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I stroked my fingers down her cheek. “I will always be an addict now,” she said, her eyes hollowing sadly. “But I’m going to overcome it. And in a weird way, Bas taught me a lot about myself. It was like a fast-track education in understanding my limits. My strengths and, boy, my weaknesses.” She turned her eyes to Rupert, finally. “I can’t actually thank you enough.”
Rupert stayed frozen in the doorway until I reached out to him. He tentatively moved into the room and came to kneel beside us.
“My sister is a bloody good judge of character,” Peggy said, addressing him directly. “Don’t be the outlier, okay?”
Rupert nodded, wordlessly.
“Because…” Peggy continued. “I always wanted a sexy billionaire in the family.”
I chuckled and cupped his jaw, feeling the tension roll off his skin. “He might be sexy, Pegs, but he’s not billionaire. Not anymore.”
She stared at me, confused.
“There’s a lot I need to fill you in on.”
Anna appeared beneath Richard’s arm, cast her eyes across the three of us, then said, with welcome timing, “Then I’d better get the kettle on.”
Rupert
Vivian squeezed my hand as we approached the small house. It stood at the end of a long row of terraced cottages in a small village north of London. “You’re going to be fine,” she whispered, knowing exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. “Whatever happens, you’ll be in no worse a position than you are now. Right now, you don’t have any parents at all.”
I glanced down into her blue eyes and felt my heart melt in her warmth. “I’ve got you,” I whispered. “That’s all that matters.
I looked over my shoulder to check that Hector and Minty were close behind, then I pushed open the rustic wooden gate.
I took the cast iron door knocker between my fingers and held it up. Even the clunk sound it made as I brought it back down was small. My heart was banging in my chest so when the door opened and it was Adele’s face that appeared I almost fainted with relief. Even more so when the smile on her face stretched from ear to ear.
"Rupert, my friend." She held a palm to the side of my face and kissed my other cheek. Since my confession at the Consortium meeting, while most members had treated me with respect and no small measure of sympathy, others had snubbed me like the snobs they were. So I felt an even greater sense of relief that Adele didn’t care. To her, I was still Rupert.
"There’s so much I want to thank you for…" I started.
She pressed a hand to my arm. "Don’t worry about that now.” She flashed a wink at Vivian which melted my heart even more, then looked over my shoulder to Hector. Again, even though he had Minty in tow, she didn’t seem at all unfazed. "Hector, my love."
Hector leaned in and wrapped an arm around her neck. "It’s so good to see you."
She stepped back and looked at us expectantly. "They’re waiting inside. Are you ready?"
I swallowed and nodded. I never expected I would have to be ready for a moment like this so I had no idea what ready felt like, but there was no turning back now.
The ceilings felt low as we walked through a neat and compact kitchen into a living room that was an eighth the size of my bathroom in Blackcap Hall. The decor was minimal which was just as well because my eyes were instantly drawn to the mirror images of myself sitting on a sofa staring wide-eyed as we entered. Adele stepped to one side.
"Rupert, Hector," she said. "This is Enid and Robert. Your birth parents."
They both looked shocked, frail and terrified.
Neither of them stood.
Reading my mind, Adele explained. "Robert has a hip injury."
The reason for Enid’s inability to stand was also quickly explained when she burst into tears. She was overcome with emotion.
Guided by nothing but my heart, I walked to her and knelt by her side. Her watery eyes followed me and I noticed Robert’s knuckles whiten as they tightened around her hand.
I lifted my hand and waited for her to nod before I placed it on her arm.
The sleeve shrouded her but the warmth bled through.
I waited for her sobs to quieten then looked into her eyes.
