Jack set his briefcase on the coffee table, snapped it open and withdrew several documents. ‘I followed up on the leads you gave me but they didn’t prove fruitful. The woman you were concerned about—Rhoda Scott—she’s not borne a child in the last six months. And if she had it certainly couldn’t be your father’s as he’s now infertile. He caught a bad case of something nasty five years ago. He’s been infertile ever since.’
Sebastian blinked. ‘I see.’
‘Naturally I continued to follow other lines of enquiry.’
Acid burned the back of his throat. How many other women had emerged from the shadows claiming that Lord Tyrell had fathered their children? Why hadn’t they persisted—forced the point with paternity tests and lawsuits? They deserved support—financial and emotional support. ‘You’ve discovered that I have...siblings?’
‘Your parents have paid two women significant sums to...’
‘Keep quiet?’
‘Legal contracts were signed. In return for the money the women had to agree to never divulge the name of their child’s biological father. Both women had daughters.’
He pushed a folder across to Sebastian. Seb didn’t ask him how he’d acquired the information.
‘All of the details are there.’
So if he wanted to follow up, make contact with these two half-sisters, then he could.
But would they want to know him?
‘Unfortunately, neither woman has a child of Jemima’s age.’
So he’d gained two half-sisters in the space of three minutes, but was no closer to discovering the identity of Jemima’s mother. He dragged a hand down his face. When he pulled it free he found Jack staring at him, holding out a large A4 envelope.
‘I also found this.’
For the life of him, he couldn’t reach out and take it. ‘What is it?’ he croaked.
‘A birth certificate.’
His heart leapt. ‘Jemima’s?’
‘Not Jemima’s.’
Jack continued to hold it out to him. Swallowing, he took it. His hands were surprisingly steady as he pulled the single sheet of paper from its envelope.
He stared at it. It took him a moment to make sense of the print on the page. His head snapped up. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes.’
He slumped back, the air leaving his body in a rush.
‘It’s all detailed in my report.’ Jack set a large packet on the table. Glancing at Sebastian again, he pursed his lips. ‘You had no idea?’
He shook his head.
Liv moved across to the sofa, the warmth of her hand on his arm, pulled him back, her golden eyes full of concern. ‘Can I get you anything? I know it’s early, but maybe a brandy or...?’
He shook his head and wordlessly handed her the birth certificate. She read it and her brow knitted. ‘This doesn’t make sense. It—’
She broke off, her eyes widening. ‘Marjorie Heathcote? Marjorie is your mother’s name.’
‘Heathcote was her maiden name. She’s used her maiden name on that documentation, even though she was married at the time.’
She stared at Sebastian and then at Jack. ‘Lady Tyrell gave birth to a daughter just over seventeen years ago? How...how old would she have been?’
‘Forty-two,’ Jack answered.
She turned back to Seb. ‘How old were you?’
‘Eighteen.’ He’d already calculated it. ‘In my last year of boarding school before starting university. I didn’t come up to Tyrell Hall at all that year. I spent the summer with a school friend and his family on their estate in Cornwall. My parents spent the summer in Switzerland. I spent Christmas in London.’ On his own.
She pointed at another name on the certificate. ‘And the father...this Graham Carter?’
‘A tennis coach,’ Jack said. ‘At the time Lady Tyrell became pregnant he was working at the local tennis club.’
‘Wow.’ She slumped back against the sofa as if all the air had been punched out of her. ‘Seb, your parents are seriously messed up.’
She could say that again.
She straightened and glanced at Jack. ‘Have you met them?’
He gave an emphatic shake of his head. ‘And I don’t see that there’ll be any necessity for that either.’
‘Amen,’ she muttered.
For some reason that almost made him smile.
‘Lady Tyrell had her daughter adopted?’
He wanted to hug her for asking all the questions he seemed currently incapable of forming.
‘She did.’
‘Right.’ She let out a long breath and glanced back at the birth certificate. ‘So this Catherine Elinor Heathcote is Jemima’s mother?’
