Chapter 14
‘I still can’t believe you own this cottage.’
They were sitting together on the sofa, Gerald drinking a mug of strong black coffee, Abigail with a steaming mug of tea. They’d just sat down after she’d taken him on the grand tour of the two-bedroomed cottage. While showing him around, she’d told him all about Toby’s unexpected acquisition, and about the DNA kit she’d found while sorting through his things.
‘You think he was the baby found in the storm porch.’
Abigail nodded. ‘It makes sense. Toby’s mum was a nurse, and they lived in this cottage until he was five.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, but the thing is, he always thought she was his biological mum. She married his stepdad, and they moved away and had a daughter whom Toby assumed was his half-sister.’
‘What were the results of the DNA test?’
Abigail shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Then this is all conjecture. Have you spoken with his family about this? I assume that if he’d had a DNA test, then another family member must have agreed to do one too. He must have spoken to them about it.’
‘Another family member …’ Abigail repeated. There were two ways he could have found out for sure. His mother could have taken a DNA test, but she was suffering from early onset dementia – and even if she hadn’t been, if she’d kept the adoption a secret from him all these years, why would she have changed her mind and told him the truth? The second possibility was his sister. Had he talked to her about it?
‘From what you’ve told me, I would go and see them. They still live here – don’t they?’
Abigail nodded. ‘His mum and stepdad moved to London when he was still a child, but they retired here. His sister, who recently split up from her husband, moved here too,’ Abigail added as an afterthought.
‘Once you’ve got settled into the cottage, you can visit them.’
Abigail looked at him sheepishly. She knew he thought she’d not long arrived. She didn’t want his feelings to be hurt if he found out she’d been here a week without popping in to see him.
‘Can you remember anything else about that night? The night of the Great Storm?’
His face turned grim. Abigail stared at him. It was unusual to see him without a smile; her stepdad was one of those people who always seemed jovial. She wasn’t surprised, though, that she had dampened the mood by bringing up the night his best friend perished at sea. It was also a stark reminder that their volunteer work wasn’t without great personal risk.
Gerald put his empty coffee mug on the table. ‘There was a lot going on that night – people trapped in cars, the electricity lines down, emergency services stretched to the limit. But you know, it wasn’t all bad. You were born that night.’
Abigail smiled. ‘And Toby,’ she said.
‘Yes, he must have been just hours old when he was found in the storm porch. The nurse took him to the hospital. It was lucky she hadn’t started her shift, otherwise there would have been no one home.’
‘How could someone leave a baby like that in a storm?’
‘Perhaps that’s why they left him – because he was safer there.’
‘Did someone knock on her door, then?’
‘I don’t know the details. That’s all I heard, I’m afraid. Isn’t it peculiar? You both were born the same night and could have been in cots next to each other, and you ended up all those years later, meeting again and falling in love.’ He paused. ‘Abigail, I shouldn’t have said that.’
She put a hand on his arm and got a bear hug in return.
That was why she knew she would never find another soulmate. They had been born the same night, and both had lost parents. It had been as though they were meant to be together. ‘What I don’t understand is what connection Toby had to the Somervilles.’
‘The Somervilles?’
‘Yes, Daphne Somerville – whose married name was Harris – put the cottage in trust for Toby. Have you heard of the Somervilles?’
‘Yes, of course. I don’t know them personally. I wouldn’t know them if I passed them in the street, but they are the biggest landowners hereabouts.’ He had a thought. ‘Why don’t you go and see them too?’
Abigail shook her head at that suggestion. ‘The solicitor who is executor of the will says they’re trying to cause problems.’