Tangled Lives Read Free Page A

then.’
    ‘Anyway, she wouldn’t do that without telling you, would she? Pass on your details like that.’
    Such faith! Jamie’s forgotten what she’s like, she thought, even though he’s borne the brunt of her spitefulness for years. He had, in the end, won her mother’s grudging respect with his charm and good manners, despite the fact that he’d declared himself gay at the age of twenty-one and gone on to train as a nurse – a series of events that had made her mother’s eyes widen in horror. ‘I did warn you,’ Eleanor had declared self-righteously, ‘there was always something not quite right about that boy.’ Jamie, however, despite Eleanor Westbury’s caveat, had been very successful. He was currently in charge of the ICU at a busy north-London hospital.
    Jamie tried to get the attention of the frenetic waitress.
    ‘What can I get you?’ the Russian girl snapped, daring them to hesitate for even a second before making their choice.
    ‘Cappuccino, extra hot, double strength, no chocolate, please.’ She spoke fast, eager to get back to the subject of Tom. Jamie asked for English breakfast tea.
    ‘You want milk with that?’
    ‘Please.’
    ‘You don’t sound very keen to see him,’ Jamie commented after the waitress had gone.
    ‘No, I am. Of course I am.’
    ‘So what is it? What’s bothering you? I mean I know this is a big moment, but …’
    ‘I suppose it’s telling the children,’ she interrupted. ‘Richard knows, of course. But having to admit to the others that I haven’t been exactly truthful all their lives.’
    Jamie raised his eyebrows. ‘Why would they care? They’ll probably be gripped to meet their brother.’
    ‘You think so?’
    ‘Well, it’s intriguing, isn’t it? Meeting a rel you didn’t know you had? I’d be excited.’
    She smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm. Was it that simple? Wouldn’t they be upset she hadn’t told them? It was such a huge secret. And what about Ed? Maybe the girls wouldn’t mind having a brother, but how would he react to not being her only son?
    ‘Anyway, darling, you can’t not see him, you’d go mental knowing he was out there. You know you would.’
    This was true. She had wanted this, as Jamie said, since the day they took Tom away. But it was the baby Tom she yearned for. This Daniel person, although just as much her son, obviously, was now a thirty-five-year-old man. All previous imaginings would be meaningless.
    She took a deep breath. ‘Won’t he hate me for what I did to him?’
    Jamie didn’t reply for a moment. ‘Depends what happened to him, but he can’t be wanting to see you just to say how much he hates you. That’d be perverse. Unless he’s … well, I’m sure he’s not.’
    ‘Not what?’
    ‘I was going to say unless he’s a nutter.’ Jamie shot her an apologetic grin, but she wasn’t really paying attention.
    ‘They’ll think it was a terrible thing I did … giving my baby away.’
    ‘No, they won’t. You can explain why. It’s not as if you were the first teenager ever to have an illegitimate child in the sixties. I’m sure I’d have had one myself if it was possible.’
    When Annie didn’t respond, he went on, ‘Come on, Annie, buck up. It’s a bit of a shock, I’ll grant you, but it’s basically good news. Your long-lost son is back!’
    She suddenly realised what he was saying. ‘No, you’re totally right,’ she said slowly. ‘I’m being pathetic. Of course I’ll meet him … and finally see how he turned out.’
    Jamie patted her hand approvingly. ‘Atta girl! Feel the fear. Live the dream!’
    She laughed. ‘Shut up, will you? You’re making me sound like some half-witted reality-TV contestant.’
    ‘Hmmm … now there’s an idea. Has it been done?’ He paused, head on one side, then spread his palms in the air, gazing, dewy-eyed, into the middle-distance. ‘I can see it now: mothers reunited with their long-lost children, lots of sobbing and regret, bit of stagey rage,