Page 108 of The Stolen Child

Opening the door, with Robert in her arms, she came face to face with a tall, dark man. He had wavy brown hair, dark eyes and a lean physique that his tight jeans and blue denim shirt showed off. Elsie felt a shift inside her as she took him in. A reaction to him that she’d never felt with another man before.

‘Hello. You must be Kimberly. And you, young sir, must be Robert,’ the man said, his face breaking out into a smile. He held several plastic bags in each hand. ‘I’m Jason. And I’m your landlord.’

Elsie frowned. What did he want? Money?

Jason grinned reassuringly. ‘When your friend booked this flat for you last week, he also arranged for me to deliver another load of groceries for you today. I’ve more bags in the car. I’ll run down and get them if I can drop these in first.’

Elsie offered a silent thank-you to Reggie, who’d once again proved that he thought of everything. She moved aside to let Jason enter. He placed the bags on the small round dining-room table. Then he ran out, returning a few moments later with more packed bags.

‘If anything is missing, let me know. I’m back and forth to the flats most days, so I’m happy to grab things for you if you need them.’ He cocked his head to one side, looking at her quizzically. ‘You don’t say much, do you, Kimberly? I won’t bite, promise.’

Elsie laughed briefly in response. She was afraid to speak. Would her cockney accent give her away? What if the newspapers had said a Londoner had taken Zach?

Elsie watched Jason unload the groceries onto the kitchen counter. His movements were lithe, and his energy seemed to exude goodness.

‘You said you own the flats?’ Elsie asked, and to her surprise Sister Jones’s lilt came out. It must have been because she’d been mimicking it whilst practising Kimberly’s story for Robert. She waited for Jason to laugh at her put-on accent, but he didn’t bat an eyelid.

‘Yeah, I was lucky. This was my grandparents’ house, and they left it to me after they died. It’s three stories, so I decided to convert it into flats and try my hand at being a landlord. It turns out I’m good at it. I’ve gone on and bought a few more properties since then too.’

‘You’re young to be an entrepreneur,’ Elsie said, impressed by him.

He shrugged. ‘Maybe. As I said, I got a lucky start. What brings you to Dublin, Kimberly?’

Elsie paled. She’d not paid much attention when he’d called her Kimberly earlier. Her mind raced as she tried to work out how to respond. Should she say she was Elsie and that Kimberly wasn’t here yet? Or would that raise an alarm bell? Why would she have Robert? It could be best to pretend she was Kimberly, and when Sally got here she could take over the name. They’d be moving on to Spain soon enough anyhow.

‘My parents were Irish. I wanted to show Robert his roots.’

‘That’s nice,’ Jason said. ‘Well, welcome home, so.’ He eyed the kettle and asked, with a twinkle in his eye, ‘Don’t suppose a cuppa’s on the cards? My throat feels like it’s been cut.’

Elsie laughed, delighted that Jason had suggested prolonging his visit. She had been starved of company and realised that she didn’t want him to go. She picked up a packet of fig rolls and waved them in his direction. ‘I think, as you have saved the day by delivering my groceries, I can manage tea and biscuits.’

‘Thanks, Kimberly,’ Jason said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. ‘If this isn’t too cheeky, is there a Mr Blair?’

Elsie felt a flush rise into her cheeks, and butterflies danced in her tummy. Was Jason flirting with her? She thought that maybe he was.

‘No, there’s no Mr Blair,’ she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘Just me and Robert. I’m a single mum.’ Then, lowering her eyes, she added shyly, ‘Robert’s father is not in the picture.’

Jason responded by smiling at her so brightly that it made her heart skip a beat. The warmth of his gaze made her feel special in a way that Reggie had never managed.

She made their tea, and they sat side by side, chatting about their lives. Of course, all Elsie’s stories were from her imagination. She spoke of a fairytale childhood in Glasgow – an only child, adored by her parents, who sadly died in a tragic car crash, leaving Kimberly on her own – until Robert came along, the result of a sad fling with a one-night stand, who she’s never seen since, but she would never regret, because it gave her the greatest love of her life.

Her life in the orphanage, her prostitution, her charring – all erased in an afternoon spent in the company of a handsome Irishman who made her feel beautiful, elegant and desired.

Although it wasn’t planned, by the time Jason left, with promises of calling back the next day, Elsie had disappeared behind a new mask, and she had become Kimberly.

NOW

August 2023

Lily

Phibsborough, Dublin

The room was heavy with stunned silence as Lily and her family tried to process the shocking revelations her mother and Sally had outlined.

Lily’s mum wasn’t Kimberly, but instead a woman called Elsie. Who used to be Sally’s best friend. This new information made Lily’s head spin as she struggled to comprehend what else might have been hidden.

‘You were supposed to come to Ireland with me,’ her mum said to Sally accusingly. ‘If you’d come with me, none of this would have happened.’