Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“Nobody knows.” He gives me a long look. “That’s the whole idea.”
This is so completely and utterly not what I was expecting.
A child. Pete Laidler’s secret child.
“But…but how can nobody know about her?” I say stupidly. We’ve moved even farther away from the crowds and are sitting on a bench under a tree. “I mean, surely they’d see her—”
“Pete was a great guy.” Jack sighs. “But commitment was never his strong suit. By the time Marie—that’s Alice’s mom—found out she was pregnant, they weren’t even together anymore.
Marie’s…she’s kind of proud. She wanted to keep the baby, but she wasn’t going to force Pete into anything.
She was determined she could do it all on her own.
And she did. Pete supported her financially—but he wasn’t interested in the child.
He didn’t even tell anybody he’d become a father. ”
“Even you? You didn’t know he had a child?”
“Not until after he died.” His face closes up slightly.
“I loved Pete. But that I find very hard to forgive. So a few months after he died, Marie turned up with this baby.” Jack exhales sharply.
“Well. You can imagine how we all felt. Shocked is an understatement. But Marie was positive she didn’t want anyone to know.
She wanted to bring Alice up just like a normal kid, not as Pete Laidler’s love child.
Not as the heiress to some huge fortune. ”
My mind is boggling. An eighteen-month-old getting Pete Laidler’s share of the Panther Corporation. Bloody hell.
“So she gets…everything?” I say hesitantly.
“Not everything, no. But a lot. Pete’s family have been…
more than generous. And that’s why Marie’s keeping her away from the public eye.
” He spreads his hands. “I know we can’t shield her forever.
It’ll come out sooner or later. But when they find out about her, the press will go nuts.
She’ll shoot to the top of the rich lists. She won’t be normal anymore.”
As he’s speaking, my mind is filled with memories of the papers after Pete Laidler died. There were pictures of him in every single one of them.
“I’m overprotective of this child.” Jack gives a rueful smile. “I know it. Even Marie tells me I am. But…she’s precious to me.” He hesitates for a moment. “She’s all we’ve got left of Pete.”
As I look at his vulnerable face, I suddenly feel moved. This is what he and Sven have been trying so hard to shield.
“So…is that what the phone calls were about?” I say tentatively. “Is that why you had to leave the other night?”
Jack sighs. “They were both in a car accident a few days ago. It wasn’t serious. But…we’re extra sensitive, after Pete. We just wanted to make sure they got the right treatment.”
“Right.” I give a little wince. “I can understand that.”
There’s silence for a while. My brain is trying to slot all the pieces together. Trying to work it all out. “But I don’t understand,” I say suddenly. “Why did you make me keep it a secret that you’d been in Scotland? Nobody would know, surely.”
“That was my own dumb, stupid fault,” says Jack ruefully. “I’d told some people I was going across to Paris that day, just as an extra precaution. I took an anonymous flight. I thought no one would ever know. Then I walk into the office…and there you are.”
“Your heart sank.”
“Not exactly.” He meets my eyes. “It didn’t quite know which way to go.”
I feel a sudden color coming to my cheeks and awkwardly clear my throat. “So, er,” I say, looking away. “So that’s why…”
“All I wanted was to avoid your piping up, ‘Hey, he wasn’t in Paris—he was in Scotland!’ and start some huge intrigue going.
” Jack shakes his head. “You’d be amazed at the ludicrous theories people will put together when they don’t have anything better to do.
You know, I’ve heard it all. I’m planning to sell the company. I’m gay. I’m in the Mafia.”
“Er, really?” I say, and smooth down a strand of hair. “Gosh. How…stupid of people!”
A couple of girls wander nearby, and we both fall silent for a while.
“Emma…I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you this before,” Jack says in a low voice. “I know you were hurt. I know it felt like I was shutting you out. But…it’s just not something you share lightly.”
“No!” I say immediately. “Of course you couldn’t have. I was…stupid.”
I scuff my toe awkwardly on the gravel, feeling a bit shamefaced. I should have known it would be something important. When he said it was complicated and sensitive…he was just telling the truth.
“Only a handful of people know about this.” Jack meets my eyes gravely. “A handful of special, trusted people.”
My cheeks are getting warmer and warmer.
