before he even met her and Myles had suffered the most.
He would never let Amber parent Myles again and certainly not when she was like this.
A police car drove up the driveway and Amber turned towards it. She threw the hammer at them, missing it only by an inch.
‘Jesus Christ, Amber, stop it,’ Edward yelled as two police got out.
‘What’s going on?’ asked one of them, a woman who looked at Amber and then to Edward to answer the question.
‘He won’t let me see my children.’ Amber pointed at Edward.
‘And rightly so if you have a hammer and are using it for anything other than home repairs,’ said an older male policeman standing in front of Amber.
‘Do you want to press charges?’ asked the policewoman looking at the damage.
Edward looked at Amber. ‘Yes, I do, and I don’t want her anywhere near this house. Not until she gets her life together.’
Amber lunged forward at Edward but the policeman stopped her and held her back, lifting her from the ground so her feet kicked at the air.
Edward could feel his temper rise and the thought of his children inside the house, hiding from their mother yet again.
‘How many times do you need to try, Amber? I would never keep you away from the children but I can’t let you be around them like this. It is so damaging, more than what you’re doing to yourself, it’s changing them. It takes everything to bring them back every time you’re like this and one day, but there will be a time one day, if they’re around you long enough, they won’t come back. Myles was nearly ready to hurt himself. Flora is obsessed with death, trying to find her mother through macabre games she’s inventing. You have to get better or else you don’t get to be in their lives.’
Amber looked enraged but he realised she wasn’t listening or comprehending anything he was saying.
‘Take her away and get her some help,’ said Edward to the police.
‘We will have to take a statement,’ said the policewoman.
‘Can I check on my children first?’ he asked.
‘Yes, go. We’ll take her to the station and then if you could come down to give the statement when everything is okay here?’
‘Fine, fine,’ said Edward and he ran inside.
The need to see his children and Eve was overwhelming as he searched through the house.
They weren’t in the snug or his study or the kitchen and he thought for a moment and then realised the safest place was the tower.
He opened the hidden door and started to climb the stairs to his future.
*
Eve was standing outside the door to Myles’s room.
‘Eve? Are you and the children all right? I’m so sorry, that was awful. How much did they see?’
Eve looked at him and then at the phone in her hand.
‘They’re okay – they’re in there.’
‘Okay, I’m going to talk to them now. The police are taking Amber to the station. I’ll head down soon and make a statement.’
Eve said nothing as he opened the door and walked in to see the children.
