The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,287

tell me my driver had arrived.

‘Please keep in contact and let me know when you’re ready to see me. I understand it’s so much to take in and you need some time, but I just want to be there for you, it’s important you know that,’ she said as she followed me up the stairs to the front door. ‘Just let me know when.’

‘I will.’

She reached out her arms to hug me, but I turned away and opened the door. I just needed to breathe some clean air and step back out into the present.

‘Goodbye, Stella,’ I said as I ran down the steps to the waiting car.

When I arrived home, I saw Mariam and Lizzie sitting in the kitchen.

‘Hi,’ I said wearily.

‘Are you okay, Electra?’ Both of them were on their feet immediately, trailing behind me as I walked towards my bedroom.

‘Yeah, I’m good, I just need some sleep.’

I closed the door in their faces, feeling rude, but I literally couldn’t stand up for another second. Just about managing to take off my sneakers and jeans, I fell onto the bed, pressed the control that would bring the blinds down, and closed my eyes.

‘Electra?’

I heard a familiar voice calling me and I groaned as I came to from what felt like the deepest sleep I’d ever had.

‘Yup,’ I murmured.

‘It’s Lizzie. I was just checking that you’re okay.’

‘I’m fine, just . . . sleepy.’

‘Okay, good. Just to let you know, it’s eleven o’clock.’

‘At night?’

‘No, in the morning. You’ve slept for something like fourteen hours, and Mariam and I were getting worried about you.’

‘Really, I’m fine,’ I emphasised, realising that maybe they thought I’d been on the hard stuff again.

‘Shall I leave you be or get you some coffee? I bought some bagels and smoked salmon from the deli too.’

I lay there and noticed that I was actually starving. ‘That sounds good, Lizzie, thanks.’

I opened the blinds, and sat blinking in the bright sunlight. In my entire life, I didn’t think I had ever slept as long as I just had. Maybe it was my brain’s way of switching me off, giving me rest in order to deal with what I’d heard yesterday. Surprisingly, I thought, as I tentatively gauged my brain’s reaction, I didn’t feel as bad as I expected I would. In fact, I felt a weird sense of relief that I finally knew the truth. Even if that truth was crap. I also found myself thinking how lucky I was not to live in a time when the colour of my skin would have totally defined my future, and that somehow, I’d been saved from walking down the same path as my mother.

As I lay there thinking about my heritage and how I’d read that addiction was genetic, I then thought of Stella, who had only been addicted to her work: striving to make the world a better place. I thought of her strength, and how calm and balanced she was, and hoped that some of her genes were in me too. And even though there were bits of my mom that had reminded me of myself, at heart, I’d always wanted to be a good girl, not a bad one. Admittedly, my fiery temper had gotten in the way . . . so maybe I was a mixture of both my mom and my granny, and that suited me just fine.

As for the man who had provided the seed it took to make me . . . I guessed I would never know who he was, but that was all right too. It was becoming even more obvious that I’d had a pretty amazing father from the beginning. A man who’d apparently spent a lot of time trying to find me some blood family so he could leave them behind for me. And he’d succeeded.

‘Here you go, breakfast in bed, madam, and you deserve it,’ said Lizzie, coming in with a tray, on which stood a hot pot of coffee, a cup and two smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels.

‘Really, why?’

‘Your granny called about ten times last night and three times this morning. Obviously she didn’t give me any details, but just said I was to watch out for you. She sounded concerned for you, Electra.’

‘Yeah, she had to tell me some pretty hardcore stuff about my mom. And other ancestors,’ I sighed.

‘Well,’ said Lizzie, pouring the coffee into my cup, ‘you know I’m here if you want to talk about it. Bagel?’

‘In a moment, but why