by Rose, Louise
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Daisy,” I reassured her. “But could we come in and speak to your parents? I’ve got something I need to discuss with them in private.”
“O-okay. Mum! Dad! Mr Donatello and Miss Knight are here!” Daisy beckoned for us to come inside and led the way to the lounge where her mum was watching TV.
“Mr Donatello.” She stood up, looking confused. “Is everything all right? What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping I could have a word with you and your husband, Mrs May.”
“Is this about the bullying?” Mr May strode into the room. “It’s about time the school took it seriously. The number of times Daisy’s come home in floods of tears is ridiculous. We’ve been trying to tell her to toughen up, but she shouldn’t have to deal with that in the first place.”
“No, you’re right. She shouldn’t,” I said. “And we can discuss that in a moment, but I’ve got something else I need to talk to you about first. Would it be possible to have a chat without Daisy in the room?”
“I can go with Daisy,” Milly offered. “I can talk to her about the bullying.”
Mr and Mrs May exchanged a worried glance. “Okay. Daisy – why don’t you take Miss Knight to your room?”,
“Okay.” Daisy gestured to Milly to follow her and the two of them left. I shut the door behind them before going back to sit on the chair opposite Mr and Mrs May, who sat next to each other on the couch. Mr May took his wife’s hand and they both looked at me, concerned frowns wrinkling their faces.
“There’s no easy way to say it, so I’m just going to come right out with it,” I said. “Does Daisy know she’s adopted?”
Mrs May gasped, a hand fluttering up to cover her mouth.
“How did you know?” Mr May asked.
“Because she’s my sister,” I said.
“No! She can’t be!” Mrs May said. “When we adopted her, we were told she had no family. The agency said her parents had died in a car crash when she was a baby and there were no surviving relatives to take her in.”
“The agency may well have believed that to be true, but you were misinformed. Not only is Daisy’s mother very much alive, she was the one responsible for kidnapping my daughter last week.”
“I don’t understand. How can this be true?” Mr May said. “We used a very reputable agency. They thoroughly vet all the children they adopt out. They only deal with children from good backgrounds, children whose parents have died leaving them with no one to look after them.” He lowered his voice, even though there was no one to overhear. “You hear so many stories of children with terrible problems coming from mothers with drink and drug problems. The adoptions go horribly wrong. We wanted to make sure that our child would be perfect, just like Daisy.”
“I’m really sorry, but by the sound of it, the agency you used completely lied about what they do,” I told him. “My mother is a very disturbed individual who sold me to Penelope Donatello and, no doubt, sold Daisy to your agency.”
“Oh my goodness!” Mrs May looked like she might faint.
“I’m sorry, Mr Donatello, but I really cannot believe that what you’re saying is true,” Mr May said. “Do you have any proof to back up your allegations?”
“I do.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the documents Gabriel Knight had sent me. I passed them over to the Mays. “There’s a copy of Daisy’s and my birth certificates, naming my mother on both of them. My mother named her Lillian after our grandmother, but the agency changed her name. There’s a copy of the deed poll document there as well. If you need more evidence, I’m sure I can arrange for you to have a meeting with the investigators to go over everything, but there really isn’t any doubt. Daisy is my sister.”
The Mays perused the documents, looking paler by the minute as the truth of what I was telling them hit home.
“So what do we do now?” Mr May asked. “Daisy doesn’t know she’s adopted.”
“Obviously, I don’t want to do anything to upset your family,” I said. “If you don’t want to tell Daisy she’s adopted, I’ll respect that – for now. But she has a right to know she has a brother and I want to get to know my sister beyond her being one of my students. If you don’t want to tell her right now, I can wait. But sooner or later she’s going to find out the truth. Don’t you think it would be better for her to hear it from you rather than finding it out from someone else?”
Mr and Mrs May exchanged a glance.
“We always said we’d tell her when the time was right,” Mrs May said. “Maybe that time is now?”
“It might make the bullies back off if they know that Daisy’s brother is the head,” Mr May said. “All right. Let’s tell her the truth.”
She got up and went out of the room. I heard her calling up the stairs for Daisy and soon Daisy was sitting next to her parents while Milly came to sit in the chair next to me.
“Daisy, we need to tell you something.” Her mother took hold of one of her hands. “We always meant to tell you, but somehow the time was never right. But we feel that you deserve to know the truth.”
“That I’m adopted?” Daisy said.
“You know?”
“I’ve known for years.” Daisy rolled her eyes. “I was looking for some paper to do a picture and I found some documents in your office. It made a lot of things made sense, but I wasn’t upset about it. I figured that you chose to be my parents, which makes our relationship even more special and I thought I’d find out about my birth family when I was older.”
“About that…” Mr May shuffled about uneasily. “We were told that you didn’t have any family. That was why we chose you. You had no one to take care of you, no brothers or sisters, no parents or grandparents. The agency told us that your family died in a car crash. But we’ve just found out that that was a lie.”
“That’s weird.” Daisy frowned. “So what did happen to them?”
Mr May looked at me, indicating that I should take over telling the story.
