"He's a tosser!"

Jean Innocent stood looking out her front window, watching as the tail lights of her husband's white 4X4 disappeared out of sight. Her son banged his fist on the window.

"Chris, you shouldn't talk that way about your father."

"It's the truth Mum and you know it. He's using your revelation about Fiona as an excuse. He was planning to leave and wanted to make it your fault. We both know who is to blame."

"He has a right to be angry with me for never telling him about my past mistakes."

"It was a long time ago and you were very young." Chris knew all the station gossip. "Inspector Lewis didn't hold it against Dr. Hobson, that she had a child."

"The circumstances were different. Laura was completely innocent while I behaved rashly, including lying about my age."

"It doesn't matter. Dad is being unreasonable, always has been. I don't know why you put up with him all these years. You should have left him and found someone who made you happy."

"I was happy with our family."

Her answer led him to conclude that his suspicions were correct. "Mum, you stayed with dad to give me a family. You sacrificed your own happiness for me."

"It was important that you have an intact family, especially during those difficult years when you were a teenager. Statistics show that having a father in the house is important." I did not have a father when I needed one.

Chris hugged his mother. "You sacrificed for both of your children. You gave Fiona up because you were not prepared to raise her alone and her father was a con man. You protected her from him." He let go and stood back. "And for me you lived with a man who didn't love you just to give me a full time father."

"I might have done."

"Now it's time for you to put yourself first."


James was smoking the last of his cigarettes, while Laura fidgeted with her hands.

"So how did you find out about her and why didn't you tell me?"

"Your sister went searching for her biological parents and got her mother's name from the adoption records. She learned from a family friend that her mother was sexually assaulted by her Maths teacher. By the time she discovered their identities, they were both dead."

"I know he died, you said someone shot him. How did her mother die and when?"

"I don't know and I did not ask. All she said was that her mother was able to inflict some injuries on him during the attack. That helped to get him charged with the crime. The injuries couldn't be concealed and the school authorities couldn't say that she lied about all of it."

"Let me guess. She didn't find her parents alive so she went looking for siblings, wanting to find some family." His other guess he did not say aloud. The school authorities accused Laura of lying.

"Yes, she searched public records for his other victims." Laura could not utter the man's name. "There was one document where my name wasn't redacted. I was a minor and should never have been identified. When she first called and told me what she wanted to know I told her she must have found the wrong Laura Hobson. Then I changed my mind and decided that she must need closure. She wanted to know what happened to my child. Her plan was that you could help each other cope with your shared circumstances."

"Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore." He saw Laura's questioning look. "Hindu Proverb."

"Something like that." Laura almost wished that she could have a cigarette. "I agreed to meet her. We set a place and time and I told her what I looked like. She said she already knew. By coincidence she had seen me at a crime scene and heard someone say my name."

"Crime scene...was I there?"

"Yes. I watched you speak with her and I could tell she fancied you and that the feeling was mutual. So it was a good thing I decided to tell her about you, before things went any further."

James went and sat down and drummed his fingers on the table. He wasn't sure how he felt about this revelation. "So that's why Liv Nash just sort of disappeared, as if I'd never met her."

"Yes. She was very upset." She hesitated. "James it wasn't because you and she had already…"

"No."

"Oh thank God." Relieved that James did not have incest added to his personal baggage Laura continued. "She asked me not to tell you and I agreed-"

"I'll decide what I need to know, not you."

"James, let me finish. I agreed on one condition, that she tell you herself when she was ready." Laura sighed. "I'm sorry James. I didn't know how long I should wait. That's why I am telling you today, because she never got back in touch with you."

"That's not true."

"Sorry?"

"She did call me about a year after I last saw her and asked to meet up, not saying what it was about."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I didn't show up."

Laura face showed her surprise. "Why not?"

James really wished he had more cigarettes.

"Adam Tibbit."

Laura concentrated on the name. She knew it was familiar.

"The boy who you found…hanging in the school."

"Yes. I was supposed to meet Liv a couple of hours after that."

"Robbie and I were worried about you that night. We wanted you to come have dinner with us. You told Robbie you had plans."

"I didn't think it was right for me to go out and try and have a good time. I felt responsible for Adam's death. I was too hard on him when I questioned him."

"Robbie said there was another reason he killed himself, nothing to do with you."

James shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, I didn't show up and never heard from Liv again."

"She must have been disappointed if not devastated." Laura resisted telling him what he should do. She wanted to say, 'Help your sister's boat across, and you will reach your own shore.'

James could read her mind. "I should call her, apologize, and ask her if we can start over."

James and Liv weren't the only pair that needed to start over.

Laura nervously rubbed her hands together, worried that she had irreparably broken their relationship. "James, do you want to ask someone else to be your emergency contact person?"

He looked down at the ground then straightened up. "No, you are stuck with me. And I am stuck with you."

Laura exhaled and relaxed slightly. Her own words to Robbie a few years ago echoed in her mind. 'People don't know how you feel unless you tell them.'

She told him.

He listened.

Robbie, still keeping an eye out the window, could see Laura and James share a hug, then break apart a bit awkwardly.


A few days later...

"Fiona, you received more cards in the post today." Flora Mckendrick put a small stack of envelopes on the table next to her daughter's bed.

After her mother left the room Fiona started to open the envelopes. She quickly scanned a few cards and put them aside. She looked at one that had no heartfelt and sincere message, just a signature, James Hathaway. Why he needed to write his last name she did not know. Just James would have been enough. Underneath all the cards was a letter. She did not recognize the scrawled handwriting. The letter contained rambling and seemingly unrelated sentences that appeared to be written by someone in a drunken stupor. One phrase caught her attention. 'Your mother is innocent.'