“I’ll get fresh bedding,” I tell Danny.
Later, when we’ve made up the bed and laid sheets and blankets out on the annex sofa, we have cold drinks on the patio, and it surprises me how relieved I am to see that Kiara has regained some composure. Eventually, Edwin heads into the kitchen to set about making an evening meal. I am unsettled, jumpy. I half expect the phone to ring at any moment, announcing that Laura has remembered who attacked her.Not Joel. Please, don’t let it be Joel.
As we finish our supper, a car pulls up on the gravel, and Edwin opens the door to Alex. Kiara throws herself into his arms. He looks older than when I saw him a few days ago—his face taut, his eyes taking in each of us in turn as if we are the enemy.
“I’m Edwin, sir,” Edwin says to him. “Do you remember me? I believe I used to call you Uncle Alex.”
Alex’s face crumples slightly, and he holds Kiara at arm’s length to check that she really is all right, and then says to Edwin, “Yes, I remember you very well, Edwin. I was hoping I’d never have to talk to you about what happened back then, but...” He sighs. “I do see Kiara’s point, that she has the right to know where she comes from.” He looks at his daughter, and then back to Edwin. “Kiara told me about Dominic—your dad. I’m very sorry. But has Laura really been attacked? What was she doing here? What happened?”
“We don’t know yet,” I say, watching him, watching the shifting of his facial expressions, searching for any signs of guilt. I am wondering how we can be sure that it wasn’t him up on the cliffs today, lying in wait for Laura. He stares back at me.
“Who are you again?” he says. “I mean, who are youreally?”
I take a step back, bumping into Danny. This is basically the same question that Michael asked me three days ago—“Where did you really come from, my dear?”In one form or another, it’s the same question people have been asking me my whole life. What is it about me that makes me such a puzzle?
Edwin clears his throat. “This is Seraphine, my sister,” he tells Alex, “and Danny, my brother. They’re twins.”
Alex gives a strange bark of a laugh. The three of us stand very still.
“Whose twins?” he asks eventually.
“Ruth and Dominic’s,” Edwin says with authority, and then his eyes dart toward us and his brow creases. “Or at least—”
“What did you mean just now,” Danny says, “that Kiara has the right to know where she comes from?”
Kiara glances at Danny and back to Alex. “Dad?”
Alex is shaking his head now, backing away from us toward the front door, pulling Kiara with him. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry. We need to go.”
Kiara pulls her arm from his grip and moves back to stand with us. “Dad. The police said I have to stay here tonight. Please. Just tell me whatever it is. It’s not going to go away now.” Alex’s shoulders sag.
In the end we all move into the sitting room, and Alex and Kiara take one sofa while Edwin, Danny, and I sit in a line opposite them. Alex refuses any refreshments. He’s grim faced, but Kiara holds his hand, and I have a strong feeling he is replaying an event in his mind as he gazes up at the ceiling behind our heads. Eventually, he looks down and focuses on the pile of books on the coffee table between us instead.
“Your mother and I...” He clears his throat and starts again. “I was in love with Ruth. From when I first met her.Before she married your father, and afterward. I won’t try to justify what we did.” He shakes his head, glances up at us briefly. “We had an affair. I’m sorry.”
I’m sitting in between my brothers, and each of my hands creeps into one of theirs.
“She became pregnant,” Alex says. “With my child.”
A chill slides down my spine. I hold my brothers’ hands tighter.
Alex looks at Kiara. “When she had you—during her pregnancy with you, and after your birth—she was very unstable—mentally unstable. Dangerous. I couldn’t leave you with her—how could I? I came to see you, to meet you, on the day you were born, and Ruth wasn’t even here—she’d left you already. You were perfect, Kiara, so—so beautiful. I took you home with me. To keep you safe. I had no choice.”
I am barely breathing.Kiara was Ruth’s daughter. Kiara was the baby in the photograph. Kiara is the person I thought I was.
So who am I? And who is Danny?
Kiara stares at Alex, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“She was my mother,” she says. “You took me from her? She killed herself because of you?”
“No,” Alex tells her. “I didn’t know she was going to do that. I had to put your safety first, Kiara. Dominic was never here. If he’d been here when I came to see you, even—maybe I wouldn’t have taken you. We could have sorted out a custody arrangement. If I’d been certain you were going to be safe. But I didn’t take you on a whim—it wasn’t like that. I’d planned it all. I hired a private midwife, to help look after you in the early days. I bought all the equipment you needed. Formula milk, clothes, nappies. I even changed my car so it would be safer for you. I wanted you so much.”
“So much that you kidnapped her,” Edwin says. I’ve never heard his voice so cold.
Alex draws in a deep breath. “It wasn’t kidnap. I told you, I found her alone in the house with the au pair. Both Ruth and Dominic had gone out somewhere, left her already. She was hungry. I told Laura to tell Ruth and Dominic to phone me when they got back. We’d discuss it, come to some arrangement. I did want to be the primary parent, yes, of course—but I would never have stopped her mother from seeing her.”
“You told Laura?” Edwin asks.
