A Mother's Secret Read online

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  A MOTHER’S SECRET

  Minna Howard

  AN IMPRINT OF HEAD OF ZEUS

  www.ariafiction.com

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd

  Copyright © Minna Howard, 2020

  The moral right of Minna Howard to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781789541571

  Cover design: Charlotte Abrams Simpson

  Aria

  c/o Head of Zeus

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  5–8 Hardwick Street

  London EC1R 4RG

  www.ariafiction.com

  Contents

  Welcome Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Become an Aria Addict

  ‘Accidents will occur in the best regulated families.’

  Charles Dickens

  ONE

  Verity Walton unlocked her front door and went inside, feeling the silence in the house enclosing her like a fog. She’d just dropped off her two sons, Marius and Toby, at the station to go back to university after their long summer break. So now, with her husband Nathan in Singapore, sorting out some business fiasco, she was home alone for the next month or so.

  The shrill ring of the doorbell behind her made her jump. It was probably the postman; she’d seen him coming up the street behind her. She opened the front door and a young woman hovered there, inspecting her warily.

  She had a strong yet attractive face, with hazel eyes and thick auburn hair tied loosely back with a yellow ribbon. She was probably one of Verity’s sons’ many friends and hangers-on, from the cheerful crowd that surrounded them; she could never keep up with them all.

  Verity smiled. ‘Can I help you? I’ve just put Marius and Toby on the train to Nottingham. Their term starts on Monday, so I’m afraid you have just missed them.’

  The woman frowned and appeared bewildered. She hovered a moment longer on the doorstep and then, with a look of determination on her face, she darted past Verity and into the hall. She seemed nervous, glancing round the tiny hall, the staircase ahead of her and the passage leading to the kitchen, as if checking for danger.

  ‘Can I help you?’ Verity spoke a little more sharply this time. The woman was dressed in a soft yellow corduroy dress and a well-cut jean jacket. ‘Sorry, I don’t remember meeting you before but then I don’t know all my sons’ friends.’

  She now noticed that the young woman was pregnant. She was tall, slight and slim but she was obviously a few months gone. For an instant the sight unnerved Verity. Was one of her boys responsible for this? She and Nathan had always been open about such things with their sons… anyway, why should this woman’s condition have anything to do with them?

  ‘This is Nathan Walton’s house, isn’t it?’ the woman demanded, regarding her boldly, cupping her hand over her baby bulge.

  Verity leant against the door jam. Was Nathan responsible for this person’s condition? The thought taunted her. She found it hard to breathe and chided herself for jumping to conclusions. Though, if she thought about it, she felt that they seemed to have lost some of their closeness together since he’d been promoted at work and both of their sons had left for university, leaving them alone again, just the two of them.

  She trusted Nathan. Surely he’d tell her if he’d strayed? Or anyway, being the truthful, decent man he was, wouldn’t his guilt have given him away?

  The woman now asserted herself and took charge. ‘Can we sit down?’ She glanced at the open door to the living room beside them in the hall.

  ‘Tell me what this is about first.’ Verity pulled herself together. The woman did not look threatening. She was a little older than her sons’ usual crowd, but she could be the sister of one of their friends. Besides, Verity was used to young people as she taught A levels at a crammer in Queen’s Gate.

  ‘It’s personal and I’m quite tired.’ The woman smiled apologetically. ‘I walked here from World’s End, I got off the bus too soon.’

  ‘Okay, come in but I can’t give you long. I’ve so much to do,’ Verity said, thinking of the work she had to prepare before the new term started. She shut the front door and led the way into the room, feeling a little vulnerable with her family gone. She sat down heavily on the sofa and the young woman sat gingerly on the edge of a chair, facing her.

  ‘So, tell me why you want to see my husband,’ Verity said firmly, annoyed now with Nathan being – through no fault of his own – away on the other side of the world. She steeled herself for the woman’s story. ‘But first please tell me your name.’

  ‘My name is Saskia Walton.’

  Her announcement hit Verity like a wet fish. Was this some sort of joke? She repeated weakly, ‘Walton?’

  ‘Yes, Nathan Walton is my father.’ Saskia eyed her defiantly, dropping the words carefully into the silence.

  ‘Your father? Are you sure?’ Her mind juggled with this shattering news.

  ‘Yes. My mother, Helen, only told me a few months ago, before she died. I was a mistake, apparently.’ She laughed awkwardly though Verity saw the dart of pain in her eyes.

  ‘They met when they were both bumming around in Greece one summer. You know working on boats, in bars and things. They had a holiday romance then both went their separate ways and a couple of months later Mum found she was having me.’ Saskia looked guilty as if it were somehow her fault.

