“Elijah?” Huw’s voice comes back over the phone.
“Here,” I say.
“Dani said something about Lottie looking for her birth father. I’m sorry, man, I thought you were Lottie’s dad. I don’t know whether that helps or sheds any more light on the situation.”
I swallow hard, bile burning the back of my throat.
“Thanks Huw. If you can keep that information quiet. I’ll explain everything when you get back. Does Dani know any more?”
The line goes quiet again, and I can hear Huw and Dani talking in the background.
“Sorry Elijah, apparently, we left before the DNA test results came back.”
DNA tests? What the hell are you up to, Lottie?
I turn to Pen, who’s gone as white as a sheet next to me.
“Thank you,” I say. “Can I call again if I need to speak to Dani?”
“Of course. Good luck. If I find out any more, I’ll call. Let me know when you find her.”
I turn to Pen, who’s dropped onto the side of the bed, her head in her hands.
“What do you know?” I say, my voice cold, my chest pounding, hoping she’s going to say nothing, but I know she isn’t.
Pen looks up, her eyes pained.
“Lottie came to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I knew who her biological father was.”
I suck in a breath, a vice like grip taking hold of my chest.
“And you didn’t think to tell me? What the hell, Pen? You didn’t think I should know my daughter was questioning who her biological father is?”
Pen sits up, her face a mask. “Don’t turn this around on me. She spoke to me, we talked. I told her she needed to speak to you or Darra.”
“But you just had to be thecoolgodmother and keep her confidence.”
“That’s not fair, and you know it. She tried talking to Darra over the summer and she shut her down. If you want to blame anyone, blame the woman you married.”
She gets up and slams into the bathroom, the door banging loudly behind her.
She opens the door again and looks out.
“I’ve called the police. They’ll be arriving shortly. I wasn’t taking any chances.”
Then she closes the door once more.
I drop onto the bed, my elbows resting on my legs as I try to get enough oxygen into my lungs. I look at the closed door,unable to speak past the lump in my throat. Running my hands through my hair, I tug hard at the roots.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Bloody Darra.
I’m so stupid. I should have expected this!
Pen slams back out of the bathroom five minutes later, showered and changed.
“Before you point the finger, I told Lottie she needed to speak to her mother again, or to you. She told me she didn’t want to upset you. That you might think you weren’t enough. She’s a young woman, of course she’s going to have questions. Maybe I should have said something. I now wish I had, but hindsight is a wonderful thing,” Pen says, her arms folded over her chest, but I can hear the desperation and panic in her voice.
