Page 86 of Savage Justice

I shake my head. “She has asked about her father, and I told her he was an artist, like me. She knows he’s dead.”

“Dead?”

“Yes. In an accident, before she was born. A hit-and-run, drunk driver.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Yes, so am I. He was… a nice man. He never deserved that.”

“Do you still—?”

“Love him? No. Definitely no. We’d split up by the time he died.”

“But, with a baby on the way…”

I shake my head. “We would have been friends, I think. Good friends. He’d have been a part of Lucy’s life. And we’d have stayed that way. Nothing more. He was gay.”

“Oh.” He frowns, recalculating. “But still, he and you…”

“Yes, I can’t account for that, and neither could he. We rowed about it, the night he was killed. We were at a gallery in London, an exhibition. He’d cheated on me, with another man. I was hurt, angry. Baffled and humiliated. I couldn’t cope so I stormed off. He was making his way home alone when, well, you know.”

“That sounds horrendous.”

“It was, at the time. I was desperately sorry about what had happened to him, but he was never the love of my life. And, you have to go on. I picked myself up, lost myself in work for a while. Then a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant.”

“So, Tristram never knew?”

I shake my head.

“You didn’t want to get rid of it?”

“Maybe, for a brief moment. But I suppose hormones kicked in. I wanted my baby, and that was that.”

“Marlowe knows about Lucy, obviously?”

“Not at first. I didn’t really know him at the time. He was at the same university as me but not the same year. Our paths started crossing later, as we both established our careers in art. He’d been aware that Tristram and I were an item, and he put two and two together. A bit like you did, but he didn’t come up with five.”

“He had an advantage,” Nico grumbles.

“I guess so. He offered to help me out, financially, but I’ve never needed that. My career took off, and I’ve never been short of cash. I know he’d be there if I needed him, but he stays out of our lives. It’s been simpler that way.”

“In his shoes, I doubt if I’d be able to stay away.”

“No, and now he’s met Lucy properly, I expect he’ll be wanting a relationship with her. He hasn’t said so, but…”

“How do you feel about that?”

I take a moment to consider, then, “I’m fine with it. I like Marlowe, always have. We’ll have to explain to Lucy, but then, I think they’ll get on. He’s her family, after all.”

“You know I want to be her family, too?” His voice is soft, barely a whisper.

“Do you?”

“Yes. I love you, and she comes with the package. Noah, too.”

“But—”

“Not instead of Marlowe. He’s her uncle, it’s right he should be involved. He cares about her, and about you. I could see that when we spoke. I… I like the guy, too.”

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