Page 84 of The Christmas Invitation
‘And perhaps we should tell Lex at the same time,’ said Clara. ‘I know he’s not related to you except through my marriage, Meg, but he’ll have to know and it will save having to explain the whole thing over again.’
Lex!Amid all these revelations, I hadn’t thought about how he was going to take the news! I hardly imagined he’d welcome me warmly into the family circle, especially since now there was a good chance he’d never ever quite get rid of me.
‘I think you’re being a bit hasty,’ I said. ‘We should at least wait till we know for certain.’
‘Wedoknow, and DNA testing will take some time, especially since it’s so close to Christmas,’ Clara said. ‘But I’ve been thinking, and it occurs to me that your mother might have hadsome papers about her adoption, or even her birth certificate, since it was an unofficial adoption? Did she ever mention having anything like that?’
‘She did tell me once that she’d brought her birth certificate with her when she ran away, because she thought she might need it for a passport one day. It’s probably in the tin trunk she stored things in at the Farm.’
‘Well then, if so, we might find some information on it to confirm who her mother was,’ Clara suggested.
I got up, fired by a sudden need to know for sure. ‘I’ll ring River and see if he’ll go and look.’
Luckily, I got hold of him right away and he said he’d send Oshan up to the attic for the trunk and call me back shortly … which he did.
And the mother’s name on the birth certificatewasVanessa Cassidy; father unknown.
Suddenly it all seemed very real. Still holding the phone in a slightly shaking hand I relayed this information and then, prompted by Henry, suggested to River that he bring the birth certificate and any other documents with him when he came to stay.
Typically, River hadn’t asked me why I was interested, but I told him anyway. ‘Thank you for finding the certificate, River. It means I know now who Mum’s biological parents were, and also that I’m related to the Doomes,’ I finished.
‘Karma,’ he said, placidly. ‘The Goddess works in mysterious ways.’
Then he added that he’d be setting off early next morning for Sticklepond and to stay overnight with his friend Gregory Warlock, as planned, and would then come on to Starstone Edge on Tuesday afternoon.
‘How very satisfactory,’ said Clara when I’d rung off, handing me another glass of mead. ‘Here’s to the newest member of the family!’
I found myself clinking glasses with them, while feeling as if I was trapped in the weirdest dream ever.
We hadn’t heard the others come back, but now the door opened and Tottie said, ‘Carousing already?’
‘A little celebration – we’ll tell you and Den all about it later,’ said Henry as Teddy burst in, brandishing a long, foil-wrapped parcel like a slightly battered sword.
‘Look, Uncle Henry! Fred’s given us a pike he had in his freezer and Den says he’s going to cook it for New Year!’
‘I hope it’s only got one head, then,’ said Henry gravely.
‘I checked,’ Teddy said seriously, and then Den followed him in and took away the fish before it prematurely defrosted.
‘Pike are carnivorous,’ said Clara. ‘Do we want to eat a fish that eats other fish?’
‘A good point, my dear,’ said Henry. ‘But if we eat fish at all, then I suppose it makes little difference.’
‘I’ve never heard of anyone eating pike,’ I said.
Den returned in time to catch that and said he had an old recipe for the fish he’d like to try out.
Teddy asked if he could watch TV in the morning room till lunch was ready, and went off with Lass for company. As soon as he was out of earshot, Clara said to Den and Tottie, ‘I’ve got something to tell you!’ before explaining their discovery about me.
‘Don’t surprise me, does it?’ said Den.
‘How lovely,’ Tottie said warmly. ‘I mean, it was sad that your mother was adopted, but all’s well that ends well, because we’ve found you now!’
‘We’re keeping it quiet until we’ve told Sybil tomorrow, and Mark and Lex at the same time, we thought,’ explained Clara. ‘We’ll give Teddy a simple version a little later today.’
‘He’s going to be delighted,’ Henry said, butIthought the rest of my new-found family might not be quite as keen on the idea …
‘It did occur to me the other day that Meg and Mark looked as alike as two peas in a pod,’ said Tottie. ‘Only one was penny plain and the other tuppence coloured, as it were. Couldn’t miss it, though,’ she said, then searched out her pinafore from the collection stuffed under a sofa cushion and left with Den to help prepare lunch.
