Part 21 (2/2)

The audition! I could almost have laughed. It seemed like a million years ago. So trivial that I'd completely forgotten about it. I shook my head. 'No. That was OK, they're letting us know. There were dozens of applicants so I don't suppose I've got a chance.' I looked at her. 'Afterwards I went to meet my mother birth mother, I mean.'

'So you found her? You didn't tell me.'

I shook my head. 'It was some time ago and it wasn't what you'd call a roaring success. In fact it was a disaster. She was nothing like I'd imagined her. She was only interested in meeting me because she thought I was going to be a star and have lots of cash. Then I made the mistake of telling her I'd inherited Dad's money. She asked me for cash the first time we met but when she realized I wasn't going to be a never-ending source of easy money, she didn't want to know.'

'So why did you meet her again today?'

'She rang me to say she had some important information about me something I really should know.'

'And did she?'

'Yes.' I bit my lip to stop myself from getting emotional again. 'She told me that Dad wasn't my real father. Worse she'd cheated on him several times and she didn't really know who my father was.'

Di looked shocked. 'Oh, Lou. But is it true, do you think? Was she just being spiteful?'

'I don't know. I've been thinking the one person who might know is Susan. I'll have to go and see her.'

Di squeezed my hand. 'I'm so sorry, love.'

'Me too.' I looked at her. 'Can you imagine, Di, how it feels, not knowing who you really are?'

'But you're you Louise Davies. You're your own person.'

I sighed. 'I even dropped Dad's name. It's ironic, isn't it? I know I haven't been a nice person. I treated poor Mark horrendously when we were at drama school. No wonder his sister hates me. I've taken advantage of people you included. I thought the world and everyone in it owed me when really I was just a pain in the backside. I'm a mess, Di. Maybe I take after my father whoever he might be. Now there's no way I'll ever know.'

Di patted my shoulder. 'My advice is to get on a train first thing tomorrow; go and see Susan and have a good talk. She probably knows more than you realize.'

Chapter Twenty-Four.

'Mum! You can't be serious. It's no time at all since Louise came to stay with you. What's her excuse this time?'

'She says she needs to talk,' Susan said. 'She's somehow managed to locate her birth mother and she seemed so upset on the phone. I couldn't say no to her.'

'But you can say no to me!' Karen protested. 'You know it'll all be some trivial nonsense she's dreamed up.'

'I don't think so. She ...'

'So you're saying no to having Peter for me?'

'I'm afraid I can't,' Susan said firmly. 'Not this time. Anyway, Simon's at home now for the holidays. Can't he ...' She paused. 'I take it you have told him about the tutoring?'

'Not exactly.'

'Well, don't you think you should?'

'I told him I had to be out for the morning and he's gone off somewhere in a huff so I can't; at least not at the moment.'

'Well, you know my feelings on that matter. You should start talking to Simon,' Susan said. 'Just be honest. No marriage can survive all this subterfuge. And I don't want to be a party to it either, Karen.'

Karen slammed the telephone down so hard that Susan was almost deafened. She hung up with a sigh. If Karen wasn't careful she'd ruin everything between herself and Simon. She was just making a shopping list ready for Louise's visit when there was a ring at her bell. She opened the door to find Simon standing outside.

'Can I come in, Susan?'

'Of course. Is something wrong? Can I get you a drink coffee?'

He ran a hand through his hair. 'Have you got anything stronger?'

'I think there might be some whisky left over from Christmas,' she said. 'Will that do?'

'Yes, fine, thanks.'

Susan fetched the whisky and a gla.s.s and watched as he threw the drink back in one gulp. 'I think you'd better tell me what's wrong,' she said as he put the gla.s.s down.

'It's Karen,' he said. 'I don't know what she's up to, forever going off somewhere. I'm beginning to think she's that there's someone else. I know she's lying to me and I'm really not happy about the way things are between us at the moment.'

Susan sighed. Things were getting to a ridiculously complicated stage between those two. Maybe it was time she put Simon straight. At the risk of being cla.s.sed as an interfering mother-in-law, she took a deep breath and said, 'It's nothing like that, Simon. She's doing a bit of private tutoring, that's all. She didn't want to tell you because she thought you'd be angry.'

He sighed. 'Oh, for G.o.d's sake! Not that again.'

'She's a bright girl, Simon, and she hates wasting her education and ability. Surely a little part-time tutoring can't hurt? And I'm happy to have Peter when I can.'

He sprang to his feet. 'What does she take me for some kind of ogre? I asked her outright this morning when she was making some excuse about being out again tomorrow morning but she always hedges.' He glared at her. 'And you knew about it all along!'

'You must admit you've been rather inflexible in the past.'

'Surely a man has the right to say what he wants in his own house!'

Susan smiled. 'Simon, can you hear yourself? You sound like some Victorian patriarch. Times have changed. Young women are no longer satisfied with a life of undiluted domesticity. Why can't you cut her some slack?'

'It was only going to be till Peter goes to school.' He sat down again, slightly calmer. 'She only had to ask.'

'Ask?'

He frowned. 'You know what I mean. We could have discussed it.'

'I remember the last time you discussed it,' she said. 'Right here in my living room. Look, why don't you go home now and try to be more reasonable with her? Offer to stay with Peter tomorrow while she does her tutoring. What she's doing is important to that family. It's very worthwhile.'

He shrugged. 'I suppose so.' He looked at her. 'Has she asked you to have Peter tomorrow?'

'Yes, but I had to refuse because Louise is coming to stay for a couple of days.'

He stared at her. 'Louise! Again? You have to be joking! After the trouble she always causes. You must be mad, Susan!'

She stood up. 'Never mind whether I'm mad or not, Simon. Just take care of your own problems and let me take care of mine. Go home and get it over with. Make things right between you.'

<script>