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My musings are interrupted as there’s a knock on the door.
Brandy stops talking, her eyebrows rising. “Are you expecting anyone?”
“No,” he says. “Nobody ever knocks here.” Wiping his hands on a tea towel, he walks across to the door and opens it. “Fuck,” he says.
It’s enough to make me look around, because he never swears in front of Joanna. A man is standing there. He’s a little shorter than Hux, and much thinner, and at first I think he’s a lot older because his face is quite lined.
“Wait,” Huxley says, but the guy comes into the living room, then stops as he realizes there are people there. Nymph goes to rush past me, barking, but I grab her collar and hold it firmly.
Next to me, Brandy gives an audible gasp, and says, “Guy!”
Guy? Huxley’s brother? I stare at him, shocked. No, it’s true, now he’s closer I can see he must only be a few years older than Hux.
He looks at Brandy, frowns, and then his face clears as he obviously recognizes her. His jaw drops. “Brandy?” he asks slowly.
Huxley walks up to him and pulls his arm. “Out, now,” he snaps.
But Guy yanks his arm out of his grip. His gaze passes over me, then snags on Joanna, and he stares at her before looking back at his brother. “What’s going on?”
“I told you not to come here,” Huxley states. His eyes blaze—he’s furious. Once again, he tries to manhandle Guy out, and this time they scuffle before Guy breaks free and walks behind the sofa to get away from him.
Brandy’s hand has crept up to her mouth. Her daughter gets up and comes over to her, and Brandy puts a protective arm around her. “Mum?” Joanna asks uncertainly.
A silence falls in the room. I look at the steaming Huxley, then from Guy to Brandy, confused, my heart racing. Clearly there’s an unspoken conversation going on.
Guy turns his gaze to Joanna. “How old is she?” he asks.
Brandy doesn’t say anything. I can see that she’s shaking.
“She’s mine?” he asks.
My heart bangs on my ribs. Oh my God. I’m thoroughly confused, and then, at the same time, it’s like the sun coming out, and everything becomes clear.
Huxley moves around the sofa. “No, Joanna’s my daughter.”
But Guy shifts the other way to avoid him, still staring at her. “Jesus.” He looks at Huxley. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Not now,” Huxley says, his words clipped as he looks at Joanna.
But Brandy, her arm tight around her daughter, says, “Hux, it’s okay.” She kisses Joanna’s head. “She knows.”
Huxley’s eyes widen. “What?”
“I told her last year,” Brandy says. “I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us.”
He stares at Joanna, horrified. She looks up at him with big eyes, her bottom lip trembling.
Brandy looks back at Guy. “I found out I was pregnant just a few weeks after you left. I was absolutely terrified—you know what my parents were like. Huxley found me sitting outside your house, crying. I told him I was pregnant, and that I didn’t know what to do. I thought my parents were going to kill me. Huxley said you weren’t coming back—that you’d gone to the South Island. He said he’d find you and tell you if I wanted him to. Then he gave me an alternative—he said he’d say he was the father of the baby. We talked about it for ages. And in the end, we decided it was the best option, for me and for the baby.”
She looks at me then, her face creased with sorrow. “Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think about anyone else except myself. I didn’t know how that decision would affect you.”
I look at Joanna, who’s white-faced and silent, then at Huxley. He’s standing with his hands on his hips, looking at the floor, but now he lifts his gaze and meets mine. I can see the truth in his eyes. He took on his brother’s child because Guy had run off and abandoned her.
Holy fuck.
Guy also looks completely stunned.
“Oliver’s name is on Joanna’s birth certificate,” Brandy says. “For all intents and purposes, he is her father. Do you understand?”