  ‘How old are you?’ Verity was shell-shocked. She and Nathan had been married for almost twenty-two years after going out together for a year before.

  ‘Twenty-three. As I said, Mum met Nathan in Greece. She gave m
e his surname, which was perhaps strange or…’ She sighed, appearing near tears. ‘She had a sort of premonition she’d die early. Whatever.’ She shrugged. ‘She just told people, including me, that she’d lost touch with him. I’m sure she’d have told me if she had been in contact with him. Mum and I lived happily together until I was twenty, then I moved into a flat with friends. When she became ill with bloody cancer…’ Her mouth twisted with anguish. ‘I moved back with her to look after her until she died.’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Verity muttered. She was, but to have this young woman turn up out of the blue like this, professing she was Nathan’s daughter, shocked her deeply. Did Saskia expect him to support her, and the coming child?

  ‘When Mum knew how ill she really was, she tracked him down, found his address, which she left for me. She may have tried to contact him but died before she could, I don’t know. I didn’t tell her about the baby I’m expecting; I… I didn’t want to upset her further. I thought she’d get better, but she died two months ago. I miss her terribly, but she was so ill, and she hated that, not being able to do the things she loved.’ Saskia bowed her head, biting her lip. ‘We… her friends and I got her to a hospice. They were wonderful there. It seems odd to say but her last days were some of our happiest together.’

  ‘I’m truly sorry, how old was she?’ Verity felt cowed by such a story.

  ‘Forty-eight. The week before she died, she gave me… my father’s address and told me to come and find him. Their affair ended when he left to go home, and neither of them exchanged their details, though she knew where he worked, so I suppose that’s how she found him. She admitted that she was wrong not to have told him about me before, but she was quite bohemian, independent, and decided to bring me up alone.’ Saskia shrugged.

  ‘I see. But your child—’ Verity broke off and glanced at Saskia’s stomach, the words ‘like mother like daughter’ echoing in her mind, which she sensed Saskia guessed. ‘Are you and the father of your child together?’

  ‘Darren, yes, but he’s working in the US at the moment. he’ll be back next year and…’ She paused.

  ‘And you’ll get married?’

  ‘Possibly, but anyway he’ll be here, and we’ll find somewhere to live together, but just until then…’ Saskia regarded her intently before blurting, ‘In a couple of weeks I’ll have nowhere to live. As I explained, I moved back with Mum when she became ill, and the place in the flat I used to share with a friend has gone now. I can’t afford to pay the rent on Mum’s flat anymore. When she got really ill she couldn’t work and had to eat into her savings, and I don’t earn enough in my job. I work in a restaurant on the King’s Road some evenings and I’m a dressmaker. I make and design clothes for clients in a friend’s shop off the North End Road, so I thought…’ She tailed off, then said more forcibly with the same look of determination Verity imagined she’d seen on her husband’s face, ‘I thought my father might help me until Darren gets back.’

  TWO

  Before Verity could absorb this information, her mobile went, the jaunty tone of the ring cutting into the room, making both women jump. She glanced at it; it was Jen, one of her oldest friends. They’d met, clinging to their mothers’ jean-clad legs, on the opening day of nursery school.

  ‘Excuse me a moment.’ Verity got up and left the room before she answered it. Jen didn’t give her a moment to speak.

  ‘I’m nearby, just been to the dentist, and thought I’d pop in if you’re home. Can’t feel my mouth but could do with a coffee.’

  ‘Oh, yes, do… I…’

  ‘What’s happened? Oh, the boys have gone, haven’t they, and so has Nathan and you’re alone.’ Jen sounded sympathetic.

  ‘No… well, yes, but there’s someone here,’ she replied while making for the kitchen, not wanting Saskia to overhear her. ‘She says she’s Nathan’s daughter,’ she whispered. ‘She even calls herself Walton.’

  ‘What? She can’t be! He… well… I know he wanted a daughter after Marius but when Toby turned up, he was fine about it,’ Jen exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe any nonsense like that from Nathan. I’m running now, will be with you in five. It must be a scam, take care.’ The mobile went dead, and Verity went back into the living room to warn Saskia that her friend was arriving.

  ‘That’s Jen, a friend of mine. She’s just been to the dentist on the King’s Road and wanted to drop in.’ Verity now felt awkward and almost sorry for this young woman, knowing how forthright Jen could be. She wished she’d said that Saskia had just lost her mother and she needed sympathetic handling.

  The bell went long and shrill making both women jump. ‘That’s her now, she always thinks I’m deaf or something,’ Verity said apologetically.

  Saskia seemed to be struggling to hold herself together and Verity felt a pang of pity for her, but before she could offer any words of comfort the bell went again. Verity ran to open the door.

