by Fox Brison
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Devon.” My Aunt Sophia moved to the side of the doorway, the universal signal for ‘get the hell out of my house.’ My uncle glanced up from his laptop screen; he had sent at least three emails in the time it took me to make my impassioned speech. The thing is, it was clear they really didn’t care. Christ, if their housekeeper came in and told them they’d run out of caviar it would have produced more of a reaction.
And that was that. I was dismissed, abruptly and condescendingly, and without a bye your leave. I was trembling, yet still managed to thank whoever was watching over me that I’d somehow managed to escape the callous hearted clutches of my family.
Chapter 29
Devon
Monday 19th December, 2016
I left my uncle and aunt’s house in more of a daze than when I’d arrived and went to the one place I might have some chance of making even a smidgen of sense out of any of this.
Heavenly Heirs.
My mind was so muddled it took me longer than usual to assess the situation and calculate the different possible outcomes this new information created. I was in panic mode and needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts and basically get a grip. As soon as I entered the offices I called for Hannah. “I need a search done on the QT. It’s time to circle the wagons.”
“Boss, we may have a problem-” she began.
“You’ve no fucking idea,” I interrupted. “The little rendezvous you arranged?”
“Good?” she smiled.
“No. I mean yes. Oh, Hannah, it was awesome. But now I’m up shit creek in a boat made out of toilet roll, and not Andrex, no, the bloody cheap crap.”
“Truer words, Dev, I found out that-”
“Ruth is the daughter of Thomas Flood,” we said simultaneously.
“Jane sent over a scan with the obit in the local paper and the report of the investigation about half an hour ago. It was easy to find what we needed from there.” Hannah added.
I was scowling now. Why did everything always happen to me? I was happy, I felt loved and wanted and now, now? Life was so bloody cruel sometimes.
“Where do we go from here?” Hannah realised I was in no mood for anything but utter compliance at this point, so took on a more professional persona.
“First order of business we need a birth certificate for Ruth Louise Flood.”
“Do you really think they’ll try to use Ruth to hurt Rachel?”
“Think? No I don’t think. I know. They stand to lose five hundred million pounds, Hannah, they won’t think twice about using Ruth to stop Rachel inheriting.”
“Well not the entire five hundred million, just whatever they get for managing the trust.”
“Oh if only that were true, Han. After two hundred and fifty years, the deadline of which just so happens to fall on Christmas Eve this year, if no righteous heir is found the money reverts to the executors of Gideon’s will.”
“Executors?” She was busy swiping her tablet. “Flood and Williams are the executors.” She looked up at me. “Oh. Oh bollicks. This is not good.”
“Exactly.” Why, oh, why hadn’t I listened to Celeste? “But I’m not going to go down without a fight, which is why we must make sure we are ready for anything they throw at us.” I was hoping with a bit of damage control I might avert a full blown disaster of Titanic proportions. “So Ruth’s birth certificate?”
“Easy peasy. C’mon, boss, give me a challenge.” Hannah tried to lighten the mood, but she would have had more luck changing lead into gold. My life was imploding before my very eyes.
“Next, adoption certificate or something showing that Rachel Mary McTavers is the legal guardian of Ruth Louise Flood. We need that document and we need it yesterday.”
“Woah, there’s the challenge I was after. Those things are locked up tighter than a duck’s arse.”
“I don’t care how you get it, Han, just do it.” I sounded like a Nike ad, but I knew the rules of the Flood and Williams game.
There wasn’t any.
***
I sat in my cold dark flat drinking a third brandy. It was late and I’d tried reaching Rachel several times but it kept going onto answerphone. I remembered her saying the reception was poor in her flat; besides, it was probably for the best anyway. I don’t know what I would have said to her, and even if I could find the words it probably wouldn’t matter, because she’d never forgive me.
It wouldn’t even matter that I had fallen deeply in love with her.
My phone beeped.
Oh this was bad.
“Good evening, Celeste.”
“What do you have to say for yourself, Devon? The honest truth please.” Her voice lacked the usual warmth and I steeled myself for the worst.
“I found out at this morning that Ruth is the daughter of my cousin, Thomas Flood who died seven years ago. And I was furious and confused and shocked and grieving so I went to my aunt and uncle’s house. I don’t know why really,” my voice took on a sorrowful contemplative tone, “maybe I didn’t want it to be true. Maybe I wanted them to laugh and tell me they’d just Skyped Thomas and he must have had a doppelganger who married a barmaid from Seven Sisters.”
“And did they?”
“No, they knew about Thomas’ death alright. Frankly, Celeste, they didn’t seem to care much, but then Uncle Marcus always did have the best poker face, and Aunt Sophia was just back from her regular treatment so I doubt even an elephant exploding would have changed her expression”
“I see.”
“It gets worse,” I said “Rachel doesn’t appear to have any legal right to Ruth. There was never any documentation, it’s as if she took her home after Thomas and her sister died and that was it.” I rested my head on the cool surface of my kitchen counter trying to get some relief from the pain shooting between the back of my eye and my left temple. “Shit this is a mess. A week ago I believed my cousin was living the high life in Australia with a beautiful wife. Now I find out he’s dead, his daughter is being raised a few miles away and my family knew all this and have been lying to me for the last seven years. I’m sorry, Celeste, I really screwed up.”
