CHAPTER TWELVE #2
Scooping her up, Lottie said to Mia, ‘You know what you have to do,’ and folding Sadie in tightly she carried her into the sitting room.
As the door closed behind them, Mia turned to Edwin, nervous, appalled, and trying to summon the determination to prove to herself, and to Lottie, that she could do this.
‘So who is she?’ Edwin wanted to know, closing the front door and leaning his back against it. His tone, his whole attitude, exuded more derision and scepticism than she could stand.
Blurting the first words that came into her head, Mia said, ‘We’re taking care of her, for some friends. She’s very young and you bursting in here like this … You’ve scared her and I … I think you should leave before you do any more damage.’
His eyebrows rose in disdainful surprise. ‘Which friends?’ he challenged. ‘You don’t know anyone with a child that age …’
‘You’ve got no idea who we do and don’t know. Just as I have no idea which of your girlfriends you’ve currently got living in my house. Well, it has to stop, Edwin. You need to find a place of your own and I have decided I want … I want to be free of you.’
He treated her to such an incredulous up and down sweep of his eyes that she almost withered. ‘Have you now?’ he responded smoothly.
‘Please go,’ she said through her teeth. ‘You’ll hear from my solicitor …’
‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve got to the bottom of what you girls are up to here. And there’s something, I can tell that just by looking at you.’
‘You don’t know anything. You’re just …’
‘Who’s the child, Mia? Where did you get her?’
Shocked, Mia cried, ‘We didn’t get her anywhere. She was brought to us, by her parents, who’ve asked us to take care of her while they travel … overseas.’
Clearly not believing a word, he said, ‘What are their names? These parents.’
‘It’s none of your business,’ Lottie snapped, coming back into the hall and closing the sitting room door against the noise of the TV. ‘Now, do as Mia says and leave. You are not welcome here, and we’ve already had as much as we’re prepared to take of you …’
‘And I’ve already told you – or her – that I’m not leaving until I find out who that child is.’
Lottie’s lip curled. As if Edwin even cared, he was only ever all about himself. ‘I don’t know what vile thoughts you’ve got going on in that loathsome head of yours …’ she said.
‘She’s not safe!’ Mia suddenly broke in. ‘So we’re keeping her here until the coast is clear.’
He blinked in astonishment.
‘And for the time being,’ she pressed on, ‘we’re telling people she’s our niece …’
‘Enough,’ Lottie barked, cutting her off.
‘But everyone knows you don’t have a brother or sister,’ he cried incredulously.
‘It’s what we’re saying for ease,’ Mia explained, ‘and no one knows what cousins we have, distant or otherwise. Anyway, getting into the detail of reality would be complicated and lengthy and is entirely unnecessary.’
Impressed by her sister’s surge of mettle, if not by her failure to rein herself in, Lottie stared at Edwin, waiting for whatever little nugget he now had stored up behind those foul lips of his to issue forth.
‘You’re insane, the pair of you,’ he declared, looking from one to other.
‘I don’t know what’s really going on here, but I do know you think rules don’t apply to you.
You tell yourselves that just because you’re loaded you can do whatever you like and to hell with the rest of the world, along with anyone who might get in your way.
Well, I’m not someone who’s going to be pushed around by you the way so many others have.
I want answers, first of all to why you, Mia, have suddenly decided we shouldn’t be married any more, apart from her taking the decision for you … ’
‘It has nothing to do with Lottie,’ Mia cried hotly. ‘It’s about your cheating and lying, the way you humiliate me and behave as though I’m not good enough for someone like you …’
‘She’s worth so much more than you,’ Lottie cut in, fiercely, ‘and finally she’s seeing it. So, once again, feel free to leave. There are some cafés in town if you require refreshment before your drive back …’
‘What have you done with the child?’ he asked darkly. ‘Where is she now?’
Mia swept forward, shoved him aside and tore open the front door.
He stared at her, as if not quite recognizing her.
