‘How long have you got?’ she asked.
Yolanda smiled rather sadly. ‘I’m all yours for as long as it takes, my love.’
The old endearment that her aunt had often used when Vee was a small child touched her to the core and she had to work hard not to break down, but there was an explanation to be given, and they both needed it to be said. Vee took a deep breath and tried to get her whirling thoughts in order. To make this manageably short and concise would take some doing. She began to speak, quietly at first and then gaining in momentum as the old story took on a pace of its own.
‘When Cassie was twenty-eight, after she’d put up with awful gynaecological problems since her early teens, she discovered she’d never be able to have children. This coincided with her moving in with Marissa, who as you know, lived in Boston and was making a big name for herself as a hot-shot lawyer. Marissa is quite a bit older than Cassie and she’d suffered all her adult life with endometriosis. They were both desperate for a baby, but Marissa thought it was highly unlikely that she could get pregnant, and also she was terrified of the idea of childbirth. Her own mother had died when she was born.’
Vee paused and drained her coffee. Its kick gave her the boost she needed to continue.
‘I was visiting them in the States at the time to be present at their civil partnership. I had just lost my job and broken up with my long-term boyfriend. My thirty-fourth birthday had been spent alone, walking for miles to try and shake off the feeling of gloom. It was a bad time for me. We talked and talked over the time I was there and to cut a very long story short, I offered to have a baby for them. I was feeling useless. My life felt pointless and the idea that I could give them so much happiness was enticing. They didn’t feel able to trust an unfamiliar surrogate but in this way, their child would have similar genes to Cassie too. They had a good friend who was prepared to be the sperm donor, and they organised everything very quickly.’
There was another long pause as Vee battled with the flood of emotions that digging up the past was triggering. Yolanda’s expression was unreadable, but she was still holding her niece’s hand. It was immensely comforting. Vee pressed on.
‘The two of them had gone into the idea of surrogacy quite thoroughly already and they already knew about checking for ovulation and planning optimum windows for conception, and that kind of thing, which were still a mystery to me. As luck would have it, I got pregnant the very first time we tried. I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing had seemed like a fantastic dream but suddenly it was real, and I was terrified and excited all at the same time. I had to go home after another fortnight, but by then we’d completely planned out the next nine months. I was living in the Midlands, and I landed a temporary job in a garden centre to begin with, but I was so sick in the early days that I had to keep missing my morning shifts, and so Cassie and Marissa funded me until I was okay to work again.’
Vee’s chest was tight, and her palms were sweating now. This was even harder than she’d expected but it had to be done. The memories of those mornings when she’d not even been able to keep water down were sharp and painful. She’d been so worried that it meant that the baby wouldn’t be healthy, but gradually she’d read up on all her symptoms and become calmer and less inclined to panic at the least little twinge. She forced herself to keep talking.
‘I told Mum and Dad that I was pregnant when I couldn’t put it off any longer. I was afraid they wouldn’t approve because Mum in particular was very religious and she’d always seemed against any sort of intervention when it came to childbirth. I shouldn’t have doubted them, as it happened. When my parents knew I was having the baby for my sister they were supportive, although concerned about how it would affect me mentally because they knew how low I’d been after the break-up. They decided to come to America with me when I was seven and a half months pregnant, and we all stayed with Cassie and Marissa until after the baby was born.’
‘Finn,’ said Yolanda, who had held her tongue until now. ‘Your son. Call him by his name.’
Now the tears began to flow, and Vee didn’t try to stop them. ‘He was beautiful. He still is. He only knows me as his aunt, of course. The man who fathered Finn isn’t on the scene now, he moved away and said he didn’t want to be involved in any way.’
‘What I don’t understand is not only why but how they’ve managed to keep the truth from him for all this time. It would have been a given that one of them, if not both, isn’t his natural mother, but hasn’t Finn ever seen his birth certificate?’
‘Marissa and Cassie have a lot of friends who are same-sex couples and it’s not at all unusual for them to have adopted children or to have surrogate babies. Finn knows he’s adopted but as far as he’s concerned his father was an anonymous sperm donor and his birth mother was a surrogate that they engaged privately. His birth certificate is the adoptive one.’
‘But, Venetia, don’t you long to see your son? How can you stand not to be closer to him, even as an aunt?’
Vee’s hackles were rising now. It was too much. Yolanda had no right to question her decision made in all good faith so long ago. ‘I’ve visited them all in Boston twice in the last twenty years,’ she snapped. ‘I don’t want to muddy the waters. He belongs to Cassie and Marissa. They send me photos every now and again. Finn’s making his own life.’
‘I know that,’ said Yolanda. ‘Cassie’s in touch with me too, and so is the boy. I’m his great-aunt, after all.’ She paused and bit her lip before carrying on. ‘You really need to see him face to face and explain what happened back then. It’s not right that he’s nearly twenty-one and you still haven’t talked to him about his birth. It’s time, Venetia. It’s way past time, in my opinion.’
Vee glared at her aunt. ‘That wasn’t part of the deal,’ she said. ‘Finn doesn’t need to know who I really am. It’s better this way. Cassie and Marissa are his parents now. Even if I did decide to do what you say and bring it all out into the open, it’s not something you can do on FaceTime. Anyway, I’m not going to tell him. He doesn’t have to know the truth. He’s so far away.’
Yolanda shifted in her chair. ‘Or is he?’ she said.
‘What are you getting at?’
Her aunt had the grace to look shamefaced as she blurted out, ‘I hazarded a guess that this was one of the things you wanted to talk to me about before you arrived. I’ve already messaged Finn to say that you’re here with me and that we’re going to be discussing his history. I’ve told the boy who his mother is, Venetia. Somebody had to do it. He knows the whole story now and he wants to see you. Finn’s coming to England.’
32
Rick was finding this day extremely trying and it was still only half past ten. The Willowbrook party, minus Vee, had assembled outside the front door of Pension Simone and had been waiting for their hostess for ten minutes when she finally emerged, wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat, sparkly flip-flops and a dress that was even lower-cut than the one she’d worn to serve breakfast.
‘Bien, you’re all here,’ Simone said, nodding happily. ‘Do you have cameras? Ah, you are so modern, you have your telephones at the ready. Then off we go.’
She seized Rick by the hand and forged her way to the front of the group, turning to lead them along the road and towards the main part of the village.
‘Mind you don’t get lost, Rick,’ called Beryl, cackling. ‘Maybe we should all hold hands in pairs too, like on a school trip.’
‘Good idea. I’ll be in charge of counting heads,’ said Sid. ‘Has everyone been to the toilet before we really get going?’
‘Oh, now you mention it,’ said Maurice. ‘I could do with a quick pee. Hang on, Simone. I’ll just nip back inside.’
Simone threw Maurice a filthy look as he tapped the four-digit code into the pad by the front door and disappeared into the gloom of the hall. ‘We shall never get anywhere at this rate,’ she muttered.
Rick tried to discreetly detach his hand from her grasp, but Simone merely held on tighter while Beryl made a big show of taking Frank by the hand too and falling into line behind their leaders. Winnie and Sid did the same, giggling quietly. When Maurice returned, slightly dishevelled from rushing, Anthea held out a hand to him too, bracelets jingling, her perfectly manicured nails glistening in the sunshine.
