Page 79 of A Part of Me and You
‘Rosie,’ I say to her. ‘Her name is Rosie, the same as my mother’s name. How could you forget that? I told you that.’
‘Rosie, of course,’ says Eliza.
‘It’s Rosie in the picture,’ I say to her. ‘Not our Lily, and I think that Matt might be her biological father.’
We sit in silence for a few seconds. Eliza tries to speak, then stops. Then she tries again.
‘Do you know this for sure?’
Again I shrug and shake my head. ‘I don’t know for sure at all,’ I reply. ‘I just needed to see if you could see the resemblance too but it doesn’t add up. How can he be? It just doesn’t add up. She said the man’s name was Skipper.’
Eliza tilts her head and takes a deep breath.
‘And have you spoken to Matt about this yet?’ Eliza asks. ‘Have you shown him this photo? You need to confirm this with him, before we all jump to conclusions that may not be true.’
I sniffle and wipe my tears and nose on the back of my sleeve. I am a mess. I must look an awful mess.
‘I know I have to do that but I can’t tell him on the phone when he’s so far away,’ I say to her. ‘Juliette said his name was Skipper. He was a boatman. Matt knows nothing about boats. He didn’t even live here that summer, so how could he be Rosie’s biological father?’
‘He—’
‘He was in Dublin back then with his ex, Alicia, I know every part of his life story, Eliza. They were practically engaged, he told me, but then things started to go badly and they were arguing a lot and she called it all off and put him out and he never saw her again. He came back home to Killara and then the following summer, that’s when he met me, isn’t that right? Isn’t that what happened?’
Eliza is fidgeting. Eliza never fidgets.
‘I first got to know Betty through Alicia,’ says Eliza.
‘Betty?’ I say to my mother-in-law. ‘What the hell has Betty got to do with this or Alicia? I don’t give a shit about Alicia or Betty. I’m talking about my husband …’
Eliza puts her hand on my knee and hushes me. It works.
‘Betty came here from Limerick to visit us once with Alicia and she loved it so much she came back and stayed,’ says Eliza. ‘There must be something in the water that brings people here to heal and live a happier life and just stay. It happened with Betty. Alicia, Matt’s ex, is Betty’s niece.’
I look up at Eliza, puzzled.
‘What? Her niece? But why didn’t anyone mention that to me before?’
Eliza shrugs.
‘Well, I didn’t really ever find the opportunity to tell you that and to be honest it has never really seemed very important,’ she says. ‘Betty is just Betty to me now and has been for many years. She’s a really good friend and when you needed someone to help out at the shop after Lily, I knew she would be the right person for the job. It was never important that she was related to Alicia, not until now of course.’
‘Until now? Why? Because of this?’ I ask, afraid of the answer coming my way.
‘Because back in the day, Alicia confided in Betty as to why she asked Matt to leave and why their relationship ended,’ Eliza explains to me. ‘And there are two sides to every story as we all know. Matt’s, as it turns out, was a bit leaner than Alicia’s version of events, let’s say.’
My stomach is sick. I don’t know if I want to hear any more but I have to.
‘I didn’t know this until today and Betty only told me to get it off her chest,’ she continues. ‘But Alicia ended things with Matt because he came home here to Killara for a weekend after a row they’d had. He’d got drunk and confessed to her afterwards that he’d had a very regretful one-night stand with an English girl who was passing through. Her name, Alicia thought, was Julie. But now it looks like it was your friend Juliette.’
My blood runs cold. So it is true then. It has to be true. I drop my phone onto my lap. I feel like I am looking at my life through a blurry lens. It looks like Matt has a daughter. He has a daughter that isn’t Lily and who isn’t mine.
‘And Skipper?’ I ask, my throat drying up with every breath.
‘The name Skipper must have been a safe decoy for him, I guess,’ says Eliza. ‘I’m thinking that he deliberately gave her the wrong name in case anyone would hear of it and in case Alicia would find out. They were a very well-known couple around here at the time so I’m not surprised he was trying to be incognito.’
My eyes dart around the kitchen, then to Eliza, then to the floor and then to the photo on my phone on my lap. I lift it and look at it closely again.
‘Oh my God,’ I whisper, my face crumpling as it all clicks into place.
