Act of Betrayal by Sara Craven

or
    anything like it,' she added hastily. 'But enough to make us feel
    that if we ever were going to work for ourselves it had to be now
    or never. But what about you, Laura? Did you ever make use of
    your diploma?' Laura hesitated. 'To a certain extent. I help out
    at Caswells when anything special is required in the way of food,
    but that's all.' Bethany was silent for a moment, her frank blue
    eyes studying her friend. She said, 'It's probably none of my
    business, but rumour had it that you'd got married.' Laura bit
    her lip. ' I did.' She forced a smile. 'It—it didn't work out,
    and we're now divorced.' 'Oh,' Bethany said helplessly. 'Laura,
    I'm really sorry. I don't know what to say.' Laura shrugged
    slightly. 'That's all right. I'm over it now.' Am I? Oh God, am
    I? 'Did I ever meet him?' Bethany persisted, and Laura shook her
    head. 'He was an artist, then. His name's Jason Wingard,' she
    added flatly. 'Wingard?' Bethany frowned. 'Odd—that name rings
    a bell.' ' I expect it does,' Laura said drily. 'Look at last
    night's cheques, and you'll find it among them.' 'He was in here
    last night?' Bethany's brows vanished almost into her hair. Laura
    nodded. 'It was quite a family party.'
    'Then it was one of those civilised divorces?' Laura wanted to
    scream, 'No—it tore me to pieces, and still does,' but instead
    she said lightly, T suppose you could say that.' She changed the
    subject abruptly. 'What happened to Julie? Do you ever see her
    these days?' 'The last I heard of her, she'd gone abroad.'
    Bethany reached for the coffee pot, and refilled the cups. While
    she was adding cream. Laura looked idly down into the street.
    Alan still hadn't moved his car, she noticed, and there was no
    sign of him anywhere. If he wasn't careful, it might be towed
    away. Burngate itself was relatively quiet for the time of day,
    with little traffic and few pedestrians. A boy, his hair dyed
    like a cockatoo's and aggressively lacquered, strode along the
    pavement, attracting scandalised looks from more conventional
    shoppers, and Laura smiled to herself as he sidestepped to let a
    girl with a pushchair walk past him to the window of the estate
    agent's opposite. Suddenly she could feel the blood drumming in
    her head and felt her chest tightening almost unbearably.
    'Laura.' Bethany jumped up. 'My God, love, what is -it? You're
    ill. Put your head down—that's it. Now, try and breathe deeply,
    but don't force it.' Laura obeyed, aware that the room was
    swimming nauseatingly round her. Within seconds Mike had appeared
    with a glass of water, summoned by Bethany's urgent call. Between
    them, they got Laura to lie down on the sofa. She drank some of
    the water, and gradually the room stopped revolving. She said at
    last, 'I'm sorry. I feel a complete fool. It must be lack of
    sleep. The storm kept me awake last night and . . . ' Mike had
    discreetly vanished again. Bethany took her hand gently. 'You're
    not a fool, love, and neither am I. You looked as if you'd seen a
    ghost just then. What is it?' Laura gave her a wan smile. 'No
    ghost very much flesh and blood. At least, I think so. I could
    have made a mistake.' 'Then who is it, for heaven's sake?'
    Bethany dragged forward a chair and sat down. Laura was silent
    for a long moment. She said, ' I suppose the simplest way to say
    it is my husband's mistress and one of his children.' There was a
    charged silence, then Bethany said, 'You're joking surely ' then
    caught herself quickly, 'No, it isn't a joke. You don't make
    jokes about things like that. But Laura, my God, you said one of
    his children. You mean he has more than one? 'One more that I
    know about,' Laura said wearily. 'An older boy. I suppose he'll
    be at school now.' There was another long pause, then Bethany
    said gently, 'You don't have to say any more if you don't want
    to, but if it would help to talk about it, then I'm more than
    ready to listen.' 'It might help at that.' Laura spoke half