The Mirrabrook Marriage. Barbara Hannay

when I was born?

      She sighed. ‘As you know, I fell pregnant very soon after I was married.’

      ‘Yeah. With twins. Kane and me.’

      ‘No, darling.’ Her voice was excessively careful.

      Reid stared at her.

      ‘I wasn’t carrying twins.’

      Oh, God, Mum, no.

      In the moonlight her distressed face gleamed whitely. For the first time in his life he wanted to shake her.

      ‘What are you saying?’

      As if she hadn’t heard him, or because she couldn’t stop now, Jessie hurried on. ‘Flora went away to Brisbane soon after I was married and she didn’t come back until I was almost ready to give birth. When she did, she brought a little baby with her.’

      ‘No.’ Reid collapsed forward, clasping his head in his hands. This was crazy, like some kind of stupid daytime soap opera. He knew what was coming as surely as if he’d written the script. Jerking his head upright again, he dragged in a huge gulping breath. ‘You’re telling me I was the baby, aren’t you?’

      ‘Yes, dear.’

      Oh, God. His parents weren’t his parents. This was worse than anything he could have imagined. An awful sense of alienation descended. He felt cut off from the woman beside him. He stared at his hands as if he’d never seen them before. Who the hell was he?

      How was a man supposed to come to grips with this kind of news. Why now? Why hadn’t Cob and Jessie told him this when he was little? Couldn’t they have fed him that stuff people dole out to adopted kids about what a special guy he was and how they picked him out because they loved him? At least he would have known all along that he wasn’t theirs.

      Hell, his whole life had been a lie. As a kid he’d conned himself into thinking he looked like his father. And he and Kane had spent their whole lives thinking they were twins.

      The fact that he wasn’t even a McKinnon was more than he could bear.

      He rounded on Jessie. ‘Why did you leave it so damn long to tell me?’

      ‘We—I was worried that you would want to ask too many questions.’

      ‘Sure as hell I have questions. Starting with how did I end up here? With you?’ He hurled the question at her and the venom injected into ‘you’ was intentional. He was angry. Bloody angry. He wanted to lash out.

      Her hand fluttered to her mouth and she pressed it against her lips as if she wished she could keep them closed for ever. ‘Poor Flora was in a terrible state, Reid, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and she begged me to take her baby.’

      Poor Flora…He didn’t want another mother. He most definitely didn’t want her to be the Aunt Flora he’d visited briefly in Scotland during his year abroad. His time with her had been uncomfortably brief and strained and he’d come away with the distinct impression that she’d resented his intrusion into her life. ‘What was the matter with poor Flora?’

      Jessie’s response was a sharp intake of breath.

      Reid glared at her without sympathy. ‘You’d better tell me. You’ve done enough damage keeping these choice bits of news to yourself for so long. No need to spare me now. I want the lot.’

      ‘You won’t like it, Reid.’

      ‘Don’t let that stop you.’