by Minna Howard
‘I don’t know, she’s going to have a paternity test to make sure, but I wish Dad were here to deal with it.’ She savagely drained the potatoes.
‘And she’s having a baby too,’ Marius added, ‘making us uncles.’
‘Yes, but with a long-standing boyfriend. He’s coming back from the States soon and they will set up home together,’ Verity said, not wanting her sons to think scattering children around the place was a good life choice.
It was such a treat to see them and the boys saved her evening of being stuck with Delia and diluted their grandmother’s self-righteous frame of mind, though she behaved as if she’d saved the family from an expensive imposter. Both boys were disappointed they had not met this new member of their family and made jokes to Delia about her fear of this cuckoo in their nest. This caused Delia, much to Verity’s relief, to say she would return home the following day as she had ‘various social things to attend to’ and had put them aside especially to come and give support here, where she’d obviously been needed to sort it all out and how lucky it was that she had.
Verity did not rise to Delia’s attempts to be a martyr. Did she expect her to prostrate herself in gratitude for saving them from being conned into offering a stranger a home?
The boys were disappointed. ‘I thought she sounded nice. I wouldn’t mind having her as a sister,’ Toby said.
‘These con artists appear nice so they can persuade people to believe them,’ Delia said. ‘No one would take in an ugly old crone, would they?’
‘I’m sure Saskia has not knowingly tried to mislead us,’ Verity retorted. ‘She might not be Nathan’s daughter but that’s her mother’s mistake, not hers.’
Verity concentrated all her energy on her sons, who tried to gain her sympathy by saying they hadn’t eaten since they’d left home and that there were rats in their flat.
‘Only one very small rat, could even be a mouse,’ Marcus said, seeing his grandmother’s expression.
Verity did not sleep well. She was tired of dealing with all this by herself, especially with Delia’s treatment of Saskia, and at six in the morning she rang Nathan, hoping he was not in some meeting or other. He was not and she told him about his mother’s interference.
‘This strange letter from another man who might be her father has really upset Saskia. Your mother made it worse, she’s behaving as if she has saved us from some character wanting to worm her way into our family to rob us,’ she grumbled.
‘You must admit, it is a bit odd, Saskia turning up after all this time. It wasn’t as if Helen didn’t know which firm I worked for. I told her I was coming home to start there when I left Greece, and it is quite a well-known company after all.’ He sounded impatient as though surely Verity could deal with this problem herself.
‘And yet she never tried to contact you there when she knew how ill she was? Or earlier, when she found out she was pregnant?’ She quizzed him, wondering now if he’d had the information and discarded it.
‘She’s never contacted me at all, Verity. You know I’d have told you if she had. It’s such a life-changing thing having another child foisted on you, whatever their age.’ He sounded aggrieved that she could even think of doubting his side of the story. ‘She must have been very ill, poor woman and maybe she thought she had told me, or the message went astray. We’ll never know now. Anyway, I’m home next week. I’ve done all I can out here for the moment.’
‘That is wonderful news, darling. I’ve missed you so much, not least because of this fiasco.’ She suddenly felt stronger. Whatever the outcome Nathan would be here to support her, wouldn’t he?
FOURTEEN
Saskia felt rather embarrassed when Ivor turned up to rescue her. If he had not, by chance, rung her just at the moment she was feeling so low, she wouldn’t have confided in him. Also, if Delia had not been there, obviously doubting her claim to be her precious son’s daughter, thankfully seizing the idea that the writer of that letter was him instead, she felt that Verity would have insisted she stay while it was all sorted out.
She liked Verity and Nathan, though she’d only met him over the phone, as it were. He, though sounding rather awkward about the whole arrangement, seemed determined to stand by her – at least while he thought she was his. He said kind things about her mother, but he’d said nothing about becoming a grandfather.
‘I don’t know how to put this without sounding crass, but is it possible that this other man, who sent the letter, could be your father?’ Ivor turned to her, his face made ghostly by a streetlight.
