Page 148 of The Bookshop of Memories

Callum rolled his eyes. ‘I have not got a thing for Thea.’

‘I see the way you look at her,’ said Mabel.

‘Well, you’re wrong. I can’t look at her that way.’

‘Why – are you gay?’

‘No. She’s my sister!’ blurted Callum. He stopped, and stared at Mabel in the heavy silence.

Mabel said slowly, ‘I’m sorry – what did you just say?’

‘She’s my sister.’

Mabel shook her head. ‘But how can that be?’

‘Because before Henry met their mother, he was with mine.’ In conversation with Thea he’d found out her age. It all made sense now. ‘Henry is my father too. He sent me here with the yellow campervan to give to the girls. That’s how I have the photo of the two of them.’

Mabel was still shaking her head. ‘No, he was a bachelor in his late thirties before he met their mother.’

Callum slowly shook his head from side to side, and said, ‘Just how well did you really know your brother? You said yourself you were estranged from Henry for years.’

‘But I never saw him with another woman besides the mother of those girls.’

‘He went travelling, didn’t he? In his campervan for weeks on end.’

‘Yes, they were business trips.’

‘Were they, now?’ said Callum.

Mabel was still shaking his head, looking at Callum sceptically. ‘Well, if that’s all true, why on earth did Henry leave it this long to tell you about his other family?’

‘I’m sorry to intrude on this conversation,’ said Ray, ‘but I know there’s one way to clear all this up.’

‘How?’ said Mabel and Callum in unison.

‘Take a DNA test.’

Callum rolled his eyes. ‘I do not need to take one of those. I know who I am.’ He looked at Mabel. ‘I thinkyoushould take one. I know you don’t believe me that Henry is really your brother.’

‘No, I don’t.’

‘Take a test then, to be sure.’

Ray said, ‘Is Henry around to take the test with?’

Mabel swivelled her head in Callum’s direction. ‘Where is he? You promised you’d tell us.’

Callum sighed. ‘He’s in Scotland.’

‘What’s he doing all the way up there?’

‘I told you, he’s with my mother. Well, he was.’

‘They’re no longer together?’

Callum nodded. ‘I guess you could say that. He lives in a care home.’

‘A care home?’ Mabel looked at him in disbelief. ‘At his age?’

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