that, it was her mother. But how had she managed to keep her pregnancy secret? Or had her husband known? Had he known that she’d been unfaithful, and been complicit in hiding the pregnancy, birth and adoption in order to keep their family unit together? That sounded more like him. But Rose had look so terrified when Kate had shown her the box from the loft, as if she’d seen a ghost, and the only reason for that would have been that she thought her world was about to implode. By inadvertently discovering the only memory her mother had of her third child, Kate had so nearly torn their family apart. Rose would have known that – that’s why she had snatched it from Kate’s grasp.
She’d almost felt sorry for her mother, responsible for forcing her to discard the cherished memento. But then she was reminded of how quickly Rose had pointed the finger at their father when Jess turned up – so eager to cast aspersions that she knew weren’t true – yet if it kept her secret safe, it seemed she had no moral responsibility to the man she’d been married to for forty years.
None of this explained what Jess actually wanted from them of course, though to cause as much distress and conflict as possible certainly seemed to be at the top of her agenda. Otherwise, why was she working with Matt? Why was she infiltrating Lauren’s life? Why was her flat set up for a baby?
‘And what the hell is she doing shacked up with my husband a hundred and fifty miles away?’ Kate had asked herself out loud.
The never-ending questions had circled in Kate’s head for most of the night, until she’d finally fallen asleep at dawn, wondering whether it was the past she should be worried about at all – because it seemed to be the future that was under threat.
She turns to Matt’s side of the bed now and hopes against hope that he’s there. When he’s not, she’s consumed not with a sense of foreboding, as she’d expected, but a sudden determination to find out exactly what Jess is up to. Because whatever it is, Kate will not let it beat her. ‘I’m a journalist, for God’s sake,’ she says under her breath.
She pulls her laptop towards her with a renewed sense of purpose and looks up the government website for births, deaths and marriages. It turns out it’s relatively easy to get a copy of an adoptee’s birth certificate; but not without their original surname and adopted parents’ names.
So she calls Jared, an old colleague of hers and a fearsome investigative reporter who leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the truth.
‘Hey stranger,’ he says as he picks up, making her feel as if she only ever calls him when she wants something. She resolves to call him more often when she doesn’t. ‘It’s a bit early for you, isn’t it?’
‘Hey, how you doing?’ says Kate. ‘Are you okay to talk?’
‘Always,’ he says, making Kate feel even worse.
‘I need to trace someone’s back story, but I don’t have their birth name.’
‘That shouldn’t be a problem,’ he says confidently. ‘Are they adopted or have they changed their name?’
‘Yes,’ says Kate, before thinking about it. ‘No, I don’t know.’
Jared laughs. ‘Well, which is it?’
She thinks back to what Finn told her. ‘Her adopted name is Harriet Oakley, but she’s been living as Jessica Linley more recently. I’m not sure if she’s changed it by deed poll or not.’
‘Sounds interesting.’
You have no idea.
‘Do you have a date of birth?’
‘Yes, fifteenth of September, 1996.’
‘Okay, but no birth name?’
Kate sighs. ‘I can have a guess, but it would be a real stab in the dark.’
‘Anything might help,’ says Jared.
‘Okay, can you try Harriet Alexander?’ asks Kate, though even as she says it, she knows it’s highly unlikely. Firstly, she’s not her father’s child and why would her mother give Harry’s name to a child she was giving up for adoption? Even if her husband did know about it?
‘Anything else you can tell me?’ asks Jared.
‘Actually, can you also look at Harriet Grainger?’ adds Kate, wondering if her mother would have given the child her maiden name rather than that of her lover. It occurs to her for the first time, whether Rose even told Jess’s father that she was pregnant with his child.
How is she going to deal with that when the time comes?
‘Okay,’ says Jared. ‘Let me talk to my contact at the adoption