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‘My uncle tracked us dohen I was eight and told ing; she clearly felt her past was her own business ‘He gave her an ultirandparents with me, or my uncle would take me away’

‘So you and your randparents’

‘No She told him to take me The next time I saw her hen I was eleven and she needed money Anyway, this isn’t about me This is about you Or is this what you do? Turn a conversation around any tiets too close for comfort?’

Ash opened hisneed to knowlike the picture he’d built in his head, and he was suddenly desperate to uncover the real woman behind the Major

But she was right Nor the conversation onto the other person was exactly how he dealt with this kind of scenario Instead, he fought the i about hi to open up to her then how could he expect her to trust him?

‘What do you want to know?’ he heard hi

She hesitated for a moment ‘I asked how many foster families you lived with’

Ash sucked in a silent breath ‘Quite a feas seven when I first went into care and stayed there for about nine years, on and off’

‘Why? What about your family?’

He thought he’d hardened hiinning to realise he’d buried them only just below the surface and a couple of questions fro

‘Until I was six, hoood, kind They worked hard, were proud of our ho so football in the park to teaching me how to build a homemade telescope’

‘My uncle did that once’ He could hear the soft smile in her tone

‘When I was six, nosed with advanced ovarian cancer and that year she died My dad couldn’t handle it He didn’t deal with her deat

h; he didn’t even talk about her after that day He was too proud to ask for help He lost his job, couldn’t pay the bills, forgot to buy food or clothing, or even soap He did, however, discover alcohol By the time I was seven, we had lost our hoot my first taste of foster care after that’

‘I thought there weretaken inbefore my uncle finally rescued me’