Read Forgive Me for Free Online Page B

the dinner.’
    Eva was just mashing the potatoes when her
father came in. She was pleased to see he looked the way he used to beforethis happened, in a navy-blue suit with striped shirt and tie, no
stubble and his hair combed.
    ‘Did you go to the office
today?’ she asked.
    ‘Fleetingly,’ he said.
‘Amongst other more pressing things.’
    His curt tone made her wary. She decided not
to comment on his appearance.
    ‘I’ve made sausages and
mash,’ she said. ‘I hope that’s OK. I’ll need to do some food
shopping tomorrow. Would you like a cup of tea?’
    He didn’t reply and walked through the
kitchen to the sitting room. She heard him pouring himself a drink.
    A few minutes later she heard him pour more
into the glass. She looked at Sophie, who was laying the table; Sophie shrugged, as if
to say, ‘Here we go again.’
    ‘Will you go and tell Ben that
dinner’s ready, please?’ Eva asked her.
    Ben came down with Sophie, and Dad came back
into the kitchen. He’d taken off his jacket and tie, and his glass was filled to
the brim with whiskey. He sat down at the table and Eva dished up the food.
    Nothing was said by anyone for some little
time. Ben and Sophie were eating eagerly, but Dad only took a few mouthfuls of his
dinner between gulps of whiskey.
    Suddenly he put down his knife and fork and
looked pointedly at Eva. ‘Can you tell me why your mother would leave you her
studio?’
    ‘Studio?’ she asked, frowning in
puzzlement.
    ‘Don’t play the innocent,’
he said sharply.
    ‘I don’t know what you are
talking about,’ she said truthfully. ‘Please explain, Dad. And don’t
be nasty, I’ve done nothing to deserve that.’
    ‘You’ve done nothing to deserve
being left a studio in central London that must be worth a small fortune, that’s
for sure.’
    Eva’s mouth dropped open. Ben and Sophie
looked equally shocked.
    ‘I really don’t know anything
about any studio. Are you saying Mum owned this?’
    ‘Well, of course I am,’ he
snapped. ‘She lived there with you before we got married.’
    Eva could only stare at him in
consternation. Instinct and the spiteful look in his eyes told her he was out to hurt
her. A cold shudder went down her spine.
    ‘You mean, you, Mum and me?’
    He sneered at her. ‘Your mother was
living there with you when I met her.’
    She understood the implication in what
he’d said, but she couldn’t really believe it was true. Or that he was cruel
enough to say such a thing just because he was angry.
    ‘I thought I was born a year after you
married,’ she said in a small voice.
    ‘That’s just what your mother
wanted everyone to believe. She never did like the truth too much.’
    Eva looked into his dark eyes and saw utter
contempt for her. She had a gut feeling he’d been waiting a long time to drop this
bombshell.
    ‘Loads of people have a baby before
getting married.’ Ben spoke out defensively, clearly not really grasping what his
father meant. ‘Don’t be mean to Eva, Dad. It’s not her
fault.’
    ‘It
is
her fault. I know she
was in cahoots with Flora over the studio.’
    Eva was shocked and bewildered. She knew
nothing about a studio, and she couldn’t imagine why her dad believed she did.
    ‘Dad, if Mum had a studio, I promise
you I knew nothing about it. Are you saying she’s left a will with this
in?’
    ‘Yes, I bloody well am,’ he
said, his voice rising. ‘I went tosee the solicitor this
afternoon. It was bad enough having to explain to him about Flora, but then I found
she’d betrayed me. We wrote wills years ago, both of us leaving everything to the
surviving partner. But the sneaky bitch had another one drawn up for herself, and in it
she’s not only left that studio to you, but she also left her half of this house
to Sophie and Ben. That means I can’t even bloody well sell it and move on if I
want to.’
    All three siblings looked at each other
anxiously. None of them really understood legal matters, but the fact that