Christmas Secrets Collection. Laura Iding

she reassured him. ‘As soon as the next juicy bit of gossip comes up, that little proposition will all be forgotten … by the rest of your colleagues, at least.’

      And it was relaxed conversations like that one last night that were making life so difficult for her. It was becoming harder and harder to stop herself from doing or saying something that would reveal her secret … the fact that she was falling deeper and deeper in love with him the longer she shared his flat.

      ‘Well, enough is enough,’ she said firmly as she pushed herself up onto her one good foot and reached for a single crutch.

      She’d been practising getting around over the last couple of days. There had been so many empty hours while she’d waited for Dan to return that she’d worked out for herself how she could manoeuvre without needing a pair of them because her shoulder was still too sore to take the weight, even with elbow crutches.

      It wasn’t an elegant way of getting around, more of a stumbling lop-sided lurch, in fact, and definitely required the presence of a nearby wall as a last resort to stop herself losing her balance completely. The one good thing about it was that she’d almost perfected a way of getting around unaided, and that meant she could leave the danger zone of Dan’s spacious flat and take herself back to her own far humbler one.

      ‘It will probably take me a couple of hours to go up all four flights of stairs,’ she muttered, feeling exhausted just thinking about it. She stuffed her belongings into a carrier bag, resolutely ignoring the fact that the packet of granny knickers hadn’t even been opened, tied the handles to her crutch, then phoned for a taxi. By the time it arrived, she was waiting in the entrance with just a short hop across the pavement left to do.

      ‘Hang on a minute, love,’ called the cabbie and heaved his considerable bulk out of the driving seat to give her a steadying hand to climb inside. ‘You’re in a right mess, aren’t you?’ he commented soothingly, his eyes meeting hers in the rear-view mirror once he was back in his seat. ‘Finally decided to get away from him before he does any worse? You’ve made the right decision, love. I’ve got no time for men who think it’s OK to knock women about. Need someone to give them a bit of their own medicine.’

      ‘Oh, good grief, no!’ Sara laughed. ‘It was a car that did this. I nearly got run over the other night.’

      ‘That’s right, dear. Get a good story ready to tell people so they won’t twig what’s really going on. Most of them will probably believe you, but me?’ he shook his head and drew in a breath through his teeth. ‘I’ve seen too much of the rough end of life and I can tell the difference, but don’t you worry—even if he gets the police out looking for you, I’ll never tell where I take you.’

      He straightened up in his seat and put the engine into gear. ‘Right, now, where do you want to go? To one of the refuges?’

      ‘That’s very kind of you, and I’m so glad that there are people like you who will help battered women, but I’ve been staying with my sister and brother-in-law—’ she didn’t see the harm in stretching the truth a little, just to put the man’s mind at ease ‘—ever since I came out of hospital. If you could drop me off at my flat, that will be great.’ She gave him the address and was certain that he was quite disappointed he wasn’t going to be a brave knight coming to the aid of a maiden in distress.

      Except when he drew up outside the multi-storey Victorian building, all his protective instincts seemed to resurrect themselves.

      ‘I hope you’re on the ground floor, love,’ he said as he lent her a hand again.

      ‘I wish!’ she joked, and looked right up towards the very top windows. ‘That’s me, all the way up there.’ And then, no matter how much she tried to reassure him that she could manage, he insisted on keeping her company all the way up all four flights, carrying her bag of belongings in case they unbalanced her and steadying her when her poor overworked leg began to tremble with overuse.

      Sara was close to collapse when she finally got the key in the lock and swung the door wide, screwing her nose up at the shut-in smell that seemed to gather even in the space of a couple of days. Then she had a battle to make the man accept the proper fare for bringing her home, and when she tried to add a tip to thank him for spending the time to help her all the way up the stairs he drew himself up with an air of injured dignity.

      ‘I didn’t do that for money, love. I did that because you were someone who needed a helping hand. Now, you take this.’ He handed her a business card. ‘If you need to go anywhere, you ring that number and ask them to send George.’

      ‘Oh, that’s just perfect,’ she said with a little quiver. ‘Just like St George killing the dragon, you came to the aid of a lady in distress.’

      He snorted and went a bit pink. ‘I don’t reckon my missus thinks I’m any sort of saint, but I know what you mean. Now, you take care of yourself.’

      He was just about to shut her front door behind him when she remembered what she’d planned to do that evening.

      ‘Oh, George,’ she called. ‘You don’t go off work before seven, do you? Only I’ll be needing a taxi to get to the hospital for visiting hours.’

      ‘I told you, love, you need me, I’ll be here,’ he said with a broad grin. ‘Will a quarter to seven be early enough for you?’

      ‘Perfect. I’ll see you then.’

      It was just after seven o’clock when the lift chimed to announce its arrival on Zara’s floor.

      This time, thank goodness, she wasn’t trying to get about with her single crutch because as soon as she’d arrived in A and E, courtesy of George, she’d been whisked off by a bevy of colleagues and given the loan of a wheelchair.

      ‘At least my immediate welcome in the department seemed to put his mind at rest,’ she mused as she wheeled her awkward one-handed way towards Zara’s room, then an alternative suddenly struck her. ‘Or perhaps he took it as proof that they know me well because I’m always in here for treatment.’

      She was still smiling at that thought when she tapped on Zara’s door and began to push it open.

      ‘There she is!’ Zara announced, her face twisting into an unattractive scowl. ‘And look at that smirk on her face. She just couldn’t wait to get her foot in the door, could she? All this time she’s resented the fact that Danny chose me and she waited until I’m too ill to do anything about it to move in with him and—’

      ‘Zara!’ Dan’s voice cracked over her increasingly hysterical rant like a whip. ‘That’s enough! You’re talking nonsense.’

      ‘It’s not nonsense!’ she argued fiercely. ‘How could you have let her move into my home after all the trouble she’s caused? Didn’t you read my note? It’s all her fault. Everything is Sara’s fault.’

      ‘Ah, yes. The note,’ Dan said, and Sara seemed to be the only one who noticed a strange edge to his voice.

      ‘You mentioned it before,’ he continued. ‘Remind me, when did you write it and where did you put it?’

      ‘I wrote it the afternoon I took the tablets, of course, and I put it on my bedside cabinet, where you’d see it when you came in … And I’m so sorry for doing that to you, but if you’d read the letter you would know how desperate I was … that I just couldn’t cope any more with Sara wanting to keep the baby and …’

      ‘Shh, sweetheart,’ Audrey soothed, reaching for one of her daughter’s flailing arms. ‘It can’t be good for you to get in such a state. Perhaps it would be better …’ She turned with a scowl on her face to send a meaningful glance between Sara and the door.

      Sara hadn’t known whether to leave so that her sister didn’t upset herself any more, but Dan had already drawn the wheelchair fully into the room and shut the door for some semblance of privacy so she was completely trapped when he drew a slightly crumpled piece of paper out of his jacket pocket.

      ‘I