Baby It's Cold Outside (11 page)

‘Anyway there's some party tonight – a survivors' celebration or something,' I explained. ‘Doug's niece is singing so I said we'd go along to support her and to talk to him.'

‘What sort of singing?' Jamie asked.

I shrugged.

‘Dunno,' I said. ‘But she dresses like a bank manager and she works in an undertaker's, so I can't imagine it'll be very exciting.'

Jamie chuckled.

‘Well I'll come along and suffer with you,' he said. ‘For the sake of the wedding.'

‘You go too, love,' Eva said to Tansy. ‘Let your hair down. We'll look after young Parker – he can stay over if you like?'

Parker cheered but Tansy looked uncertain.

‘Really?' she said. ‘You don't mind?'

‘Course not,' Eva said. ‘We can make popcorn and watch a DVD.'

Tansy looked at me. I forced myself to smile.

‘Come along,' I said. ‘You've been flat out helping everyone. It'll be good for you to have some fun.' I didn't think for one minute that the party would be fun, but I wasn't going to tell Tansy that.

‘Right, I'm going to phone Chloe finally and then sort out what I'm going to wear,' I said to Jamie. ‘I'll be upstairs.'

Oh it was good to have a phone again and be back in the real world. I sat on my bed, keeping one eye on the window because it had started snowing again and that made me nervous. I logged into the Wi-Fi and synced my contacts on to Leona's phone, then added my email accounts and watched as dozens appeared in my inbox. There were lots about the wedding, from the registration office in Inverness saying the registrar couldn't reach us, from the photographer saying the same, and the catering suppliers. I fired off emails saying what a shame, I understood, we were making alternative arrangements and I trusted they would return my deposit.

In my work inbox was an email from a friend, Stacey, who I'd worked with in London. She'd transferred to our New York office, where she was flying high. Her email was full of chat about the Manhattan dating scene and her seemingly never-ending search for the perfect apartment. I paused, tapping the phone against my chin.

As a family lawyer for an international firm I had a good idea of how US law worked. I knew that unlike in the UK not just anyone could look up a birth certificate. Except we could – employees of my firm had access to databases that normal people didn't. Our credentials had been approved in most of the states, I thought. And we definitely had an office in Boston so we were bound to have been approved for there. I couldn't do it from here. At work we used a proxy server but it wouldn't work from my phone on Mum's Wi-Fi. But Stacey could do it. It was Sunday morning in the States but if Stace was at her computer I knew she wouldn't mind having a quick look for me. It didn't take long to run a search.

I typed out an email explaining the bare bones of our situation but claiming it was happening to a friend. I knew if I'd said it was Jamie who'd had a kid turn up on his doorstep, she'd ring and I couldn't bear to talk about it. Not yet. I asked Stacey to track down Parker's birth certificate – I didn't know his exact birthday but I knew roughly, and where he was born. And with Tansy's name too it shouldn't be too hard. Then I asked her to email it to me when she'd found it. Straightaway a message pinged back saying she was on it. Good old Stace.

I settled back against the pillows and rang Chloe. When she answered, cautiously because obviously I had a new number that she didn't recognise, I smiled just hearing her voice.

‘It's me,' I said.

‘Aaaaaaargh!' Chloe shrieked. ‘Where have you been? I've been phoning and phoning but you never answer. And then someone said you'd been in the avalanche and I was so worried. I thought you were dead. And because Rob's in the police and he knows people, I got him to check, so I knew you weren't dead, but I was still worried…'

As she paused for breath I saw my chance.

‘I lost my phone,' I said. ‘In the avalanche.'

‘Oh my god,' Chloe said. ‘So it was true? Are you okay?'

‘I'm fine,' I said. ‘I've sprained my wrist and banged my head, and my legs are aching like I've done a particularly full-on spin class, but I'm fine. It was bloody scary though.' I told her all about being caught up in the snowfall.

‘Rob said you helped people get out,' Chloe said.

‘Harry helped too,' I said. ‘There were three people trapped.' Again I felt the strange mix of pride and fear that talking about the avalanche always gave me.

‘People are saying you've got a photographic memory,' Chloe said with a chuckle. ‘That you remembered exactly where the people were.'

