‘Rhys,’ interrupts James.

‘It’s okay,’ says Susan.

‘And yes, I was lucky, I was found. I was given another chance, but the truth came out and almost broke me. But I couldn’t let it because our David needed me. Because his needs overtook mine. And maybe I let them, because that was easier than dealing with this.’

I think about all the times David tried to meet up with the woman who rejected him in favour of a lifestyle he didn’t fit into, and the pain of losing him punches me in the gut all over again.

‘And then he died. And that swamped everything further. I shelved it all because it was too much. It’s too much for one person to take.’

Kat reaches her arm out, moving towards me. ‘Rhys, I’m sure this is all…’ But she can’t finish what she has started. Does she sense I want nobody anywhere near me?

‘And now, I stand here, in the flat of a woman I don’t know, with two strangers who, it turns out, are my parents.’ Susan makes a small sound, a cry perhaps. I can’t see her face through my own tears. ‘I can’t even… I don’t know.’

James tries again. ‘Rhys,’ he says, without moving.

‘What!’ I answer, anger and confusion spiking my tone. ‘What? What do you want me to do? How should I take this information? How should I process it?’ My legs give way. Kat rushes to me, helping me regain my balance, sitting me back down in the chair by the table. I can’t focus on anything. New and confusing details begin to filter through: the date of birth I’ve never known; the look in James’s eyes when he’d read the letter and called me in; the look as he asked me if I knew what was in the letter and I shook my head; the realisation I had, about who he must have been, and how he avoided that when in the car, racing to find her before she’d totally given up on us. On me. Only now does any of it make sense.

‘Why?’ I ask again. ‘Why did you do it?’

‘You don’t have to answer this now, Susan,’ says Kat. ‘Perhaps we should take a break. I think you should go to the hospital. Get checked over.’

‘I felt ashamed of every choice I made from the moment you were conceived until the day I left you behind,’ answers Susan, interrupting Kat. ‘I was weak, Rhys. I was selfish. And I was frightened.’I grit my teeth as I fight a pain that grows and multiplies inside my heart. The pain of being left. The pain of this truth. And the pain that the woman who gave me life is so clearly hurting still.

I look over to James. His eyes are locked on mine, his face familiar. Susan’s right, it’s so obvious. The same jawline, as she said. We’re the same build, too. He’s a part of me. And I’m a part of him. Of them. It’s like the mist has cleared and my whole self has arrived. Who I am. The point of me. My history, emerging from a fog. And I don’t know how I feel about that.