‘It appears so. She gave birth to a little girl five months ago in St George’s Hospital, and called her Annabelle Jemima Gordon. Gordon is the name of her adoptive parents. It appears they’ve become estranged. I’ve been able to trace Catherine to a squat in London. She’s living rough.’
‘Sad,’ Eliza murmured.
They all remained silent for several long moments.
‘A sister,’ Eliza finally said. She sent Sebastian a sudden smile. ‘You have a sister called Catherine and a little niece called Annabelle Jemima. I know it’s a shock, but...sisters are great.’
He had a sister... In fact, he had three.
‘Well, come on, then.’ She dusted off her hands. ‘We have a rescue mission to perform.’
CHAPTER NINE
HE STARED INTO her eyes and Liv found it suddenly difficult to breathe. He was staring at her again, rather than through her or beyond her, and she wanted him to keep looking at her like that for the rest of her life.
But then the light in his eyes snapped off and he looked away, and a hard stone settled in her stomach.
‘You’ll stay here and take care of Jemima.’ He rose. ‘Jack and I will go to the squat and bring Catherine back.’
She folded her arms. ‘You do realise you’ll scare her half out of her wits? She’ll probably bolt. What will you do then? Chase her...kidnap her?’
He swung back with a frown.
She stood then too and did her best to glare down her nose at him, even though he was half a head taller. ‘She’s a young girl living by her wits—so desperate she left her baby with total strangers. How do you think she’s going to react when confronted by two intimidatingly large men storming into her squat, one of whom is insufferably bossy?’
Seb muttered a curse under his breath.
‘Even if you manage to prevent her from bolting, you’re going to terrify her. And I can assure you that’s not the ideal way to build a sibling relationship.’
He glared at her. ‘And you think you can help?’
She lifted her chin. ‘Of course I can.’
* * *
Liv stared at the Fulham address scrawled on the piece of paper in her hand and then at the house in front of them. ‘This is it.’
Air whistled out from between Seb’s teeth. ‘It doesn’t look too bad...for a squat.’ He switched the engine off and turned to her. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘We go in there and we talk to her. We’re non-confrontational. I expect she’ll recognise you, but I think you should let me do most of the talking.’
‘But—’
‘This is an emotional situation for you, Seb, and I understand you want to pick her up and take her away from here as soon as humanly possible.’ His eyes darkened at her words. ‘But we’re not going to railroad her. She needs to feel she has some autonomy...some agency.’
His face twisted and his hands clenched into fists. ‘She needs to be away from here and with her daughter!’
‘We’re not going to bully her. Instinct tells me she’s been bullied enough. Do you really want to align yourself in her mind with all the other people
she’s had to fight against? Do you want her to see you as another enemy?’
‘Of course not! I...’
He dragged his hand down his face and her heart went out to him. ‘Let’s give the softly-softly approach a try first, all right?’
‘But if that doesn’t work...?’
‘Have some faith,’ she chided. ‘Stop playing the worst-case scenario game.’ She studied the photo Jack had provided of a slim girl with dark hair—she looked so young! ‘Ready?’
They pushed out of the car, Seb seizing a torch. They were still enjoying bright spring weather and it was only mid-afternoon, but the windows of the house were boarded up and no doubt the electricity had been cut off.
‘Have you been in a squat before?’ she asked as they picked their way to the front door.
‘No.’
‘I have.’ She didn’t knock on the door, but pushed straight in to reveal a cluttered corridor with rooms off either side. A young man—skinny with greasy blond hair that hung past his shoulders—materialised. Liv refused to appear intimidated, even if she had started shaking inside. ‘We’re looking for Cathy,’ she said without preamble.
‘Don’t know no Cathy.’
She shrugged. ‘Katie, then.’
Something flickered in his eyes and she thrust the photo under his nose. ‘Small, dark hair...blue eyes.’
He glanced at Seb and back at Liv. He eased back a step as if getting ready to run. ‘Who’re you? I don’t want no trouble.’