‘It wasn't quite like that,' I admitted, knowing she'd know what I meant. Chloe was fully up to speed with my family's talents.

‘So what's happening with the wedding?' she asked. ‘You can sort it all out, right? You and Harry and your mums?'

‘Ah,' I said, realising I hadn't yet told her about Tansy and Parker. ‘There's a bit of a problem with that approach.'

I filled her in on Tansy turning up on the doorstep, Jamie's desperation to get to know his son, and his plea that Tansy didn't get wind of any magic whatsoever. When I finished, there was silence.

‘Say something,' I begged.

‘Shit,' said Chloe.

‘Not helpful, Chlo.'

‘So what are you going to do?'

‘Harry's got a plan,' I said.

‘Riiiight,' Chloe knew Harry almost as well as I did, which was why she sounded doubtful.

‘She's being amazing,' I said. ‘She's rallying the troops. She's got Leona to agree to make me another dress. Millicent's doing the food. It's a team effort.'

‘Except I'm not there,' Chloe said. ‘Is there any way I can get to you?'

‘We're working on it,' I said, a catch in my voice. ‘Dad's not here either.'

‘Oh, Ez,' Chloe said. ‘Where is he?'

‘Not sure,' I said. ‘On his way. I'll ring him next.'

‘If he can get to us, he could stay in the cottage,' Chloe said. ‘Gran's cottage. It's empty just now.'

Chloe's parents lived close to her on the new estate outside Claddach but her gran had lived further along the main road towards Inverness. When she'd died, Chloe's parents refurbished her cottage and rented it out as a holiday let.

‘Really?' I said now. ‘That would be brilliant. Check with your mum and let me know. I'll feel better once Dad is nearby, even if he is on the wrong side of a huge pile of snow.'

We said our goodbyes and as I hung up I realised I'd not told Chloe about Mum and Douglas. Never mind, I'd ring her again tomorrow.

Next I phoned Dad. He didn't answer so I left a message telling him everyone was okay, the wedding was going ahead, and if he could get up to Chloe's, we'd found him somewhere to stay until we managed to get him, Olivia and the boys into Claddach somehow. I left my new number so he could ring back.

And then I must have fallen asleep.

Chapter 15

I woke with a start when a car door slammed outside. I checked the time. Six p.m. Bugger. I had to get ready for this stupid party. Rubbing my eyes, I decided to go and find Harry and Lou to see what they were planning to wear, but I was distracted when I noticed an email from Stacey on my phone. Quickly, I opened it up and scanned what she said.

‘No problem tracking it down,' she'd written. ‘Let me know if there's anything else you need.'

I tapped on the attachment to open it and turned my phone round to read it more easily. It was Parker's birth certificate, all right.

Parker James Harris, I read. (James, that was interesting). Date of birth: September 23 2009. Place of birth: Boston, Massachusetts. Mother: Tansy Elizabeth Gregory Harris (Gregory? I thought). Father: Unknown.

Unknown? Was she serious? She may have named the wee boy after him, but she hadn't even bothered to put Jamie's name on Parker's birth certificate – not officially? Oh this was bad. In legal terms we had a whole mountain to climb before Jamie became Parker's father. I gritted my teeth. Bloody, bloody Tansy – starting something she couldn't finish.

My phone pinged, telling me another email had arrived. It was from Stacey too.

‘Found this,' she wrote. ‘Does this affect your friend's paternity claim?'

Curious, I opened the attachment she'd sent and stared at it in shock.

Petition to the court of Massachusetts, it said. For Michael Taylor Anderson to adopt Parker James Harris. There was lots more legal guff, but that was all I needed to read.

Shaking with rage and my mind racing, I somehow managed to pull on some clean jeans and throw on a black vest top with an over-sized skinny-knit grey cardigan over the top. Then I shoved my feet into my biker boots and stared at my reflection. It wasn't great. I had mascara under my eyes and my hair was greasy. Not caring much, I wiped my face, reapplied my make-up in thirty seconds flat then sprayed dry shampoo all over my dull blonde curls, and scraped them back into a bun.

Downstairs I could hear voices and I guessed the car I'd heard arrive was Douglas, who was picking us all up in his 4x4.

