I may not be an artist myself, but I am an art aesthete.
“She is.” I can hear the pride in his voice.
I move to the desk, nowhere near as neat as her bedroom. This time, the bin under the table is full. I pull it out and place it on the table bench.
Bingo
I stare at the contents in front of me.
“No way,” I mumble. “You clever girl.”
Lottie is smarter than I realised. A sense of pride sits in my chest, although I’m going to strangle her for what she’s doing to her dad.
“What?” Elijah joins me.
In the bin are seven wine glasses. Each holding a sticker. Jaxson, Zach, Quentin, Xander, Marcus, Tristan, Dad.
The little minx. No wonder she was so keen to help with the clearing up. My mind darts back to how she was happy to return everyone’s used glasses to the kitchen at the end of the night.
If I wasn’t currently so mad at my goddaughter, I’d be impressed with her resourcefulness.
Elijah looks at me.
“She’s run DNA tests?”
“At least we know what she’s doing and potentially where she’s gone,” I tell him, although I notice he’s gone slightly green around the gills.
Not surprising.
It’s one thing to know your daughter isn’t biologically yours, but another thing to find out one of your friends potentially knew and did the dirty with your ex.
I turn to Elijah and squeeze his arm.
“A positive. If she’s found one of these men is her biological father, at least we know she’s not in any danger.”
No one on her list would hurt a hair on her head. They’re all like family. The question now is, which one carries her DNA, and did they know it?
Elijah and I rummage through the rest of the papers but find no sign of the test results.
The doorbell goes, snapping us out of our trance.
We head back downstairs.
Elijah heads to the door, looking back as he reaches it.
“Pen, what you saw upstairs…”
“Your secret is safe,” I tell him. “It’s not like I don’t carry a tonne of my own.”
Elijah nods and opens the door.
Caleb and Gabriel enter together.
“We left April and Leah at home, just in case Lottie shows up there. We’ve promised to keep them informed.”
Elijah nods. “Thank you,” he says. “Good thinking, especially after last time.”
It’s Gabriel who nods while Caleb looks between his two brothers. He shoots me a glance, which I acknowledge. He nods but doesn’t press, clearly knowing all will be revealed shortly.
