Page 152 of Arran's Obsession

“Fucking hell. Again.”

I stared right back at her, my heart pounding. “I might just be in love with you.”

“Then one day, I’ll marry you.”

I kissed her. Fever rose in me.

Gen started and grabbed my wrist. “Duck down.”

I curled my lip. “Happy to, but probably better to drive away from these family homes first.”

She jabbed at the house. “No. Adelia is coming.”

Addie and the other older girl were leaving, the two in shorts and t-shirts. Both carried a tennis racket. They walked straight past us, not paying any attention to the car.

I watched them go and considered the point that Flora was now home alone. Fuck. I could do this. I waited for them to be out of sight then popped my door. At their house, I knocked on the door, Gen scampering to keep up.

It swung open, Flora in the frame with her youngest on her hip and her smile broad. “What did ye forget?”

Agog, she stopped with her lips moving, but no further words came out.

“I’m Arran,” I said. “This is my fiancée, Genevieve. I think you’ve met before. Can we come in? I swear I mean you no harm.”

I had no idea what her knowledge of me was, or what Audrey had told her, but it felt best to lay the groundwork. Clearly, somehow, she recognised me.

Flora held still for so long I expected a door slam, but then she opened it wider and stepped aside. “You’d better come in.”

In her comfortable living room with toys and kid artwork everywhere, she settled in a chair, her face pale and her toddler at her feet. We took the sofa.

“Why are ye here? I think I know but I want ye to confirm it,” she said.

“You knew my mother, Audrey.”

She gave a small but quick nod. “You’re right, I did.”

“And the girl that just left is my sister.”

Flora took a shuddering inhale. “Oh God. Aye, she is. Do ye know her name?”

“Adelia. Gen told me.”

“It’s good to see you again,” Gen said quietly.

Flora flicked her gaze to Gen. Her fingers trembled. I didn’t want her to be afraid. I’d known nothing but a broken home, and I wasn’t about to change hers.

I gentled my tone as best I could, though inside I fucking shook too. “I’ve only just found out Adelia’s name. For half my life, I’ve been searching for her. I can see she’s happy, but I want to know more and whatever you know about Audrey. Is that okay?”

Flora took a deep breath and rubbed the space between her eyes. “You’re due that. Your mother would’ve wanted it.”

She commenced a story of how she’d worked at the same brothel as Audrey and how they’d been friends. When Audrey had gotten pregnant the second time, they were sharing a flat.

“She took me under her wing when I had no one else, and after she’d given birth, she signed me up to have joint parental responsibility for your sister. It meant I could help out with taking her to the doctor and that kind of thing. Or that was my assumption. I didn’t question it, I loved being an aunt, and I was only young so it felt like an honour. Then one day, she called me and said she’d done something dangerous. She made a video.”

“About my father. She helped put him in jail.”

Flora held my gaze. “I knew then why she’d signed me up to co-parent. After your father did what he did, Addie had no one left. She became mine.”

“You adopted her?”

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