Page 123 of The Garden of Forgotten Wishes
‘She met your dad in late April the year before you were born and dumped me within the week – so there’s no way I could be your father,’ Ned said.
Jonas took some convincing, but when Ned said in exasperation that he’d even take a DNA test, if that made him feel better, he finally gave in. ‘But why would Mum sell lies to the newspaper?’
‘I think “sell” is a bit of a clue,’ I suggested.
‘Yes, she must have needed the money badly,’ agreed Ned. ‘And she didn’t actually come out and say I did all those things to the journalist, just suggested them. But none of them was true and I can prove it.’
The boy slumped and Steve, presumably deducing that the drama was over, slipped back out.
‘I hitchhiked here and it’s taken me all day,’ Jonas said accusingly, as if it was our fault. ‘No one seemed to be heading in this direction. It’s the back of nowhere.’
‘That’s why we like it,’ said Ned. ‘But hadn’t you better let your mum know where you are? She must be worried sick.’
‘I left a note, but I turned my phone off so she couldn’t call me,’ Jonas said. ‘Not that I expect she’s even noticed I’m not there yet.’
But there he did her an injustice, for the door burst open for the second time and a woman threw herself at him, shrieking, ‘Jonas!’ and tried to shake him.
I’d have known her anywhere, even if she was about twice the size she’d been at college. The excess weight was all well distributed, though, and she probably still looked pretty when she wasn’t snarling.
Jonas fended her off. ‘Leave me alone! I know the truth now.’
‘What do you mean?’ she demanded. ‘I’ve never told you anything but the truth!’
She whirled round on Ned. ‘What have you been telling him?’
She hadn’t noticed me, and started when I said, ‘Hello, Sammie – fancy meeting you here.’
‘You!’ she exclaimed, eyes widening. ‘I’ve heard all about you and the Heritage Homes Trust! What—’
‘You really shouldn’t believe all you hear,’ Ned interrupted. ‘Orread.’
She looked at him in a baffled way and then turned back to Jonas. ‘What were youthinkingof? Didn’t I tell you—’
‘He says he’s not my dad and I believe him.’
‘All right – I never said he was, did I?’ she snapped.
‘You let that journalist think he was.’
‘Well, I needed some money, once the maintenance from your dad stopped,’ she said, as if that excused it. ‘And now I’ve had to fork out a fortune for a taxi from the station to get here.’
‘No car?’ asked Ned.
‘Lost my licence,’ she snapped. ‘Just what I need when I’m trying to run a business.’
‘Oh, yes, it said in one of those articles you had a garden design business,’ I said. ‘Willow Wand Garden Transformations.’
‘You were speeding again, Mum,’ Jonas said, but she ignored him and turned to Ned.
‘The least you can do is drive us back to the station,’ she told him, as if it was all his fault.
But before he could reply, Jonas said wistfully, ‘Seeing I’m here, couldn’t I at least see the garden first, before we go?’
Ned looked at him with interest. ‘You like gardens?’
‘Yeah, and you’ve got one full of poison plants – cool!’
‘OK then,’ Ned said. ‘Come on – we’ll sort out that lift when we get back.’
