Read Baby Be Mine for Free Online Page A

from him and already I hate it. I’ll stay in Newcastle with Christian’s family for only a few days before flying home to him. Christian will need to be there for at least another week to support his dad and brothers.
    It’s a bright, sunny day when we touch down at Newcastle airport, in total contrast to how we’re both feeling. The funeral is the day after tomorrow and we’ve opted to hire a car, refusing Anton’s offer of a lift because we figure he’s got enough on his plate. We’re staying at Christian’s house in Longbenton, which is about a twenty-minute drive east from the airport and ten minutes north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Christian is silent as he navigates the roads. He’s barely spoken since he found out. It’s a good thing that Barney isn’t here. He may be only young, but I’m sure he understands that something isn’t right with Daddy. It’s heartbreaking to think that my son won’t remember Mandy when he’s older, especially considering how much she loved him. A lump forms in my throat as Christian pulls up outside his childhood home.
    I still remember the first time I came here. Anton was getting married to Vanessa, and Mandy had given Christian grief about not bringing a guest to the wedding. He’d just broken up with his girlfriend and that had messed up the table plan, apparently, so he invited me to keep his mum off his back. We were only housemates at the time, but Mandy put us in his bedroom together, convinced we were more than friends. Christian was mortified, but I found the whole thing amusing.
    Oh, it’s so sad . . .
    We walk up the front path towards the semi-detached, redbrick house. Anton opens the door to us, his face weary. It always surprises me how different Christian looks to his brothers. Anton and Joel take after their dad: distinctly Swedish-looking with blond hair and blue eyes. Christian, with his dark looks, took after his mum.
    Anton gives me a hug, then turns to embrace his brother.
    ‘Dad’s in the living room,’ he says, breaking away.
    ‘How is he?’ Christian asks quietly.
    ‘The same,’ comes the reply.
    Hours pass and I don’t know what to do with myself. Christian’s dad can barely speak. He sits in the living room, staring at photos of Mandy with tears trailing down his cheeks. Anton has had to leave to get home to Vanessa, who’s eight months pregnant. I decide that my role will be tea-maker, and experience a sting when I remember that Mandy never used to let anyone else into her kitchen – to make toast, tea or whatever. She always did everything. I don’t know how Eugen, Christian’s dad, will cope now she’s gone.
    The next morning, Joel returns from Australia, sans girlfriend. He’s always been a joker, but there’s no laughing today. The funeral is tomorrow. Guests are coming back to the house afterwards so I busy myself cleaning and taking care of the catering. In the afternoon, Christian joins me on a trip to the supermarket – he needs to escape the house. I try to stay upbeat for him, but it’s hard. That night he faces away from me in bed and I know he wants to be left alone, but the following morning he comes into the kitchen while I’m making sandwiches and wraps his arms around my waist from behind.
    ‘Thank you,’ he murmurs into my hair. I turn around and give him a hug, pressing my face into his chest. I hate seeing him so sad.
    It’s Tuesday, the day of the funeral. We travel to the cemetery in a procession of black cars and walk into the church behind the pallbearers: friends and colleagues of Christian and his brothers. Mandy’s coffin is shiny and black with a wreath of white flowers on the top. There’s a framed photo of her on the altar, a snapshot of her laughing, as she so often did. The casket is closed. Her injuries were too severe to permit an open one.
    Everyone is in tears during the service and I’m thankful that Barney isn’t here. He wouldn’t understand such sadness at his age, but as I sit next