‘Of course. Minnie. It’s actually a lovely name, it suits you so well,’ she said, smiling.
‘Um, thanks,’ Minnie said, trying to be nice.
Then she didn’t know what else to say, so Anna came to the rescue.
‘Can I just say, Minnie, I can’t begin to know how this must all be for you. It’s blummin’ weird for me, for us, so it must be a hundred times that for you. None of us know how to do this, so forgive us if we get it a bit wrong, yes?’
Julius looked puzzled. He wasn’t going to get it wrong. What did she mean?
Minnie was captivated by Anna’s voice. It was softer, posher than she’d imagined. It was different. And lovely. Minnie liked that Anna looked her directly in the eyes, not flinching for a second. Julius, on the other hand, seemed fidgety. He was moving about in his seat, restlessly, illustrating his embarrassment.
Minnie had seen his face already in the newspaper. She had scrutinized it closely. His features were markedly different to the West Indian men she knew in her family. He was darker, and his features were more sharply defined. He was clearly of African descent, more like Captain Paul Cuffee in the beloved picture. This differentiation had always confused Minnie. Her uncles and her grandmother were essentially Jamaican, but they always reminded her that they too were Africans originally, way back when. They were proud of that. Their faces, though, bore the traces of all the different influences that had been evident in Jamaica throughout history, including Indian, Chinese and Taino Arawak people. It was this melting pot of variety that produced the slightly lighter skin and almond eyes of the Jamaicans that Minnie knew.
Now she was looking at an African face that was her direct genetic inheritance, and at Anna’s Nordic skin and the whole pearliness of her, a lot about what Minnie saw in the mirror every day started to make sense. Until Hope exploded her world, Minnie had never questioned any part of her identity. The Absent African was the key for her, and she’d never seen Isaac, so she assumed that any unanswered questions about how she looked were to be answered in him.
Yet here they were, her biological parents. The two sets of atoms and genes and flesh and blood and everything that had actually made her. It was overwhelming.
‘Of course,’ answered Minnie, ‘it’s all new.’
Anna’s heart might have jumped out of the cherry-patterned blouse and straight into Minnie’s, she felt such a rush of love for her. Anna had no doubt she would connect with Florence, now Minnie – how could she not? But what she had not predicted was the utter beauty of her, making her completely irresistible. Perhaps, Anna thought, she was seeing herself in Minnie. Was it wishful or vain to consider that? Was it selfish? It was all she could do not to throw herself on to Minnie and gather her up; she so wanted to, but she knew it would be foolish to scare her. She wanted to tread carefully, although she longed for touch.
Anna said, ‘With time, Minnie, I hope you’ll come to know us, and we’ll know you, but only in your own time, OK? We’re not going to hurry anything. It will all be at your pace. You are in charge.’
‘Thank you. Yes,’ Minnie replied gratefully.
‘I can’t wait to show you the couple of pictures we have of you when you were only a few minutes old. You were so beautiful, so perfect. You ARE still …’
‘Oh my God. I didn’t think about that … WOW,’ Minnie answered, her smile a reflection of Anna’s.
‘We’ve only got two,’ Julius interjected, ‘because, of course, we didn’t have you long before—’
‘Julius!’ Anna gave him a shot across the bows, but he ploughed on like the bull he was.
‘—before you were stolen,’ he said, emphasizing the last word, throwing it at Minnie like a dart. Julius had the moral bit between his teeth now. ‘I’m so happy to see you again, Florence—’
‘Minnie,’ Minnie corrected him.
‘Well, you’re Florence to me. That’s what we named you, and you ARE our daughter, after all, but excuse me, I will take time to get used to that name. But the most important thing to take away from this meeting today …’
MEETING? Anna was starting to boil. He needed to shut up. He was in danger of tipping the whole thing up, the fool.
‘… the most important thing,’ he continued, taking the floor, ‘is that you are back now, in your rightful place, with us. Obviously, there’s a lot to sort out, not least what the consequences are for Ms Parker—’
‘My mum,’ Minnie corrected him.
‘For Ms Parker, who, I’m afraid, committed a very serious crime indeed. I mean, in truth, for all these eighteen long years, Anna here has been wilfully DENIED that chance to be your mother, which she was so longing for. As was I wanting to be your father …’
Shut up, Julius, you fake. Anna was seething. She could see Minnie starting to recoil, she had to interject, ‘Julius, now is not the time.’
‘Well, when, Anna?’ he blustered on. ‘It’s only fair on Florence that she gets the truth …’
‘Listen, Julius, please,’ Anna pleaded with him in desperation as she felt the moment collapsing under the weight of his clomping boorishness, ‘the fact is that ALL of us stand in need of kindness and forgiveness here, except Minnie. She is the one shining truth. She is innocent of anything. Please tread carefully …’
‘I am guilty of nothing, Anna,’ he snapped. ‘How dare you?’
Minnie saw the giant fissure between them start to physically crack open in front of her. She was unfamiliar with this jarring type of squabble. She only had one parent. Hope didn’t argue with anyone except her, and even that was forgivable, always. This was different. It was spiteful.
‘Look,’ said Julius, standing up. Minnie thought for a moment that he was going to calm the
