‘Thank you for checking in,’ Emma said.
Alex held the phone to his ear, picturing what she looked like now and how she would feel later. ‘Remember why you’re doing this,’ he said.
‘I will.’
She sighed, and he had the strangest feeling she was trying not to say something.
‘I’ll talk to you later.’
Emma placed her phone on the table. She had been putting off calling her mother all day, but speaking to Alex had given her the little shove she needed.
Lifting the receiver of her desk phone, Emma called her mother’s extension. ‘Hi, Mom, I need a favour.’
‘What is it, Emma?’ Helen Brown’s distracted voice came through.
‘I need to talk to all of you tonight. Do you think you can make that happen?’ Emma asked. Her heart was pounding in her chest.
‘Sure, darling. Shall we have a family dinner? Is Alex coming?’
Family dinners were torture. The thought of having to sit through a meal after she gave them the news was too much to bear. Maybe if she spoke to them after the meal? That was sure to be unpleasant, and there was no way they would allow her to make them wait when she had called for everyone to be present.
‘No. I won’t be long, and Alex is working.’
‘Okay. What time will you come over?’
‘Straight after work. Six?’
‘That’s fine. See you later, Em.’
Emma hung up and scrunched her fingers in her hair. It was ridiculous that she should feel scared. This was her flesh and blood. They had raised her. For better or worse, they would be in her life forever.
The problem was she was certain tonight would be for worse...
Emma drove through the city and eventually came to the tree-lined roads of Toorak. The houses were as big as the bank accounts around here, and that was exactly what her family liked.
She pulled up to the gates of her family home and pressed the button on the little remote that lived in her car. She waited for the gates to swing open and then rolled the car to a spot on the driveway where she always parked when she wanted a quick exit.
Emma eyed the behemoth of a house, with its towering walls and smooth pillars. It was a stately mansion, and ordinarily she would have appreciated it. Except she had grown up within its walls, and there was nothing she coveted more than the small sanctuary she now called home.
Emma took a deep breath at the front door. Her palms were already sweaty. She straightened her dress and walked in.
‘Mom?’ she called.
A round table stood in the middle of the hall, with an obnoxiously large flower arrangement in its centre. Two sweeping staircases clung to the wall, beckoning her in as if the house itself offered a welcoming hug. But even shiny polished banisters couldn’t help the cold that lived within.
‘Emma?’ Her mother’s head poked out from the doorway.
‘Hi, Mom.’ Emma hugged her mother.
‘You look nervous. Everything okay?’
Emma nodded.
‘Okay, well...everyone’s here.’
Her mother walked back the way she’d come and Emma followed her into the dining room, where everyone had taken their usual seats. Emma decided sitting was probably better than standing. It wouldn’t seem as if she was impatient to flee, even though she was.
‘What’s this about, Emma?’ asked her father as she took her seat at the opposite end of the table. As far as possible from him.