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years you thought she was dead, fantasized about what
she was like, how things might’ve been, and now …” She
squeezes my knees, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“She’s alive Holly, your mom’s alive!”
“She’s always been alive—don’t you get it? Melissa,
Dad lied—he lied to me, all this time. He told me she’d died.”
“Well, yeah!” Melissa rolls her eyes. “Well, he would,
wouldn’t he? That bitch on the phone is obviously waste
of space—who wouldn’t rather have
mom who’s dead
than one who tells her daughter to get lost when she turns
up at her door? What cow.”
twist my finger tightly in my hair. hadn’t thought
of it like that.
“Holls, he was just trying to spare your feelings.
Imagine if you’d gone looking for her like that Rosie girl
did and she slammed the door in your face? How crushed
would you be?”
bite my lip, imagining it—the hope, the
excitement, the earth-shattering rejection. It would be
devastating. It must’ve been devastating.
frown,
reluctant to feel sorry for Rosie.
“Well, he still shouldn’t have lied.”
“Well, duh,” Melissa says softly. “But then, he’s
guy, what do you expect? Emotional issues aren’t exactly
their strength.”
“You’re not kidding.” smile despite myself. “You
should’ve seen how he flipped when said was going to
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stay with Josh at Harvard. ‘You’re eighteen— you’re too young to get married!’ ”
Melissa’s jaw drops and she stares at me. “Shut up!
You’re engaged?”
Before can react, Melissa screams and leaps on top
of me, strangling me in bear hug.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my Goooooodddd!” She releases me
momentarily. “When? How? Wait!” She looks at me
urgently. “Promise me I’ll be your maid of honor! Please, Holly! I’ve never been maid of honor, and—”
“All right, already—you can be my maid of honor!”
laugh, and she lunges on top of me again, her squeals, if
possible, louder than ever.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! This is awesome! This is
the best day of my life! My best friend is go
sister-in-law, and I’m finally going to be maid of honor!”
She squeezes me hard. “And you! What the heck is your
problem? You’re finally go
cool English mom—and you’re getting married Your mom can come to the wedding! Hey—you can probably get
married in castle, lucky thing!”
“Whoa, there!” laugh. “One step at time!”
“I’ve gotta call Josh—I can’t believe he didn’t tell
me!” Melissa grabs her cell, punches in the number, puts it
on speaker, then squeals loudly as he answers.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married!” she shrieks, flying at me in another hug as Josh laughs, all my worries
fizzling away as excitement bubbles up inside me.
We’re getting married!
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Melissa squeezes me tight, her grin splitting her
face as this time squeal too. She’s right, am lucky. have
my friends, my family—Dad, and Megan and Ben; have
Josh and the promise of our new life together, our own
family
smile, hugging my secret. And somewhere, far
across the Atlantic, have mom. My heart cartwheels at
the thought. My real mom. Not some woman who gave
birth to me and then couldn’t be bothered to stick around.
It was an accident—we were separated by accident. She
never meant to leave me at all.
And now can’t wait to meet her.
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Rosie
“What you doing?”
look up to see Ben watching me in the bathroom
mirror as rub the two cotton buds against the inside of
my cheek. turn and smile.
“I’m doing test,” tell him. “For DNA.”
“Oh.” He screws up his nose. “Like ABC?”
laugh. “Not really.” Though actually, it’s almost as
easy. can’t believe all it takes is two cotton buds rubbed
inside each of our cheeks, sealed in two labeled paper
envelopes, posted off to the lab with
check and
downloaded form—and hey presto: 99.9 percent accurate
DNA results in less than fortnight. It’s scarily simple.
Ben watches intently as seal my cotton buds into
the envelope with my name on, and smile.
“You want go?” pull fresh bud out of the box,
and he eyes me uncertainly for moment before opening
his mouth, displaying rows of tiny pearly white teeth.
Ever so gently, rub the cotton tip against his cheek
and he giggles. “That tickles!”
“You’re not ticklish, are you?” gasp, tickling under
his armpit. He collapses to the floor, squirming gleefully,
his laughter filling the room.
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“What’s going on in here, then?” Jack grins,
appearing round the doorframe with Megan.
“Daddy!” Ben cries, leaping into his arms.
“Hello, trouble.” Jack grins, rubbing his nose against
Ben’s. “How’s my monkey?”
“I’m not monkey!” Ben protests. “I’m Ben!”
“Of course you are.” Jack smiles, kissing his
forehead. “And do you know who this is?” He points at me.
Ben shakes his head furiously, his hair flying in his
eyes.
“This is Rosie,” Jack tells him, brushing his fringe
back and looking at me. “She’s your big sister.”
Ben stares at me, eyes wide, and my breath catches.
“Might be your sister,” Megan amends quickly.
“Let’s wait till it’s official, huh?” She looks at Jack sternly.
“That’s the whole point.”
“Of course, of course.” Jack nods. “You done with
yours?” He nods at the envelope by the sink.
“Yep,” say, handing it over. “All done and dusted.”
“Great,” Jack says. “I’ll go drop them in the mail.”
“Now?” Megan says.
“The sooner the better, think.” Jack smiles at me
wearily. “Then we’ll all know where we stand.” He passes
Ben to Megan and jogs downstairs.
Megan looks at me awkwardly.
“I’m sorry if seem …” She falters. “I don’t mean to
be skeptical, just with children it’s better if things are
definite, before …”
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“I understand,” tell her, hugging my arms. “Have
you heard from Holly?”
“No,” Megan sighs. “She’s still not answering her cell
phone, but her friend’s mom called—she’s staying with
them. So at least we know she’s safe.”
“Good. That’s relief.”
“Yes.” Megan nods. “It is. Anyway, I’d better get this
one to bed.” She ruffles Ben’s hair. “It’s been long day.”
nod. “I think I’ll get an early night too.”
“Okay, well, you know where everything is.” Megan
smiles. “Good night.”
“Night.”
“Night, Rosie.”
look up, my heart jumping at my name on Ben’s
lips as he waves to me over Megan’s shoulder. smile and
wave back until they disappear through the doorway.
sigh, flooded with conflicting emotions, then push
open the door to the spare room and collapse into Andy’s
waiting arms.
“Are you okay?” he whispers, stroking my hair.
nod, my cheek pressed tight against his chest, my
eyes glued once more to the family photo in its broken
frame—the warmth
feel gazing at my dad, at my
gorgeous little brother, fading as
look at Holly, the
terrible casualty of this reunion. close my eyes, feeling
sick to my stomach.
“You did really well down there, you know?” Andy
says. “That took lot of balls.”
smile despite myself.
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“I know it wasn’t easy—especially after Kitty …” He