“I don’t know about your father, but your birth mother is very much alive,” I told her. “No one knows where she is right now, but I’ve got people look for her.”
“Why would you do that?”
I took a deep breath. “Because I’m your brother.”
Daisy’s expression would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so serious. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened while her skin paled.
“My brother? But you’re the head! You can’t be my brother. You’re ancient!”
“I’m not that old.” I laughed. “But our mum was really young when she had me. I don’t think she’d planned on having any more children, but when you came along, she must have figured out that she could make some more money.”
“More money?” Daisy asked.
“She effectively sold me to Penelope Donatello,” I told her. “And then she kidnapped my daughter and forced me to sign over all my money to her. I’ll be honest, Mr and Mrs May. I don’t think there’s enough money in the world to satisfy my mother. It’ll take her a while to burn through the Donatello fortune, but when she has, I wouldn’t be surprised if she came after Daisy. I think the agency targeted you because they knew you were wealthy and associated with House Knight. Having taken all the Donatello money, my mother is going to want to go after the Knights.”
“Well, she’ll have a fight on her hand if she does,” Mr May snarled, clenching his fists. “I won’t let that woman get anywhere near my little girl. I don’t care if she gave birth to her. Daisy’s my daughter and I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt her.”
“My mother’s sneaky,” I warned him. “She’ll come after you when you’re least expecting it. But we’ve got people looking for her and they’re the best at what they do. It won’t be long before we find her.”
“We’ll help,” Mr May offered. “Anything we can do, let us know.”
“But she’s my mother. She wouldn’t hurt me,” Daisy said.
“You don’t know her,” I s
aid. “She’s not normal. She’s had serious drink and drug problems in the past. She’s had a tough life and it’s twisted her. You didn’t see what she did to Amber, what she was prepared to do. Anyone who is willing to hurt their young granddaughter won’t think twice about harming any of their other relatives.”
“Oh.” Daisy gulped and looked down.
“But I didn’t come here to talk about her,” I said. “I want to talk about you, about us. You have no idea how happy I was to find out I had a sister. I’ve always wanted a family and I’d really like it if you wanted to spend some time together, get to know each other.”
“That would be weird,” Daisy said. “I mean, you’re the head and you’re dating my English teacher. How can I see you as my brother?”
“Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t think I’m going to be head for much longer,” I told her. “I took the job because I wanted to find you. Now that I have, I don’t know whether I want to stay at the Academy. Then again, with my mother running off with the content of my bank balance, maybe I’ll stay on because I need the money!” I laughed, my weak joke bringing a smile to Daisy’s face. “But seriously, Daisy, maybe we’ll have nothing in common and we’ll drift apart. But I’d really like to try to get to know each other, build some family ties, that is, if it’s okay with your parents?”
“As far as I’m concerned, the more people who can watch Daisy’s back, the better,” Mr May said.
“I agree,” Mrs May nodded. “After Amber’s kidnapping, you can’t be too careful. It would be good for Daisy to get to know her brother.”
“Why don’t you come out with us next week?” Milly offered. “We’re taking Amber to the beach. It’ll be a laidback day, fish and chips, candy floss, sunbathing…”
“I’d like that,” Daisy said at last. “You’re right. It would be good to get to know each other.”
We smiled at each other and I felt like everything was going to be all right. Finally, I was going to have the family I’d always dreamed of.
Chapter Eighty-Seven
Milly
One month later
“So, it’s okay for me to take the A level students on a field trip to see Anthony and Cleopatra?” I asked Lucas.
“I’ll be honest,” he replied. “After what happened with Amber, I feel nervous about allowing students off campus.”
“I get that,” I said. “But you can’t let your mother spoil the rest of your life. She’s gone and she’s not coming back any time soon. These are sixth formers, not nursery kids. They’re a lot more street savvy. They’re not going to go off with anyone. And Daisy will be on the trip. You could come with us and keep an eye on your kid sister.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to spoil her street cred.” Lucas leaned back in his swivel chair, thinking about what I’d said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t let my mother affect my decisions. She’s probably sunning herself on a beach in Monaco right now.”
“I wish I was on a beach in Monaco.” I sighed. “I think we could all do with a holiday after everything we’ve been through.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Lucas said. “We could take Amber and ask Daisy if she’d like to come. It would be a good opportunity to have some family time.”
“I’m so glad you and Daisy are getting on,” I said. “She’s one of my favourite students and she’s growing into a lovely young woman. Amber’s so lucky to have her as an aunt.”
“Yes, and they get on like a house on fire,” Lucas said. “I think having Amber around has made it easier for Daisy and me to build a relationship. It’s not quite so awkward when you’ve got a small child to entertain.”
“Yeah, it might have been difficult for the two of you to connect without Amber to help bridge the gap,” I observed. “That ten-year age difference isn’t going to matter when she’s in her mid-twenties, but right now, you’re just an old guy to her.”
“Hey! Enough of the old!” Lucas protested. “I can still party with the best of them. If you’re not careful I’m going to have to put you over my knee.”
