‘Oh,’ I say, realising that until that very moment I’d been holding on to hope that it had been some kind of terrible mistake. ‘Thank you, Onnab.’
‘Your mother was a very nice lady,’ she says. ‘I always enjoyed looking after her.’
I inhale a wobbly breath. ‘Thank you, Onnab. I wanted to check if you knew anything about the cause of Mum’s death yet.’
‘Unfortunately not, Fern,’ Onnab says. ‘It will be at least a few more days before we know anything.’
I sink into my armchair.
‘It may be of some comfort that I saw your mother the evening before she died. She seemed happy. To see your sister at last, I think, really lifted her spirits.’
I repeat the sentence in my head, making sure I had interpreted correctly. But I couldn’t have.
‘Mum saw my sister?’
‘Yes. She visited that very night, the night before your mum passed. At least, I think it was her . . .’
‘Small woman?’ I ask. ‘Dark hair with big blue eyes?’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘That’s right.’
I can’t believe it. Rose visited Mum. She visited her.
I let my head fall back against the armchair. Any anger I’d felt toward Rose dissipates in a second. What that must have meant to Mum. I only wish I’d been there to see it.
‘Is there anything else I can help you with, Fern?’ Onnab asks, after a brief silence.
‘No,’ I say, wiping a tear away. ‘You’ve already helped enough.’
I don’t know how long I sit in the secret cupboard. It might be half an hour. It might be an hour. No-one bothers me. Every time I think it’s time to leave, I don’t even get to a standing position before I change my mind and decide to stay where I am. I am starting to suspect that I might spend the night in this cupboard, when I hear a gentle knock at the door.
‘Fern, there’s a gentleman here who would like to talk to you.’
It’s Carmel talking. I think about staying silent, pretending I’m not here. I can’t face anyone.
‘I told him I wasn’t sure if you were here or not. It’s . . . Wally? I can send him away, if you don’t want to–’
‘No!’ I say, too quickly and too loudly. ‘I’ll talk to him.’
I’m not thinking clearly, obviously. I have no explanation for the fact that I’m visibly pregnant. At the same time, I simply can’t be this near him and not go to him. It is a physical impossibility. For now, I put Mum’s death away in the back of my mind, to think about later. Wally and Mum all together is simply too much for me.
I practically run to the reception area. Carmel is at my heels. As Wally comes into view – wearing his suit again – I am so overcome that I can’t even manage a smile.
Neither can he. His eyes are fixed on my belly. ‘So it’s true,’ he says. ‘You’re pregnant.’
‘How did you know?’
‘Rose told me.’
‘What?’ I decide I must have misheard. ‘Rose told you I was pregnant?’
He nods.
‘But when did you see Rose?’
Wally’s face gets a funny look to it then, like he is sucking the inside of his cheeks. I’m not sure if he’s confused or upset or even . . . angry. ‘Rose has visited me quite a few times over these past few months, Fern.’
Now I’m certain I’ve misheard.
‘She phoned me several months ago – she wanted to see me to talk about you, she said. She came to my office.’
It doesn’t make sense. Rose has spent these past few months telling me not to contact Wally. She couldn’t have contacted Wally herself.
‘She’s been back several times since,’ he says.
‘To talk about me? Why?’
‘Good question, since she’s barely mentioned you – not that first day or any other time.’
I struggle to take it in. ‘Well . . . what did she want then?’
He shrugs. ‘First, she wanted to have coffee. Then she suggested lunch. Each time I agreed because I wanted to know how you were doing. But she never told me much about you, other than that you were happy with your new boyfriend. Then . . . yesterday, she told me you were pregnant.’
I don’t understand. Why would Rose say that after making me promise I wouldn’t tell him?
‘She said she’s been on the fence about whether to say anything, because you’d made her swear to keep it a secret. But now that you’re in financial trouble, she said she had to reach out.’
I open my eyes. Financial trouble?
My head is spinning. Wally watches me closely, his eyes on my face, as if he’d expected my surprise. But I still don’t understand. It feels like everyone is in on a secret, except me.
‘Wally, I’m not in financial trouble.’
‘Rose said you’d say that. She said you’re too proud to admit it.’
‘Well, I’m not.’
He takes a few deep breaths. ‘How far along are you?’
‘Nearly eight months.’ It’s a miracle that I’m able to fudge the date, given the amount of noise in my head. Wally is here, standing right in front of me. It feels like a dream.
He sneaks a look at me. ‘And . . . you and . . . the new guy . . . are okay?’
I almost say, ‘What new guy?’ Then I remember. He’s talking about the father. The fictional father of my baby.
I manage a nod. But I’m thinking of that phone conversation Rose and I had, after she found out Wally had founded Shout! I remember the excitement in her voice. A hundred million dollars, she’d said.
‘I’m sorry.’ Wally reaches out and touches my shoulder. ‘I’ve upset you.’
‘I’m just confused. I don’t know why Rose came to you.’
‘She came to me,’ he says, ‘because she knows I care about you. She knows that I’d give you the money in a heartbeat if you needed it.’ Wally clears his throat. ‘And she used that information to try and get money for herself, Fern, not for you.’
I
