‘No, thank you for everything,’ said Susan. ‘I know it’s not been easy, especially the last few week, but I’m glad we’re still friends. Now promise me one more thing, will you?’
‘Of course, what is it?’
‘Promise me you’ll look after my boy.’
‘Mum, I’ll be fine.’ Mark smiled and kissed her on the cheek, before throwing his rucksack across the back seat.
‘I promise,’ Jade said. ‘Neither of us are leaving this family any time soon.’
Chapter 99
NICK
Nick’s eyes fixed on the doorway as he waited for the undertakers to carry the coffin into the crematorium.
A song he’d chosen by Amy Winehouse played through the speakers, as the wicker coffin was placed on a table in front of the packed room and the minister took her position. Nick’s parents stood either side of him, each holding on to an arm as Sally came to a rest before them.
The coroner had released her body to the family eight days after her death and, although the inquest had been opened and adjourned, Nick had been informed off the record that a previously undetected aneurysm in Sally’s brain, the cause of many of her recent headaches, was likely to have been to blame.
Her sudden loss was a shock to Nick’s system, but it wasn’t the only one. Sally’s baby boy had been taken from her womb by emergency caesarean section as she died. He was alive, and his skin was as dark brown as his hair.
‘How many times did it happen?’
‘A few.’
‘How many is a few?’ Nick repeated, more firmly this time.
‘I don’t know, I didn’t count. Quite often though, I suppose.’
‘Was it just sex?’
‘No.’
‘What else was it then?’
‘She was my Match.’
‘What?’
‘We did the test and Sally was my DNA Match. At least, that’s what we thought.’
Nick stopped pacing the lounge and stared at Deepak. Baby Dylan slept close to his chest, his head resting on a towel draped across his shoulder.
It had been impossible for friends and family who’d visited Dylan to see anything but the difference between his dark skin compared to Sally and Nick’s chalky pallors. After the shock of Sally’s death, and the subsequent realisation that his son was not biologically his, something told Nick that the boy’s real father was close to home.
Shortly after, Sumaira and Deepak, recent parents themselves, arrived at the flat to offer their condolences and meet Dylan for the first time. The panicked look on Deepak’s face was enough to tell him what he had feared was true. They said little and didn’t stay for long. Nick later noted their absences at Sally’s funeral.
Now, Deepak perched stiffly on Nick’s sofa, his eyes bloodshot and underscored by dark bags.
‘So all those months ago, the night it all kicked off between Sally and me, I was right when I said you and Sumaira weren’t Matched?’
Deepak nodded. ‘We did the test after we got married, but Sumaira was too ashamed to admit it to anyone. You know how some people can look down on couples that aren’t Matched.’
‘But what makes you think Sally was your Match?’
‘Sumaira and I took the test a couple of years ago and found out we weren’t Matched. My email came and itwas her. Sally. It turned out she worked with Sumaira – coincidence, huh? I wanted to meet her so eventually I made Sumaira arrange that night we all went out for Chinese …’
Nick nodded slowly. ‘That was the evening we had to leave early because Sal wasn’t feeling well.’
