Chapter 65

‘Cindy,' Daisy sniffs, ten minutes later, once Mum lets go of her. I thought Mum was going to squeeze her to death. I don't blame her. It isn't every day your long lost, presumed dead, child walks into your life. ‘Was that my birth name?'

Mum nods as Georgia walks in with another tray of hot drinks, sets it down on the coffee table and tells everyone to help themselves. ‘Lucinda, after my mother.' Nana Lucy. A no-nonsense woman who despised Dad, the feeling was mutual, but worshipped the ground Mum walked on. She'd have lynched Dad for abandoning her namesake granddaughter. ‘I always liked strong names – Isabella, Zelda, Lucinda.'

‘Lucinda. I like it.' Daisy gives mum a watery smile.

‘I've never stopped thinking about you, every single day. I can't believe Stanley lied to me. It's unforgiveable,' Mum seethes. ‘Letting me mourn all these years for a child that's alive.' Mum sets her mug down on the table ‘You've got my nose,' she coos, touching her own face. ‘And Bella's smile, and your profile is just like my mother's. Zelda looks a lot like her.' Zelda shuffles in her seat, takes a slurp from her mug and winces, complaining that it tastes like dishwater – whatever that tastes like.

‘Daisy, why weren't you upfront with us?' I ask, intrigued. ‘Why the cloak-and-dagger approach?'

‘Daisy didn't want to deceive you, Bella,' Tina replies, like her spokesperson. ‘We were just looking for a lead. The was no record of a maternal family member on the DNA reports.' Tina coughs into her hand and looks at me as if to say apart from Georgia Harriswith Liam Cooper's email. ‘Daisy got your surname from Barry,' Tina continues. ‘We found Bella online quite easily.' Especially as you had all my details at hand. Tina turns to Daisy, ‘It was Facebook, wasn't it?' Daisy shakes her head, tells her it was Instagram, Georgia makes a vomit sound, says Facebook is for old ladies. ‘Anyway, we couldn't come in all guns blazing. The shock might've sent you running for the hills.' Oh, I don't know. Maybe initially, yes, but I'd have been intrigued enough to agree to a meet-up.

‘We needed a strategy.' Tina pauses, takes a sip of coffee. ‘A way in. An invite. Daisy was nervous as hell about telling you who she was, especially after Barry's warning.' That is feasible. But lying to us for weeks? What's the worst that could've happened if she'd fessed up?

‘I stayed undercover because I couldn't bear to be rejected twice,' Daisy admits.

‘So, we came up with a plan,' Tina says to me. ‘I'd pretend I was putting my house on the market and hire you to take the photographs. The idea was to meet you, try and find out about your mother.' That's why she was asking so many questions about Mum, and there was I thinking she was just being lovely.

‘What did you expect my sister to do, give our mum's address out to a complete stranger?' Zelda snaps.

‘No,' Tina says tersely. ‘I'd simply gauge the situation. Find out if Sandra was still alive, if she lived in London, if she was still married. That sort of thing. And I'm not sure what would've happened after that.'

‘We didn't think that far ahead,' Daisy adds. ‘I just wanted to meet you on neutral grounds. See if I fitted in. If you liked me.'

‘I suppose we thought the dots would join up spontaneously.' Tina takes another sip. ‘The good news was that you are still alive, Sandra. The bad news was that you were in Portugal.' Tina looks at me. ‘I couldn't ask you when she'd be back, not without sounding like a stalker. I was asking too many questions as it was. You were getting suspicious.' I wasn't, actually, but perhaps my body language suggested otherwise. ‘I managed to find out you were an artist, Sandra, and lived quite close to Bella. I thought I was on a roll then. I mean, imagine, if you were well known. We could buy tickets to one of your exhibitions, and Daisy would meet her mother.' Tina clicks her fingers. ‘Just like that. But, alas, Bella wouldn't divulge anything more. And that was the end of that. Our plan had failed.'

‘Not quite, Miss Marple.' Daisy throws Tina a smile.

‘When you said you were looking for a temp, Bella, a thought shot into my head. It was the perfect solution. Daisy could meet you, find out when her mother was coming home, where she lived, and, in the meantime, get to know her sisters, and her adorable niece, too.' Tina flicks an affectionate glance at Georgia and she laps it up, shimmying smugly. ‘We decided that if Barry was right and you were a rotten lot, Daisy would simply go back to her life in Dublin, no one would ever know.'

‘A right pair of detectives, aren't you?' Zelda groans, picking at a fingernail.

‘I think it's genius,' Georgia trills, hands in namaste against her chin.

There's a moment of silence and then Mum says, ‘Wait, a moment. Earlier you said Bella and Zelda had tried killing someone.' Panic pierces my chest. I forgot all about that. ‘Why did you say such a horrid thing?'

Daisy shakes her head. ‘It was all lies,' she says to the navy patterned carpet, and my heart breaks into a million pieces. Loyal to the core. ‘I wanted to hurt you, Sandra, that's all.'

‘By accusing them of being murderers,' Mum says crisply. Daisy nods and Mum's eyebrows shoot up.

‘You can't blame her,' Tina offers. ‘After the homecoming she just received.'

I look at Mum. She's deep in thought, fist pressed against her lips. God, I hope she doesn't press Daisy on this. Daisy's fragile at the moment, she might break under Mum's detective-style questioning.

Suddenly, Zelda shoots to her feet. ‘I can't deal with this shitshow. I'll text you later, Bells.' Rushing over to Mum, she gives her a quick peck on the forehead. ‘Great to have you back, Mum,' she whispers, then shoots across me.

‘Zelda,' I barrel after her. ‘Zelda, wait.' The front door slams so hard that my teeth vibrate. I sigh loudly as I pad back into the living room, making a mental note to call Zelda this evening. This news is going to take some digesting.

‘I should go,' Daisy announces as I flop back down on the sofa. ‘I shouldn't have done this to you. Not like this. It was a crazy idea. I'm sorry, Bella, you've been nothing but kind to me and all I've done is lie to you. Taking in a homeless stranger, that takes some heart. You really are an earth angel.'

‘Hear hear.' Georgia applauds.

‘It was my fault,' Tina objects, rubbing the back of her neck tiredly. ‘I was the one who came up with the ridiculous plan.' She sighs loudly at the ceiling. ‘It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.' Daisy objects, tells her she can't thank her enough for everything she's done for her.

‘You did what you thought was right, Tina, and you brought my daughter home. I'll always be grateful to you for that.'

And just like that, I lose a temp and gain another sister.