“Yes, you did,” the warmth in her voice returned, “but you had a good reason. Shall we call this the fate test? Now the cat’s out of the bag speed is of the essence and I want all the paperwork on my desk within the next forty-eight hours. The scales are balanced on this one, Devon.”
She was girding her loins for battle and so was I.
Chapter 30
Rachel
Monday 19th December, 2016
Ruth was happily on the sofa watching cartoons with Jessie when the doorbell rang. I smiled. Devon. I practically ran to the door, unable to wait another second to see her beautiful face and gorgeous eyes that were the window to her soul.
I stepped back.
It wasn’t Devon.
“Ms Rachel McTavers?” The woman in the cheap polyester trouser suit was accompanied by two police officers.
“Yes?” I began to sweat. I hadn’t broken the law, but when the police are at your door? You begin to feel guilty even though you’ve done nothing wrong.
“I’m Detective Sergeant Kelly Angel, may I come in?”
I moved to allow her entrance. Jessie looked up and frowned. “Jess, could you take Ruth into her room please?” I said it quietly, not wanting to upset Ruth. She nodded and picked Ruth up who was utterly exhausted. We’d just gotten home after decorating the shelter with tinsel and holly, and she nestled her head on Jessie’s shoulder. “Detective, would you or your officers like a cup of tea? Or coffee?”
“No, thank you.” she looked uncomfortable. “We’re here investigating a complaint made against you for kidnapping, neglect and fraud.”
I chuckled, a strangled one. It wasn’t only Ruth who was exhausted. I was struggling to make sense of three police officers standing in my front room accusing me of… “I’m sorry I mustn’t have heard you correctly. Kidnapping?” I focuss
ed on the first of her absurd charges.
“Yes, of a Ruth Louise Flood. Information has come to light suggesting you fraudulently filled out documentation pertaining to the aforementioned minor.”
My heart stopped beating.
No. Don’t do this to me.
“If you could accompany me down to the police station to answer some questions, I’m sure this matter can be cleared up easily enough.”
“Am I being arrested?”
“No, we’re simply making enquiries at this stage.” She definitely looked uncomfortable now. “Jim, Megan, wait outside for a minute will you?” The uniformed officers nodded and left. “This is serious, Ms McTavers, the people making these allegations mean business.”
My heart started beating again, but this time it was racing.
“Who.. who are these people?”
“Marcus Flood.”
“Oh. Oh my God.”
“Do you have a solicitor?”
“No.”
“Here,” she gave me a business card with the details of a Maggie O’Connell. “She’s an old school friend. Have someone call her and ask her to meet us down at the station. Mention my name. I’ll wait outside whilst you make arrangements for child care.” She left me sitting on the sofa staring at the plain white card with bold black type on it. The writing wasn’t very clear, it was blurry and indecipherable.
Because, I realised, I was bawling my eyes out.
***
Maggie O’Connell was at the station when we arrived. She gave a quick nod in recognition to Detective Angel and then she led me to one side. “Don’t say anything, leave the talking to me. After I get you home, then we can have a chat and find out what the hell is going on.”
“Ruth, I can’t lose her, please don’t let them take her from me!”
“I won’t. Now remember, not one word.”
We spent what seemed like hours in a small grey box. One of my favourite shows was Law and Order SVU and I’d seen reruns of Prime Suspect, but being in that situation was terrifying, far more than I ever thought it would be after watching it on television.
An Inspector O’Neill finally suspended the interview at 9.27 pm and I’ll never forget the time. It felt surreal as he said it into the tape recorder.
Tape recorder.
That’s when I think the reality of the situation hit me. I was allowed to leave, but warned there would be more questions. Detective Sergeant Angel had been polite and courteous through it all. Her boss, however, was a different matter altogether. He was forceful, direct, accusing me of all sorts of things, even though they were couched as questions. Maggie was great, stopping me from panicking until we finally left. She called for a cab and we rode it in silence, me staring out of the window at the bright lights flashing by, her with her head down reading her notes and some of the paperwork Detective Angel had slipped her before we left. The cab dropped us back at the flats shortly after ten pm.
“So tell me about Ruth,” she said taking a sip of her coffee.
“When her parents died, she stayed with me. Her father’s family didn’t want her.” I was growing tired of telling the same story over and over again. The police didn’t look like they believed me, or rather Detective Inspector McNeill definitely didn’t look like he believed me.
“I guess they’ve changed their minds,” Maggie said softly, “hence the accusation of kidnapping. So there has been no communications since Ruth was what, a year old?”
“No, I tried at the beginning. I sent letters with photos. I think I even sent an email to their offices a couple of times.”
“What about adoption papers?” I looked at her blankly. “Hmm. Okay. What do you have?”
“Change of name,” I whispered. “Tommy said… he said before he died that if they didn’t want anything to do with Ruth, then fine, they wouldn’t. I changed Ruth’s surname to McTavers because it made things easier for school and such.”
