What became of us

Lily was going to fall in and that she was too far away to do anything about it.
    It happened very quickly. Lily stopped running, threw her arm back and hurled the bread with all her body’s strength, but failed to let go of it. Then there was a splash and she was in the river, and even though Manon was only running for seconds, her mind raced through all the headlines in the Oxford Mail about students drowning, pulled under by mysterious currents, intercut with the opening scene from Don’t Look Now, which she had seen at a midnight show at the Phoenix, and whose images had haunted her as she walked back home through the darkened streets of Jericho. Lily was going to drown and it would be her fault.
    The child was under the water, then Manon was in with her, waist deep, pulling her up and holding her against her chest, not knowing whether it was her own heart or Lily’s that she could feel racing against the limply wet cotton of their clothes.
    Then Lily began to cry, and Manon’s heart filled with gratitude for that frightened wailing sound, loving it even more than the gurgling laughter she had heard only seconds, a lifetime, before.
    ‘Hand her up to me!’ Roy was standing on the bank, arms outstretched.
    ‘Mummy! Mummy!’ Lily pleaded, clinging on to her. ‘Mummy, please, I want my mummy!’
    ‘Give her to me,’ Roy ordered.
    Manon watched his face as he lifted Lily from her arms and held her to his chest. His eyes were closed as if in silent prayer as he smoothed the wet hair gently away from Lily’s brow. The little girl stopped crying almost immediately.
    ‘Are you OK, my darling child?’
    She sniffed and looked right into his face.
    ‘In fact, I’m fine.’
    ‘Brave girl,’ he said, then he knelt down with her still in his arms and began to peel off her wet clothes. She ran naked into the sunshine.
    Manon became aware of the slime of mud and something sharp under her feet, and the chill of the water around her. For a moment, she felt desperately alone. Then she saw Saskia watching her, her face white with shock, and she began to wade towards a shallower place where she could get out.
    ‘You’re bleeding,’ Roy said.
    Manon looked down at her foot. It was covered in brown fronds of weed and a trickle of bright red blood snaked its way down towards her heel.
    ‘Wait a second.’
    There was a group of picnickers a few yards away. She saw Roy point at a large bottle of Evian on their checkered tablecloth. He returned with it. He picked her foot up by the ankle and poured the water over it. It was lukewarm from the sun.
    ‘It’s only a small cut. Does it hurt?’ he said gently.
    ‘No,’ she replied.
    ‘Are you up to date with your tetanus jabs?’ he asked.
    She looked at his head, bent solicitously over her foot in the pose of a kindly nurse, but not really knowing what to do. He became aware that she was looking at him. He looked up. Their eyes met.
    ‘It’s exactly what Penny would have asked, isn’t it?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes,’ she said.
    ‘Perhaps I’m getting better at this,’ he said.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Shall we take you to Accident and Emergency?’
    ‘I’m more concerned about Lily,’ Manon said.
    ‘Look at her!’
    The little girl was prancing around naked in the sunshine, aware that she was the centre of attention, and playing to the gallery.
    ‘I’ve got the car at St Gertrude’s,’ he said, looking in the direction of the college.
    ‘But the punt...’
    ‘We’ll leave it here and ring them up to explain. They’ll send someone to collect it.’
    ‘How practical you are. I never would have thought of that,’ Manon told him.
    ‘You’d have punted all the way back upstream with an injured foot and a naked child. Really?’ he beamed, then, as if remembering that he was not supposed to look happy, ever, his face fell back into seriousness. ‘Well, I suppose having children does make you understand priorities better. Look, I’ll take Lily on my shoulders, if you think you can hobble back?’
    ‘Yes, I’m fine.’
    ‘Where are you staying?’ he asked.
    She looked at him as if she had not understood the question.
    ‘I’m not staying.’
    ‘Well, I’ve got to take the girls back, so come with us. Maybe Geraldine can find you something to wear tonight. You are coming to the dinner, aren’t you?’
    He looked at her so pleadingly, she realized that he was dreading it as much as she was.
    ‘I don’t know if Geraldine would want me to wear one of her