One Hour to Midnight by Shirley Wine

within these walls.
    There was no point pining. She would never belong here.
    Then she saw the portrait of Julia holding a child. Mesmerised she walked closer, agony ripping her heart to shreds.
    That's Jordan, my child, my baby .
    "It's a good likeness." Cassie gripped her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Jordan was a bonny wee lad."
    Veronica nodded moving away, fighting rage and jealousy. Jordan is mine. He grew under my heart. Not Julia's.  
    But I gave him away , surrendered the right to call him mine.
    She looked around and knew she'd made a colossal mistake returning. Two steps inside and already the memories tormented her.  
    She saw the hallway through the sheen of tears as she followed Cassie down into the original part of the old house. In the thirties Leon's grandfather had added a new wing and done extensive renovations on the upper story.
    "Leon asked me to prepare these rooms for you." Cassie opened the door into the guest suite Veronica had occupied before Jordan's birth. "If you want anything let me know. When you're ready I'll bring tea to the blue sitting room. You still drink tea?"
    "I do, thank you."  
    Once alone, Veronica went to the wide bay window. Its flanking French doors opened onto a private terrace screened by melaleucas and weeping callistemon trees.
    Unbidden, the haunting memories returned.
    At first she'd been taken in by Julia's gentleness.
    It was only later, after Jordan's birth, and outside the sphere of the other woman's influence, that she saw Julia's manipulation with a clear eye.  
    Once, when Julia was expecting important guests, she'd tried to shift her from this suite of rooms to a smaller, upstairs, bed sitting room.
    Leon vetoed it.
    Veronica shivered as his angry words echoed in her head.
    Ricki is family, Julia. She's entitled to first consideration. I won't have her hidden away upstairs as if she's another Mrs Rochester.
    It was one of the rare occasions Leon had overruled his wife. But Julia soon exacted revenge.  
    While Ricki rested, Julia visited and informed her that her presence was an embarrassment. Sonia deserved sympathy. Ricki, as the other woman, didn't. She was to plead tiredness and avoid their guests.
    In the end subterfuge wasn't necessary. She'd spent the next three weeks on bed-rest fearful she'd lose her baby.
    Veronica shook her head, but the memories were persistent.  
    Why did I allow myself to be persuaded to return?
      Now, Veronica could see that beneath Julia's gentle veneer, lay a steel-trap toughness.  
    She wanted my baby. And expertly manipulated my youth and unhappy guilt until she achieved what she wanted .  
    Was Julia responsible for engineering Sonia's visit, a visit that culminated in Veronica's collapse? Now, years too late, her suspicions crystallized into certainty.  
    And rehashing the past is such a wasted exercise. Let it go, Veronica. Let it go!  
    A tap on the door and Cassie popped her head in. "I've made tea."
    As she followed the kindly Scotswoman, Veronica noticed the house was almost unchanged, furnished with a mix of antiques and modern furniture and decorated in pastels.  
    What would it be like to possess roots like the ones the Karvasis family had? To know generations of your family had lived within these same walls?
    Cassie opened the door into the Blue Room, one of the few she'd been permitted to use when she'd lived here before Jordan's birth. Julia had guarded her possession jealously.
    Now, a swift glance assured Veronica there were no photos to mock her.  
    "I love this room," Veronica turned to Cassie. "Won't you share a cup with me, please?"
    The older woman's homely face creased in a smile, her blue eyes twinkled behind wire-rimmed glasses, grey curls bobbed as she nodded. "I'll fetch another cup."
    When she returned, Cassie poured tea and sat in the chair opposite, her expression soft. "What have you been doing since you left, Ricki?"
    "It's Veronica, Cassie. I go by my given name now."
    The older woman