“How did you manage that without a signature… ah right. The fraud charges.” She must have seen my look of dismay and terror, because she reached over and gripped my forearm. “That’s nothing to worry about, a slap on the wrist at most once we prove you have a legal right to Ruth. I’ll start counter proceedings on that score tomorrow.”
“Maggie, the thing is, Louise, we called each other sister but…”
“But?”
“But we weren’t related. We were in foster care together from the age of three and we pretended we were sisters, but it was the sisterhood of care, not of blood.” The tears started to fall once more. “I’ve really fucked up, haven’t I?”
“Okay, shhh, it’ll be alright,” she put an arm around my shoulder, “it doesn’t matter.” I looked at her in disbelief and she chuckled slightly. “I mean it isn’t great, but blood isn’t the be all and end all. You’ve been responsible for Ruth for the last seven years with no financial nor emotional support from the Flood family. That will be a huge consideration for the court. We’re going to make sure that little girl stays with her mum, right?”
Despite her reassuring words, her face told me it wasn’t going to be as easy as she made it sound.
***
I sat on the sofa, crying quietly. I didn’t want to wake Ruth, but Jessie came through as soon as she heard Maggie leave and my subsequent tears. “I’ve just called dad, he’s on his way over.” As if by magic there was a knock at the door. “That was quick,” she said as she went to let him in.
“I’ve done everything I could for Ruth,” I said quietly. Eli sat down and put his arm around my shoulder holding me close, “Gave up my life so she wouldn’t have to go through what me and Louise did, in and out of homes, no-one giving a toss, all our possessions in one small suitcase. I could’ve walked away without a backward glance, but I didn’t. You both know this weekend was the first time I’ve left her for more than a few hours since Louise and Tommy died.” I thought back to the weekend, how happy I was, how safe I’d felt in Devon’s arms. It was like a dream, like it hadn’t really happened. Devon. She’s gonna run a mile from this shit storm.
Christ, life was bloody cruel sometimes.
“The Floods didn’t care, didn’t want anything to do with her.” I jumped up and began pacing, trying to arrange my thoughts from a jumble into a straight line.
“Do you have proof they knew about Ruth?” Eli looked at me. “If you do it would at least remove the kidnapping charges.”
“No, of course not.” I sat down wearily and held my head in my hands. “It’s not like either of them posed for photos.”
“Then we need to find some and fast.”
“Why now? I really don’t understand it.” Eli looked at Jessie, a small glance that said a million words. “What is it Eli, do you know something?”
“That woman, the one who comes to the café.”
The one I slept with. The one I fell in love with. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. “Devon? Yes? What about her?”
Eli looked at Jessie again. “What is it, Bampas?” she asked.
“Ted caught me as I left the café this evening. He recognised her when she dropped you at work this morning. Seems she’s been asking questions about you and Ruth.”
“Oh shit,” Jessie said softly from the floor at my feet. “Her friend Hannah’s been doing the same. She wanted to know all about you and I thought it was ‘cos Devon was interested in dating you. Bloody hell, Rache, I’m sorry, but they seemed harmless enough questions. And you were smiling again. I mean, really, really smiling. Even your eyes were lighting up when she’d walk into the café. I’m sorry, I should have been more…” she stopped.
I held one hand to my stomach the other gripped the arm of the sofa tight. I had allowed that woman into our lives only for her to betray us in the worst way imaginable. I had even slept with her and dreamt about a future with her. I barely managed to stop the bile from rising.
I stiffened when there was another knock at the door. “I don’t think I can take anything else tonig
ht, Jess.” She nodded in understanding and stood to answer it. I heard a quiet conversation and a stifled gasp and then Mrs Jessop came through and immediately hugged me tight.
“We’ll fight this,” she said sternly, countenancing no other option.
“Of course,” it was an instinctual answer, and my fight mode was definitely starting to kick in. “How is the problem. I have no money, nothing. I can’t afford my solicitor as it is.” I’d had enough time now to formulate some of my thoughts and had added to my list of concerns.
“We’ll all help. I have a little saved, now it’s not much,” she waved off my protest, “but it will get you started. You and Ruth are more my family than my own flesh and blood. We aren’t going to lose her.”
“Ditto what Mrs J said. I’ll chip in too,” Jessie said. “I’ve already put my bike on eBay.”
“Jessie, no!” I couldn’t let her do it. “That’s your most treasured possession.”
“You and Ruth are my most treasured possession,” she replied.
“Huhum?” Eli coughed and smiled. He knew Jessie adored him. “Worst case scenario, I’ll remortgage the café,” he said softly and we all turned to look at him. “When you came into our lives, you said we were your miracle, but I don’t think you realise it was the other way about too. Jessie was on the fast track to trouble, I was struggling to keep anyone reliable working for me-”
“I was lonely and isolated,” Mrs Jessop interjected
“You’ve done as much for us as we’ve ever done for you. You will accept our help and not mention it again. It’s what family does.” Eli smiled at me and I managed a smile back.
“I’m kicking myself up the arse for this mess,” I shook my head regretfully. “If I lose Ruth because I couldn’t keep my pants on-” I blushed.
So did Eli and Mrs Jessop.
Jessie roared with laughter.
