Innocent: Part 1 of 3. Cathy Glass

a good father he’d make when the time came. I think Kirsty did too, judging from the look in her eyes. We settled around the table and I served dinner. I’d just sat down to eat when the house phone rang.

      ‘I’ll take it in the living room,’ I said, standing. ‘It’s probably their social worker.’

      It was. ‘I’ve spoken to Filip,’ Tess said. ‘He doesn’t think the children have any allergies, although Aneta worries about them a lot. He’ll tell you more tomorrow. I’ve set up a meeting for one o’clock at the council offices so the parents can meet you. If you have any questions, you will be able to ask them then.’

      ‘OK. I take it I’m not to bring Molly and Kit to the meeting?’

      ‘No. I’ll be arranging supervised contact at the Family Centre for the children to see their parents.’

      ‘All right, thank you. I’ll have to get some cover for Molly and Kit.’

      ‘How are they?’ Tess asked.

      ‘Having a bit of dinner.’

      ‘Good. See you tomorrow then.’

I scribbled 1 p.m. in my diary for the following day. I would need to find someone to look after Kit and Molly at very short notice. Lucy would be at work and Paula at college, and I didn’t feel I could ask them to take time off. I knew other foster carers who could help me out as I had helped them in the past, but that would need to be arranged through Edith, my supervising social worker. I couldn’t just do it by myself. I made another note in my diary to call Edith at 9 a.m. the next morning, and then returned to the dinner table.