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‘Well, I do. He might as well join the party.’
Hugh frowned. ‘What party?’
Oliver folded his arms. ‘We’re all here to find out the results of a DNA test.’
Abigail looked at Hugh as he stepped forward. ‘What are you talking about?’
Oliver sat down behind his desk and switched on his laptop. He glanced at his sister. ‘Tell him.’
Abigail pursed her lips. ‘You know what?’ She backed towards the door. ‘This is a family thing, so I think I’ll …’
Carys shook her head. ‘Abigail, where are you going? Don’t you want to know if Toby is related to our family? After all, that would explain why Daphne gave him the cottage.’
Hugh turned to Abigail. ‘Your late husband was given the cottage? Was he a distant relation of ours?’
Abigail opened her mouth.
‘That’s what she’s here to find out, Daddy.’ Carys told him about the home movie, and Toby’s likeness to their family.
‘So, you took a DNA test?’ Hugh said to her, frowning. ‘Forgive me for stating the obvious,’ he said to Abigail, ‘but if your husband is dead, then—’
‘He is in the database,’ said Oliver.
‘It’s true.’ Abigail spoke up. ‘Before he died, he was given Daphne’s cottage out of the blue. I think that’s what prompted him to join AncestryDNA and take the test.’ She quickly added, ‘I’m not after anything. It’s just that it turns out he was adopted and I wanted to find his parents – that’s all.’
‘And you think this will help?’
Abigail sighed. ‘To be honest, I don’t know. I think it’s a shot in the dark.’
‘I guess if he’s some distant relation,’ mused Hugh, ‘then it would be a matter of looking into the family tree.’
Abigail knew just the person; she was thinking of Ray.
Hugh turned to his daughter. ‘Did you take the test?’
‘Yes.’
Hugh breathed an audible sigh of relief. ‘Good, let’s check it then. See what it says.’
Carys and Oliver exchanged a glance as he rounded the table to look at the screen. Carys and Abigail joined him by the window, so they could see the computer.
Abigail looked from one to the other, wondering when they were going to tell Hugh that Oliver had taken the test, too.
Oliver swivelled in his chair to face his father. ‘I took the test too.’
Until that point, Hugh had been surprisingly nonchalant about the whole thing. Abigail noticed an instant change in his demeanour. She’d never heard him raise his voice until that moment. ‘You did WHAT?!’
‘I took a DNA test.’
‘What did I tell you! Don’t you remember?’
Oliver looked at his father calmly. ‘So, you believe the rumours. Mum had an affair with someone – didn’t she?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ But his grim expression spoke volumes.
‘So, what is wrong with me taking a test and comparing it to my sister, unless it turns out she’s my half-sibling?’
Hugh sighed heavily. ‘I don’t care about the damn test.’ He rested a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. ‘Whatever the result – you are still my son.’
