Can you keep a secret_ - Sophie Kinsella [116]
Jack has grabbed my arm, and now he pulls me round to face him.
'I came here tonight for a reason, Emma,' he says gravely. 'I came to tell you what I was doing in Scotland.'
I feel the most almighty bound of shock, which I hide as best I can.
'I'm not interested in what you were doing in Scotland!' I manage. I wrench my arm away and start striding away as best I can through the thicket of mobile-phone-gabbing lawyers.
'Emma, I want to tell you.' He's coming after me. 'I really want to tell you.'
'Well, maybe I don't want to know!' I reply defiantly, swivelling round on the gravel with a scatter of pebbles.
We're facing each other like a pair of duellers. My ribcage is rising and falling quickly.
Of course I want to know.
He knows I want to know.
'Go on then,' I say at last, and give a grudging shrug. 'You can tell me if you like.'
In silence, Jack leads me over to a quiet spot, away from all the crowds. As we walk, my bravado ebbs away. In fact, I'm a bit apprehensive. Scared, even.
Do I really want to know his secret, after all?
What if it's fraud, like Lissy said? What if he's doing something dodgy and he wants me to join in?
What if he's had some really embarrassing operation and I start laughing by mistake?
What if it is another woman and he's come to tell me he's getting married or something?
I feel a tiny pang of pain, which I quell. Well, if it is … I'll just act cool, like I knew all along. In fact I'll pretend I've got another lover, too. Yes. I'll give him a wry smile, and say, 'You know, Jack, I never assumed we were exclusive—'
'OK.' Jack turns to face me, and I instantaneously decide that if he's committed a murder I will turn him in, promise or no promise.
'Here it is.' He takes a deep breath. 'I was in Scotland to visit someone.'
My heart plummets.
'A woman,' I say before I can stop myself.
'No, not a woman!' His expression changes, and he stares at me. 'Is that what you thought? That I was two-timing you?'
'I … didn't know what to think.'
'Emma, I do not have another woman. I was visiting …' He hesitates. 'You could call it … family.'
My brain gives a huge swivel.
Family?
Oh my God, Jemima was right, I've got involved with a mobster.
OK. Don't panic. I can escape. I can go in the witness protection scheme. My new name can be Megan.
No, Chloe. Chloe de Souza.
'To be more precise … a child.'
A child? My brain lurches again. He has a child?
'Her name is Alice.' He gives a tiny smile. 'She's four years old.'
He has a wife and a whole family I don't know about, and that's his secret. I knew it, I knew it.
'You …' I lick my dry lips. 'You have a child?'
'No, I don't have a child.' Jack stares at the ground for a few seconds, then looks up. 'Pete had a child. He had a daughter. Alice is Pete Laidler's child.'
'But … but …' I stare at him in confusion. 'But … I never knew Pete Laidler had a child.'
'Nobody knows.' He gives me a long look. 'That's the whole idea.'
This is so completely and utterly not what I was expecting.
A child. Pete Laidler's secret child.
'But … but how can nobody know about her?' I say stupidly. We've moved even further away from the crowds and are sitting on a bench under a tree. 'I mean surely they'd see her.'
'Pete was a great guy.' Jack sighs. 'But commitment was never his strong suit. By the time Marie – that's Alice's mom – found out she was pregnant, they weren't even together any more. Marie's one of those proud, defensive types. She was determined to do everything on her own. Pete supported her financially – but he wasn't interested in the child. He didn't even tell anybody he'd become a father.'
'Even you?' I stare at him. 'You didn't know he had a child?'
'Not until after he died.' His face closes up slightly. 'I loved Pete. But that, I find very hard to forgive. So a few months after he died, Marie turns up with this baby.' Jack exhales sharply. 'Well. You can imagine how we all felt. Shocked is an understatement. But Marie was positive she didn't want anyone to know. She wanted to bring Alice up just like a normal