A Beautiful Forever - By Anderson, Lilliana Page 0,80

us his family. “Perhaps we should all go and try to sort this out together,” he says quietly.

I find myself following behind them, taking a seat at the dining room table and waiting while they talk quietly to each other in the kitchen, making a tray with tea and biscuits. I’m not hungry or thirsty, but I accept it anyway.

My mother sits across from me with Daniel by her side and begins, “Paige, I want you to know that I have always loved you.”

I have to force myself not to roll my eyes as I wait for her to continue.

“I had been travelling backwards and forwards between Australia and the UK for about a year for work, and Daniel was a colleague. Every time I visited, he was so kind to me. I tried to resist my attraction because I was already married and had a son but eventually we both fell prey to temptation.” She looks at Daniel, her eyes so filled with adoration that it hurts my heart to watch them. “I was so in love with him, and he was with me too. However, I couldn’t stay with him. I had to go back and look after my family.

“When I found out I was pregnant. I knew you were Daniel's, but I hid all of my dates from your father and pretended that I fell pregnant before I’d left.

“You were premature, so they kept you in an incubator, and your father couldn’t understand what went wrong because by what I told him, you should have been full term. That coupled with your dark shock of hair made him realise that you weren’t actually his.

“We had a lot to lose by separating, so we decided to stay together and tell the world that you were his. Then another baby, your sister got added to the mix a couple of years later and things went from bad to worse.

“Your father hated that I seemed to play favourites with you and would torment me over my affair. Slowly I started to resent you, I thought that if you weren’t around – then my life would be better, so I sent you out, I drove you away.

“When your father learned what I had done he was livid with me - despite his anger over what I had done, he didn’t hate you – he just didn’t know how to love a child that wasn’t his.

“Slowly our relationship crumbled and we separated, I gave him custody of Adam and Sophie and came back here and well…” She looks at Daniel again and smiles with quivering lips. He places his arm around her, resting his hand on hers and squeezing it gently.

Tears are falling down my face as I listen. My life has just been one horrible mistake after another – the first one being hers. “Did you know about me?” I ask Daniel. “I mean, before I contacted you. Did you know about me?”

“I did,” he says. “I had to sign that I was your father for your birth certificate.”

“And you just left me there?” I stare at him, watching him as he thinks through his answer.

“I thought it was what was best. I didn’t know you were being treated poorly.”

“But you married her anyway?”

“I did. She made mistakes Paige. Lord knows I've made mistakes too in my life, but those mistakes don’t change the fact that she’s the woman I love.”

I laugh humourlessly, “You’re very passionate for an Englishman,” I say flatly.

“Well my mother, your grandmother, is Italian. She was very passionate.”

I look at my mother, “What about Adam and Sophie? You just left them too?”

She looks down at her hands and nods, “I left everyone,” she whispers.

Chapter 30

Elliot

I’m doing my best to fill in my time while I wait for a new visa to be approved. I went for my interview and produced all the necessary documents to prove my heritage, so I could apply for a five-year visa. My grandmother is English, so I could apply based on my ancestry. Now I’m in limbo while I wait. It’s already been over a month; I'm hoping it doesn’t take much longer.

Since I’ve been back, I’ve given up my flat, sold most of my furniture and moved in with my mother to help save enough money as a backup for when I go over there. She’s offered to help me out, but I want to do it on my own.

I also went and visited my father for the first time in