Crying Out Loud Read Free

and I still had separate bedrooms and it seemed to suit us. We were each used to having our own space and our new status as lovers hadn’t led either of us to want to relinquish that.
    Jamie had nearly emptied the bottle when he paused, his face creased and flushed dark red. A loud farting, bubbling sound came from his bottom.
    â€˜That is so gross!’ Tom yelled.
    â€˜I can smell it – yuk,’ Maddie chipped in.
    â€˜Wait till we take his nappy off.’
    He drained the bottle and then I burped him, rubbing my hand along the frail bumps of his spine. More hilarity for the kids, who began a burping contest. Tom won hands down.
    Ray rolled out the changing mat and brought the wipes. I extricated Jamie’s legs and peeled back the tapes on the nappy. There was another chorus of groans from the kids, who were fascinated and repelled. They both moved away but not before they’d had a good look.
    â€˜Where’s his willy?’ Tom asked.
    â€˜You said it was a boy,’ Maddie accused me.
    â€˜Did I?’ I pretended confusion. ‘I must be going mad. Jamie’s a girl, course she is. I wasn’t thinking straight.’
    â€˜Jamie’s a boy’s name,’ Tom said doubtfully.
    â€˜Not always. Not this one.’ I kept my head down, concentrating on the wipes. Thank God I’d picked a fairly unisex name and not Matthew or Felix or Oliver.
    â€˜Can she watch telly with us?’ Maddie watched me fasten a fresh nappy on.
    â€˜Sure.’
    I redid the poppers on her Babygro and took her into the lounge. There was a waffle throw there and I lay Jamie on the couch while I spread it out on the floor. Digger struggled to his feet and stalked out. The poor dog was quite bewildered by the whole palaver. I put Jamie in the middle of the waffle on her back and she made gurgling sounds. The children crowded close to her as I explained that one of them must come and get me straight away if anything happened.
    â€˜Like what?’ asked Maddie.
    â€˜Like her being sick or starting to cry or you both wanting to go upstairs. Anything like that.’
    â€˜Is she going to be sick?’ Maddie curled her lip with dismay.
    â€˜Hope not, but it happens a lot; they bring back some of their milk. You did it all the time.’
    â€˜Did I?’ Maddie loved to hear about her life as a baby and often wanted more details than I could remember.
    â€˜Big time. Drove me mad.’
    Ray was waiting for me, sitting at the kitchen table. I drew up a chair opposite him. He leant back, his arms folded, his eyes hard with suspicion. ‘So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?’
    He listened as I recounted finding the baby on the doorstep, showed him the note and explained that I’d no idea who the infant was and therefore who had left her with me. The only person I could think of who’d been expecting a baby was Abi Dobson.
    â€˜She’s still pregnant,’ he said, ‘I saw her at the baker’s.’ He uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on the table. ‘We should tell the police.’
    â€˜Ray!’ I protested. ‘Someone has trusted me with this child. They expressly ask me not to tell anyone. Who knows what would happen if I reported it? She’d be taken into care for starters – then how hard would it be for the mother to get her back?’
    â€˜Or father.’
    â€˜Or father!’ I snapped. ‘Whatever. I won’t do that.’
    â€˜You haven’t thought this through.’ He spoke as if I was one of the children.
    â€˜Don’t tell me what I’ve thought or not thought. What are you now, a mind reader? Someone needs me to look after this baby.’
    â€˜What if it’s been taken? Abducted?’
    â€˜Then why give it to me? And what kidnapper writes I’ll explain later ? If we could just work out what the signature is, it’d probably all make sense.’
    He wasn’t having