Conflicted Innocence Read Free

we can.”
    “No hurry. I may not even need one. I’ve gone this far without, after mine went kaput.”
    We arrived at the store and bought a few essentials. Then we crossed the road to the playground. Most things were for older children, but Grace loved the circular, lie-down swing. She laughed hysterically while James pushed her and made monkey noises the whole time. My stomach ached from laughing at them both.
    “Hey, chimp, should we head back? Simon can’t be far away.”
    Grace screamed blue murder when James took her off the swing, and she refused to get back into the pushchair, so he swung her up onto his shoulders which seemed to do the trick.
    As we turned back onto the street, a scruffy old man almost slammed into me. He was dressed in a full-length dirty, grey coat, a dark green cap, and brown trousers that were much too long and had a three-inch fray trailing behind him.
    The man muttered something and spat at my feet.

 
    Chapter 2
    I squealed and jumped backwards to avoid the contents of the disgusting old man’s mouth, and twisted my ankle as I fell off the kerb. My leg was still fragile after breaking a bone while trying to escape from Vinny, and had been pinned and wrapped in a cast for weeks afterwards.
    James reached out to break my fall with one hand while holding on to Grace with the other. “I got you. Are you okay?”
    I took a couple of tentative steps, terrified of having to wear another cast. “I think so, no thanks to that idiot.”
    I watched as the nasty old man shuffled away without a backwards glance.
    “He’s okay, really. Just a bit of a fruit loop!”
    “You know him?” I screeched.
    “Yeah, he’s one of our neighbours. He is a little odd, but we used to have some intelligent conversations until he began talking to himself and twitching. He would be regularly abducted by aliens, and he would go into a lot of detail about some of the unspeakable things they did to him.”
    “Well, I won’t be having any conversations with him, intelligent or otherwise. He gives me the creeps.”
    “There’s no fear of that. He stopped making sense a long time ago.”
    I hobbled the rest of the way, leaning on the pushchair and feeling terribly sorry for myself.
    “The truck’s here.” James nodded up the street.
    Grace began grizzling, tired of being up so high, so James lifted her off his shoulders. “Daddy’s here, sweetheart. Do you want to see Daddy?”
    “Dada.”
    He gasped. “Did you hear that?”
    “I did!” I was amazed that my baby had said her very first word. “Say it again, Gracie. Say Dada.” I couldn’t wait to tell Simon.
    The truck doors opened as we approached. Kevin and Simon jumped out.
    “Hey, guys.” James handed Grace over to Simon.
    “Who’s Daddy’s favourite girl?” He swung her around, and she chuckled hysterically.
    Kevin hugged me and kissed the top of my head before slapping James on the back.
    “Did you have a good journey?” I asked.
    “Yeah. Cruisy, really,” Kevin replied. “Did you?”
    “Not bad, considering. Just over three hours in total. We stopped at the services to feed and change Missy-moo, and she slept the rest of the way.”
    Simon and Kevin lived in Manchester, approximately two hours away. They had loaded the truck with the furniture I wanted from the house I used to share with Simon, and then they drove up to collect Grace’s cot and some other stuff from my dad’s in Cumbria. Last night they’d stayed at Simon’s parents’ house in the next village, and we’d all set off at the same time this morning.
    Simon, out of breath from doing aeroplanes with Grace, handed her to Kevin. “Go and see Pop for a minute while I catch my breath.” He laughed. “She’s getting big now.” He made eyes at me as he fanned himself.
    “She just said Dada a minute ago,” James said, as Simon kissed me.
    Although the three of them were father figures to my daughter, there was a healthy rivalry between them.
    “You’re kidding