The Rinucci Brothers: Wife and Mother Forever / Her Italian Boss's Agenda / The Wedding Arrangement

‘You know everything, don’t you?’

‘I said stop it. You’re trying to distract me because you don’t want to confront it.’

‘All right, I don’t,’ he growled. ‘Why the hell should I want to?’

‘Because you’ll never resolve it otherwise.’

‘What is there to resolve? It’s the situation. It’s my life. It can’t be resolved.’

‘Maybe it can.’

‘Evie, listen. I know you mean well, but you have to play the hand you’re dealt. You can play it well or badly, but you can’t change the hand you start with.’

‘But you can investigate it. And then, maybe, you’ll discover you weren’t dealt the hand you thought.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I mean you should find out about your real mother, who she was, and why she couldn’t keep you.’

He stared at her. ‘Are you crazy?’

‘No, but you might be if you try to carry this burden any longer. I think you’re already starting to break under it.’

It was a risky thing to say. She waited. He gave her a black look, but he didn’t deny it.

‘Haven’t you ever tried to find her?’

‘Why would I want to find her?’ he growled. ‘So that I can say, “Hey, why did you toss me out with the junk? C’mon tell me, and that’ll make it all right”?’

‘But there might be things she could tell you that would make you understand her better. Perhaps she had no choice. She was probably a young unmarried mother and it was very much harder for them in those days. At least try. It might make more difference than you think.’

‘How could it? She gave me up. There’s no way past that.’

‘There is if she didn’t want to give you up. She might have been pressured beyond endurance.’

‘I’d like to see anyone try to pressure me to give up my son.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ she blazed. ‘That is absolutely the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say. We’re talking about a vulnerable girl. You’re a grown man at the height of his powers. Nobody can bully you.’

‘You’re not doing badly.’

‘I’m not bullying you, I’m just pointing out facts.’

‘Right now I’m not sure there’s a difference,’ he said, eyeing her cautiously.

‘Just because you can stand up to people it doesn’t mean everyone else can. Honestly, Justin, that remark was plain idiotic.’

‘All right,’ he said harshly. ‘I admit it. I was trying to get you off the subject. Do you think I want to let strangers poke and pry into my private life? Can you imagine how hard it was even to tell you? Suppose she wasn’t a vulnerable girl. Suppose she was someone who just didn’t want to bother.’

‘All right, it’s possible, but then I don’t think she’d have given her baby away in secret. She’d simply have called social services. But neither of us really knows. That’s why it’s vital to find out.’

‘You’re forgetting that she never registered my birth. In a sense I never existed. All those agencies for reuniting people with their mothers can’t help a man whose mother’s name isn’t on his birth certificate.’

‘That’s going to make it more difficult,’ she conceded. ‘But not impossible. I’ve got a friend that I’d like to give this to. He’s a private detective, and he’s brilliant.’

He was silent, racked by doubt. Evie could almost feel the violence of his feelings tearing him in opposite directions.

‘I can see to everything,’ she urged. ‘You give me all the details and I’ll talk to him. You won’t even have to meet him if you don’t want to.’

‘All right,’ he said softly. ‘If I can leave everything in your hands, I’ll do it.’

She held him close, praying that she’d done the right thing for him. If it turned out badly, she might have made his troubles a thousand times worse. But she knew that he couldn’t go much longer.

It was time to leave the cottage and return to London. Evie took a last look around, thinking of how she’d arrived here meaning to pack up and say goodbye. And now there were to be no sad goodbyes. At least, not to the cottage. What the road ahead held for her and Justin she could not tell.

So that they could travel together he arranged for a driver to collect her van. As they drove home he said, ‘It’ll be very late when we reach London. Why don’t you stay with us tonight, or maybe a few days?’

And she said that would be lovely, almost as though they hadn’t planned it between them earlier. Mark grinned. He was a child who saw and understood a lot more than he was told.

Justin left for New York a couple of days later. Before going he showed Evie his office and all the files that concerned his birth. They were pitifully few, but they were a start.

When Justin had gone she contacted David Hallam, the private investigator who was a good friend.

‘You’re not giving me much,’ he complained when he saw the material. ‘Never mind. It’ll be a challenge.’

On the night before Justin was due home David called her and said, ‘You’ve really stirred things up.’

‘You don’t mean you’ve found something?’

He told her what he’d discovered, and she could barely contain her excitement. But she must be patient. She and Mark went to meet Justin at the airport, and she held back, letting the moment belong to father and son. Her time would come.

It came later that night when they were finally alone.

‘I don’t know how much it amounts to,’ she said, ‘but David has someone he wants you to meet.’

He tensed. ‘Not—?’

‘No, not her. A man. His name is Primo Rinucci, and his English stepmother had a son who was taken away from her at birth. For years he’s been trying to find him for her. He’s had feelers out with dozens of organisations and detective agencies, asking them to tell him if anyone with the right details contacted them. There’s a chance that you’re the man he’s seeking.’

He turned pale. ‘Dear God!’

‘Justin, just think. If this works out, it means that she’s been looking for you.’

‘Don’t!’ he said in a harsh whisper. ‘Don’t encourage me to hope. Evie!’

‘Yes, darling. Yes, yes!’

This might be the answer that would make him complete at last, and if they did not pursue it the doubt would torment them both. But she knew also that Justin was standing on a dangerous edge, and disappointed hope could destroy him. If that happened she would blame herself for ever.