Cut by Cathy Glass Page B

then she went ahead to join John and Dawn.
    Adrian was wide awake now and grinning widely.
    ‘Nice baby,’ Ruth said as I caught up.
    ‘I help look after him,’ Dawn said, coochi-cooing at Adrian.
    ‘Well, just you be careful,’ Ruth warned. ‘Babies are delicate. They don’t bounce.’ Ruth continued to lead the way out of the reception hall and into the car park, where we said goodbye.
    John strapped Adrian into his car seat and Dawn climbed into the back beside Adrian. I turned in the passenger seat to look at her. ‘Dawn, you do know you have to be careful with babies, don’t you?’ I said, for something in Ruth’s warning to Dawn had unsettled me.
    Dawn smiled and nodded. ‘I wouldn’t hurt a baby. It was an accident.’
    ‘What was?’ I asked, with a start. ‘What accident, Dawn?
    ‘Nothing.’ She shrugged.
    I returned my gaze to the front as John started the engine. He pulled out of the car park and drove us home while Dawn kept Adrian amused.

Chapter Ten
A Different Person
    ‘ A re we talking about the same child?’ John said to me as soon as we were alone. We had driven home with the only sound being that of Dawn talking to Adrian in the rear of the car. Dawn was now in bed, as was Adrian. John and I were sitting in the lounge with a mug of tea each, finally able to voice our concerns, of which there were plenty. ‘Do you think there’s another side to Dawn that we haven’t seen yet?’ John asked.
    ‘Yes, I suppose there must be. Although I think she’s changed since she’s been with us and is far more settled and happier now. But those scars! Imagine her cutting into her arm like that! It’s horrendous. And I felt such a fool for not seeing them.’
    ‘I don’t think either of her parents had much time for Dawn,’ he said.
    ‘No. And Ruth told me that there is a big gap in Dawn’s history, between the ages of five and nine, when no one seems to know where she was!’
    ‘What?’ John frowned, puzzled. I told him what Ruth had told me of Dawn’s past, and his frown deepened. ‘Did Ruth tell you anything else? She wasn’t very forthcoming at the meeting.’
    ‘Only that Barbara couldn’t show her daughter affection, and that neither of her parents have a close relationship with Dawn.’
    ‘That was pretty obvious,’ John sighed. ‘But even so, drinking, smoking, staying out all night, truanting and slashing her arm. I can’t believe it’s the same girl.’
    ‘No,’ I agreed. ‘I’m sure she’s different now.’
    We both sat quietly for some moments, contemplating what we had learned that evening. It was after ten o’clock and normally I would have been in the bath by now, but I felt exhausted and I was finding it difficult to drag myself from the sofa and go upstairs.
    ‘Why do you think Dawn’s father doesn’t want to see her?’ John asked, leaning forward to place his empty mug on the coffee table.
    ‘I don’t know, but I hope it’s nothing to do with Dawn’s treatment of their baby.’
    John’s gaze immediately darted to mine. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Something Dawn said as we were getting in the car tonight. Didn’t you hear her?’ He shook his head. ‘She said she wouldn’t hurt a baby, that it was an accident.’
    ‘What was an accident?’
    ‘That’s what I asked her, but she didn’t answer. Perhaps she’s a bit over-enthusiastic with her dad’s new baby, as she can be with Adrian, and perhaps her stepmother doesn’t like it? Or maybe Dawn’s sleepwalking put them on edge? I mean it’s pretty scary. It’s a pity we didn’t have a chance to discuss it in private with Ruth or Barbara.’
    ‘Even if we had,’ John said dryly. ‘I doubt Ruth would have told us much. It would have been another “confidentiality issue”. I must say I didn’t find her attitude very helpful.’
    ‘No,’ I agreed.
       
    When I finally hauled myself upstairs to bed, I fell into an immediate and deep sleep. Adrian obligingly didn’t wake until 4.30