Lips pursed, I went down. The front door was open and there was no sign of Tansy and Parker – I assumed she'd taken the little lad over to Eva and Allan's to get him settled. Mum, Suky, Harry and Lou were all in the hall, zipping up their coats. Jamie was already outside admiring Doug's enormous car. I supposed I should be grateful he hadn't brought one of the hearses, though the way I was feeling about Tansy she was lucky not to be needing one.

‘I can't fit you all in,' Douglas was saying. ‘So I'll take some of you, then come back.'

I pasted a smile to my face.

‘You guys are all ready, you all go first,' I said. ‘I'll wait for Tansy.'

‘Nah,' said Jamie, walking back towards me. ‘I'll wait with you.'

I gave him a not-so-gentle shove in the direction of Doug's car.

‘It's fine,' I said firmly. ‘You go and get the drinks in. Tansy and I will only be a few minutes behind you.'

Jamie looked like he was going to argue but I gave him a look and he shrugged.

‘I'll explain later,' I hissed at him, hoping he'd forget when he had a pint in his hand.

I waved them all off brightly, then spun on my heel, slammed the front door closed and marched through the house to the kitchen. Eva and Allan's house was basically at the bottom of our garden, so we always used the back door when we went there. Tansy would come home that way.

I stood by the back door, tapping my foot, ready to pounce. I didn't have to wait long. Tansy pushed open the door and stopped on the mat, surprised to see me.

‘Did the others go already?' she said, pulling her hat off her head. The way her hair fell perfectly into place annoyed me. ‘Parker was so funny, he gave me a guided tour of Eva's place, showed me where he was sleeping…'

‘Is Jamie his dad?' I interrupted.

She stared at me in confusion.

‘Esme, I thought I'd explained everything,' she began.

‘So did I,' I spat. ‘But then I found Parker's birth certificate and I saw that Jamie's not on it. Not officially.'

Tansy unzipped her jacket and sat down at the kitchen table.

‘Okay,' she said. ‘Remember I told you how sick I was before he was born? I just wasn't thinking straight back then.'

‘And now?' I snapped at her. I stayed standing up, not wanting to sit down with her like an old friend. ‘Are you thinking straight right now?'

‘Esme, honey, I don't know what this is about,' she said.

‘It's about the fact that you have arrived here and turned our lives upside down,' I shouted at her. ‘You have brought that lovely wee boy here and let Jamie think he's his dad, and now I find out that he's not even named on the birth certificate and worse than that, that your fiancé is about to adopt Parker.'

‘Oh,' Tansy said. She looked down at her lap.

‘Oh,' I mocked. ‘Is that all you have to say?'

I gave a little laugh, even though none of this was remotely funny.

‘You know what I do for a living, right?'

Tansy looked surprised at the change of subject.

‘You're a lawyer.'

‘I'm a family lawyer,' I said, emphasising the word family. ‘Adoptions, divorces, custody battles, you name it. They're my lifeblood. You picked the wrong girl to mess with, sister.'

Had I really just called her sister?

Tansy said nothing. I couldn't really blame her.

‘Now,' I said. ‘How about you tell me why you're really here?'

She ran her hands through her hair and I was pleased to see a bit of her fringe sticking up.

‘Is there any wine,' she said. ‘I need a drink.'

I lifted my hand to produce a bottle, then caught myself just in time. No magic, not now. Instead I pulled a bottle from the fridge and put it and two glasses on the table. Then I finally sat down opposite her and sloshed wine into the glasses.

‘Talk,' I said.

Tansy swigged her wine and took a deep breath.

‘Parker is Jamie's,' she said. ‘I've got no doubt. There was no one else.'

I kept my gaze steely.

‘We'll want a DNA test to confirm that,' I said.

‘That's understandable,' Tansy said. ‘You guys will want to get Jamie tested for the illness too.'
‘So that's all true?'

Tansy nodded.

‘It all happened like I told you. The malaria, and Parker being born. It took me a good while to get my head round everything that was happening.'

She looked up at me for the first time.

‘The worst thing was feeling like I'd let my dad down,' she said. ‘I was his little girl. His favourite, even though he adores my brothers. And when I was pregnant he looked at me in a way that I couldn't bear,' her voice caught and I almost – almost – felt sorry for her.