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Freya closed her eyes. ‘Actually, I’m breaking off the engagement.’ Freya slowly slid the ring off her finger. She crossed the room, and handed it to Theo. ‘I amsosorry to do this to you.’
Theo took the ring. He didn’t appear surprised by this revelation. ‘I thought there was something going on. I didn’t mean to tell your dad about where you were going, but then when he set off, I wanted to come too. I had a feeling what you wanted to talk to me about had something to do with this trip.’ He glanced at Tarek knowingly.
Freya bowed her head. ‘Sorry.’
‘You know what, Freya? There’s nothing to be sorry about. I knew this was coming. I mean, we got on really well, there’s no denying that, but sometimes I looked at our married friends and … well ...’ Theo stared at the ring. ‘I don’t know how to explain it, but I didn’t feel we were …’ He appeared to be searching for the right word.
‘Soulmates?’
Theo’s eyes drifted to Tarek again. ‘Yes, soulmates.’ Theo slipped the ring into his trouser pocket. ‘I think I’ll leave now.’
‘No, Theo.’ Jeffrey reached for his arm. ‘And you won’t be packing your things and leaving either on our return.’
‘But we’re not getting married anymore.’
Jeffrey shrugged. ‘So?’
Freya smiled at Theo. ‘You don’t get it – do you? You’re like a son to him.’
‘But I’m not going to be his son-in-law.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
Jeffrey said, ‘No, it doesn’t. I want you to stay as long as you like. I’ve got to see how that novel you’re writing pans out.’
Freya frowned. ‘You might as well stay, Theo. Look at me, I’m not related to them either, so they might as well adopt you too while they’re at it. Oh sorry, not officially, I should add.’
‘Now Freya, that’s not fair,’ admonished Jeffrey.
‘Isn’t it?’
‘No, because Emily is correct.’ He took a breath and looked from Gerald to Wendy. ‘You are related to them, but also to … to me. You’re my biological daughter.’
Emily stared at him. How was that possible? She was the same age as Freya. Her mum and Freya’s dad couldn’t have—
‘I slept with Wendy’s sister.’
Chapter 50
‘You didwhat?’ Alice was on her feet. ‘And who in heaven’s name is Wendy’s sister?’
Before Jeffrey could get a word in, she whirled around to Wendy. ‘You knew! That’s why, for the first ten years of her life, you met up with Jeffrey in London so that you could see your niece – so you could see Freya!’
Emily stared at her cousin.
Jeffrey bit his fingernail.
Alice said, ‘This all makes sense now, why you persuaded me not to look for the mother – because youknewher. Because you, you …’ Alice couldn’t say it. She then had a thought. She turned to Wendy. ‘So, that’s why you were vague when it came to which relative had left the baby with you. You knew Jeffrey was the father too!’
Jeffrey took a deep breath. ‘Look, we couldn’t tell you. You would have left me if you’d found out.’
‘But all these years I thought you’d falsified the birth certificate, putting your name as the father, and I was complicit, going along with it.’
‘Wait! You falsified my birth certificate?’ Freya blurted.
‘No, of course I didn’t,’ said Jeffrey.
‘But I didn’t know that!’ Alice seethed. She’d lived all these years with that hanging over her head, afraid someone in authority would find out. She’d colluded in what she thought was a lie as she foresaw problems down the road bringing up Freya because they hadn’t officially adopted her. She knew her name wasn’t on the birth certificate; it was Freya’s birth mother who was named there. What she had believed, though, was that Jeffrey had falsely added his own name on the birth certificate as the baby’s father.
