It Started with a Secret: The feel-good novel of the year, from the bestselling author of MAYBE THIS TIME

by Jill Mansell

  When he’d gathered them outside on the terrace, it was with great pride that he was able to relay the full story to them of his relationship with Sandy.

  ‘I had no idea, none at all,’ he concluded with a lump in his throat. ‘But all this time I had a daughter waiting to meet me. And now it’s happened, and it’s just the best feeling in the world.’

  ‘Oh Richard, what a miracle. This is just the loveliest news.’ Tears were shining in Majella’s eyes as she jumped up and hugged him, then threw her arms around Nerys. ‘I’m so glad you found each other at last. Welcome, darling! Welcome to the family.’

  Chapter 36

  Lainey had stayed in the kitchen while Richard, having first armed himself with a large gin and Fever-Tree tonic, asked the family to join him out in the garden. She kept busy and barely glanced out of the window at whatever might be going on out there.

  At least that was the official line, if anyone were to ask. In reality, because she was only human, she glanced out at them roughly every thirty seconds, and by the time Richard returned to the kitchen, she had worked it out for herself.

  Wow.

  ‘Come on, come out and join us.’ Richard was beaming as he beckoned to her. ‘It’s all thanks to you that this has happened.’ Once they’d reached the others, he announced proudly, ‘Remember the turquoise envelope? This is Nerys Davies, Sandy’s daughter. And you’re not going to believe this . . . she’s my daughter too!’

  Lainey did an excellent job of looking astonished and delighted as she greeted Nerys with a hug and listened to Richard retell the story for her benefit. But what was even more fascinating was the reaction of the rest of the family – minus Harry, whom Kit was collecting from a school friend’s house in Port Isaac. Majella, busy topping up drinks and cutting more slices of orange drizzle cake, was her usual cheerful, hospitable self and clearly delighted by the news. Violet seemed happy too. But India was casting troubled glances in Nerys’s direction and fidgeting with the phone in her lap, clearly not at all overjoyed by the situation. Her body was tensed up, her shoulders hunched, and she was studying the new arrival intently from behind her magenta fringe. Her hands were stained blue, Lainey noticed; if she wasn’t careful, at this rate her over-dyed hair was going to start falling out in clumps.

  It was Seth, though, whose reaction was the most puzzling and unexpected of all. Or rather, his lack of reaction. Because the thing about Seth was that he was never distracted, always on the ball, never failing to give anything or anyone his undivided attention. Yet here, sitting next to India whilst he appeared to be listening to Richard, Lainey instinctively sensed that he was miles away, barely present at all, his mind otherwise occupied by something that was taking up all his attention. Or someone. And not in a good way, either. The habitual half-smile and humorous glint in his eye were missing. Was this connected with Nerys’s arrival? Or with something else entirely? The business, maybe. Or Dawn. It was impossible to tell.

  She kept looking over at him, but Seth didn’t meet her eye, not even once. And to think she’d thought something incredible had been about to happen between them the other night. Being so close to him had felt electrifying, alive with possibilities. And now he wasn’t so much as glancing in her direction.

  It wasn’t the next stage she’d been hoping for, and as a chill of disappointment slid down her spine, it dawned on Lainey that there was a good chance the cause of Seth’s altered mood was embarrassment. Worse still, that the cause of the embarrassment was because he’d changed his mind about her.

  After Nerys explained that she really did need to catch the train back to Cardiff this evening, Majella offered to drive her to the station, and Richard went with them.

  ‘Well let’s hope we never have to see her again,’ India said darkly once they’d gone.

  ‘Why are you being so mean?’ Violet frowned. ‘I think she’s nice.’

  ‘We’re fine as we are. We’ve already got all the family we need.’

  ‘Oh come on. She’s Dad’s half-sister. She’s our half-aunt! And look how happy Grandad is to have found her.’

  ‘She doesn’t even look like him!’

  ‘I think she does, I can see a resemblance. Anyway, you’re my twin and I don’t look anything like you.’

  ‘Thank God,’ said India. ‘And just you wait, I don’t believe all that let’s-keep-it-private stuff for one minute. Give her a few weeks and she’ll be flogging her story all over the shop. Every tacky magazine she can get to listen to her, she’ll be on to them. It’ll be like Meghan Markle’s half-sister all over again.’

