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Alice turned to Emily. ‘She had a baby of her own – you, Emily, and two other children, and a guest house she was still in the throes of doing up. She couldn’t cope with another baby too, so…’
Freya stared at her mother, wide-eyed. ‘Oh. My. God. So you took me?’
‘Wendy had got to know us, me. We could offer you a wonderful home, a good upbringing, loving parents.’
‘Loving parents? What about my own parents? Did you even bother to try and contact them?’
Alice gave Jeffrey a sideways glance. He looked at his hands.
Freya got out of her seat. ‘Oh. My. God. You stole a baby!’ She looked at Gerald and Wendy. ‘And you were all in it together?’
Alice swallowed. ‘It wasn’t like that. I just explained. Your mother abandoned you, left you with a relative.’
‘But who was she?’ Freya looked at Wendy. When she got no response, she turned to Alice. ‘What if she was a teenage mother, and was frightened and alone? Didn’t you want to find out who she was, why she had abandoned me and left me with her?’ Freya pointed at Wendy.
Alice sighed. ‘When I took you home, I was holding a baby in my arms that I didn’t want to let go, but I realised there was someone out there who wasn’t holding their child. I …. I knew I must return to the guest house and try and find her, the mother, and … and hand you back if that’s what she wanted. But …’
‘But …?’
Alice looked at Jeffrey. ‘He convinced me not to.’
Freya turned to him. ‘Why would you do that?’
Emily stared wide-eyed at Freya. She tried to get her head round all this. She couldn’t. Something didn’t add up. She looked at her mum. ‘Sorry, but I just need to clear one thing up. So, you didn’t have an affair with Alice’s husband?’
Wendy scoffed, ‘Of course not. And before you ask,youareourdaughter, Gerald’s and mine.’
‘But Freya is related to me and to you guys then. You said she was … is … a relative’s child.’
There was a long silence. ‘Mum? If she’s not my half-sister, then what relation is she to me – to us?’
When she didn’t answer the question, Emily got out her phone. She’d just realised there was something she’d forgotten to do that could answer all this. In her haste to get in contact with this new relative she’d discovered, who’d turned out to be Freya, she’d failed to check the details of the DNA match. Hopefully, it would tell her just what relation Freya was to her. ‘I’m logging back on to AncestryDNA.’
‘Why?’ Jeffrey shot back.
‘Because I can find out for myself, for ourselves.’ She pointedly looked at Freya.
Wendy leaned forward in her seat. ‘How accurate is this DNA stuff anyway?’
Jeffrey said, ‘You know, there’s always room for error, surely. What if DNA tests get mixed up? That wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility. You hear about it all the time.’
‘Do you?’ Alice said flatly. She stared at her husband, catching him surreptitiously looking Wendy’s way. She shifted her gaze to Gerald, who looked decidedly nervous. He stared around the room and looked anywhere but at her. ‘You didn’t answer Emily’s question.’ Alice narrowed her eyes. ‘What is it you’re not telling us?’
Jeffrey smiled nervously, glancing at Wendy and Gerald. ‘I’m sorry – who are you asking?’
‘All three of you.’
Freya, Emily, Tarek, Omar and Theo were looking at them and had caught those nervous glances too. Everyone in the room knew they were hiding something.
Wendy said, ‘Jeffrey, I thinkyoushould tell her. Come on, Gerald, we must go. We’ve got guests to see to.’
Gerald looked at her in surprise. ‘But Wendy, it wasn’t just Jeffrey’s decision.’
Emily exchanged a glance with Freya. ‘Nobody leaves the room. I think we all need to hear this.’
Theo stood up. ‘I’ll leave, as this is a family thing.’
‘Sit down, Theo,’ said Jeffrey. ‘You’re as good as family.’
