“By the time I found out I was pregnant, he was long gone.”
“And it could only have been him?”
She nodded. “I know I like to make out how wild and carefree I was back then, but really, after that week with him, I kind of took a break from the partying for a bit. I wanted to clear my head. So that is how I knew it had to be him. There wasn’t anyone after John for quite some time.”
I understood why she hadn’t contacted him to tell him about me. Still, I was curious about him.
We looked him up on Facebook and I wasn’t at all surprised to see that John Vickers had aged well. He still looked like a rocker, although he’d picked up a few pounds. I got his email address from his website and sent him an email, saying I was his daughter and that I’d like to get in touch, no strings attached, if he felt like it.
When I looked up, my mother stood in the kitchen, draining a glass of wine.
I went over to give her a hug.
“You okay?”
She nodded, but her cheeks were wet.
“All these years, I never told you his name. I don’t know why, it became, this big thing. I don’t know why,” tears flowed down her cheeks.
“I know why,” I said. “You raised me. Only you. And here I am,” I said, beginning to cry too.
“You’ll see, being a mother is the hardest job in the world,” she said, smiling through her tears.
I suddenly thought of Cynthia Waterstone and shivered, as if someone had walked over my grave.
“You’re thinking of Cruella, aren’t you?” my mom said, and I started laughing again.
But later, I wondered how I could tell Mathew about his mom trying to pay me off, to get me out of town. He’d be furious and it would really affect his relationship with his mother even more. I was beginning tounderstand him so much better and after meeting his mother, I could see why he was emotionally so damaged. We had become much closer, and I was learning more about his childhood and about how he grew up.
He was always talking about giving the baby things he didn’t have, but he wasn’t talking about toys or swimming pools. He meant an attentive father, loving parents. We didn’t have to be a family living in a picket-fence house with a golden-haired Labrador barking in the back yard.
He was so different with me too.
More open, sharing so much more. We hadn’t slept together, not again, but I’d been thinking about it. I wanted to and I knew he did too. But I wanted to be careful, not rush into things. With the baby on the way, I wanted to grow up a little, I guess.
I knew my life was about to change and I was still nervous about it.
Especially after meeting Cynthia Waterstone. The thought that I was giving her a grandchild, gave me goosebumps. Literally. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the woman was evil and that I needed to get as far away from her as possible. Was it possible that she could snatch the baby after it was born? I didn’t know if my mind was playing tricks on me or if I really had to consider the possibility of her planning something.
Then there was Matthew. I didn’t know how he would react to her little web of lies designed to trick him, playing on the jealous streak she must have known he had. How far would she go to convince Matthew I was only trying to trap him?
Chapter 18
Matthew
The following week I had to travel to Hamburg.
I wasn’t keen on the trip to Germany, but the health market here was strong and there were indications we could expand on our distribution. I had already managed to get us into the UK and the numbers were looking good. I was meeting some officials from the European Union as well. I didn’t speak to Lauren over the weekend, but we exchanged brief messages.
I called her on Tuesday night, but she didn’t answer. I left a message. She didn’t get back to me.
Same thing on Wednesday night.
Something felt off.
I called her at work, something I had never done before.
The switchboard put me through to Diaz.