Susanna came inside, one arm wiping her brow, and looked over. ‘Everything all right?’
Addie said nothing.
And now her sister knew something was up.
Susanna abandoned the empty bucket and the wet mop beside the front door and came to her sister’s side. She guided her from the counter to the nearest chair. ‘Addie… What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
How could she possibly find the words to tell her what she’d just overheard?
‘Addie, you’re scaring me.’ With Addie seated, Susanna sat opposite. ‘Tell me what’s wrong. Is Isaac all right?’
She felt her shoulders sag a little because her son, her most precious thing in the world, was safe with his grandparents. ‘It’s not Isaac.’
‘Then what?’
‘It’s Dad…’
‘Dad?’
‘Louisa.’
Susanna’s brow furrowed. ‘What about Louisa?’
‘I think her dad… is our dad.’ Her voice caught. She shook her head. ‘He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that to Mum or to us. She must be lying. She must be here to take advantage?—’
‘Do you think Gayle could be fooled so easily?’ Susanna said softly.
It sounded crazy, even to her own ears. But what other explanation was there?
Susanna’s hand came out across the table and held on to Addie’s firmly. But what was missing was rage that their dad could do such a thing, any protest her sister was usually so good at when it came to Harry Rafferty.
And that was when she realised.
Slowly Addie pulled her hand away. ‘You knew?’
‘I didn’t know who Louisa was, no.’ She reached for Addie’s hand again, her grip firm enough to plead for her to stay there. ‘Yesterday, I found something in the attic. It was a letter. From Lily, Louisa’s mother. I was going to talk to you about it after this gathering today, I promise you.’ She grasped for the right words. ‘Addie, I wanted to protect you just a moment longer. I didn’t want you taking that burden to the living funeral, not when there’s a sense of peace with Aunt Gayle, for the both of us.’
‘But she kept it from us. She’s known all this time. Why aren’t you furious?’
‘I was, last night. I’ve calmed down a bit since then, and given Aunt Gayle and I have clashed so spectacularly in the past I felt I needed to wait before confronting her. Today, this event, it wasn’t the time to do it. But we will.’
This sounded nothing like her sister, the sister who could never ignore something so huge. Her usual reaction would’ve been to demand the truth, immediately. She had never been one to sit back and wait patiently, for anything!
Addie snatched her hand away. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said without breaking eye contact. ‘I don’t believe you only found out yesterday.’ The pieces in her mind were beginning to find their way to each other. ‘It all makes sense now, why you rarely want to talk about Dad, and when we do you don’t have many good things to say about him. You knew about Louisa all along.’
‘I promise you, I didn’t.’ Susanna gulped and looked away, a sure sign she was gearing up to say more. ‘But…’ She held out her hand and Addie took it after a pause, like they were those two young Rafferty girls who first came to the island.
Susanna led her outside and they walked to the end of the path, turned left and went past the trees so they wouldn’t be seen from the café should Aunt Gayle look outside to see where they’d got to.
Susanna’s voice shook as she said, ‘You’re right, in a way, I did know something before yesterday. I knew about Dad’s affair. But I didn’t know it resulted in Louisa.’
Addie felt the ground fall away from beneath her. Her wonderful dad. He wouldn’t do that to their mum, no way in the world. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I didn’t want to hurt you, Addie.’
‘But I deserved to know!’
Susanna nodded. ‘You’re right. And now I’ll tell you everything.’
