Page 102 of The Grand Duel

No! Not Mum and Dad’s bed. I swallow and put my arm around her. “It’s okay. I promise. We’ll go and get new bedding from that shop Mum likes tomorrow before they get back. They won’t even know.”

“Will they be mad at me?”

“No.” I bend down and help her remove the wet material, taking her hand in mine. “You won’t be in trouble at all. I promise.”

“What’s going on? Is she okay? What happened?”

Charles.

My eyes come into focus, his face beautiful, even beyond the sheen of tears.

“Lissie, are you okay?”

My parents came home two days after that night, making the trip a day longer than they’d ever left us before.

I remember being terrified. The look on my dad’s face when he found the spot on his bed haunts me as I relive it now.

I’d tried so hard to clean it, the mattress ruined. I had even gone to my mum’s favourite shop and bought the cream sheets and covers she likes. It’s all she uses, so I was certain she wouldn’t know.

She did though.

They both did.

I hadn’t done a good enough job.

My dad looked at me as if I was dirty and asked why I was in their bed and not my own.

“It smells like you,” I’d told him.

“And now it smells like urine.Jovie,” he shouted, and my heart sank. When Jovie came into the room, her eyes were as wide as I’d ever seen them. “You are five years old. Do you need to be put in nappies?”

She shook her head, her mouth opening.

“It wasn’t her.” I swallowed and looked back at my dad, hating how much I’d disappointed him. “It was me. I was in your bed because I missed you, and I fell asleep. I had too much juice, and I wet myself.”

He’d huffed, turning his back to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, walking closer.

“Grace, come and get these kids out!”

“Lissie.”Charles’s voice fights its way into an aching chaos.

A tear falls down my face, and I reach up to wipe it away.

“What is it?”

I look up at the people gathered around, their worried stares fixed on me.

“Leave us. Now.”

Everyone disperses, Charles remaining on his knees at my feet.

I look into his eyes, shaking my head. “I don’t know what—” My throat catches, emotion overcoming me. “You weren’t here, and I didn’t know if you were coming, and…” I look down at my trembling hands. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. I was on the phone to my parents and was running late.”

I nod.