‘Neither do we. I’m Katie’s cousin and he’s,’ she gestured back behind her, ‘my boyfriend.’ She held up a twenty-pound note. ‘I have a message for her.’
He stared at the money and licked his lips. She couldn’t help wondering when he’d last eaten.
‘She’s out the back.’ And then he snatched the money and hustled out the front door. Seb went to grab him, but she shook her head and he let him pass.
‘Was that wise?’
‘No idea.’
She headed straight for the back of the house. The kitchen was empty but coughing sounded from a room leading off it. Liv followed the sound to a small figure wrapped in a blanket, lying on a dirty mattress on the floor. Seb sent the light from the torch about the room and swore softly.
Liv knelt beside the figure, touched a shoulder through the filthy blanket. ‘Katie?’
Eyes sprang open immediately. She stared at Liv and shot upright. ‘Is Jemima OK? I left her with you. I saw you go back to the office. I saw you leave with her. You’re supposed to be looking after her!’
A fit of coughing overtook her. When it was over Liv said, ‘Jemima is in the best of health. She’s a lovely little girl but she misses you.’
The young girl saw Seb and shrank back. ‘How did you find me? That woman gave me her word. She said you wouldn’t find me here.’
Seb shook his head. ‘What woman?’
‘She said her name was Rhoda.’
There was that name—Rhoda—again. Liv watched Seb swallow, watched him fight the protective impulse to pick Katie up and take her away from here...watched him fight with some other internal demon.
Eventually he just shook his head. ‘We had to find you for Jemima’s sake, Katie.’
Katie’s face crumpled. ‘I can’t look after her. I lost my job and...and my adoptive parents wanted me to have her adopted and wouldn’t speak to me when I refused, so... Jemima deserves better! I wanted her to be with...family.’
Liv sat back on her heels. ‘You deserve better too, Katie. And I think with a little bit of help from your brother, you and Jemima are going to be just fine.’
Katie stared at Seb. Her hands tightened about the blanket. ‘You know the truth, then?’
‘I only just found out. I had no idea. I wish I’d known sooner.’
Liv heard the suppressed emotion in his voice and wondered if Katie could hear it too.
He knelt down beside Liv and held out his hand. ‘I’m Sebastian and I’m very pleased to meet you.’
She hesitated before putting her hand in his. ‘I’m... Katie.’
‘Look, Katie, I want to take you away from here right now and—’
Liv placed a hand on his thigh. He’d gone into full fix-it alpha mode and Katie’s eyes had widened in alarm. ‘Seb, it’s about what Katie wants rather than what you want.’
‘But...’
She watched him struggle with her words, but he finally gave a nod.
‘This is what we were thinking, Katie. We thought you might like to come back with us to Seb’s London house—it’s where we’re staying tonight. You can have a bath and we can all eat a nice hot meal...and it might be an idea to have a doctor round to give you a quick once-over, as I don’t like the sound of that cough. And then, tomorrow, if you want, we can travel up to Lincolnshire to see Jemima.’
‘But...’
‘If you want to come back here tomorrow, you can. We’ll bring you back any time. It’s entirely up to you.’
Beside her, Seb made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. She patted his knee to keep him quiet. They couldn’t force the girl against her will. No matter how much they might want to. If they did that, the minute their backs were turned she’d bolt again. They needed to make her feel safe, and confident that she had some measure of control.
‘Katie, this isn’t about charity. It’s about family.’ She leaned in closer. ‘And he might not like me saying this, but your brother needs family every bit as much as you and Jemima do.’
Something in Katie’s eyes shifted and stilled. ‘You have a family?’ she whispered to Liv.
Liv nodded. ‘I wish everyone could have a family half as wonderful. My sister is my best friend.’ She smiled at Katie before hitching her head at Seb. ‘I think you’d make him a fine best friend.’
The younger girl’s eyes filled. ‘Why are you being so nice to me?’