‘You mean you think my mother had a very colourful love life, don’t you?’ She held up her hand as he protested that he was not judging her. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what to think. She had friends and went out with men, but then I didn’t know about her life before I was born or as a baby.’
‘Whoever he is, he can’t be a close friend as he doesn’t know she’s died or was even ill,’ Ivor said. They were driving along the Embankment now and he turned up a small street and parked the car. ‘I wonder what made him suddenly write to your mother like that, and while we are on the subject, why your mother only told you about Nathan being your father when she was dying.’ He turned off the engine and stayed sitting in the stationary car in the dark, a streetlamp lighting his face.
‘I did sometimes wonder if she didn’t know who he was, got carried away at a rave or something, and so was ashamed to tell me and gave me a different surname to hers to make it look better and have people think that my father had died or disappeared. I tried to discuss it with her over the years, but she always fobbed me off, saying we were happier this way. She’d say he may have had a wife who’d be upset and leave him, destroy their family, excuses like that.’ She turned to face him. ‘But I’m sure I told you that one of Verity’s friends, all geared up to accost me, said she thought I did have a look of Nathan.’ She sighed. ‘Yet his mother didn’t seem to see the likeness. I just don’t know what to do, it’s all so confusing.’
They got out of the car; he took her bag from the boot and walked towards a large detached house, facing the busy road with the Thames gleaming on the other side, in the dark, the water black and sinuous like oil. The house had a tall gate, which Ivor opened for her, leading into a small garden before a large, imposing front door.
‘Goodness, this is rather grand.’ She was quite bowled over by it.
‘Wait until you see inside,’ Ivor said. ‘Faded grandeur, stuck in a time warp.’
He unlocked the front door and they went into a large, tiled hall, though many of the tiles were cracked and chipped which rather dented the glamour. Ahead was a wide staircase, the banisters curled out like open arms to welcome them. The walls were covered with dusty pictures and there were closed doors beside and behind the stairs.
‘It’s all very run down and has been divided up into flats of various sizes and rented out. I have the top floor, once attics or where the staff slept. My friend, Richard, who’s inherited it recently from his uncle, can’t do anything with it until the lodgers, all relatives or hangers on of his great uncle, leave, or in truth, die,’ he said as they trailed upstairs. ‘That was in the will, so there’s nothing Richard can do, but meanwhile it’s a lovely place to live and the rent is reasonable too.’
A door opened and an elderly woman, her grey hair swept up and a double string of pearls on her ample chest glared at them, her gaze homing in on Saskia’s stomach.
‘I didn’t know you were married, Ivor,’ she said severely.
‘No, I’m not – the baby’s not mine,’ Ivor said hastily. ‘Saskia is… um, a cousin of mine and… the father is away just now.’
‘Well, I hope wherever he is he does his duty and supports you both.’ She glowered at Saskia.
‘Don’t worry, Mrs Tracy Morton, all is in order. Saskia is just visiting.’ Ivor turned away from her.
Saskia followed him up the seemingly endless stairs, relieved he was carrying her bag. She was getting tired now with this
pregnancy and didn’t have the energy to run up, as she would have done before. She was consumed with a sudden shyness, thinking of the two of them alone in his set of rooms. She’d never really been alone with Ivor before. He’d been with Bethan, his long-time girlfriend, or they’d always been with friends, or with other people like those in the restaurant where she worked. She worried now about the intimacy of it.
They reached the top floor. There was a heavy ‘front door’ on the landing, complete with brass knocker and a doorbell beside it. Ivor unlocked the door and ushered her into a small entrance hall opening to a large living room painted in a soft grey with a comfortable sofa and a few chairs. There were modern pictures in strong, bright colours on the walls. A huge television screen was on one side, along with a desk and masses of laden bookshelves. A man’s room, Saskia thought – a single man who could indulge in his own taste, certainly not a place for a squalling baby.