Suddenly realizing they couldn’t let him go like this, that they had to seize full control of the situation first, Lottie said, ‘The offer you receive as a divorce settlement will enable you to greatly expand the meagre wine-import business you came into the marriage with. It will also allow you to purchase a central London property the like of which you’d never be able to afford otherwise.
In short, you’ll be a wealthy man with the kind of freedom and standing you are currently enjoying, just without Mia as your wife. ’
He regarded her curiously, almost as though she was speaking another language, although the flinty look in his eyes made it clear that he understood well enough what was happening.
‘You will never speak of the child to anyone,’ Lottie told him, laying out the conditions he must have known were coming. ‘As far as you’re concerned she doesn’t exist.’
He cocked an eyebrow, suggesting he needed to hear more.
‘I think you know me well enough,’ she said, ‘to understand that it wouldn’t be wise to cross me.’
He smirked, apparently enjoying himself now.
‘We will tell the world about the child when we’re ready, and not before,’ she pressed on.
‘As yet we can’t say when it will be, but what is certain is that you will not want to jeopardize her safety, or your extremely valuable severance package, by doing or saying anything, to anyone, concerning matters you know nothing about. ’
He wrinkled his nose. ‘Severance package?’ His tone was mocking.
‘Everything you have, Edwin, everything you are, is in our control. Never forget that. We could, if necessary, discredit you to a point where you’d make yourself disappear without a trace to save us the trouble.
What we’re doing now is offering you the chance to safeguard yourself and your future in exchange for very little on your part.
Accept our generosity, forget you’ve seen the child, and never try to contact either of us again, unless through a lawyer. ’
Mia said, ‘And be out of the London house by the end of the week.’
As Edwin’s eyes moved back and forth between them, Lottie could tell he was trying to calculate what more he might get out of this before yielding.
‘The door is right there,’ she told him. ‘Go through, get into your car and drive away. If you don’t, I will call the police to ask someone to come and remove an intruder.’
His expression turned from surprise to scorn, a mask to cover the humiliation of his defeat. He’d be treading into seriously treacherous waters if he tried to take them on, and he knew it. However, leaving without a last word … He clearly couldn’t bring himself to sink that low.
‘Make sure that offer’s with me by the end of the week,’ he growled. ‘Any later and I’m the one who’ll be calling the police.’
As Edwin left Lottie and Mia stayed where they were, listening to him getting into his car and starting the engine. They flinched at the sound of him driving into something before he reversed out of the gate and sped away.
‘Are you OK?’ Lottie asked, as silence descended.
Mia nodded. ‘I think so. Clever of you to threaten him with the police.’
‘He might have seen through it, but at least he’s gone.’
‘Where’s Sadie?’
‘In front of the TV. Gita’s in the kitchen.’
Mia turned round. ‘Did she hear anything?’
‘I think she’s just arrived, but I can’t be certain.’
‘She’ll wonder who he is.’
‘We can tell her. She doesn’t need the details of why he took off in a fury, but there’s no harm in saying he’s your husband.
Oh my goodness,’ she murmured, spotting the sitting room door handle juddering up and down and realizing Sadie was trying to get out.
‘It’s OK, sweetheart,’ she called. ‘We’re right here, the nasty man has gone now. ’
As Sadie stumbled into the hall, eyes full of frightened tears, she spotted Gita coming out of the kitchen and ran to her.
Mia and Lottie looked on, both wishing she’d chosen one of them to go to, but never mind. What mattered was that Edwin had gone, Sadie was being comforted and they had just dug themselves even deeper into a situation they had no understanding of at all.
‘We have to talk,’ Lottie whispered, as Gita carried Sadie into the kitchen. She was chewing a nail, was about to draw blood. ‘I’ve had an idea that I think will work.’
‘What is it?’ Mia asked. ‘Does it involve Sadie?’
‘Of course. Everything involves her now. Unless you want to sit around here waiting for her mother, or whoever the hell sent those photos, to get started on their despicable plans to bleed us dry.’
‘OK, let me have a word with Gita first, make sure she didn’t misunderstand anything – I mean, if she did overhear what was said.’