The color drained from Ruth’s face. The baby had just latched on to feed, but jerked her head back and began to cry, as if she’d detected the sudden change in Ruth’s mood.
“No,” Ruth said. “Don’t. Not Alex.”
Dominic blinked at her. “Oh. Okay.” He glanced at me. “He asked me to remind you to get in touch with him, Laura. Keep your promise, he said.” He smiled, and I realized he was enjoying the hint of romance this suggested. When it became clear I wasn’t going to respond, he shrugged. “I’ll go and ring Vera, anyway.”
I was poised to follow him in, but Ruth’s glare froze my limbs. I wanted to protest my innocence, to claim that I had no idea what promise Alex was talking about, but it took all my effort just to stay upright. She scrambled to her feet with the crying baby pressed against her shoulder and advanced on me, her body quivering.
“You traitor!” she hissed. She jabbed my collarbone with her free hand as the baby wailed. “You deceitful little snake. I trusted you. And you’ve been on his side all along, haven’t you? Haven’t you?”
I shook my head, and as I stepped back my foot caught on the leg of a chair and I stumbled.
“I can’t believe I trusted you,” she said. “You betrayed me.”
She shoved me hard in my chest, and I fell backward onto the stone slabs. A sharp pain gripped my abdomen, and I curled over on the ground, trying to catch my breath.
“Go,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “Pack your things and go. Leave us alone. I never want to see you again.”
27
Seraphine
ICAN’T TEARmy eyes from Laura’s face as she finishes telling us about the birth of Ruth’s baby, Seraphine.
I’m Seraphine. Aren’t I?
But Alex took Seraphine away.
Laura starts to cough and flaps a hand. Her face below the bandage is blotchy; her voice has weakened. Edwin earlier carried a dining chair into the sitting room so he could perch next to her armchair, and he leaps up now to fetch her a glass of water.
Edwin has insisted we don’t speculate further on Vera’s arrest until we have more information from Martin, but I’m struggling to process Laura’s story while images of Dad’s accident and my mother’s suicide jostle in my mind.
I look across at Alex on the opposite sofa. If I’m Seraphine, then this man is my father. But he’s oblivious to my gaze, his eyes fixed on Kiara next to him.
Kiara opens her mouth as Edwin returns with the water forLaura. I’m expecting her to say,So who am I?but instead she says, “So, I’m Seraphine?”
I make a choking sound, and everyone looks at me.
“Yes,” Alex says, turning back to Kiara.
Laura puts her glass down, shaking her head. “No,” she says.
Kiara stares at her. Next to me, Danny’s expression darkens. I am aware of Joel flexing his fingers on my other side. Alex’s eyes slide toward me for a fraction of a second before flicking back to Kiara.
“Are you okay?” Edwin asks Laura.
She nods.
“You’d better carry on, then,” Edwin says.
Laura clears her throat.
28
Laura
July 1992
ISTAGGERED BACKto the annex, groaning at the pain in my abdomen, making for the bathroom to splash water on my face. As the muscle spasm eased, a sudden gush of fluid onto the floor sent a shock wave of cold terror over me. My suitcase was packed, my employer had just sacked me, but I wasn’t able to run away from this. At some deep level I’d understood for months that this day was coming, that it was inevitable. There’s only so long you can remain in denial about a new life growing inside you.
