Page 28 of A Scottish Highland Hideaway

But were they genuine? I only had their word for it.

If they were, my heart went out to both of them, standing there in front of a total stranger and speaking about something so life-altering.

I paused. My sympathy was ramping up. It couldn’t have been easy coming here and my curiosity was alight. The dark-haired one said her mother had told them Ezra was here in Heather Moore.

They both looked cold and a little lost. Should I at least hear them out? Give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being? “Come on. Come and have a seat here.”

They both broke into grateful smiles. The strawberry-blonde woman tightened her scarf. “Thanks.”

They trailed along behind me, as I arranged three chairs behind the counter.

They took up seats beside each other and I offered them tea or coffee, but they both declined. I got the impression they were just anxious to get the information they came here for.

I sat down too. I decided to introduce myself again, to break the silence. The dark-haired woman said her name was Caroline Rushmore and indicated to her half-sister. “And I’m Laura Maddox.”

“I’m so sorry we didn’t say who we were before now,” said Caroline in a rush. “It’s all come as such a shock.” She gestured to herself with an elegant hand, adorned with two silver rings. “My mother is Toni Rushmore, the 60s model and actress.”

“And my mum is the author, Jules Maddox.” Laura sat forward a little, planting her hands on her knees.

I watched as Caroline fished about in her bag on her lap and handed me two cream envelopes. Inside, were their birth certificates. They insisted I take a look at them. “Our father isn’t named on them but our mothers are.”

I looked from one to the other. I was no expert but their birth certificates looked genuine. “Yes, I’ve heard of both of your mothers. Of course, I have.”

I folded the certificates back up, slid them into their respective envelopes and handed them back to Caroline. She delivered a hesitant smile. “I’m sorry if we’re putting you in an awkward position, but we just needed somewhere to start.”

I thought of the recognisable images of Toni Rushmore in her heyday, her raven-black bob and panda eyes make-up and the impressive, engrossing moral dilemma novels of the flaxen-haired writer Jules Maddox.

I studied them both. They could still be trying to con me, in the hope of extracting information about Ezra. “So how did you two find one another?”

Laura gave an eyeroll. “That was thanks to social media. I don’t know if you know much about Ezra King’s recent autobiography, but he revealed in it, that he had affairs with both our mothers almost thirty years ago.”

My eyes popped. “Really?”

Laura nodded. “And that was when my mother told me who my real father was. I couldn’t take it in at first.” She gave a small glance at Caroline. “After the initial shock of finding out, I read up about Ezra and stumbled across an Ezra King Appreciation Page on Instagram.”

Caroline chipped in, explaining that she’d made the same discovery after her mum found out she’d been named in Ezra’s autobiography too. “For years, I’d heard rumours that a former MP was being pin-pointed as my real father. Everyone knew Lionel Cavendish was gay and once I got older and heard the same stories, I kept asking her to tell me the truth but she wouldn’t talk about it. I think I knew all along that Lionel wasn’t my dad.”

Her fingers tumbled over each other in her lap. “Lionel was a good friend of my mum’s. He still is. He’s been like an uncle to me, but he isn’t my biological father.”

She scooped a lock of hair back behind her ear. “Laura and I became friends on Insta. We started chatting and then when Laura told me why she was also searching for information on Ezra King, I couldn’t believe it. But it’s such a relief to find someone else in my position…”

Laura nodded in agreement. “I felt so conflicted when I first found out about him, but when Caroline told me she was his daughter too, we both agreed we had to do this.”

Laura shot an encouraging smile of support to her sister beside her. “We’ve both said that we’ll undertake DNA tests to prove for certain that we are his daughters. We’ve nothing to hide.”

I listened to them. They sounded genuine but I couldn’t be sure.

I pushed around thoughts in my head I couldn’t tell them anything. For one thing, I couldn’t betray Ezra and if I did, what would happen if Zach found out? Also, it might not be true – either because Ezra was not their biological father or because they were part of a ploy to get me to reveal where Ezra was.

“So, you’re convinced here’s here in Heather Moore?” I said playing for time. “Because your mum said––“

“Yes,’ Caroline cut in. ‘And one of her friends also said that a while ago he’d been making enquiries about houses in this area. She’s an estate agent to some high-profile people. We put two and two together and…”

Now it was Laura’s turn to speak again. “What with those two women on the Insta page saying they saw Ezra King here in Heather Moore and then hearing that he’d been looking at property here…” Her voice tailed off. Then she carried on. “Look, I wouldn’t blame you for one second if you doubted what we’re telling you, but I swear we’re both genuine.”

These two young women in front of me, bunched up together, reminded me a little of myself. All they wanted was to make contact with the man who could be their real father and find a part of themselves they had every right to discover. I’d been swallowed up by Declan’s obsession with money and deceit and I felt like I too had lost myself along the way, but now perhaps, the air was beginning to clear.

“We’d be more than happy to supply you with our mothers’ details, should you wish to speak to Toni or Jules for yourself, to be certain we’re not making this up,” insisted Caroline.