  Violet rolled her eyes. ‘Has anyone ever told you you’re a horrible person? Oh yes, me. About a million times.’

  ‘At least I’m not gullible. They haven’t even done a DNA test yet.’

  At this, Lainey glanced across once more at Seth, but he didn’t even appear to have heard.

  ‘I wouldn’t mind getting one of those done,’ said Violet. ‘Maybe someone took the wrong baby home from the hospital and my real twin’s out there somewhere, all alone and missing me like crazy.’

  ‘If she’s missing you, she really must be crazy. Anyway, shut up.’ India tossed back her hair. ‘Go and do some extra homework or something.’

  ‘And what are you going to do? Sit in front of a camera and update your vlog, then chat to a bunch of strangers about your new eyeshadow, because that’s so much more worthwhile.’

  ‘You’re such a nerd.’

  ‘And you’re such a loser.’

  The four of them headed back to the house. Reaching the kitchen, Violet helped herself to a packet of chicken slices from the fridge, then gathered up the maths textbooks she’d left on the window seat and disappeared upstairs. Having grabbed a family-sized bag of crisps, India announced, ‘She’s pathetic. Am I right or am I right?’ and turned to Seth for confirmation.

  He shook his head. ‘Sorry, what?’

  ‘Never mind. I’m right. Are you OK?’

  He nodded. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Good.’ India reached up and gave him a fierce hug. ‘I might have a ridiculous sister and a really annoying little brother, but at least I’ve got you.’

  ‘You have.’ Seth patted her on the back. ‘And I’m not going anywhere.’

  ‘Who d’you love more, me or Violet?’

  For the first time today, Lainey glimpsed a ghost of a smile on his face; it was evidently a question the twins had been asking him their entire lives.

  Seth said solemnly, ‘You know the answer. I love you both exactly the same.’

  ‘But secretly I’m your favourite.’

  ‘Secretly,’ he gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze, ‘you both are.’

  Lainey waited until India had gone up to her room, then took a breath and said, ‘You’re not fine, though. Are you?’

  For a fraction of a second Seth met her gaze, then he looked away again, but not before she’d caught a lightning-fast mix of emotions – surprise, pain, temptation and denial.

  Not that sort of temptation, the lustful kind; this was more of a wavering hesitation, swiftly followed by the decision to absolutely deny that there was any kind of problem at all.

  ‘It’s nothing. Just pressure of work.’

  ‘Is it to do with Christina?’

  A shake of his head. ‘No.’

  ‘Dawn?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Anyone else?’

  His jaw tensed. ‘I told you. Everything’s OK.’

  Is it me? Lainey couldn’t bring herself to ask the question aloud, but she was running out of options. He was tired of the interrogation and had closed himself off. On Monday evening on the beach, she’d felt so close to him, had experienced a connection between them so strong it had seemed inevitable something magical was about to happen . . .

  Until Dawn had turned up at exactly the wrong moment. And yes, Seth had maintained it was all over between the two of them now, but he’d also said he’d see Lainey the next day, and that hadn’t
happened. She’d waited with bated breath, but he hadn’t appeared. And what was she meant to do about that? What did it mean? Looking at the way he was behaving today, something pretty major clearly had happened.

  Lainey’s palms were damp. Unless she’d got it all horribly wrong again, fantasising that her feelings for Seth were reciprocated. How unbearable would it be if the silent conversation on the beach had in fact only taken place inside her own head?

  Oh, but it had felt so real. Had she been so carried away thinking tumultuous thoughts that she hadn’t even realised Seth’s mind was occupied with such prosaic matters as what was happening at work, whether or not to download that new film everyone was talking about, and when he should book his car in for its next service?

  From upstairs came the sound of loud pounding music and barking. Soon Majella and Richard would be back from dropping Nerys at the station. Once again, Menhenick House wasn’t the ideal place to have a private conversation. But the beach was there, two minutes away and always perfect for the job.

