The Daughter-in-Law by Fanny Blake

Author:Fanny Blake [Blake, Fanny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

18

Edie had just finished painting her toenails when Paul returned. In the end, she had succeeded in getting Betty to bed without more upset. To reward herself, and to take her mind off whatever Paul might be discussing with his mother, she had run herself a bath and lain there soaking and listening to her Bach Spotify playlist. Her toes were the final touch.

Paul, usually so complimentary, barely glanced at what she was doing. He was the colour of putty as he walked past her, straight to the drinks’ cupboard. She looked on, amazed, as he pulled out the whisky bottle and a glass. They never drank spirits, apart from at Christmas. He poured a shot and downed it in one, banging the empty glass on the top of the cupboard.

‘Paul?’ She had never seen him like this. There could only be one explanation. More fool her for trusting Hope. Her mother-in-law’s priority was Paul’s happiness, though why she would think telling him about Daniel would contribute to that was baffling. She braced herself.

He took the seat opposite her, putting his head in his hands.

‘What’s happened?’ Her stomach was rolling. She would never forgive Hope for this.

‘I can’t get my head round it.’ He stood again and went to pour himself another whisky, this time returning to his chair with the glass, putting it on the pile of magazines on the coffee table.

Edie’s instinct was telling her to leave the room, but she felt paralysed. Paul finally raised his head so that she could see his face. His eyes were red-rimmed with un-shed tears.

‘She has another child. A son.’ The words fell like pebbles into a pond. ‘Can you believe that?’

This was so unexpected, Edie sat up to attention, her toenails forgotten. ‘Who has?’

‘Mum.’

There was a beat while she tried to absorb the full meaning of what he had just said. ‘Hope?’

‘I only have one mum.’ He ran his hand down the arm of the chair.

She must have misunderstood, but she tried to link up the words in her mind. ‘You’re saying you have a brother you didn’t know anything about?’

He picked up his glass. ‘Apparently so. Can you imagine anyone keeping a secret like that for so long? Mum most of all.’

‘But I don’t understand. Who is he? What’s made her tell you now?’

‘Because he’s been in touch with her, and they’ve met. He wants to meet us.’ He didn’t sound keen on the idea.

Edie’s head was spinning with the news. Then…

That man in the restaurant!

She flashed back to the man who upset Hope and made her act so shiftily. That must be him. He wasn’t a lover at all.

She had seen him, knew what he looked like. Guilt stabbed at her, remembering her illicit lunch with Daniel and how easily she had dropped her resolution to break up with him. She couldn’t possibly tell Paul of the chance encounter with his mother and half-brother.

‘But who’s his father?’ she asked instead.

‘Some guy she met when she was seventeen. She wouldn’t tell me more than that.

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