The Piano Man Project Page 0,35

just leave it out here then,’ she said quietly, and he heard her door close a few seconds later. A wash of frustration flooded through his veins, at Honey for not giving up, and at himself for being glad that she hadn’t.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Honey shrugged out of her jacket and flung it over the back of the only chair in the tiny staffroom at the shop. Lucille and Mimi had been waiting for her when she’d arrived to open up and had followed her into the staffroom, each wearing matching chiffon scarves around their necks and frowns etched onto their brows.

‘What’s wrong, ladies?’ Honey said, pushing the kettle under the tap and filling it up. ‘Nothing a Tuesday morning cuppa can’t fix, I’m sure.’ She snapped the lid down and switched the jug on, reaching for the cups as she looked over at Mimi and Lucille again. The evident worry etched on both of their faces pulled her up short.

‘Hey, what is it?’

Lucille placed her black patent handbag down on the table and pushed the gilt clasp open. She withdrew an official-looking brown envelope and smoothed it out on the table top beside her bag.

‘It’s this,’ she said. ‘It came in this morning’s post.’

Mimi picked it up and held it out towards Honey. ‘Right out of the blue,’ she said, looking uncharacteristically rattled.

Honey took the envelope and scanned it, noting the way it was formally addressed to Lucille and Miriam Dreyfus, rather than their respective married names. It seemed oddly vulnerable to see their childhood titles printed alongside each other on the paper, just as they’d have been on their class registration sheet many, many years previously.

‘Can I?’ she asked, glancing at the sisters, who nodded emphatically.

Honey eased the letter from the envelope and opened the single sheet of headed paper from The Adoption Support Agency. Glancing quickly up at Mimi and Lucille, she flicked her eyes back down and started to read.

‘Wow,’ she said quietly as she read its content. ‘Wow.’ Folding the piece of paper and replacing it carefully in its envelope, she handed the letter back to Lucille. ‘I’m guessing from your reactions that neither of you knew anything about this?’

The two women shook their heads.

‘Not a thing,’ Lucille murmured.

‘Not a sausage,’ Mimi said, her eyes misty. ‘As far as we knew, our mother only ever had us. How could there have been another baby that we never even knew about? It’s ridiculous.’

‘An older brother,’ Lucille added, her blue eyes wistful. ‘I always wanted a brother to look after me.’

‘You have me,’ Mimi pointed out. ‘I think it must be a scam, although goodness knows why anyone would go to the bother because we haven’t got two brass farthings between us. We can’t possibly have a brother. It’s always been just the two of us.’

Honey heard the clear anxiety behind Mimi’s bluster, her fear of losing her place in the world, both as Lucille’s only sibling and as her best friend.

‘It might be best to take a little time to think it over. There’s no need to rush into anything,’ Honey soothed, trying to walk the line between the sisters’ clearly differing reactions about the news.

‘Ernest,’ Mimi muttered. ‘Our mother would never have called a child Ernest.’

‘I like it,’ Lucille smiled. ‘Ernie Dreyfus. He sounds like someone important, a doctor, or a teacher.’

‘Phhfft,’ Mimi scoffed. ‘I don’t care what he was. I’ve managed eighty-three years without a brother, why would I want one now?’

Honey made the tea as she listened to Mimi and Lucille bat the conversation back and forth between them. They were digesting the news in real time, each of them in their own unique way.

Lucille, ever the romantic, secure in her place as the baby of the family. Mimi the firecracker, feeling threatened and ready to battle for her position as the eldest sibling. Honey knew them both well enough to know that given time, their opinions would meet somewhere in the middle, hopefully in a place that allowed them to explore the extraordinary news of a possible brother, and the equally extraordinary news that he’d got in touch at the ripe old age of eighty-nine and if they’d like to, he’d dearly love to meet his sisters. The letter didn’t go into any further detail about Ernest, just a request for Lucille and Mimi to reply via the agency to let him know if they’d be prepared to make contact. Honey had faith in Mimi that time would allow her to see the wonder