  ‘Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s wrong.’ Lainey looked directly at Seth. ‘And it’s probably none of my business, so I’m not going to ask any more questions. If you don’t want to talk about whatever it is, that’s fine.’ She paused, silently willing him to react. ‘But if you do want to talk, about anything at all . . . well, I’m here. And you can trust me, you know you can.’

  Silence in the kitchen. Above them, India’s music continued to blare out, thud-thud-thud. From the corner of her eye, Lainey saw Seth’s knuckles gleam white through tanned skin as his hand gripped the back of one of the kitchen chairs, then glimpsed the faint shake of his head as if he’d been on the brink of saying something before deciding not to.

  ‘OK.’ She gave it one last try. ‘I’m going to go down to the beach. Have a walk, get some fresh air. If you want to join me, that’d be great.’ In the past, whilst either sitting side by side on the sand or making their way along the shoreline, conversation between them had flowed naturally; maybe the beach was their happy place and this was what they needed. To spur him into action, she crossed to the kitchen door, opened it and turned to glance over her shoulder. ‘It’s still sunny, may as well make the most of it. Fancy coming along?’

  In her head, she added: Remember what so nearly happened on Monday evening? Remember how you nearly kissed me? Because I know I didn’t imagine that.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Seth, and for a dizzy moment she thought she’d won, before he shook his head. ‘But I’ll give it a miss. Got some work to do upstairs. You go ahead,’ he added shortly. ‘Enjoy your walk.’

  Chapter 37

  ‘Aaaarrghh!’ Harry let out a blood-curdling howl. ‘I’ve been jellyfished!’

  It was a drizzly Sunday afternoon, and Lainey, busy throwing a frisbee for Ernie and Glenda, hadn’t planned on going in for a swim. But Harry was panicking, windmilling his arms and shrieking in his panic to get away from the attacking creature. She tore off her trainers and launched herself into the sea in her sweatshirt and jeans, heading towards where he was splashing his way over to the rocks at the end of the beach and hoping she wouldn’t end up getting stung herself.

  ‘Ow,’ wailed Harry, having reached the rocks and slipped as he attempted to haul himself up out of the water.

  ‘It’s OK, don’t panic, just hang on . . .’ It wasn’t easy to shout words of reassurance when you were doing a fast front crawl and waves kept splashing into your mouth. Lainey put her head down and concentrated on reaching him. When she was only a few metres away, she saw him scramble out of the water, stumble and fall back a second time.

  ‘Right, I’ve got you. Lean on me and climb out slowly.’ She braced herself against the barnacle-encrusted rocks and allowed Harry to use her as a climbing frame, wincing at the swirling cloud of blood he was leaving behind in the water.

  At last he was safe and she was able to haul herself up too. He winced as she swiftly checked him over. There was a nasty gash on his knee, presumably barnacle related, a second smaller one on the sole of his left foot, and a long graze down his skinny right arm.

  ‘You’ll live.’ She ruffled his wet hair. ‘I can’t see any signs of jellyfish stings.’

  ‘I felt its tentacles against my leg.’

  Lainey pointed to a tattered remnant of supermarket bag floating in the water. Plastic, the scourge of the sea. ‘Might have been that.’ The trouble with hearing a mention on the radio that jellyfish had been spotted locally was that everything that brushed against you instantly felt like tentacles.

  ‘Oh, maybe. Look how much I’m bleeding.’ Fascinated, Harry gazed at the mixture of blood and seawater seeping down his shin. ‘Good job there weren’t any killer sharks around!’

  Eleven-year-olds and their ghoulish imaginations. Lainey laughed. ‘Let’s get you home. I’m going to carry you over the rocks and down onto the beach, OK?’

  ‘OK.’ Harry nodded as she readied herself to lift him into her arms. ‘But mind you don’t drop me.’

  Seth was in his bedroom, throwing clothes into an open suitcase before heading up to Bristol for a few days, when he glanced out of the window at the beach. Thanks to the rain, it was largely deserted, but over at the far end two figures were making their way slowly across the rocks, and the bright orange board shorts of the smaller figure, being carried by the taller one, were instantly recognisable.

