Page 106 of The Stranger in Room Six
She cut in. ‘That’s exactly why I did it.’
‘My poor little girl,’ he shouted. ‘What in the name of God have you put her through?’
Mabel could not wait any longer.
Turning the stiff library doorknob, she flew into the room and into his arms. ‘Papa!’ she cried. ‘You’re safe!’
As she hugged him, she could feel his bones under his coat.
Eventually, he stepped back, facing her as if he too could not believe that she was there. ‘A sympathetic guard helped me to escape. However, it took me time to get here.’
‘I heard you talking about my baby. Please find him for me,’ she begged.
Her father looked grim. ‘The documents have been signed. There is nothing that I or anyone else can do. You will have to be brave, my darling, although I do believe that it is time you learned something else about our family.’
‘No,’ said Clarissa, tugging his arm. ‘You can’t do this, George.’
He shrugged her off in a rough manner that didn’t belong to the Papa Mabel knew. ‘It should have been told long ago.’
‘What should have?’ she asked, scared.
Papa’s mouth tightened. ‘When your aunt was your age, she found she was expecting a baby herself.’
‘Who were you married to?’ asked Mabel.
Her aunt turned away, her face pale.
‘That’s just it,’ thundered Papa. ‘You weren’t married, were you Clarissa?’
‘No, because I was still in love with you.’
‘You knew perfectly well that we were over by then,’ he snapped. ‘My heart belonged to your sister.’
Shocked, Mabel interrupted. ‘But you were in love with my aunt before you married Mama?’
Her father went red. ‘It was a brief infatuation.’
‘Not on my part,’ snapped back Clarissa.
‘You recovered enough to find someone else and carry his child.’
‘You had married my sister,’ whispered Clarissa. ‘I was hurt. But if we’re going to come clean about what happened, you should tell Mabel the whole truth.’
‘What whole truth, Papa?’
‘Papa?’ snorted Clarissa. ‘Ha!’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Mabel confused.
Her father put his hands over his face for a minute. ‘I think you’d better sit down, darling.’ He took the chair next to her and sighed. ‘When your aunt revealed she was pregnant, she also said that the man in question was not willing to marry her. So your grandparents sent her away to give birth. They then suggested we should adopt you. That way we could keep the child – you – in the family. Clarissa agreed.’
‘I had no choice,’ said her aunt bitterly.
‘So you’re not my real father?’ gasped Mabel. ‘And Mama was not my real mother?’
‘It makes no difference. I can promise you that we loved you as our own, especially as it then took us several years toconceive Annabel. We were so happy that you could have a sister.’
He tried to hold her, but his embrace did not feel the same.
