Page 104 of The Half Sister

‘Well there you go then,’ says Kate, breathing out her relief. ‘How much more proof do you need, to know that Dad wouldn’t cheat? On Mum or us.’

‘Jess is proven to be our half sister by her DNA,’ says Lauren sympathetically.

‘I’m running my own DNA test,’ says Kate.

Lauren looks at her quizzically. ‘What for?’

‘Just to be sure,’ says Kate. ‘I’m waiting for the results as we speak.’

‘Well, if you’ve sent off Dad’s DNA, hoping that it’s not going to be a match to Jess, then I’m afraid you’re going to be bitterly disappointed.’

Kate looks Lauren in the eyes. ‘It’s not Dad’s I’m testing, it’s Mum’s.’

‘Have you gone completely mad?’ gasps Lauren. ‘You can’t honestly think that’s a possibility?’

‘I’ve thought it was a possibility from the minute Jess turned up,’ says Kate, unapologetically. ‘That’s why I got so mad when you were insisting she was Dad’s, aside from the simple fact that I didn’t want her to be. You may have seen stuff, but I saw stuff too.’

Lauren swallows hard. ‘You really think Mum’s hiding something?’

‘Yes,’ says Kate forthrightly. ‘I just don’t know what.’

40

Kate

‘Kate, what’s going on?’ asks Matt, when she eventually gets home. ‘Even a Hollywood drugs bust wouldn’t have kept you at the office forthislong.’ He turns down the volume on the TV and sits forward on the couch, holding a bottle of beer.

‘I’ve been with Lauren and Jess,’ she says.

Matt puts the beer down on the table and looks at her earnestly.

‘And how did that go?’

‘She wants to find her mother.’

‘I know,’ says Matt. ‘She wrote the feature I told you about.’

‘I knew it,’ says Kate. ‘As soon as you told me she had a lead on a DNA piece, I knew it was going to be her own story.’

‘Well, you had more information at your disposal than I did. I’ve only just been made aware this afternoon that it’s her own story she pitched.’

Kate’s sure her heart’s stopped beating. ‘You can’t run it!’

Matt gets up and goes towards her. ‘I realize that. It was scheduled for tomorrow, but I’ve pulled it. I noticedyourscoop didn’t run today, either.’ He raises his eyebrows knowingly, but then smiles gently and takes Kate’s hands in his.

She gives an apologetic shrug. ‘I’m sorry...’

‘It’s okay,’ he says, pulling her into him and kissing the top of her head. ‘I understand why you did it, but I wish you’d told me the truth.’ He attempts to laugh. ‘We could have sent the entire nation out looking for Jess’s mother.’

Kate coughs as a strangled snigger catches in her throat ‘We already know who Jess’s mother is.’

Matt cocks his head back in astonishment. ‘We do?’

‘Yep,’ she says, as her phone rings in her pocket.

She sees that it’s Nancy from DS Labs and holds her hand up. ‘I’ve got to take this,’ she says to Matt.

‘Hi Kate, it’s Nancy. I’ve just got the preliminary results back in.’

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