Page 206 of The Missing Sister

‘I’m just about to go in to work for my shift, but I had a couple of thoughts last night after we’d spoken. About Bobby, and you wanting to find out what’s happened to him. I still think it’s worth contacting his younger sister, Helen. When I saw her at Nuala’s funeral, she told me she’d moved to Cork. Noiro isn’t a common name, so you might find her in the telephone directory. Sure, you could ask reception – they’re bound to have one.’

‘Thanks, Katie.’ I could hear my voice already wavering with nerves at even the thought of it.

‘Strikes me that you need to put this to bed now, Merry. Let me know how you get on. Bye now.’

‘Bye.’

Just after I’d finished dressing, there was a knock on my door.

‘Who is it?’ I barked.

‘It’s me, Jack.’

I opened the door and he came in, shaking his head.

‘Honestly, Mum, who were you expecting, other than me, MK or housekeeping?’

‘I’m sorry, I’m just a little paranoid at the moment.’

‘You’re telling me. Now listen, the sooner you explain what is spooking you, the better.’

‘I will, Jack, I will. Are we going down for breakfast?’

‘We are, but I just wanted to tell you something first. Last night, MK checked her emails and... well, she found one from her mum. I mean, this woman that—’

‘I know what you mean, Jack, it’s all right. I suppose you’re here because she’s worried about upsetting me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Right, I’ll go and speak to her.’

I brushed past Jack and walked down the corridor to Mary-Kate’s room.

‘Hi, Mum,’ she said, lowering her eyes as she opened the door to me.

‘Jack’s just told me your news. Come here,’ I said as I stepped inside, then opened my arms to wrap them around her. When I finally pulled away from her, I could see her eyes were wet with tears.

‘I just don’t want to upset you, Mum. I mean, the only reason I decided to find out in the first place was because of the whole missing sister thing.’

‘I know, sweetheart, and you absolutely do not need to feel guilty about it.’

‘You mean, you don’t mind?’

‘I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive, but our relationship has always been special, and I have to trust that. Hearts are big spaces if you let them be. If your birth mum wants to be part of your life in the future, then I’m sure yours can make room for her in there too.’

My daughter’s gaze finally met my eyes. ‘Wow, Mum, you’re amazing. Thank you.’

‘Please don’t thank me, Mary-Kate, you don’t need to. Now then, what did this email say?’

‘Do you want me to read it to you?’

‘Why don’t you just give me the general details?’ I said as I walked over to a chair and sat down in it. Despite what my mouth was saying, I only hoped that my heart really could be as generous as I was telling my daughter it was. Jack stepped into the room, obviously having waited outside in the corridor until he could hear that our emotions had settled down. He sat down on the bed beside his sister, who had opened up her laptop to find the email.

‘Well, her full name is Michelle MacNeish, and she’s of Scottish heritage originally, like Dad. She lives in Christchurch and was seventeen when she got pregnant with me. The long and short of it is, she ignored it for the first few months and was too scared to tell her parents. At the time, she was about to go to uni because she wanted to train to be a doctor...’ Mary-Kate consulted the email. ‘She says, “I did tell my parents eventually, but because they are quite religious we had a massive showdown. In the end, they agreed to support me through university as long as I had the baby, then gave it up for adoption.”

‘She goes on to say that she didn’t feel that she was equipped to have a child so young, especially as the dad – her boyfriend at the time – wasn’t interested in having a family with her. They split up soon after and apparently my biological dad is married and works as the manager of a hardware store in Christchurch. Michelle’s a fully fledged surgeon these days, Mum. She’s also married with a couple of young kids.’

‘So... how do you feel?’