Wife And Mother Forever

felt I had regained my mother.

‘It was years later, when I had grown up, that I learned that she’d had a child before her marriage to my father. She was only fifteen and her parents wanted her to give up her baby for adoption. They were furious when she refused.

‘In the event she never even saw her child. They told her it had been born dead, which was a lie. It was a home birth and the midwife was her aunt. She took the boy away to another town, many miles away. Hope knew nothing about it.’

Justin said nothing, only stared hard at Primo. It was Evie who exclaimed in horror at what she’d just heard.

‘Yes, it was wicked,’ Primo said, looking at her warmly. ‘Hope grieved for her “dead” child, but she grieved a thousand times more to think that he was alive and living apart from her, perhaps thinking she had abandoned him.’

Justin gave a small, convulsive jerk, but he didn’t speak.

‘How did she find out?’ Evie asked.

‘The aunt died. At the end she sent for Hope and tried to tell her what had happened, but she was too near the end to make much sense. Hope understood that her child had lived, had been stolen, and nothing else. She didn’t even have the name of the town, because the aunt had gone to a place where she wasn’t known. Apart from that, all she had was the date of his birth. This.’

He pushed a scrap of paper across the table. The date written on it was exactly two weeks before the date on Justin’s official birth certificate.

‘I began looking for him fifteen years ago,’ Primo resumed. ‘It took years to find the place where a baby boy had been abandoned soon after this date. At last my investigators narrowed it down to one possibility. Then I thought the search was over because this boy had been adopted by a couple called Strassne.’

There was silence in the room for a moment. Justin did not speak, but his grip on Evie’s hand became painful.

‘For several years he lived with them as Peter Strassne,’ Primo said. ‘But he assumed a new identity twenty years ago, and that was when the trail went cold. The deed poll said that Peter Strassne had become Frank Davis, but nobody ever heard of Frank Davis after that.’

Because he’d changed his name again, Evie thought sadly. And then again and again. And every time the trail grew a little colder. By the time he became Justin Dane there was nothing left to link him with his earlier identities.

‘Once he’d seemingly vanished into thin air,’ Primo resumed, ‘my only hope was if he too was searching, and I might pick up his search. That is why I am here. I think I already know the answer, but will you tell me if your name was ever Peter Strassne?’

Slowly Justin nodded his head. Then he pushed the file of papers across the table. Primo examined it briefly, and nodded.

‘I am satisfied,’ he said.

‘As easy as that?’ Justin asked hoarsely. ‘What can a few papers prove?’

‘I told you I already knew the answer. I knew as soon as I saw you. Your resemblance to your mother is remarkable. There are tests that can establish your blood tie once and for all, but there is no doubt in my mind that you are Hope Rinucci’s firstborn son.’

CHAPTER NINE

THE London to Naples flight left early, so the three of them spent the previous night in the airport hotel.

‘Uncle Toni knows why I’m here,’ Primo said as they sat over dinner the night before. ‘But I didn’t say anything to Mamma before I left, for fear of raising her hopes. But now I’ve called him and told him everything, and he’s going to prepare her gently. She’s dreamed of this for so long that the reality is going to come as a shock to her.’

‘Will the whole family be there?’ Evie wanted to know.

‘Everyone, but for a while the others will stay out of sight.’ He addressed Justin. ‘The two of you will need to have your first meeting in private. Then we’ll all gather.’

‘Hope really has five other sons?’ Evie asked.

‘That’s right, although not all of us were born to her. She and my father adopted Luke. Then there’s Francesco. She fell in love with his father, Franco, while still married to Jack Cayman, which is really why my father divorced her. Carlo and Ruggiero are her sons by Toni.’ He gave Justin an encouraging smile. ‘So you have five brothers, one way or another.’

He didn’t seem to notice that Justin’s smile was faint and he’d spoken very little. He went on, ‘Then Mamma will want to meet your son, Mark, her grandson. She’ll be disappointed that he’s not with you, but you were probably wise to leave him behind this time.’

‘I’d like to get things sorted out first,’ Justin said quietly.

‘Of course. Signorina-’ He turned to Evie and said in Italian, ‘I’m delighted that you speak my language.’

‘Only Italian,’ she said in the same language. ‘Not Neapolitan, except for a few words. But I want to learn more of your dialect.’

‘I shall delight in teaching you.’ He saw Justin frowning and said quickly in English, ‘Forgive me. I’m being rude in using a language that you don’t understand, but it’s such a pleasure to discover a lady who speaks Italian so well. She will be a great help to you.’

He drained his glass.

‘I think I’ll have an early night.’ Rising, he kissed Evie’s hand, saying in Italian, ‘Buona notte, moglie del mio fratello.’

He departed.

Justin regarded her. After a moment he said edgily, ‘Aren’t you going to tell me what he said?’

‘He just wished me goodnight,’ she said hastily.

‘No, he said more than that. Why should you conceal it?’

‘Because it’s a bit embarrassing. He called me his sister-in-law-wife of my brother. Forget it. I’m going to bed.’

He went up with her and they said goodnight at her door. But his knock came soon after.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked, letting him in. ‘You’ve been very quiet all evening.’

He didn’t reply at first, but walked about the room before saying abruptly, ‘Evie, let’s forget all this and go home.’

‘You can’t mean that, not after we’ve come this far. You couldn’t go away now, just when you’re on the verge of discovering everything.’

‘Am I? What is “everything”? Can you tell me that? At one time I might have agreed with you, but now I’ve met you I have another “everything”. What connection can there be between her and me after all these years?’

‘But you can’t do that to her. She’s expecting you now; it’ll break her heart if you don’t arrive. And in the years to come you’ll regret not meeting her and finding out what you need to know. Justin, you’re just making excuses- finding reasons. Why?’

He gave her a faint smile.

‘You always see through me. Of course I’m making excuses. Because I’m afraid. I always thought of myself as strong. You have to make people see you like that because if they sense weakness they go in for the kill. But the truth is that I’m a coward and I’ve only just discovered it.’

‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not a coward.’

‘You know my weaknesses better than anyone, and you’re the only person I could say that to, the only person I could trust that much. You’re all I need. I want to spend my life with you. Nothing else matters.’

She smiled and touched his face tenderly.

‘Darling, I love you, and it’s wonderful that you say that, but-don’t you see, we can’t think about it now? What’s