Chapter 13
Ric crept into the laundry as morning fired the eastern sky. Sophie was still asleep, curled up in blankets on the dusty floor beside the incubator. She looked so tiny. He didn’t know what to do, what to say, how to tell her. The early-morning phone call was seared into his memory, each word, each dreadful pause loaded with meaning.
‘It’s about Sophie’s mother.’ Hilary Harper’s voice had sounded faraway and unreal. ‘I’m afraid there’s been an incident. Rachael overdosed yesterday and has been admitted to hospital.’
‘I don’t get it,’ he said. ‘She was getting better. Rachael was getting ready to have Sophie home.’
‘Well, she’s suffered a setback. A serious one, I’m afraid.’
‘How serious?’
‘Rachael’s on a respirator. She’ll recover, but it was touch and go there for a while
