Page 74 of Tangled Roses

“May I ask who?”

I act cool but my heart is racing as she nods, turning a silver photograph around to face me that resides on her desk.

I stare at the image and I hold my breath when I see a young Adele, laughing with three other women. Marsha being one of them.

“I noticed the resemblance when we met at the fundraiser the other day, and it took me back.”

She smiles wistfully. “I met these other women in Switzerland and they were happy times.”

She points to Marsha and says with a wry shake of her head. “It was also a time of great trouble.”

“Why?” I edge forward in my seat as she shakes her head sadly.

“Marsha, the one I thought you had a connection to, well, she fell pregnant and was forced to leave.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

I peer a little closer and feign indifference as I say flippantly, “What happened to her?”

Adele sighs. “The man involved wanted no part of it. He paid her money to get rid of the baby and washed his hands of her.”

The way she is staring at me with a hard look makes it difficult to control the emotion her words bring, but I seize on every resource I own and say calmly, “Then he was a rogue.”

She laughs out loud.

“He certainly was, you see–” She leans forward and stares at me intently as she says, “He was a powerful man, even back then.”

I swear I’m about to have a coronary because she is talking about my father and this is the first piece of information I’ve ever had about him.

“He was Russian.”

My heart sinks and I swear I’m about to have a nervous breakdown.

“There was no chance he would ever accept either Marsha or her baby because of his position.”

“How, um, did they meet?” I ask, trying desperately to learn more about my father, and she smiles, a soft gleam in her eye as she says wistfully, “We met the men at a party that we shouldn’t have attended.” She rolls her eyes. “You know what it’s like. Girls do reckless things when they are encouraged, and we were in a bar in town when they approached us.”

“I see.” I smile, but my heart is bouncing all over the place as Adele reminisces.

“We had fun. We all did. They were very attentive, and it became a regular thing. They worked together at a Swiss Bank, at least two of them did. The others had jobs I didn’t want to ask too much about.”

“So, your friend, um, paired up with this man who then rejected her when she needed his help.”

I’m angry on her behalf and Adele shrugs as if it was of no consequence.

“Not exactly, darling. He offered her enough money to take the sting out of the request, and Marsha wasn’t the kind to turn the opportunity down. In fact– “ She leans forward. “Marsha wasn’t averse to turning anybody down, if you get my meaning and the child could have been anyone’s.”

I feel sick and say with a deep breath.

“Then I’m glad I don’t know her.”

Adele nods. “Tell me, why was she visiting Mr. Romanov? I’m aware she had links to his father Andrei, we all did, but I’m confused as to why she visited him.”

We all did.

My heart is beating fast and as I stare at the photograph, I ignore her question and point to the other two women.

“Who are they?”

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