‘David did the test to find out about his heritage but, from what he told me, Lisa sounded as if she was looking for someone in particular, that person being Michelle.’
‘But that’s odd, isn’t it?’ said Jo. ‘Not to know where your own mother is? Unless …’
I nodded. ‘Exactly – unless she was adopted. She’s in her forties.’ I felt as if a blast of cold air had hit me. ‘In that case, Mitch would have had her when she was around nineteen or twenty. No way, no. I would have known, surely?’ My mind was reeling. ‘Lauren said they’re looking into the birth, death and marriage records too. If Mitch had Lisa in this country, they should be able to find her birth certificate, and that might give us some clues.’
‘Now we’re getting somewhere,’ said Ally.
‘Yes but … I can’t believe Mitch would have had a baby and not told us,’ said Jo.
‘Me neither,’ said Ally. ‘We were her closest friends.’
‘And if Lisa is forty then that means—’ Jo said.
‘Exactly, that Mitch had her before she went into the commune,’ I said.
‘No! I feel heartbroken and guilty,’ said Jo. ‘I wonder what the hell happened. Did we let her down? Too caught up with ourselves, busy busy with our own lives, university.’
‘We were twenty, Jo,’ said Ally. ‘You’re meant to be busy busy with your own life at that age, everything opening up in front of you. Don’t beat yourself up. She could have told us. It was her choice. For some reason, she didn’t.’
All of us were silent for a moment.
‘Even those Bonnet ladies said that there were periods in their lives when they weren’t in touch so much,’ said Jo.
‘I know,’ I said, ‘but do you think she tried to contact us, tell us? It’s so long ago, but I seem to remember there were times when it felt as if we were missing each other’s calls. It’s not the sort of message you leave over the phone, like, hi, Mitch here, give me a call back and, by the way, I’m pregnant.’
Ally nodded. ‘She’d call and I’d be out or I’d call and she’d be out.’
‘Let’s think. She moved to London to live with Fi,’ said Jo. ‘I wonder if that’s when she had the baby.’
‘I wonder who the father was,’ said Ally. ‘And when she met him. I can’t believe she didn’t tell us.’
‘Maybe she tried to and we did speak in the first year, we did, we just didn’t see much of her so she might have been pregnant one of the times we spoke on the phone,’ I said.
‘If she had told us, we would have been there for her, wouldn’t we?’ I asked, thinking about those brief phone calls. I couldn’t now ignore the feeling that there was some subtext or unspoken message from Mitch that I’d missed.
‘Maybe that’s why she didn’t come to my wedding,’ said Jo, ‘me being pregnant and her not having kept hers. God, there’s so much we don’t know.’
‘Nor her about us,’ said Ally. ‘Don’t forget, it works both ways.’
I smiled. ‘Always the voice of reason, Ally.’
She shrugged. ‘It hasn’t always been easy for any of us. We’ve all had our rollercoaster ride. You with your divorce, Sara, Jo with Doug. We don’t know the whole story about Mitch yet.’
‘So let’s find out,’ said Jo. ‘Sara, what do we do next?’
‘Email Lisa and then we wait,’ I said as I sat at my desk, opened my laptop and went to mail. ‘Should I say we know you’re looking for your mother?’
‘No,’ said Ally. ‘Tell her our side and then see how she responds.’
I started typing:
Dear Lisa,
I hope you don’t mind me contacting you but I am trying to find an old friend of mine called Michelle Blake. We were at school together, and I and two other friends who knew her, have been trying to find her. I managed to track down a relative, David McDonnell, through DNA records and, from talking to him, I believe you may have some connection to the Blake family. I wonder if you would mind getting in touch if you have any news of Mitch or her sister Fi’s whereabouts. If you do, I would very much appreciate it,
With best regards,
Sara Meyers
I pressed send and off it went.
‘There. Done. I didn’t put that we think she is Michelle’s daughter because you never know who is going to read the email.’
‘Good call,’ said Jo.
I left my laptop open and all of us kept glancing at it as Ally poured us a glass of wine. ‘A watched laptop never pings, or whatever the saying is,’ she said.
We didn’t have to wait long. Half a glass of wine later, and my laptop pinged, alerting us that an email had come back. We gathered round to read.
Dear Sara,
!!!! Great to hear from you. Oh my god! I’m so glad you got in touch. I’d reached a dead end. Please can we meet? You must be wondering who I am or what my connection is to your friend. You may already know this but I was adopted at birth and Michelle Blake is the name on my birth certificate for my mother. My adopted parents gave me the birth certificate when I was fourteen and I asked about my real parents. I do hope it is the same Michelle you knew, in which case I would love to meet you and your friends and hear whatever you can tell me about her. I have been searching for her but with no luck. Maybe we can share resources? Do you have photos of her? I am dying to see what she looks like and hear anything you
