Love lost

By Sydney James

I was in hospital being patched up after a nasty fall when my daughter disappeared from the playground, and my already horrible day suddenly turned unbearable.

My husband John only turned his back to our 2-year-old daughter for a moment. But sometimes, a moment is all it takes.

I loved John so much, once upon a time, but all that love is now gone.

The question is, can I find my baby girl before she too is lost forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alba Publishing
• Release date: Apr 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386118114

Book preview

Love lost

Love lost

Sydney James

Contents

Love lost

About the Author

Also by Sydney James

Love lost

The orderly was just rolling me back from having my compound fractured arm pinned and set in a cast when my husband appeared through a couple of swinging doors at the end of the corridor. Even if he didn’t speak at first, I could immediately tell that something was wrong.

I just turned my back for a second, he said after what felt like minutes, half-choked.

I was still a bit groggy from the industrial-strength painkillers that the hospital staff had supplied me with and had to struggle to focus on his face. He was very pale, I thought. And his eyes were wild in a way that triggered my flight reflexes.

Except that I couldn’t have run two steps. My arm was throbbing dully, and I was sore and tender all over.

Falling down the stairs will do that.

What, honey? I said, pushing the hair from my face.

She was right there, and then … He stared at me with a pleading expression I’d never seen on his face before.

I still didn’t get it. Then my eyes dropped from his face and focused on the stuffed bear in his hand. Honey … Where’s Lily?

He grabbed his hair and it looked as if he was going to tear it from his skull. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, he said. She was on the slide, and then she remembered that she had left Teddy on the bench, and I told her she could go one more time on the slide while I went and fetched him, and when I got back … He held his hands out toward me, pleadingly. It was a weird look on him. I didn’t like it.

But … Where is she now? I said, and tried to get up, out of the wheelchair, but the orderly grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down.

"You’d better stay seated until we’re