  Jen marched in, her mouth slightly skewed from her stint at the dentist. She squeezed her arm before making for the living room. ‘Right, let’s sort this out,’ she said bossily.

  Verity pulled her back, saying quietly, ‘Look it’s not what you think. It happened before I even met him.’

  Jen, used to her own husband’s farfetched stories after he’d been spotted sneaking around with various young women, strode past her into the living room like a battleship about to take on the enemy fleet. She was determined to show up this girl and her story in an instant. She stopped suddenly and Verity almost bumped into her.

  ‘God, you do have a look of him… but why have you turned up now? What do you want from him?’ Jen flung at her and Saskia burst into tears.

  ‘It’s all right, Saskia, Jen doesn’t know the whole story. Look, let’s have a coffee and take this slowly,’ Verity said, still feeling shocked herself. She held on to Jen’s arm as if afraid she might become violent.

  ‘Okay, sorry.’ Jen rubbed her mouth. ‘I’ve been to the dentist and I’m all frozen and cross. I’d love a coffee to thaw me out. But we must get to the bottom of this.’ Then she noticed that Saskia was pregnant.

  ‘You’re having a baby? Are you married?’ Jen demanded, throwing a glance in Verity’s direction as if wondering if she had noticed.

  Saskia pulled herself together. ‘No, not yet. My partner, Darren, is working in the US but he’ll be back before it is born, it’s just…’ She stopped, her eyes swimming again with tears.

  ‘She’s recently lost her mother and needs help, somewhere to live for a few months,’ Verity said quickly, determined to hold off any protest from Jen. ‘She’s only just found out from her mother before she died that Nathan is her father. They met in Greece long before we met,’ she added, seeing the suspicion in Jen’s expression. ‘Her mother’s even given her our surname, so I suppose it’s obvious she’s come to find him now she is alone.’ She sounded out the words as if trying to make sense of them herself.

  ‘But what about the father of your child, hasn’t he a responsibility to look after you in the circumstances? And does Nathan know you are his daughter?’ Jen demanded like an overzealous barrister.

  ‘I don’t know. They lost touch before my mother knew she was having me; it was just a holiday thing. She managed to find his address, his home address, before she died.’ Saskia was determined to stick up for her mother.

  ‘So here you are in his house.’ Jen rubbed her swollen face. ‘And I have to say you do have a sort of look of him, though then he’s like so many other middle-aged, white men,’ she finished dismissively while continuing to study her.

  ‘I don’t know if she spoke to him or wrote to him, her last weeks were…’ Tears dribbled down Saskia’s face.

  Verity took a clean handkerchief out of her handbag and handed it to her. ‘Look, don’t worry, Saskia, we’ll sort something out. I’ll get that coffee.’

  She felt sorry for her. Did Nathan know about her? Had Helen told him before she died that he had fathered a child during his time in the sun a
nd he’d managed to keep it from Verity? Was this one of the reasons she felt they were drifting apart – he had a secret he didn’t want to share? Or had he kept quiet about it, perhaps hoping it would go away, or locked it in another part of his mind to deal with later – though now he was more occupied with the tales of fraud that had arisen from the Singapore branch of the firm he worked for.

  ‘Don’t upset yourself, it’s bad for the baby,’ Jen said more kindly. ‘You sit down quietly, and Verity and I will make some coffee and we’ll all feel better.’ She took Verity’s arm and led her down the passage to the kitchen.

  Verity busied herself switching on the kettle and getting out mugs and a cafetière from the cupboard.

  Jen sat down at the table, rubbing her thawing mouth. ‘I think she is telling the truth, or anyway what her mother told her. I mean she has a slight look about Nathan, don’t you think? The set of the eyes that are the same sort of colour as his, and her long face. She doesn’t seem as if she’s some sort of fraud. You’re not poor but not that rich either, so she’s not some go-getter who has seen something about him being a zillionaire in the papers or anything.’

  ‘You may be right, she could have a passing resemblance to him, but she doesn’t look like either of our boys.’

  ‘I see a slight look of Toby there,’ Jen said.

  ‘Do you?’ Verity was annoyed that she did. ‘I do wish Nathan were here to deal with it. He might not get back for over a month. There have been some really dishonest things going on in the office out there. The head of the department has been caught taking money out of the firm. Nathan’s barely arrived there and there seems so much to sort out,’ Verity explained in dismay.

  ‘You don’t think he knows about Saskia? Kept it from you?’ Jen asked, watching her reaction. ‘I mean do you think her mother contacted him before she died?’

  ‘He’s never said anything if she did. But admittedly he’s had this bombshell about what’s been going on in the company, which has shocked him to the core, especially as the man responsible for it was a good friend of his.’ Verity struggled to make sense of it. ‘I’m sure he’d have told me if he had known he had a daughter.’