Nobody’s Son: Part 1 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own

скачать книгу бесплатно

Nobody’s Son: Part 1 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass

Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows.When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy.He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.

(#u3d57aa7b-c301-5d4d-8761-fc59c460a3bc)

Copyright (#u3d57aa7b-c301-5d4d-8761-fc59c460a3bc)

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

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by HarperElement 2017

FIRST EDITION

© Cathy Glass 2017

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

Cover photograph © Deborah Pendell/Arcangel Images (boy, posed by model); Shutterstock.com (background)

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

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable 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 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.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green)

Source ISBN: 9780008187569

Ebook Edition © February 2017 ISBN: 9780008187590

Version: 2017-01-09

Contents

Cover (#u0d7cfa4c-52ed-54df-a813-3b81f09c8f2c)

Title Page (#uedcdc015-e999-5352-bcd2-b43c464cc6c4)

Copyright (#u338b45cd-06a4-5ac6-9133-bfba3a3eedbb)

Acknowledgements (#u8129bba7-94c1-5aa9-897f-693f94748c5d)

Prologue (#ub526c51b-8ccf-58c3-bd86-a207985020db)

Chapter One: A New Year, a New Child (#uc013de94-16ad-5c73-b4d5-cfa4295c8af0)

Chapter Two: Unsettled Early Life (#u158674c4-5bd1-550b-bf5c-5fe34ac78544)

Chapter Three: Alex’s Parents (#u5d353162-2d9d-5744-a2cd-a9ef60d4e8b3)

Chapter Four: A Joyful Meeting (#u40ed3d82-564a-5a25-975a-e541abe6e188)

Chapter Five: A Positive Start (#ubbb5fde9-cf5d-57e9-9000-dbfa04798e4b)

Chapter Six: Alex Meets His Parents (#u16f696cc-d64a-520b-97cd-22a8b8ac1caf)

Chapter Seven: Meeting James (#ub02bd7e4-8335-5dd9-8e2c-5f19092c42c4)

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter (#ud44a1843-1d91-52d0-8966-56b6fa356d00)

About the Publisher (#u5a093a3a-5055-5c0c-b638-ec63b94eb914)

Acknowledgements (#u3d57aa7b-c301-5d4d-8761-fc59c460a3bc)

A big thank you to my family; my editors, Carolyn and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publishers, HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers, who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words.

Prologue (#u3d57aa7b-c301-5d4d-8761-fc59c460a3bc)

We immediately fell silent as the noise sounded again. The children stared at me anxiously before our eyes went towards the curtains drawn across the patio doors. It was cold and dark outside, but something was out there scratching and trying to get in. Not our cat; she was asleep by the warm radiator, and it didn’t sound like a cat anyway. I stood and gingerly crossed the room, my heart pounding and my senses on full alert. There were just the children and me in the house, and I tried to hide my fear from them as I eased one curtain aside and peered into the dark. Nothing. Whatever it was had vanished again like a phantom into the night.