Free Tangled Lives by Hilary Boyd Page B

voice was full of suspicion.
    Annie was surprised.
    ‘Well, of course … I suppose I don’t know for certain,but he got in touch through Social Services. And, like I said, there’s a strong family resemblance.’ Not for a moment had she thought that Daniel was not who he said he was.
    ‘It’s just you hear of people conning families by pretending to be a long-lost heir and copping all their money.’
    ‘Ed!’ Marsha glared at her brother.
    ‘Look, I’m only saying . For Mum’s sake as much as anyone’s. She should make sure.’
    ‘I think we can be sure, Ed,’ Richard intervened.
    ‘Have you met him, Dad?’
    ‘No, but —’
    ‘He’s not after my money,’ Annie interrupted. ‘He just wants to know who his parents are, which seems fair enough. His adoptive mother is dead.’ She hated the thought that Ed was essentially taking her mother’s position.
    ‘So did you never tell the father about him? Even later on, I mean,’ Marsha asked.
    ‘I haven’t been in touch with him since that night.’
    ‘But you know him … you know his name?’
    ‘Of course I know his name.’ She didn’t say any more.
    ‘What is it then?’ Ed asked, his voice still carrying an edge of hostility.
    She hesitated before naming Charles, unwilling in the last resort to bring him into the family consciousness.
    ‘You won’t know him,’ she stalled, then caught the look on her husband’s face. It was tense, waiting.
    ‘OK … his name’s Charles Carnegie.’
    She saw Richard relax; obviously the name meant nothing to him. None of the children said a word.
    ‘Daniel wants to meet him too,’ she added.
    ‘Wow!’ Lucy leant back, tipping her chair precariously on two legs. ‘Must be too weird, not knowing your real parents till you’re thirty-five.’
    ‘I think he sees his adoptive parents as his real parents,’ Annie corrected her.
    ‘Yeah, but you’d still feel the genes, or lack of them, I reckon.’
    Richard laughed. ‘Good way of putting it, Luce.’
    ‘It’s not going to be fun, having to tell this Charles person that you forgot to mention the baby.’ Marsha’s look was full of sympathy, ‘Don’t envy you that, Mum.’
    Annie nodded in agreement, not wanting to think about Charles right now. She felt suddenly tired. What a strain it had been, holding her children at arms’ length since the letter had arrived.
    ‘I think it’s great, Mum,’ Lucy said. ‘It must be amazing for you, finding him again after so long.’
    ‘What did it feel like, seeing him as an adult?’ Marsha asked.
    But before Annie could answer, Ed pushed his chair back loudly, the wooden legs screeching on the tiles, and, without a word, stomped off up the stairs.
    The others looked at each other, each face registering surprise and bewilderment.
    ‘He was bound to take it badly,’ Richard said.
    ‘Was he? Why?’ Lucy asked.
    ‘Mum’s only son … then not her only son,’ he explained.
    ‘Don’t understand why it’s different for him.’
    Marsha was looking after her brother with concern. ‘I’ll go and talk to him,’ she said, also getting up.
    ‘Perhaps I should go,’ Annie suggested.
    ‘No, Mum. Let me. He’s probably just a bit shocked.’
    They watched Marsha leave in silence.
    ‘I still don’t see why he should be more upset than us,’ Lucy went on stubbornly. ‘You hardly know Daniel … he can’t be jealous of someone you’ve just met, can he?’
    Annie shrugged. ‘I suppose it is different. You’re my daughter, and you’ve always shared me with Marsha in that respect. Whereas Eddie, he’s been my one and only.’
    Marsha, breathless, came back into the room. ‘He’s gone. I went out, but he was already driving away.’
    ‘Leave him,’ Richard counselled. ‘He’s being a brat.’
    ‘Dad! He’s upset. It’s not an easy thing to find out.’
    ‘You and Lucy aren’t upset … are you?’
    ‘No,’ Lucy said quickly.
    ‘Nooo …’ Marsha’s response was more equivocal. ‘But it is