‘Okay, well… goodnight,’ she said. She opened the car door and walked towards the house.
‘Goodnight, Amanda,’ she heard him say, but she didn’t turn back.
There was no point. He simply didn’t want her.
35
Amanda
Amanda woke with a dry mouth and a headache that felt like she had slammed her head into a wall at some point in the night but she knew she hadn’t. It was the champagne.
She dragged herself from bed and managed to go downstairs for water and pain relief, and she looked at her phone.
A missed call from Simon and a voice message.
He could wait, she thought.
And then she remembered the kiss. God, she had never been kissed like that before. So passionate and filled with desire.
It was intimate and beautiful and she hadn’t wanted it to stop but it had. Because he was still in love with the idea of someone else.
Amanda looked at the coffee pot and decided to stick to water just to be safe.
She opened her laptop and looked at her email, seeing one from Lainie that was filled with photos and news. She decided to save it for the next day, when she was feeling more human.
She scrolled down and saw another from the Adoption Contact Register and clicked on it.
Dear Ms Cox,
Please find the details of your mother’s adoption in 1963.
If you have any queries, please contact us at this email and refer to your case number which is listed in the subject of this email.
Amanda paused, her finger quivering over the attachment to the email. This would tell her everything or it would tell her nothing.
Finally she clicked on it, and waited for the document to load.
She scrolled down and there it was.
Baby Girl born to Diana Graybrook-Moore, aged 18
Amanda didn’t know whether to cry and rage. All of this secrecy and drama from Diana instead of being honest.
She scrolled down.
Father – Unknown.
Well that wasn’t true, Amanda thought, and she came to the signature.
Sir Edward Graybrook-Moore
Diana hadn’t signed the birth certificate. Why not?
She pored over the document and came up with no more answers, only questions.
She texted Simon.
Are you in the garden? Come to the house, I need to show you something.