“Are you going in?” comes a bright voice. We both jump, and look up to see a woman in black jeans approaching. “The performance is about to start!” she says with a beam.
I feel like she’s slapped me awake from a dream. “I…I have to go and watch Lissy dancing,” I say dazedly.
“Right. Well…I’ll leave you, then. That was really all I had to say.
” Slowly Jack gets to his feet, then turns back.
“There’s one more thing.” He looks at me for a few silent moments.
“Emma, I realize these last few days can’t have been easy for you.
You have been the model of discretion throughout, whereas I…
have not. And I just wanted to…apologize. Again.”
“That’s…that’s OK,” I manage.
Jack turns again, and as I watch him walking slowly away, I feel completely torn.
He came all the way here to tell me his secret. His precious secret.
He didn’t have to do that.
Oh, God. Oh, God…
“Wait!” I hear myself calling out. “Would you…would you like to come, too?”
—
As we walk toward the theater together, I pluck up the courage to speak. “Jack, I’ve got something to say, too. About…about what you were just saying. I know I said you ruined my life the other day.”
“I remember,” says Jack wryly.
“Well, I might possibly have been wrong about that. You…you didn’t ruin my life.”
“I didn’t?” says Jack, deadpan. “Do I get another shot?”
“No!”
“No?” There’s a serious edge to his voice, which throws me. To cover my confusion, I reach into my bag for a lip salve.
Suddenly Jack’s gaze falls with interest on my hand. “ ‘I am over Jack,’ “he reads aloud.
Fuck.
My entire face flames with color.
“That’s just…” I clear my throat. “That was just a…doodle. It didn’t mean…”
A shrill ring from my mobile interrupts me. Thank God. Whoever this is, I love them. I pull it out and press answer. “Hello?”
“Emma, you’re going to love me forever!” come Jemima’s piercing tones.
“What?”
“I’ve sorted everything out for you!” she says triumphantly. “I know, I’m a total star. You don’t know what you’d do without me.”
“What?” I feel a twinge of alarm. “Jemima, what are you talking about?”
“Getting your revenge on Jack Harper, silly! Since you were just sitting there like a total wimp, I’ve taken matters into my own hands!”
For moment I can’t quite move. “Er, Jack…excuse me a minute.” I keep my voice bright and casual. “I just need to…take this call.”
I hurry to the corner of the courtyard, well out of earshot.
“Jemima, you promised you wouldn’t do anything!” I hiss. “You swore on your Míu Míu pony skin bag, remember?”
“I haven’t got a Míu Míu pony skin bag!” she crows. “I’ve got a Fendi pony skin bag!”
She’s mad. She’s completely mad.
“Jemima…what have you done?” I swallow. “Tell me what you’ve done.”
Please don’t say she’s scraped his car. Please.
“An eye for an eye, Emma! That man totally betrayed you, and we’re going to do the same to him! Now, I’m sitting here with a very nice chap called Mick. He’s a journalist. He writes for the Daily World… .”
Everything goes fuzzy for an instant. A journalist.
“A tabloid journalist?” I manage at last. “Jemima…are you insane?”
“Don’t be so narrow-minded and suburban!
” retorts Jemima reprovingly. “Emma, tabloid journalists are our friends. They’re just like private detectives…
but for free! Mick’s done loads of work for Mummy before.
He’s marvelous at tracking things down. And he’s very interested in finding out Jack Harper’s little secret!
I’ve told him all we know, but he’d like to have a word with you—”
I feel quite faint. This cannot be happening.
“Jemima, listen to me,” I say, as though trying to persuade a lunatic down off the roof. “I don’t want to find out Jack’s secret, OK? I just want to forget it. You have to stop this guy.”
“I won’t!” she says like a petulant six-year-old. “Emma, don’t be so pathetic! You can’t just let men walk all over you and do nothing in return! You have to show them! Mummy always says—” There’s the sudden screeching of tires. “Oops! Teeny crash. I’ll call you back.”
The phone goes dead.
In dismay, I jab her number into my phone, but it clicks straight onto messages.
“Jemima,” I say as soon as it beeps. “Jemima, you have to stop this! You have to—” I stop abruptly as Jack appears in front of me, holding a program.
“It’s about to start,” he says. “Everything all right?”
“Er, fine,” I say in a strangled voice, and put my phone away. “Everything’s…fine.”