Aidan took a few sips of his coffee before changing the subject. ‘She told you what happened, with us?’
I gripped my disposable cup tighter. ‘What she knew from her side, at least.’
‘In all the interviews, profiles, the online stuff, there’s never been any mention of a child.’
Oh boy, we were straight into it, then.
For the first time, Aidan appeared unsure of himself. ‘If there had been… and the age fitted the dates. I’d have made contact. I need Hattie to know that. I knew she was married, I wouldn’t have caused any trouble there, but there is no way I would have passed up on being a father to my child.’
‘But you did, though,’ I said, bracing myself. ‘Back when Hattie needed you, you never turned up.’
Aidan winced. As he prepared to answer, his eyes unfocussed, as if seeing not me, sitting at a rickety table in a service station, but whatever it was that had happened over thirty-five years ago. Even before he’d started speaking, I knew it wouldn’t be good.
‘I didn’t show up when we’d arranged to meet because I was in hospital. Thanks to my brothers, who took umbrage at my last-minute change of heart about being the fall guy for their latest and quite possibly stupidest enterprise.’
‘They hurt you?’
He gave a grim nod, his gaze briefly flicking to me before settling back in the past. ‘I’d agreed to help them out in return for a share of the haul that would mean Hattie and I could start over. But I knew, deep down, that it wouldn’t work out like they’d promised. I also realised that, even for the sake of our baby, I couldn’t go through with it. I’d spent my whole life resisting getting sucked into their sordid lifestyle. How could I give in now when I was about to become a father? How was that any way to start our new family, living off stolen money? Constantly having to look over my shoulder because my brothers would drop me in it in a second to get themselves off the hook?
‘I wanted to head to Riverbend straight from the hospital, but I was still a mess. I wouldn’t have been able to protect Hattie if things turned nasty. So, I left her a letter in the chapel, explaining what had happened, arranging to meet a week later. I didn’t have enough money, but I knew we’d figure something out. Only I couldn’t go back home in the meantime, so I spent a week sleeping in an empty barn. I tried sheltering one night in the chapel, but I couldn’t rest, expecting Langford to burst through the door at any second. I hung around the house a few times, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hattie, but there was no sign of her.
‘On the night I’d asked her to meet, I waited for hours. The note had gone, so I felt sure she’d be there.’
‘But she wasn’t the one who found the note.’
‘Really?’ Aidan jerked his head up, startled eyes meeting mine. ‘Langford told me she’d given it to him.’
I didn’t tell him that Hattie was locked up in Riverbend’s attic, for fear of disrupting his story.
‘What else did he tell you?’
‘That Hattie had seen sense, already “got rid of it”.’ He stopped, blinked back tears. I felt a wave of sadness that, after all this time, it still upset him. ‘She wanted nothing to do with me, or my criminal family, most of whom had been arrested after going ahead with the robbery without me. He said that she’d chosen to live with her aunt for the foreseeable future.’
‘And you believed him?’
Aidan grimaced. ‘Not at first. But I waited, watched, and she wasn’t at Riverbend. She’d clearly disappeared. Everyone in the village knew she was staying with her aunt. Where else would she have gone? I had nowhere to live. My parents made it clear I wasn’t welcome. My brothers were out on bail, blaming me for tipping off the police. If they caught so much as a whiff of me, they’d do worse than send me to hospital. So, the only solution was to leave.’
He drained the last of his coffee. I’d barely touched mine.
‘Eventually, I served eight years in the army, and came straight back to Middlebeck as soon as I got out. My family had found out who shopped them in, so were ready to make amends, but when I heard Hattie was married, I couldn’t stay. Eventually, I met someone, had two girls and tried to get on with my life.’ He paused, closing his eyes for a moment. ‘I never forgot her, though. I never stopped wondering. When I first saw her face on one of those newspaper magazines, it was as though the world stopped turning. Probably didn’t help my marriage last any longer than it should have done.’ He took a slow, shaky breath. ‘But she’s divorced now?’
‘For quite a while. And like I said, she never forgot you, either.’
‘I hope things were good, at her aunt’s house. She managed to get away from him, even if it wasn’t with me.’
‘I’ll let her tell you that side of the story.’
Aidan shook his head. ‘I don’t know. It’s been a long time. Why would I want to dredge all that up for her, especially if she’s so ill? I’m grateful you got in touch, but I don’t think I should meet her.’
I tried not to tell him, but, after failing to persuade him that meeting Hattie was a good idea, I could see no other option.
‘She didn’t live with her aunt. She spent months locked in Riverbend’s attic, believing you’d abandoned her, before Leonard shipped her off to boarding school.’
‘What?’ Aidan stared at me, eyes wide with shock. ‘Why would he do that?’
I shrugged, starting to panic that I’d given too much away. ‘To keep her away from you?’
He shook his head, understandably distressed. ‘What else did he lie about?’
