The Half Sister(5)

The juxtaposition of the scene and her selfish thoughts jolt Kate into action.

‘Here,’ she says, moving around the table to stand behind Emmy’s highchair. ‘Let me do that.’

Lauren gratefully gives her sister a child’s plastic knife and fork whilst throwing a sideways glance at her oblivious husband.

‘Thanks,’ says Lauren, as Kate cuts up Emmy’s vegetables before kneeling to retrieve the errant peas.

It somehow feels easier to be under the table than sat around it. A place to hide from all the words that are said and unsaid. Kate can hear them forcing a conversation, changing the subject to one that isn’t deemed to be in the least bit controversial, so that nobody gets on their high horse and threatens the equilibrium again.

She’s still on the floor when the doorbell rings, and Rose huffs before putting her knife and fork down. ‘Who can that be on a Sunday afternoon? Simon, be a love and go and get that, will you?’

Kate watches as Simon walks out of the room, and waits to hear his voice at the door. The conversation is muffled and she strains to hear, relishing his discomfort as he no doubt listens to a Witness regaling him about the power of Jehovah, or a landscaper who just happens to have finished a garden down the road and has a few pergolas and statues left over.

Emmy is hitting Kate on the head with her plastic bowl and she waits expectantly for more peas to rain down on her.

‘Oi, you little rascal,’ she laughs, grabbing hold of Emmy’s bare foot. Just feeling her soft skin in the palm of her hand makes Kate’s chest tighten and she swallows the tears that are prickling the back of her throat.

‘It’s someone looking for Harry,’ says Simon, as he walks back into the dining room with a young blonde woman behind him.

‘What?’ asks Rose abruptly, looking from the woman to Simon and back again.

Kate is still on her knees, surveying the scene across the top of the table.

‘Yeah, it’s actually Harry I’m after,’ says the woman. ‘Harry Alexander. Is he around?’

Kate feels her blood run cold as her brain struggles to comprehend what this woman might want. But whichever way she looks at it, asking for a man almost a year after his death can’t be a good thing.

‘Sorry, what is it we can help you with?’ asks Kate, rising to her full height.

The woman looks at her feet as they shuffle from side to side. ‘It’s probably best if I speak to Harry first,’ she says.

‘Well, he’s not here,’ says Kate tightly, her chest feeling like a coiled spring. ‘What is it you want with him?’

‘Are you Lauren?’

Kate feels her mum shift beside her, but Lauren, she notices, is stock still. Even her swaying to comfort the baby has stopped.

‘Sorry, who are you?’ asks Kate, ignoring the question.

‘I’m Jess,’ says the woman, before clearing her throat.

‘And what do you want with Harry?’ asks Rose shakily.

Jess eyes her warily. ‘I need to talk to him. It’s really important.’

Kate looks to Rose. ‘I’ll let him know you came by,’ she says, as her mother and sister’s heads turn in her direction. ‘What should I say it’s about?’ she goes on, ignoring their perplexed stares.

The woman looks down at the floor again, as if summoning the courage she needs to say what she’s about to say.

‘I’m his daughter,’ she says eventually. ‘Tell him his daughter came to see him.’





3


Kate


‘What?’ gasps Kate, as the room spins around her. She looks to her mother, who is standing open-mouthed, as if frozen in time. ‘But . . . but that’s not possible,’ she stutters, her voice sounding as if somebody has a hand around her throat.

‘I think you’d better leave,’ are the first words that Rose says. ‘I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’ve no business coming here.’

‘My name’s Jess and I just want to see my father – that’s all.’

‘Well, he’s not here,’ says Kate, feeling ever more present. ‘You’ve come to the wrong place. You’ve got the wrong man.’

‘I’m sorry – I just wanted to—’ begins Jess.

‘You need to go – now!’ barks Rose, in a tone that Kate hasn’t heard before.

‘Can we not at least talk about it?’

‘There’s nothing to say,’ hisses Rose. ‘As my daughter says, you’ve come to the wrong place.’

Jess reaches into the handbag on her shoulder, pulls out a crumpled piece of paper and reads it. ‘It’s Rose, isn’t it?’ she says, extending her hand, but Rose doesn’t even flinch.

‘And you must be Kate, or are you Lauren?’ She attempts a smile.

Kate stands firm, her jaw set, staring at the woman who has just thrown a grenade into her world.

‘Look, I can see this is a huge shock to you all,’ says Jess. ‘And I’m sorry – I had no idea you didn’t know. Otherwise I would never have . . .’

Rose is beginning to shake, and Lauren sidles up beside her and puts a firm arm around her back.

‘You need to leave,’ says Kate, her voice belying the panic that is raging within her.