“This is your grandmother!” says Luke with a flourish. “Minnie, this lady is my mother. Would you like to say hello?” Minnie isn’t listening. She rushes over, flings herself at Elinor’s legs, and then starts trying to open her bag.
“Ladeeeeee!” she says. “Daddy, is Ladeeeee!” She finds a puzzle in Elinor’s bag and pulls it out in triumph. “Puzzle, Ladeee! Do it at the table,” she enunciates carefully as she climbs onto a chair. “At the table.”
Luke is staring at them both in utter bewilderment.
“She … knows her,” he says. “Minnie, darling, do you know your grandmother?”
“Not gran-mudder,” says Minnie scornfully. “Is Ladeeee.”
“She knows you.” He addresses Elinor directly. “How could she know you? She hasn’t seen you since she was a baby.”
“She doesn’t know Elinor!” I say quickly. “Don’t be ridiculous! She’s just being friendly.” But my voice sounds false to my own ears.
I can see the truth dawning on Luke’s face.
“She used to talk about seeing a lady,” he says slowly. “We didn’t know what she was talking about.” He whips round to me, suddenly pale with fury. “That was my mother, wasn’t it? Becky, what have you been doing behind my back? And no more lying.”
He sounds so self-righteous, I feel a surge of outrage. He has no idea. No bloody idea.
“OK, I did take Minnie to see Elinor!” I cry. “Because she’s her grandmother and they should get to know each other! But before you get so high and mighty, do you want to know what else we were doing, Luke?”
“Rebecca,” says Elinor in a tone of dreadful warning, but I ignore her.
“We were planning your surprise party! You thought that was Suze and Tarquin? Well, it wasn’t! It was your mother. She organized the whole thing and paid for it, and she wouldn’t take any credit, but she should! Because it was her. It was Elinor.”
I break off, breathing hard. At last. At last. I’ve been carrying that secret around like a heavy weight ever since the night of the party.
“Is this true?” Luke sounds shaken.
I’m not sure if he’s asking Elinor or me, but in any case, Elinor doesn’t answer. She looks dry-frozen. All the warmth has vanished, and her eyes have dwindled to dark, burning points.
“That is not why I came here, for you to discover that fact, Luke,” she says, her voice an angry rasp. “It is not why I came here. You were not supposed to discover … you were never supposed to know.…” Her face is trembling, and as I watch I’m suddenly appalled. Is she—
No.
Is she about to cry?
“Elinor,” I say desperately. “Elinor, I’m sorry, but he had to know—”
“No.” She won’t meet my eye. “No, Rebecca. You have undermined everything. Goodbye, Minnie.”
To my utter horror, she grabs hold of her bag with shaking hands and walks out.
“Ladeeee!” cries Minnie. “No go!”
I watch, paralyzed, unable to bring myself to go after her. Only when I hear the heavy front door slam do I move. A horrible guilt is growing inside me, and I can’t stop myself lashing out at Luke.
“Happy now?” I round on him. “So you’ve destroyed your mother’s life. I hope you feel good.”
“Destroyed her life? I don’t think so.”
“You have! All she wants is to make amends and be part of the family and see Minnie. Don’t you get that, Luke? She doesn’t want to buy your love. She wouldn’t let me tell you about the party. She was watching the whole thing from a hiding place, but she wouldn’t come out. And then you went overboard, thanking Suze and Tarkie. They knew it was Elinor. They felt terrible.”
“So everyone knew except me,” says Luke tightly. “Of course they did.”
“Ladeeee!” wails Minnie, as Luke’s BlackBerry bleeps with a text. “Where Ladeee?” She gets down from the table, looking determined. “Find Ladeeee.”
“Minnie, Lady had to go to her own home,” I say hurriedly. “But I’ll tell you a bedtime story about Lady, how about that? And then you can go to sleep and tomorrow we’ll do something nice—” I break off, noticing a weird flicker pass over Luke’s face. “What is it?”
Luke says nothing. He’s just gazing at his phone. He glances at me, then focuses on his screen again. OK, I don’t like this.
“What?” I say. “Tell me!”
Silently, Luke turns his phone round. I squint at the screen and see a picture of Minnie, standing in our drive, in a sexy, grown-up pose.
“It’s on the USA Today website,” he says, and my heart plummets.
“Let me see.” I grab the phone and wince at the image. They’ve managed to make Minnie look all grown-up and knowing and … awful. I’m sure they’ve touched up her mouth so she looks like she’s wearing makeup.
“That was Sage’s fault,” I say, handing the phone back. “She encouraged Minnie. I stopped her as soon as I saw what they were doing. Who sent it to you?”
“Aran. But I think he got our numbers mixed up, because the message is to you. He seems to think you’ll be pleased. It’s all raising the family profile, as he puts it.”
There’s an accusing note to Luke’s voice, I suddenly realize.
“Pleased?” I echo in horror. “Of course I’m not pleased. I was livid! I told them to stop! Luke, you can’t think—” I stop at his expression. He’s staring at his phone again, with a look of revulsion.