Of Magpies and Men: A gripping, witty and emotional domestic thriller, with a twist you won't see coming by Ode Ray & Ode Ray

Author:Ode Ray & Ode Ray [Ray, Ode]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

“Results”

London, England

Seven years ago, September 2010

Three days later, just as it had happened before, a courier arrived with the DNA results.

Benedict had found himself staring with dead-fish eyes at the unopened envelopes in a vegetative state of anticipation on three occasions previously. Well, four, if his mother’s last letter was to be included. As a matter of fact, that fourth occasion undoubtedly counted, as the sucker-punch news it divulged to him had ruined all future ‘letter opening’ moments, for the rest of his life. The first time Benedict had procrastinated over the opening of a letter was after his university applications. Although only one truly mattered to him. Yet, when he read the good news, he still, somehow, managed to feel a tad disappointed. The content of the letter was fine. Naturally, he was pleased to be accepted. Problem was, it read like all the others. It was printed and sounded administrative. An entirely handwritten letter would have been a ludicrous expectation, but a personal accolade would not have gone amiss.

You see, since his bowel movements were enthusiastically cheered during his potty-training days, it seemed only fair for his London School of Economics admission letter to live up to the level of adulation he had grown to expect from achievement met. Confetti falling from the card would have been entirely distasteful, it was not a sixth birthday card after all, but still, something was amiss.

The other two occasions were inconsequential in the end. STD results came back negative, and so did the DNA results to the Italian family. Yet again, he had hoped for more than just a wave-off from both. It was ridiculous for him to feel that way, and he knew it. But as Yukinobu would frequently say, you can’t change the spots on a leopard, can you? The way he still slightly rearranged the words of old phrases was one of the things that Benedict had grown to find endearing in him.

Benedict took a deep breath, but he could not bring himself to open this particular envelope.

They had not met for long. Yet that was all it took for him to develop a bond with the bubbly French nurse. She was the sister he’d never had but always yearned for. There was an authenticity to Marie’s character that made a refreshing change to what Benedict was accustomed to. No game, no intent to impress, no ambiguity. She even came with her own child. He wanted her to be in his life, in a significant way, a thicker than water, blood relative kind of way. He wanted to write her name in the next of kin section of official documents. He wanted to be tangibly grounded to her, another human being. But this craving to have Marie as his true sister felt needy and weak. And he was not a weak man, no, he was the opposite of that, right? The lack of human contact he’d had over the past few months was his choice. His decision. He did not need others.

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