CHAPTER TWENTY
It was a long drive up to Scotland’s capital city, but Billy had an aunt and uncle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (who turned out to be just as much fun as their nephew), so we had a lovely overnight stay with them.
As we journeyed on up to Edinburgh the following day, both of our phones were pinging with text messages. Mine were from my sisters and Ada, hoping I’d be back in time for the family gathering Rori had organised. She’d asked me if it was okay if she invited Ada and Skye – and Kurt and Saul as well – over to the flat for dinner, and I’d grudgingly agreed. I knew she wanted to bring us all together so we could hopefully talk things over and mend fences.
Billy’s texts were clearly from Jenna by the look on his face, although I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.
Was Jenna begging to get back with him? I really hoped not. If he gave in and forgave her, I had no doubt she’d be the perfect girlfriend for about twenty minutes then revert to type!
The day before, driving up to Newcastle, had been great. Excited to be on the trail of Skye and Ada’s old neighbour, Zo?, I felt upbeat and optimistic that I might be a little nearer solving the mystery. Billy and I had both been in good moods, playing our favourite music loudly and bantering most of the way. He was even cracking jokes about how Jenna definitely wasn’t for him and that all he’d been to her was a wallet on legs. I’d smiled along, but I could hear the bitterness beneath his words and I burned with anger at how she could possibly treat him like that.
Today, though, Billy had been quieter and I thought he might be weakening under Jenna’s constant texts.
‘It just would never work,’ he said at one point, shaking his head sadly. ‘Would it?’ He glanced at me, a little hopeful glint in his eye.
I sighed, not wanting to stamp on his hopes but feeling I had to give my opinion. ‘You deserve better, Billy. That’s all.’
He nodded, switched off his phone with a resolute air and tossed it into the glove compartment, banging it shut.
We were silent the rest of the way until we got to the outskirts of the city and the satnav instructions to the address Antonio had given me started getting more detailed. I could feel the stress building inside me and my heart was beating that little bit faster. But at last, we drew up outside a block of traditional sandstone tenement flats. I switched off the engine and looked at Billy.
He’d fished his phone out and was looking through his texts.
‘Right. Shall we do it?’ I said, wanting to distract him from Jenna.
He looked up. ‘Yes. Of course.’ Quickly, he pocketed his phone. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Look. That must be the corner shop Ray owned when Ada was living here.’ I pointed to a building at the top of the street. ‘According to Ada, he sold up a few years ago and retired to Glasgow.’
I swallowed, looking up at the windows of the flat. Was Zo? inside?
‘So... are we going in?’ murmured Billy at last.
Still, I hesitated. It was strange, but now I was here, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to. With all my hopes riding on talking to Zo?, I suppose I was worried it was going to be just another dead-end in my search for the truth.
I took a deep breath. ‘Yes. Come on. Let’s do it.’
*****
The girl who opened the door to the first-floor flat was dressed in jeans and a pink T-shirt and glittery heels. She wore her dark hair swept up into a cute ponytail, and she looked in her early twenties.
My heart sank.
Zo? would surely be in her forties by now. This was definitely not her. Had she moved house and not updated her website with her new address?
The girl smiled. ‘Hi! Can I help?’
I stepped forward with a bright smile. ‘Yes, I hope so. We were wondering if... Zo? still lived here? She used to be a neighbour of my mum and sister when they lived downstairs for a while. But it was a long time ago now, so she’s probably...’
The girl half-turned her head. ‘Mum? Some people to see you!’
‘Oh. She still lives here, then?’ My heart gave a little lurch of optimism.
She smiled. ‘Yes. Mum loves this place. My gran left her the flat. I don’t think she’d ever leave it.’
A door opened behind her and the woman called Zo? appeared. With her dark hair in a bob, heart-shaped face and easy smile, the family resemblance was immediately striking.
‘Oh. Hello.’ She looked bemused to see two strangers at her door.
‘Yes, hi!’ I beamed at her. ‘I was just explaining to your daughter that my family were neighbours of yours... twenty-five years ago now. They lived in the flat downstairs. My sister used to babysit for you sometimes?’
‘Really?’
‘Do you remember them? Skye and Ada?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Ada and Skye? Oh, my goodness! I was only thinking about them the other day and wondering how they were. Skye was such a good friend to me, at a time when I really needed help.’ She winced, remembering. ‘So how are they?’
