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If she’d just been rejected by the man she loved and trusted, though…
“Oh, God…”
I get up, pacing the floor, struggling to breathe.
What should I do? I need to know the truth… and short of speaking to Livia herself, there’s only one person I can think of who might be able to help.
I grab my phone from the table, looking up the number I need, and connect the call. It rings a few times and then I hear the familiar voice.
“Hunter?”
“Hi, Doreen.”
“This is a surprise.”
“Yeah… I, um…” I take a moment, recalling that life exists outside of my problems. “How’s your grandchild?”
“She’s just perfect,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “She was born three days late, and she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of sleeping at night, but babies don’t, do they?”
“No.” My answer isn’t based on personal experience… just hearsay.
“I’m sure you didn’t call to ask about little Phoebe, though,” she says. “Has something happened?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“How can I help?” I sigh, unsure where to start. “Hunter? What’s wrong?”
“Everything.”
“Is it work, or something personal?” I’ve never spoken to her about my personal life before, but I’m going to have to now…
“Both… although it’s more personal, I guess.” It certainly feels that way.
“Is it to do with Livia?”
I sit down, stunned. “How did you know?”
“I saw the two of you together. It wasn’t hard to work out.”
I shake my head, struck by the irony that, for all our efforts, we couldn’t even keep our relationship a secret from someone who’s three thousand miles away.
“I fell for her,” I say, surprising myself with my own candor.
“You’re not going to tell me she doesn’t feel the same, are you? Because…”
“No, it’s not that. It’s… well… it’s that she’s not who I thought she was.”
“Meaning?”
“I think she’s Ken Bevan’s daughter.”
The line falls silent for a moment. “Oh, of course… Livia.” I almost feel relieved that someone else has seen the connection, except I’m not sure it helps very much. “I assumed her name was short for Olivia, so I never put the two things together.”
“I knew it wasn’t short for anything. She told me. But I thought her name was familiar right from the moment I first heard it. I just couldn’t think what until Ken Bevan walked into the office yesterday lunchtime.”
“He came to the office?” She’s taken aback. I can hear it in her voice.
“Yeah. He seems to have made something of himself since he came out of prison and said he wanted to see Dad, to gloat, I guess… about a year too late.”
