Madeleine by Kate McCann Read Free Book Online Page B

away. When Gerry’s sister Trish rang to tell us that Johnny was approaching the end, we threw what we needed into the car, gathered up the children and drove to Glasgow as quickly as we could, arriving at the hospital in the early evening. By the next morning, Johnny had gone. We’ll always regret that he never had the chance to see the twins, but it gives us some comfort that he was able to spend time with ‘baby Madeleine’ in his last few years, forging a bond that will doubtless have enriched both their lives.
    The following two years were very happy ones. Gerry was appointed consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester soon after Sean and Amelie were born, and once they’d passed their first birthday I returned to work part-time, as a GP and also as a clinical tutor to medical students for a half-day every week. Gerry and I didn’t have much time to ourselves: the days of Friday nights in the pub with our colleagues were long gone – we couldn’t even manage to go for a run together now and had to take it in turns – but we didn’t mind at all. We were living the family life we’d always wanted and it was everything we’d dreamed it would be. On the rare occasion when we went out for a meal on our own or with friends, Uncle Brian and Auntie Janet would babysit.
    The mews house in Queniborough was a bit cramped for five of us, especially as we often had family and friends to stay, and in the spring of 2006 we moved to a larger home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Rothley, the village where Uncle Brian and Auntie Janet lived. Here we had a post office and general store, a café, several good pubs and interesting shops, which gave my afternoon walks with the children more of a sense of purpose.
    The most exciting destination by far for the children, though, was a farm in the neighbouring village that was open to the public, offering all sorts of treats like tractor rides and buckets of feed for the children to give to the animals. At Stonehurst Farm Madeleine loved feeding the sheep, talking to the donkeys and swinging on the rope in the hay barn. She would chat away to Farmer John all the while. She was intrigued by the fact that his wife had the same name as hers but – as Madeleine never ceased to remind us – it was spelled differently. The highlight of the afternoon would be a thrilling ride on the trailer towed by Farmer John’s tractor. He would lift Sean and Amelie in their double buggy on to the trailer, Madeleine and I would clamber aboard alongside the other visitors, and off we would go.
    I have such wonderful memories of our first summer in Rothley. The new house really felt like home and the five of us spent many sunny, fun-filled days in the garden, on the swings and slide, blowing bubbles, painting ‘in the skud’, as Auntie Trisha would put it (that was just the kids, I hasten to add), or chatting in the paddling pool together.
    It was fascinating watching how the children interacted with one another as they developed and how different their personalities were. When they were small, Sean and Madeleine were the closest in nature, and early on they formed a natural alliance, although later, Madeleine and Amelie began to do lots of girly things together. Amelie was confident, brave and a bit mad, and initially the one in whom I saw myself least but always admired. In the garden she would run up the steps of the slide and hurl herself down the chute with a crazed cry of exhilaration: ‘Ha, ha, ha !’ Sean – Cautious George to Amelie’s Fearless Fred – would often climb the steps carefully, then, on reaching the top, have second thoughts, turn round and come back down the same way. When they did jigsaws, Amelie would use brute force to wedge any old pieces together. Sean would meticulously study all the pieces before completing the puzzle unaided. He is probably the more academic and methodical of the twins; Amelie the more intuitive and artistic. They’ve changed a little now, of