Page 22 of The Pearl Sister
‘Merope.’
‘You’ve not mentioned her before.’
‘No. She never turned up. Or at least, Pa only brought six sisters home.’
‘That’s weird.’
‘Yeah, now I think back, my whole childhood was weird.’
‘Do you know why he adopted all of you?’
‘No, but you don’t really wonder when you’re a child, do you? You just accept it. I loved having Star and my sisters around me. Have you got brothers or sisters?’
‘I’m an only child, so I never had to share anything.’ He gave a sharp laugh, then turned to me. ‘You don’t talk much about your other sisters. What are they like?’
‘Maia and Ally are the two oldest. Maia is really sweet, and so clever – she speaks about a million languages – and Ally is amazing, like, really brave and strong. She’s had a bad time recently, but she’s getting through it. I really admire her, you know? I’d like to be like her.’
‘So, Ally is your role model in the family?’
‘Maybe, yeah, she is. And Tiggy . . .’ I thought for a second, wondering how best to describe her. ‘Other than Star, she’s the sister I’m closest to. She’s very . . . what’s the word for someone who seems to understand things without you saying them out loud?’
‘Intuitive?’ Ace guessed.
‘Yes. She’s got this incredibly positive way of looking at the world. If I painted it the way she saw it, it would just be the most beautiful thing. And then there’s Electra,’ I mumbled, ‘but we don’t get on.’ Then I turned the questioning back on him. ‘What about your childhood?’
‘Like you, I didn’t think it was weird at the time. I loved my mum and being brought up in Thailand, then shortly after she died I was sent to school in England.’
‘That must have been hard, being away from everything you knew.’
‘It was . . . fine.’
‘What about your dad?’ I asked.
‘I told you, I don’t know him.’
The timbre of his voice was terse, and I sensed not to ask him more, even though I was seriously curious.
‘Have you ever wondered if Pa Salt was your real father?’ he asked eventually out of the darkness.
‘I’ve never even thought about it,’ I said, even though suddenly Iwasthinking about it. ‘That would mean he travelled the world collecting his six illegitimate daughters.’
‘That would be strange,’ Ace agreed, ‘but surely there must be a reason?’
‘Who knows? And actually, who cares? He’s dead now, so I’m never going to find out.’
‘You’re right. No point dwelling on the past, is there?’
‘No, but we all do. We all think of mistakes we’ve made and wish we could change them.’
‘You haven’t made any mistakes to change, have you? It was your parents who did that by giving you up.’
I turned to look at Ace then, and maybe it was the moonlight, but his eyes seemed too bright, like he was holding back tears.
‘Is that what your dad did? Gave you up?’
‘No. So, are you going to search for your birth parents in Australia then?’
It was the patented Ace method of question-tennis and the ball had been expertly returned to me. I let him have this one because I knew he was upset.
