Page 19 of The Half Sister

‘You’d better start talking,’ says Kate, coming in and throwing her handbag onto the table, ‘and it had better be good, because I swear to God...’

Lauren looks from her sister to her mother and back again. ‘I was just explaining to Mum...’ she starts, wishing her voice sounded far more authoritative than it does. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous – she’s not done anything wrong.

‘So, I’ll start from the beginning again,’ she goes on, sitting down and spreading her hands out on the table. She hopes and prays that Jude will wake up and need to be fed, or Emmy grows bored of the brightly coloured toys that are littered all over the floor. Anything to create a distraction, to give her more space, as the intensity of the moment is making her feel claustrophobic. She loosens the neck of the top she’s wearing as heat burns her ears and makes her brain feel as if it’s boiling in its own fluid.You’ve done nothing wrong, she says to herself again, though evenshe’snot convinced.

‘Ever since Dad died, it’s felt like the three of us have grown apart.’ She looks to Kate, whose jaw is set, lips pulled tight as she glares back. Rose is staring blankly down at the table, but Lauren hopes she’s at least listening. ‘It’s as if there’s just been this huge hole, a vortex that felt like it was sucking us in.’

‘It’s called grief,’ says Kate tartly, seemingly unable to keep the vitriol from her voice. ‘That’s what happens when someone you love dies. Though I’m surprised you’d feel it to that degree.’

Lauren swallows the barbed comment, refusing to let it get to her, but in some respects Kate’s right. She can’t possibly claim to have felt their father’s death in the same way as Kate did. Lauren’s relationship with Harry was complicated, multi-layered, the result of a firstborn being taught hard lessons by a father who didn’t know any different. They say ignorance is bliss, but she’d paid a high price for his.

‘He wasmyfather too.’

Kate curls her lip disdainfully.

‘So, I was wondering how to close this divide that seems to have opened up between us. If we’re all honest, our Sunday lunches have become strained and it doesn’t feel as if some of us even want to be here. But just because Dad is no longer with us, it doesn’t mean that we should give up something we once looked forward to.’

Kate shrugs her shoulders.

‘I thought that if we had something in common, a shared interest, that it might bring us closer together.’

‘So what has any of this got to do with the girl?’ asks Kate impatiently.

‘I thought it would be a good idea to look back over our heritage and find out more about who we really are,’ Lauren continues. ‘It’s ironic really, to feel compelled to do something like that after losing the very person who could answer all our questions for us.’

‘Isn’t it?’ snipes Kate.

‘Anyway,’ Lauren goes on, ‘I registered with a website that finds your ancestors and distant relatives and...’

Kate sits more upright in her chair, whilst Rose seems to crumple in hers.

‘So, you’ve made a clumsy attempt at tracing our family tree and ended up with a woman who claims to be related to us.’ Kate exhales, showing visible signs of relief. ‘There are a lot of lonely people out there looking for a family,anyfamily, to attach themselves to. This woman must have thought she’d struck gold when she found you.’

Lauren offers a tight smile. ‘I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple.’

‘Why not?’ asks Kate. ‘We all know that there’s absolutely no way that Dad would ever have had an affair, least of all one that resulted in a child.’ She looks to Rose and laughs, but Lauren can hear that it’s hollow. ‘Right, Mum?’

Rose starts at the sound of her name and looks around, as if seeing the scene for the first time.

‘Dad would never have had an affair, would he?’ Kate pushes. ‘It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.’

Rose’s hands are shaking so violently that Lauren puts her own hand on top of them.

‘Well, how else do you explain it?’ asks Lauren.

‘There’s nothing to explain,’ says Kate. ‘This is just a classic example of how badly managed these websites are. It’s just names in a hat that anyone can pick up and run with. I can’t believe you’ve allowed yourself to be taken in by it.’ She looks at Lauren scathingly.

Lauren swallows hard, wondering what part of this Kate is missing. ‘It’s not just names,’ she says bluntly. ‘It’s moved on from family trees. This is about science – this is about DNA.’

Kate looks at her blankly, her mouth slowly dropping open.

‘This isn’t a case of mistaken identity,’ Lauren goes on. ‘Or some fly-by-night who fancies their chances at infiltrating a random family. I uploaded my DNA profile.’

Kate stands up, looming over Lauren and Rose, gripping hold of the table that sits between them. ‘Mean-ing?’ she says in two slow syllables, her eyes flickering rapidly.

‘Meaning, Jess also uploaded her DNA profile, and we’re a match.’

Rose lets out an involuntary sob and puts a tissue to her mouth to absorb the sound. But little Emmy has already heard it and looks at her grandmother, perplexed, before standing herself up and waddling over to her, as if she knows that something’s wrong. The innocence of the moment makes Rose cry even more.

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