‘We’ll have to go into the kitchen,’ Poppy said. She really did not want to be sitting down in there with the two of them – it felt like the experience wouldcontaminatethe room and she practically lived in there when she was at home – but they’d wake Daniel up otherwise.
Georgie was talking almost before the kitchen door was closed behind them.
‘Pops, I know that what I wrote sounds truly awful, but it isn’t like it sounds. It happened just once, way before Declan met you and neither of us had a clue until you introduced usjust before Christmas. And even then neither of us was sure until now. We both wanted to find out for certain and then tell you immediately. I love you, Poppy. Please, please don’t be mad. Or at least not at Declan. He didn’t know a thing, and even when he thought I was the woman from then, he didn’t know that he was Max’s father.’
‘“We, we, we” all sounds very couply. Have you been discussing me behind my back?’ Poppy was aware that her words sounded horrible and bitter and, oh, as it turned out, she didn’t care, so what the fuck ever.
‘No, we haven’t,’ Georgie said.
‘I just filled Georgie in,’ Declan said.
‘Right.’ Poppy just felt so unbearably sad, right to her bones.
They were all still standing. She sat down at the table because it was suddenly like her legs wouldn’t hold her up any more.
‘Poppy, drink this.’ Declan had got her a glass of water. ‘Let me make you a cup of sugary tea as well.’
Poppy drank some of the water, which did help clear the faintness she’d just experienced, and said, ‘Thank you, but no tea.’ Weird, to use the phrasethank youin any context with Declan right now.
‘Poppy,’ Georgie began again. ‘I would never ever want to hurt you because I love you. But I know that I have. I should have mentioned my suspicions as soon as I had them, but I thought it would be better to wait and find out for certain. And obviously I intended to tell you myself, not for you to find out by reading the secret. And I’m so, so sorry that it’s all happened like this. But honestly, Declan knew nothing about Max until literally just now.’
Poppy shook her head. She had so much to work through in her mind. She had no idea what she thought.
Daniel had a half-brother.
Georgie was Daniel’s half-brother’s mother.
Max. He was actually a lot more similar to Declan than he was to Georgie. Thinking about it now, she felt like she should havenoticed.
Georgie. She’d had these suspicions for several weeks now but hadn’t told her. But she’d known Georgie since they were both five and she knew that Georgie was a kind person and that she genuinely wouldn’t have wanted to hurt Poppy. Shehadhurt her, though. Maybe with good intentions, but…
And then Declan. So much to unpick.
Suddenly, she needed all the facts.
‘Why did you write it as your secret, Georgie? Why would you do that? Why didn’t you just say?’
‘I know, that was really stupid. I’m an idiot. I didn’t say because I wasn’t sure and I couldn’t get my head round it, and I thought I should find out for definite, as soon as possible, before telling you and Declan, and it was on my mind and then on New Year’s Eve I was really drunk and because I was aware the whole time that I potentially had this huge fact that I needed to share with you it felt like I had this gigantic secret and because I was so stupidly drunk I wrote it down.’
‘I see.’ Poppy still didn’t know what she thought about that, but she could see how it had happened. Now she needed to speak to Declan. ‘Georgie, would you mind leaving so that I can discuss this in private with Declan?’
‘Of course. Again, I’m so, so sorry. I love you, Pops.’
Poppy didn’t have the words to reply because she just couldn’t work out how she felt about Georgie at the moment, so she said, ‘Thank you. Goodbye,’ and stared straight ahead until she heard the front door close behind her.
Then she looked up at Declan.
‘Could you just give me all the facts straight, please.’
‘Yes.’ He cleared his throat.
‘And maybe sit down?’
‘Yes, of course, sorry.’ He sat down exactly opposite her and cleared his throat again. ‘What happened was that one New Year’s Eve after I graduated I was back in Glasgow seeing some friends, and basically I had a one-night stand with a girl whose name I didn’t even find out. And that was that, I never saw her again. Until you introduced me to Georgie and something rang a bell with me. I couldn’t work out what it was at first and then I began to wonder, and then when I worked the dates out I wondered about Max and I had to know. That was when I started trying to find out and was distracted. But, Poppy, the whole thing is a coincidence. Because we were all in Glasgow that one weekend.’
‘I see that it was a coincidence,’ Poppy said slowly, ‘but…’ There were various things catching at the edges of her thought processes.
‘Poppy, I love you,’ Declan said into the silence she left.
