A Baby’s Cry. Cathy Glass

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A Baby’s Cry - Cathy Glass


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      Copyright

      HarperElement

      An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      and HarperElement are trademarks of

      HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      First published by HarperElement 2012

      Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

      A BABY’S CRY. © Cathy Glass 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

      ISBN: 9780007442638

      Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780007445707

      Version 2018-11-05

      Dedication

      To Dad with love

      Contents

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Prologue

      Chapter One

      Secretive

      Chapter Two

      Helping

      Chapter Three

      Alone in the World

      Chapter Four

      Bonding

      Chapter Five

      The Case

      Chapter Six

      The Mystery Deepens

      Chapter Seven

      Abandoned

      Chapter Eight

      Stranger at the Door

      Chapter Nine

      Section 20

      Chapter Ten

      Shut in a Cupboard

      Chapter Eleven

      Ellie

      Chapter Twelve

      A Demon Exorcized

      Chapter Thirteen

      Pure Evil

      Chapter Fourteen

      Shane

      Chapter Fifteen

      No Wiser

      Chapter Sixteen

      The Woman in the Street

      Chapter Seventeen

      Information Sharing

      Chapter Eighteen

      Staying Safe

      Chapter Nineteen

      A Right to Cry

      Chapter Twenty

      An Ideal World

      Chapter Twenty-One

      Honour

      Chapter Twenty-Two

      A Baby’s Cry

      Chapter Twenty-Three

      Late-Night Caller

      Chapter Twenty-Four

      Harrison

      Chapter Twenty-Five

      Best Christmas

      Chapter Twenty-Six

      Little Brother

      Chapter Twenty-Seven

      Contact

      Chapter Twenty-Eight

      The Decision

      Chapter Twenty-Nine

      Letting Go

      Chapter Thirty

      Upset

      Chapter Thirty-One

      Goodbye Harrison

      Epilogue

      Acknowledgements

       Exclusive sample chapter

       Cathy Glass

       About the Publisher

      Prologue

      Children can come into foster care at any age and it is always sad, but most heartbreaking of all is when a newborn baby, sometimes only a few hours old, is taken from their mother and brought into care.

      Certain details in this story, including names, places, and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

      Chapter One

      Secretive

      ‘Could you look after a baby?’ Jill asked.

      ‘A baby!’ I said, astonished.

      ‘Yes, you know. You feed one end and change the other and they keep you up all night.’

      ‘Very funny, Jill,’ I said. Jill was my support social worker from Homefinders, the agency I fostered for. We enjoyed a good working relationship.

      ‘Actually, it’s not funny, Cathy,’ she said, her voice growing serious. ‘As we speak a baby is being born in the City Hospital. The social services have known for months that it would be coming into care but they haven’t anyone to look after it.’

      ‘But Jill,’ I exclaimed, ‘it’s years since I’ve looked after a baby, let alone a newborn. Not since Paula was a baby, and she’s five now. I think I might have my pram and cot in the loft but I haven’t any bottles, baby clothes or cot bedding.’

      ‘You could buy what you need and we’ll reimburse you. Cathy, I know you don’t normally look after babies – we save you for the more challenging children – and I wouldn’t have asked you, but all our baby carers are full. The social worker is desperate.’

      I paused and thought. ‘How soon will the baby be leaving hospital?’ I asked, my heart aching at the thought of the mother and baby who were about to be separated.

      ‘Tomorrow.’

      ‘Tomorrow!’

      ‘Yes. Assuming it’s a normal birth, the social worker wants the baby collected as soon as the doctor has given it the OK.’

      I paused and thought some more. I knew my children, Paula (five) and Adrian (nine), would love to foster a baby, but


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