‘They’re fine. Living down in Surrey.’
Her daughter disappeared into the kitchen and Zo? called after her, ‘Leah, love, have something to eat before you go out?’
‘Sorry.’ She smiled. ‘I still have to remind her, even though she’s a grown woman! Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, Ada and Skye. They were only here for a while, weren’t they? So that Skye could study drama,’ she recalled.
‘That’s right.’
She smiled. ‘Skye was such a good actress, even then. So you’re...?’ She looked at me quizzically. ‘You said you were family?’
‘Yes. Sorry. I’m Blossom. And this is my friend, Billy.’
We shook hands. And then Zo? stared at me closely. ‘Hang on. Oh, my goodness! Are you the baby?’ She gasped. ‘Blossom! Of course. She told me she was going to call you Blossom. How could I have forgotten such a beautiful name?’
I swallowed, examining her expression closely as tears flooded her eyes. Was it possible I was that baby? The baby Zo? gave birth to as a single mother? Perhaps she’d then gone on to have another baby. A child called Leah?
My heart was thumping hard against my ribcage. Zo? was laughing and searching her pockets for a hanky. She looked so emotional... so maybe it was true...
‘Oh, dear. I’m such a softie.’ She dabbed her eyes.
‘Mum? What’s going on?’ Her daughter reappeared.
‘Oh, nothing. I’m just being silly, reminiscing with Blossom here.’ She smiled at me. ‘This is my daughter, Leah. Her middle name is Skye.’
‘Oh!’ My eyes were round with surprise.
Leah grinned. ‘Sorry to interrupt but can I borrow a tenner, Mum? I’m meeting Clare and we’re actually going for a burger. I’ll pay you back later.’
‘Of course. My purse is on the kitchen table.’ Zo? smiled sheepishly, watching her go. ‘She’s an only child. It’s always been just Leah and me, so I probably spoil her.’
I nodded. ‘Don’t blame you. Your daughter seems really lovely.’
So it was certain, then. I definitely wasn’t Zo?’s long-lost daughter.
I smiled to myself, wondering how on earth I could have dreamed up such a fantastical idea in the first place. Desperation, I supposed. Leah Skye was clearly the baby my sister used to babysit. The fact she had Skye as a middle name must be a tribute to how much Zo? felt she owed my sister, who’d been her friend at the worst time of her life.
‘Look, do you want to come in?’ Zo? held the door open. ‘I’ll make some tea.’
‘Are you sure?’ I asked anxiously. ‘We wouldn’t want to intrude on your morning.’
‘You’re not. And it’s so lovely to meet you at last, Blossom. I mean, last time I saw you, you were just a tiny baby, of course.’
‘Of course.’ We went into the kitchen and I watched her fill the kettle. ‘Zo?, one of the reasons we came up here was because... well, I don’t know who my father is. My mother says he was a one-night stand and she’s no idea where he is now.’
Zo? turned with a smile. ‘Yes. I remember. She really liked him but when she tried to find him, he’d moved away.’
My heart skipped a beat. So it was true? Ada had been telling the truth?
I licked my dry lips. ‘So... do you remember my dad?’
‘Oh, I never met him. But she talked about him. They spent one night together – she said it was more of a drunken fumble that got out of hand – and by the time she discovered she was pregnant, he’d moved away. So he never knew about you. But that didn’t seem to faze her. Not at all.’
‘Can you remember his name?’ I leaned forward, twisting my hands tightly together.
Zo? shook her head. ‘Sorry, no. She would have told me, of course, but it was so long ago, I’m afraid I’ve forgotten.’
‘Of course.’ I nodded, a wave of disappointment crashing through me. ‘That’s just like her, though, being determined to bring me up on her own.’
‘Oh, she’d never have had you adopted,’ said Zo? firmly. ‘Absolutely not. She was determined from the start that despite the obvious challenges – her being a single mother – she’d make sure you had the best life she could give you.’
‘I can actually imagine her saying that, her chin jutting out determinedly!’ I smiled fondly, in spite of everything. ‘She’s always known her own mind. Yes, that definitely sounds like Ada.’
‘Ada?’ Zo? looked surprised.
‘Yes. Ada. My mum?’
She put down the kettle and stared at me. ‘Your mum? But...’ Her eyes were full of confusion.
What she said next sent the blood draining from my face...