  What had happened? What was going on? Snatching up the binoculars on the window ledge, he peered through the curtain of grey drizzle and saw that the taller figure was Lainey, fully clothed and dripping wet. He focused in on Harry and spotted the injuries to his arm and leg. And there were the dogs, barking like crazy from the shoreline as if intent on guiding the two of them home.

  His heart had already given a jolt at the unexpected sight of Lainey. Now, as he watched, she briefly lost her footing and stumbled, and his heart crashed against his ribcage again. The plan to avoid her entirely for the next few days clearly wasn’t going to work. He needed to get down there and help.

  By the time he reached them, the drizzle had turned to hard driving rain. Lainey’s sodden jeans were liberally stained with the blood that was dripping down Harry’s skinny leg.

  ‘Is he OK? Did he hit his head?’

  ‘I didn’t hit my head,’ said Harry. ‘But soon I might not have much blood left.’ He peered avidly at his injuries. ‘I reckon I’ve lost quite a few litres by now.’

  Lainey said, ‘He’s fine, it looks worse than it is.’ She eased her way carefully down the sloping rocks and onto the beach.

  ‘Don’t put me down on the sand! I don’t want sand in my bad foot!’

  ‘You’re heavy,’ Lainey protested. ‘My arms are dropping off.’

  Seth said, ‘Here, give him to me.’

  ‘I’ll get blood on you,’ Harry warned.

  ‘I’ll survive.’ As Seth reached out to take him and Lainey began to pass him over, inevitably they made contact and he had to angle his face away in case she saw the effect on him. ‘Now let’s get you home and cleaned up.’ He glanced at Lainey, her lashes made spiky by the rain, and felt the coldness of her hands against his forearms. ‘Right, I’ve got him. Good job. Ernie, get down.’

  ‘Waaah,’ cried Harry as both dogs leapt up, tails wagging madly. ‘They’re licking the blood off my feet and it tickles . . .’

  When they arrived back at the house, Seth said to Lainey, ‘You’re shivering. Why don’t you towel the dogs down, then go and have a shower? I’ll get Harry cleaned up, see if he needs stitches.’

  Whereupon Harry, who was renowned for his many sporting injuries and intensely proud of his own bravery, retorted, ‘Of course I’ll need stitches, I always do.’

  Fifteen minutes later, showered and changed into dry clothes, Lainey returned to the house and came upstairs to the main bathroom.

  ‘He definitely needs it seeing to,’ said Seth. ‘Looks like he’s sliced his foot open on a mussel shell.’ He’d wrap
ped a clean tea towel around the worst injury and stuck Harry’s foot in a carrier bag for good measure.

  ‘Do you want to take him to A and E, or shall I?’ Lainey looked at him and he felt his resolve weaken.

  Harry said, ‘You could both take me if you want.’

  ‘Lainey can take you. I need to get up to Bristol.’ This was an outright lie; it wasn’t a matter of needing to be there, he was just desperate to get away from Lainey. Seth gave Harry a fist bump. ‘You be brave, OK?’

  Harry did a disbelieving eye roll. ‘I’m the bravest person in this house.’

  Seth exhaled; just now, he could well be right.

  Lainey helped Harry downstairs and into the car. Once he’d heard them drive off up the road, Seth turned his attention back to the bathroom, which looked like a crime scene.

  It occurred to him that his mother’s idea during her last visit to St Carys might not have been such a bad one after all. At the time, he’d had no interest in finding out the identity of his biological father. But now the situation was different and infinitely more serious. Under these new circumstances, maybe he did need to know.

  He selected the most heavily bloodstained of the two hand towels he’d used to stem Harry’s bleeding. Feeling somewhat repulsed as he did so, he rolled it up, took it into his own room and placed it in a bag at the back of the wardrobe. It might not be the above-board way to go about it, but what other choice did he have? They were either half-brothers or unrelated; it wouldn’t be hard to find out which.

  Oh God, though, the creeping fear that hadn’t left him since he’d taken the devastating phone call from Shelley was once more pressing down on his chest, constricting his lungs. The last thing he wanted to know was whose son he was, but could he bear to live without knowing the truth?

  Chapter 38

  So here she was then, a living, breathing triumph of hope over experience, yet again giving someone else the opportunity to change her life.

  Maybe this one wouldn’t be as completely disastrous as the others.