Page 5 of The Half Sister

‘What?’ asks Rose abruptly, looking from the woman to Simon and back again.

Kate is still on her knees, surveying the scene across the top of the table.

‘Yeah, it’s actually Harry I’m after,’ says the woman. ‘Harry Alexander. Is he around?’

Kate feels her blood run cold as her brain struggles to comprehend what this woman might want. But whichever way she looks at it, asking for a man almost a year after his death can’t be a good thing.

‘Sorry, what is it we can help you with?’ asks Kate, rising to her full height.

The woman looks at her feet as they shuffle from side to side. ‘It’s probably best if I speak to Harry first,’ she says.

‘Well, he’s not here,’ says Kate tightly, her chest feeling like a coiled spring. ‘What is it you want with him?’

‘Are you Lauren?’

Kate feels her mum shift beside her, but Lauren, she notices, is stock still. Even her swaying to comfort the baby has stopped.

‘Sorry, whoareyou?’ asks Kate, ignoring the question.

‘I’m Jess,’ says the woman, before clearing her throat.

‘And what do you want with Harry?’ asks Rose shakily.

Jess eyes her warily. ‘I need to talk to him. It’s really important.’

Kate looks to Rose. ‘I’ll let him know you came by,’ she says, as her mother and sister’s heads turn in her direction. ‘What should I say it’s about?’ she goes on, ignoring their perplexed stares.

The woman looks down at the floor again, as if summoning the courage she needs to say what she’s about to say.

‘I’m his daughter,’ she says eventually. ‘Tell him his daughter came to see him.’

3

Kate

‘What?’ gasps Kate, as the room spins around her. She looks to her mother, who is standing open-mouthed, as if frozen in time. ‘But...but that’s not possible,’ she stutters, her voice sounding as if somebody has a hand around her throat.

‘I think you’d better leave,’ are the first words that Rose says. ‘I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’ve no business coming here.’

‘My name’s Jess and I just want to see my father – that’s all.’

‘Well, he’s not here,’ says Kate, feeling ever more present. ‘You’ve come to the wrong place. You’ve got the wrong man.’

‘I’m sorry – I just wanted to—’ begins Jess.

‘You need to go – now!’ barks Rose, in a tone that Kate hasn’t heard before.

‘Can we not at least talk about it?’

‘There’s nothing to say,’ hisses Rose. ‘As my daughter says, you’ve come to the wrong place.’

Jess reaches into the handbag on her shoulder, pulls out a crumpled piece of paper and reads it. ‘It’s Rose, isn’t it?’ she says, extending her hand, but Rose doesn’t even flinch.

‘And you must be Kate, or are you Lauren?’ She attempts a smile.

Kate stands firm, her jaw set, staring at the woman who has just thrown a grenade into her world.

‘Look, I can see this is a huge shock to you all,’ says Jess. ‘And I’m sorry – I had no idea you didn’t know. Otherwise I would never have...’

---