Page 55 of Merrily Ever After
‘Have you hurt your foot?’ Emily asked, noticing her dad limp as they made their way along the path around the garden.
Ray looked down at his shoes. ‘I don’t remember.’
It had taken all her powers of persuasion, but eventually Emily had coaxed him away from the TV and intowrapping up warmly. Fifteen minutes later, she had led him through the front doors and out into the crisp winter air. Now they were on their second lap. The sky was almost black, but there was plenty of lighting, from lamp posts, solar lanterns along pathways and even festoon lights criss-crossed above the oak tables and chairs on the terrace. There was a lawn intersected by large heather beds; and to the far side, a row of young trees, which Ray informed her were Victoria plum trees, beyond which was a well-tended vegetable plot.
She steered him to a bench that looked like an upended wooden rowing boat, the pointed stern forming a roof above their heads. She tugged off his shoe and found a piece of gravel inside it.
‘There,’ she said, slipping his foot back in, and sitting beside him. ‘That’ll be more comfortable.’
‘It’s a lovely hotel, this, Tina,’ Ray said, looking back at Springwood House through the twilight. ‘I like it.’
Emily smiled, not bothering to correct him. He was settling in well and that was the main thing. ‘Good. That makes me very happy.’
‘Remember that hotel we stayed in once, Teen?’ he said, chuckling. ‘The lock broke off the bedroom door and it was ages until we got rescued. We used to have fun, didn’t we, love? When I wasn’t being an idiot.’
‘I’m sure you did,’ replied Emily, taking her dad’s hands in hers. They were like ice because he’d refused to wear any gloves. She’d take him back inside soon, but while he was in the mood to reminisce, there was still something she wanted to talk about. And it was nice hearing him call her mum ‘Teen’; she hadn’t heard that for years.
‘I don’t blame you for showing me the door, you know,’ said Ray. He slumped back on the bench and huddled downinside his coat. ‘You had to put up with a lot from me. You and little Emily were better off without me anyway.’
‘Let’s talk about this.’ She pulled the baby photograph out of her coat pocket. She was conscious of sounding like a broken record, but she needed answers.
He peered at the photograph. ‘Too dark.’
Fair point. Emily turned on the torch app on her phone. ‘It’s you, can you see? With a baby.’
‘Oh shit.’ He rubbed a hand roughly over his forehead. ‘I didn’t want you to find that, Teen.’
‘I know the baby isn’t Emily.’ She watched a muscle twitch below his eye.
Ray nodded and said nothing for a while. Then he sighed.
‘You were good to me, Teen. Better than I deserved. When you told me that Christmas that you were expecting, you were so happy, I couldn’t let you down. I couldn’t tell you what I knew. I know I was useless, but I loved you, you know.’ He glanced sideways at Emily.
‘Tina felt the same about you.’ Emily swallowed, her dad looked so sincere, there was no doubting he was telling the truth. ‘You were the love of her life.’
‘And I ruined everything.’ He shook his head sadly.
‘You’ve said that before, but what do you mean? I know this photograph means a lot to you, but why?’
‘It’s all I’ve got.’ He leaned forward, elbows to knees and dropped his head in his hands.
‘Of the baby?’ she prompted.
‘I didn’t want you to know, Tina. I didn’t want to hurt you.’ Ray’s shoulders began to heave.
‘Know what?’ Emily’s entire body was rigid with tension, she turned to face him. ‘Please, Ray, just tell me. I need to know.’
A second passed, and then another.
‘That’s my daughter.’ He reached a finger to the picture and touched the baby’s face.
‘I’m your daughter.’ She cupped his face in her hands. ‘Look at me, I’m Emily. What I mean is, whose baby is this?’
But Ray didn’t seem to see her, he gazed off into the distance.
‘I didn’t even know she’d been born until she was a few weeks old. We were friends at first, me and Sam. I fell hard for her, but she never felt the same, even said that the baby wasn’t mine. It was before I met you, Tina. I didn’t cheat on you. The next time I saw Sammy, it was obvious that the little girl was mine. Sam still wouldn’t admit it but I knew. The thing was, I’d met you by then and you’d found out you were expecting. I felt as if I was letting everyone down.’ Tears leaked from his eyes and Emily found a tissue and handed it to him. ‘It was all such a bloody mess.’
‘Who is the baby?’ Her heart pounded; the truth was almost within reach.
