Free Santa Baby by Katie Price Page A

you’d give some to me.’
    Angel gave a wry smile. ‘Sounds like our lovely mother. My husband Cal thought we looked similar. But I guess, to be sure, we should have a DNA test.’
    Tiffany nodded. She had expected Angel to bring up the matter of a DNA test.
    Angel paused. ‘But, seeing you, I don’t know … I wonder if we need to. I can so clearly see a resemblance between us … the way you bite your lip, the way you pull your sleeves over your hands. I’m always doing that.’
    And Tiffany, who up until this meeting hadn’t felt that she looked anything like Angel, could see herself as well.
    ‘Better do it, though,’ Angel added. ‘Just to be sure.’
    The waiter arrived with a silver trolley on which stood a layered cake-stand showing off an array of tempting finger sandwiches and exquisite miniature pastries and cakes. It looked far too perfect to eat, and besides Tiffany was so fired up about meeting Angel that food was the very last thing on her mind.
    ‘My dad would love to see all this,’ she said. ‘He’s so into food and cooking.’
    ‘He brought you up, is that right?’
    ‘He did. His relationship with Tanya was pretty much over, and then they found out she was pregnant with me and so Dad stayed with her. And then, when it was obvious that she wasn’t fit to look after me, he applied for full custody. He was only twenty, I really admire him for that. I mean, a lot of men of that age would have seen a baby and run.’ Tiffany felt more relaxed as she talked about her dad. He was brilliant, and even if things didn’t work out between her and Angel, she was so fortunate to have the family she did.
    ‘He sounds great,’ Angel replied. ‘And it seems like we’ve both been lucky not to be brought up by our real mum. God, I used to fantasise about meeting her when I was a teenager … I was so sure we’d have this amazing connection.’
    She broke off and Tiffany was shocked to see tears in Angel’s eyes. ‘Sorry,’ she said, waving her hands in front of her face in a vain effort to stop them. ‘It still gets to me. And it was so horrible when I did meet her. It must have been like that for you as well?’
    ‘Exactly like you described. I was sure that I would feel something for her and that she would feel something for me, but I didn’t feel anything except relief that my dad had brought me up.’ Tiffany paused. ‘I feel sorry for Tanya, though. Something must have happened to her, to make her like that.’
    Angel looked surprised by the comment. ‘Do you? I guess it’s because I’m a mother, but I just think she is the most selfish woman in the world.’
    ‘She also said sorry in the letter. Sorry to both of us for not being a proper mum. She must realise what a mess she’s made of her life. It’s sad, she’s missed out on so much.’
    Angel shook her head. ‘You’re obviously a much nicer person than me, because I never want to see or hear from her again.’
    She reached for her champagne glass and held it up. ‘Now I think we should have a toast. To us, for surviving!’ Tiffany clinked her glass against Angel’s and took a sip.
    Sharing their experiences of Tanya broke the ice between the two women and they spent the next hour chatting about their families, what Tiffany wanted to do, and Angel’s TV work. Tiffany found her so easy to talk to, there was an instant rapport. It was exactly the same when she’d first met Kara and they’d become best friends. One glass of champagne had been followed by a bottle. Every now and then Tiffany would get the urge to pinch herself to check that this was real, that here she was at The Ritz, having tea and drinking champagne with Angel Summer!
    At one point Tiffany got up to go to the bathroom and felt slightly light-headed as she walked along the thickly carpeted hallway. Get a grip, she told herself, once she reached the Ladies and re-did her make-up. As she returned to the tearoom, a man sitting alone caught her attention. He