Her throat thickened. ‘We all need a hand sometimes. I had one earlier in the week that changed my life. Also, I adore Jemima and I want what’s best for her—having her mother there is what’ll be best.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know so. And...’
‘And?’ she whispered.
‘And I care about Seb. I know how much he wants to build a relationship with you and Jemima. It’s...it’s what friends do—they help each other. So what do you think of our plan, Katie? Would you like to come with us?’
‘Yes, please.’
It was the cue Seb had been waiting for. ‘I don’t mean to frighten you, Katie, but I want to get you out of here and safe and warm as soon as I can.’ With that he lifted her straight into his arms.
‘Do you want to take anything with you?’ Liv said before he could stride with her from the room. If Katie had managed to hold on to any of her belongings it was because they meant something to her. And Liv didn’t want to have to come back here ever again.
‘My bag!’ She pointed to the bag she’d been sleeping with on the mattress. ‘And...and would it be OK to leave the torch for the others? It gets so dark in here at night.’
Seb shifted so that Liv could take the torch from his hand. She set it on the kitchen table on their way out. When they reached the car she dug into his jeans pocket for the car keys, trying not to focus on the strength of his thighs beneath her fingers. ‘Why don’t you sit in the back with Katie? I’ll drive.’
* * *
‘I need to thank you.’
Liv glanced up from what had become her favourite chair in the drawing room—close to the fire, opposite Seb’s. It was a wingchair, plush and welcoming, and it fitted her perfectly. She loved what Seb had done with this room, but the peace she’d been seeking was shattered by his presence. His very life force seemed to pulse around her, a blanketing energy that engulfed her whenever he was near.
She unfolded h
er feet from beneath her and clutched a cushion to her stomach. Her posture probably looked ridiculously defensive, but it meant that her hands were accounted for—busy with other things, like picking at a loose thread. It stopped them from doing something stupid and betraying her. ‘You’ve already thanked me.’
They’d brought Katie to Tyrell Hall two days ago. Jemima had been beside herself with excitement, while Mrs Brown had taken Katie firmly under her wing. And then Katie had told them her story. Mrs Brown had cluck-clucked. Seb had grown grim. And Liv had refused to ask questions. None of her business.
According to Katie, a woman once closely associated with the Tyrell family—a woman named Rhoda—had approached her two months previously. She’d handed her a photocopy of a birth certificate—Katie’s birth certificate, which had revealed the names of Katie’s biological parents. Rhoda had urged her to make the story public and demand financial compensation. She’d told her the family had treated her shabbily and that Katie deserved better. ‘She had my birth certificate and my adoption papers. She even had my biological father’s death certificate. She seemed to know all about me.’
At the time, Katie had been living in a rented flat with two other girls, but when the flat had been sold they’d been given two weeks’ notice to vacate the premises. It appeared nobody wanted to share a house with a baby, and she hadn’t been able to find a bedsit she could afford.
Her adoptive parents had given her an ultimatum when she’d become pregnant—give the child up or they’d disown her. They’d had plans for her to follow in their own academically successful footsteps. Rather than a daughter, they’d wanted a carbon copy of themselves. Unable to turn to them for support, on impulse Katie had rung Marjorie.
‘Dumbest thing I ever did,’ she’d confided. ‘She was horrible. She said Rhoda had stolen her private and personal documents and that if I tried to profit from them I’d find myself in serious trouble with the law...and so would Rhoda. I didn’t want to profit. I just... I just wanted a family to give Jemima. But she didn’t ask me how I was...she didn’t want to know me.’
At this point in the story, Katie had buried her face in her hands. A few moments later she’d lifted her head and continued. ‘Something about Rhoda frightened me. I knew she was trying to make trouble, but after talking to Marjorie I didn’t really blame her. I figured Marjorie had done something awful to her too. Rhoda kept saying they needed to learn a lesson, and that they shouldn’t be allowed to treat people so badly. She told me about you, Sebastian. She told me that I deserved to have a portion of what you had.’
A Baby in His In-Tray Page 14