“Ooh, promises, promises.” I smiled flirtatiously. “You know, we never did try out your desk.”
“That’s easily rectified.” Lucas started to pull off his tie, coming round to my side of his desk. He leaned forward and kissed me, his hands running down the front of my blouse. I could feel my nipples tighten in anticipation and I moaned, shifting forward in my chair to get closer to him.
Knock, knock!
“Are you kidding?” I groaned, thumping the arm of my chair with frustration.
“Sorry, Mills. You’re going to have to hold that thought.”
We quickly tidied up our appearance as whoever it was at the door knocked again.
“Come in!” called Lucas as he sat back down in his chair.
I turned round to see who was there and I was stunned to see my father walk in.
“Gabriel!” Lucas was clearly as surprised as I was as he stood up to extend a hand to Dad. They shook hands and Lucas gestured to the chair next to me. “Please, take a seat.”
Dad sat down and nodded at me. “Milly.”
“Hi, Dad.”
“What can I do for you, Gabriel?” Lucas asked.
“It’s more what I can do for you,” Dad replied. “Have you checked your bank balance recently?”
“Not much point,” Lucas said. “I know what it’s going to say.”
“Are you sure?”
A quizzical frown on his face, he took his phone out and logged into his bank account via the app. From the stunned expression on his face, it wasn’t what he expected to see.
“I-I don’t understand,” Lucas said. “All the money’s back – plus interest! But how?”
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Dad said. “Plausible deniability and all that. Suffice to say that you won’t be bothered by that woman ever again.”
“This is incredible,” Lucas breathed. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”
“Just treat my daughter right.” Dad looked at him meaningfully.
“Don’t worry, Gabriel. I have every intention of doing that.”
“Glad to hear it. Well, I can’t stick around – I’ve got another meeting to get to. Perhaps the two of you and Amber would like to come over for dinner one night this week? I have a few business ideas I’d like to run past you.”
“That would be great,” Lucas said, getting up to escort my dad to the door.
“Excellent. I’ll have my secretary call to set up a time.”
My father left and Lucas shut the door behind him. He looked at me, delighted. “I’ve got my money back.”
“So I gathered.” I smiled. Lucas’s happiness was infectious.
“Now that I’m financially independent again, I can ask you something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Lucas said.
“I’m intrigued.”
“Look, everyone knows we’re dating and that I’m Amber’s dad. So why don’t we be a real family? Why don’t you move in with me?”
“Move in with you? That’s a big step.”
“Bigger than having a child together?”
“I guess not.” I pretended to think about it, wanting to make Lucas sweat a little, although I’d arelady made up my mind. “All right. Let’s do it. Let’s move in together.”
“Yes!” Lucas came and swept me off my feet, picking me up and spinning me round before setting me down on his desk. “Now then. Let’s find out just how sturdy this desk is…”
Epilogue
One year later
“I’m glad we left Amber back at the hotel with Daisy. She’d never have coped with this hill.” I panted as I tried to keep up with Lucas while we walked through beautiful Sri Lankan woodlands. The scenery was stunning, but we were climbing quite a steep hill and Amber had reached that stage where she complained about everything. Listening to her whining would have ruined the mood and Lucas and I deserved a bit of romantic alone time.
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sp; Lucas pulled up. “Listen. Can you hear that?”
I stopped walking and tilted my head to one side. I heard a roaring, rumbling, thundering noise. “What is that?”
“It’s the reason why I wanted us to go for this walk. Come on!” He grabbed my hand and started running. Although I was tired, his enthusiasm was infectious, and I ran along with him until we reached a clearing at the top of the hill. The sight that greeted us was incredible.
“It’s beautiful!” A waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliff opposite us, ending up in a brilliant blue pool.
“You can swim in the water,” Lucas told me, as we started to walk down a path that went down the hill and to a clearing by the pool. “One of the hotel staff told me about this place. It’s one of those hidden local gems that tourists don’t tend to know about, so we should have it all to ourselves.”
“A swim would be perfect,” I said. “But I didn’t bring my costume.”
“Who says you’ll need it?” Lucas cocked an eyebrow at me, giving me a challenging look. “Last one in the water’s a rotten egg!” He ripped off his top and started racing towards the water.
“No fair!” I yelled chasing after him. “You cheated!”
When we reached the waterside, we stripped down to our underwear and dove into the water. It was just the right temperature, perfect to cool us down after that long walk in the sun. I flipped onto my back, floating in the water and gazing up at the sky. “This is bliss. We should have done this sooner. This break is just what I needed. It’s been a tough year.”
“That it has.”
The two of us floated next to each other, neither of us needing to talk as we relaxed in the pool. The only sounds were the noise of the waterfall and the birds calling to each other in the trees.
I lost track of time as we swam around, but eventually, I started to feel cold and I got out, wanting to stretch out and enjoy the sun.
“This is amazing.” I sighed as I made myself comfortable on a rock overlooking the water. I gazed out at the waterfall, feeling the spray of water tickle my face. “This is such a special place.”