‘This is the main room and this is the kitchen,’ he said, showing her into another room, a small slip of a kitchen, which just fitted a table and a couple of chairs. ‘My room is there—’ he pointed to a door along the way ‘—and the bathroom and two more bedrooms are here. You can choose whichever one you want, though this is the nicer one.’ He opened the door onto a good-sized room with a divan bed by the window. There was a pile of papers on a desk and seeing this she was about to say he was obviously using it, when he said, ‘I do use this room sometimes, but I can easily use the other.’
She looked out of the window beside her on to a back garden. A dim light shone from a lantern on the outside wall, it seemed to be overgrown by shrubs, the shadowing darkness somehow making the room seem more intimate. She wished now that she had stayed with Verity, but then Ivor moved into the next room, which was more compact, and she at once said that would do her.
‘I won’t be bothering you for long, after all.’ She smiled at him, planning to go back to Verity by the weekend when Delia would hopefully be gone, and then Darren would come for her, they would find their own place and they could start their life together, waiting to welcome their child.
FIFTEEN
Nathan would be home in ten days and Verity had mixed feeling about his return. She loved him and she missed him, especially as a warm presence beside her in bed at night, but the rhythm between them had changed. She needed to discuss, face to face, how to fit this surprise, grownup daughter of his into their lives.
She’d mentioned in a light-hearted way, the change she felt between them to some of her married girlfriends, who’d shrugged off her concerns saying it was just men taking them for granted, feeling they needn’t stir themselves to make much of their long-serving wives, who ought to know, like a sort of osmosis, that they were loved. And after being together all this time there was no need for extravagant shows of romance.
Perhaps it was true, and perhaps she was making too much of it, though now there was this peculiar drama of his unknown, grownup daughter suddenly turning up to contend with. Delia was bound to go overboard with this, especially since seeing that letter from another man. She’d convince herself that Saskia must be an imposter, namely because she hated shocks or anything else that might besmirch her beloved son. She felt bad that Saskia had left so suddenly after her remarks and when Delia had said smugly, ‘I think her immediate departure shows that I am right and she is nothing to do with my son,’ she’d almost lost it. She was saved from ruining her relationship with her mother-in-law by the unexpected appearance of her boys, though they annoyed their grandmother by wanting to know everything about this new ‘sister’ that had arrived on the scene.
Verity was glad it was the weekend tomorrow. It had been a tough week, though a welcome surprise to see the boys. Saskia had sent her a text saying perhaps it was best if she stayed with Ivor until Nathan came back the following weekend and then they’d sort everything out.
She was relieved at this change of plan. She’d been feeling a little apprehensive at having to share the house with her, this sudden ‘daughter’ from her husband’s past life. She wouldn’t have to make an effort to have food in – even though Saskia had said she didn’t want any – keep the house tidy, entertain her. It was also for the best in case Saskia was not Nathan’s after all. She sent a cheery text back to her, saying she was welcome here anytime.
She was just about to eat a banana before going to meet up with Jen and a couple of other friends for their stretch class when the doorbell went. She was expecting a parcel from Amazon so she opened the door ready to receive it. A tall, blond-haired man stood there, blinking at her through his glasses.
He did not look as if he was selling anything. She’d often been accosted by worthy people trying to interest her in signing up for some charity there and then which she did not like doing cold like that. He took a deep breath as if he were psyching himself up before saying, ‘Sorry to arrive like this but I wondered if I could speak to Saskia. I understand she’s staying with you?’
‘She’s not here just now, she’s staying with friends,’ Verity said. ‘Do you have her mobile number?’
‘Yes, but I’ve just arrived from the US, and I thought she was here,’ he said anxiously, looking rather spaced out.
