Kathleen got up and picked out two of the frames. ‘I married a lovely man; his name was Frank. I lost him a few years ago.’
‘I’m sorry.’
She waved a hand in acknowledgement. ‘Thank you, but I had a very happy life with him. Far happier than I could have had with Walter. Though I’ll admit it was hard to put him out of mind at first.’
She gave the photos to Ruan.
‘Is this your family?’ he asked.
‘Yes. This is Gail and Hayley, they’re Frank’s. Robert – he’s Walter’s.’
His pulse beating a little faster, Ruan stared at the photo, searching for a resemblance between his uncle and Robert. They were both tall, both imposing – and Robert, he had to admit, did look a little like Ruan’s own father. He could even see the likeness to himself.
‘Robert looks even more like you than Walter,’ Kathleen said, echoing his thoughts. ‘And he’s turned out a principled, thoughtful son and man. I made sure he had all the love and kindness his real father was denied growing up. Robert and his wife have two girls of their own: my grandchildren. That’s them in the other photo.’
The family were laughing together, standing by a river with Kathleen.
‘You all look very happy,’ Ruan said. ‘Does Robert know the truth?’
‘Yes, he does now. I told him about Walter after Frank died.’
‘That must have come as a shock …’ Ruan said, feeling he was making the understatement of the year.
‘In a way, though I think he’d always suspected I wasn’t a widow. He took it far better than I’d expected. He said he was glad I’d married Frank – his real dad, he called him. Although for all I know, Robert is only being kind to me. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.’
Ruan thought of Tammy and her desperate need to know if Davey or Neil was her father. She was tormented by the uncertainty, yet Kathleen’s son seemed to have accepted that his mother had kept his existence a secret from Walter.
‘So why are you here?’ Kathleen broke into his thoughts. ‘Something about inheriting Walter’s house?’ she asked, her tone sounding a little unsure for the first time.
Ruan found it hard to reply. By rights, the house should be Kathleen’s. It should be Robert’s. It should be Tammy’s. It should be anything but his.
Worse: he might be about to devastate a life with his revelation. He was on the brink of destroying the peace of a woman who had been through such a lot to secure the happy future for her son. Yet he couldn’t hold back the knowledge he had. He’d already made the mistake of keeping a secret.
‘Yes. I – Kathleen, I don’t know if I should have come or even do this.’
‘But you have. It’s too late.’ She leaned forward in her chair, urgency in her voice. ‘What is it that you need to tell me?’
‘I found a letter – several letters – in Walter’s belongings. He’d had Alzheimer’s in his later years and the care home had kept them in case a relative might ask. One was from you to him and the other – well, it was meant for you, so I’m delivering what Walter clearly couldn’t.’
‘One meant for me?’
‘Yes. I have both here. If you want to see them.’
‘I – I have to see them, don’t I? Even if I don’t want to. I can’t live not knowing.’
With a nod, Ruan carefully retrieved the letters from his document wallet.
‘Hold on a moment, please. I need my glasses.’
He waited while she opened the case and put on her glasses.
‘I can wait outside in the car if you’d like some privacy.’
‘There’s no need for that. You’ve already read them both,’ she said.
‘I took a photo in case anything happened to them, but you can keep the originals, if you’d like to. I’ll delete the picture too.’
‘Then you stay where you are, please.’ She took the letters from him and began to read.
