Page 34 of The Midnight Secret

‘Of course you should have! Do you know what he could do to her? He’s twice her size!’ David cried, looking back at them both. He had always been a mild-mannered sort, but Mhairi remembered that as a child he’d had his sister’s temper when pushed.

‘...David, I know it’s hard to hear, but it’s not for any of us to intervene. Flora tried and failed. And the truth is, if Jaynehad wanted you to know, she’d have told you,’ she said as kindly as she could. ‘We have to respect her wishes. She’s a grown woman – she’ll do what she thinks is best.’

‘And what is that? Staying with him till one day he hits her that bit too hard and kills her?’

‘You think she should leave him?’ Donald asked him.

‘Of course she should.’

‘So then, you see now that sometimes a marriage isn’t godly? It can hide fouler sins?’

David stared back at him with blazing eyes as he realized the argument had come full circle. His elbows were splayed on his thighs, his head hanging heavy on his neck. He looked like a boxer in the corner of the ring. ‘And what could have been so bad inyourmarriage to compare to a woman being beaten till her bones break, Donald? What could have been worth giving up your child?’ David shook his head disgustedly. ‘You let Mary go to Canada! She’s taken your son halfway round the world. What kind of father would allow such a thing?’

Donald looked over at Mhairi again, their eyes locking. Everything came back to this. They couldn’t tell David their truth without revealing Flora’s. Their fates had been intertwined from the start, but with Mary – and Lorna – now gone to Canada, it was only a matter of time before the secrets became known.

Mhairi nodded at him reluctantly.

‘The baby isn’t mine, David.’

David blinked at him. ‘...What?’

Donald sighed, a low, whistling sound that carried suffering and pain, as he came to sit in the chair opposite. ‘There’s something you should know...’

‘There’s really no need,’ David said, as Mhairi pulled on her coat.

‘I’m in need of some fresh air anyway,’ she said. ‘I’ve been indoors all day.’

‘Wishing you a merry Christmas,’ Donald said solemnly as he shook David’s hand. ‘Thank y’ for coming to see us. Tell the others we miss them.’

David nodded but struggled to find words back. What he had just heard – learned – would take some time to absorb and settle.

The door closed behind them, and neither David nor Mhairi spoke as they wound their way down the staircase. She instinctively moved in silence now, her ears straining for the click of latches; it was impossible to enter or exit the building without being observed, although God knew she had tried. She could only guess at the comments that would be trailing her tomorrow after they’d seen her walking out with another man.

It was still sleeting outside and they pulled their coats tighter at their necks as they walked along the narrow street towards the bus station. Coal smoke hung heavily in the air, every chimney puffing, the sandstone buildings blackened by soot.

‘I’m sorry you had to hear all this from us,’ Mhairi said, seeing how David had fallen into his thoughts. ‘I know Flora would have wanted to tell you herself, but with Mary and Lorna taking off for Canada like that, and then the newspaper headlines on Flora leaving the show...I don’t know if she’s been in touch, but if your parents were to hear...’

‘Aye, you’re right. They’d have heard soon enough and they’d be fair worried.’

‘Will you tell them?’

‘I’m not sure.’ He glanced at her. ‘They’ve been through so much lately. Da’s only just getting stronger and Ma’s been onher last nerve for weeks. To tell them all this...’ His voice broke. ‘How would I begin to explain it to them? Flora secretly had a baby that Mary and Lorna then stole?’

‘I know.’ If Mhairi hadn’t been there herself, she would have struggled to believe it. She put a hand on his arm. ‘Flora had to make some terrible choices, David. It was difficult enough trying to hide her pregnancy until James could come back and make an honest woman of her. But when she heard he was dead...When her circumstances changed, she gave up her boy forhissake, so that he could take the McKinnons’ name and grow up in respectability.’

David flinched, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘And you? If...if what happened hadn’t happened, would you really have given Mary your child?’

Mhairi closed her eyes, remembering the moment she had held her daughter in her arms, pink and perfect – her red hair, Donald’s nose. Could she have done it? All her life, she had cared about being good, doing good, her good name. But if her daughter had only breathed, would she have followed through?

‘Flora’s stronger than me,’ she said finally. ‘I don’t know if I could have been that selfless. But I do know I would have had comfort from knowing she would have been with her father.’

‘Do your parents know? Is that why...?’

She shook her head. ‘No. It’s bad enough with them thinking I jilted Alexander to take up with Donald.’

‘They are fair upset about that,’ he confessed.

‘Aye. You can imagine how they’d feel about this.’

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