‘Are you Darren?’ Verity guessed, before wondering what to do. Saskia was now staying with Ivor, who obviously cared about her, so maybe it would not be a good idea to give Darren his address, in case he got the wrong idea. ‘Come in,’ she said opening the door wider. ‘You must be exhausted, after the flight. I’ll contact her for you and I’m sure she’ll come at once. She’s missed you so much, she’ll be thrilled to see you,’ she gushed as the man came in, looking increasingly concerned. She ushered him into the living room where he sat or rather flopped down awkwardly on a chair, putting down a small backpack beside him, explaining that, yes, he’d come in on the red eye.
‘Can I get you something to eat? A coffee, perhaps?’ she asked while she sent Saskia a text, thinking how thrilled she’d be that Darren had suddenly arrived.
‘A strong coffee would be great, thanks.’ He leant back in his chair, obviously exhausted.
She made up a small pot of coffee, laid out some biscuits and fruit, and sat down opposite him, making a few inane remarks about how long it was since he and Saskia had last seen each other.
He didn’t answer for a moment, then he blurted, ‘I… I couldn’t ring her, I have to tell her to her face, but I’ve come to tell her it’s over. I’ve met someone else.’
‘But… the baby… you were coming back to find a flat together.’ This could not be happening, Verity thought.
‘I’ll look after both of them financially – I’ve been offered a higher position in my firm, so I will earn more. I will not completely abandon her or the child. There’s nothing for me here, not as good as I’ve got out there, anyway, and as I say, I’ve met someone else.’ He would not meet her eye. ‘Saskia and I have hardly been together this last year.’
‘But you are having a child together,’ she said firmly. ‘You are both responsible for that.’
‘That’s why I’m here,’ he said. ‘I fly back tomorrow. We’ve been together three years and almost one of those, this last year, apart. Still, I owe it to her to tell her in person and make plans for our child. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, her and the child living here and me in the States, now I’ve got this new job. It’s a far better one than I’d get here, decent money and more chances of promotion.’
‘I understood that you planned to come back and live here, your time in the States being only temporary?’ Verity said.
‘It was meant to be, but then I… met someone else and I was offered – well, I applied for – a better job, a promotion if you like, in the company. I’ve nothing to keep me here, my parents live most of the year in Spain, and I love the life out there.’ His mouth was set in a determined way and his eyes, rather beautiful, green eyes, were fixed on hers.
Glancing at her mobile Verity saw that Saskia had got her message a
nd was on her way here. She imagined her excitement at seeing her lover so unexpectedly and then the crushing blow he was about to inflict on her. Surely she should warn her, but how?
‘Saskia should be here in ten minutes or so. She’s so excited to see you and you’re going to destroy her by breaking up with her when she imagines you are still a couple, about to set up home and bring up your child together.’
He looked guilty then, studying his hands clasped in front of him. ‘I feel dreadful about it. I… I could have just sent her a text or rung her, but I’m here because I will always care for her and I want to be part of our child’s life. But us living together, making my home here… I can’t do it.’ He appealed to her as if she must understand. He gulped at his coffee. They sat together in silence neither knowing what else to say. The doorbell went and he jumped, glancing at her beseechingly as if she could somehow magic this situation away.
She got up; she must leave too, or she’d be late for her exercise class. ‘I’ve got to go out; I won’t be back for a couple of hours. Take great care of her. Like it or not, with a child between you, you are bound together for always now.’
She opened the front door, picking up her bag on the way. Saskia looked radiant.
‘Darren’s actually here,’ she said excitedly, looking beyond Verity as if he’d come to meet her at the door.
Verity hugged her. ‘I’m going to my stretch class, but I’m always here for you if you need me, as is your room.’ Her heart ached for Saskia as she went out into the street, shutting the front door behind her and leaving her to her fate.
SIXTEEN
Saskia ran into the living room, her heart soaring with joy at this surprise visit. Darren got up from his chair and she threw herself into his arms, clinging to him, kissing him, saying how wonderful and unbelievable it was to see him.
But something wasn’t right. He had not snatched her close, covered her with kisses. It was as if she was holding a dummy. She released him, stood back, her hands still on his forearms. ‘What’s happened?’
