BooksBarbecue
Back The Cottage
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. FIFTY-SIX
  59. FIFTY-SEVEN
  60. FIFTY-EIGHT
  61. FIFTY-NINE
  62. SIXTY
  63. SIXTY-ONE
  64. SIXTY-TWO
  65. SIXTY-THREE
  66. SIXTY-FOUR
  67. SIXTY-FIVE
  68. SIXTY-SIX
  69. SIXTY-SEVEN
  70. SIXTY-EIGHT
  71. SIXTY-NINE
  72. SEVENTY
  73. SEVENTY-ONE
  74. SEVENTY-TWO
  75. SEVENTY-THREE
  76. SEVENTY-FOUR
  77. Suggested topics for reading-group discussion
  78. Keep Reading …
  79. Lisa Stone also writes under the name of Cathy Glass.Don’t miss her latest book …
  80. About the Author
  81. Books by Lisa Stone
  82. About the Publisher

‘I’ll tell you when I get home.’

FORTY-SIX

With his thoughts in turmoil, Ian tucked his phone into his jacket pocket, returned his laptop to his briefcase and left The Coffee Shop. What the hell was Moller up to? He’d have to tell Emma everything he’d found out. He couldn’t put it off any longer. But how and where to start he had no idea. It was horrendous and confusing. Moller had admitted to him that he’d made a mistake and he and Emma shared the same donor, but Ian hadn’t found any evidence of that. Indeed, there was no evidence of any donors at all. Yet there must be hundreds, if not thousands, stretching back to when the clinic first opened. Instead, Ian had found that Moller had recorded the deaths of his and Emma’s babies and they hadn’t used the clinic. It didn’t add up.

Moller treated infertility by inseminating the woman with donor sperm, his records confirmed that, but Ian was still no closer to tracing their donors or identifying how the mistake had occurred than he had been that morning. The only conclusion he could come to, he thought, as he drove, was that Moller must have another computer and had split files between the two. Perhaps a laptop? Ian had only seen one computer – on the second desk in Moller’s office. But there must be another one somewhere containing this information, perhaps in his house.

Frustrated, anxious and dreading telling Emma, he parked on the drive and, with a very heavy heart, let himself into his house. Emma immediately appeared in the hall looking worried. ‘I thought you’d left me,’ she said with a nervous laugh, and went to hug him.

Ian stepped back.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Are you OK? Are we OK?’

‘Not really,’ Ian said.

‘Why not?’ Her bottom lip trembled.

‘Come and sit down, love,’ Ian said gently. ‘We have to talk.’

Cupping Emma’s elbow, he steered her into the living room and to the sofa.

‘I’m sorry for being so distant recently,’ Emma said, panic in her voice. ‘I was down, but I’m a lot better now. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Dinner’s ready.’

‘I’m not hungry,’ Ian said, his voice flat. He sat on the sofa beside her, his briefcase at his feet.

‘What is it?’ Emma asked again, fear in her eyes. ‘You’re frightening me.’

Ian took a breath. Where to start? ‘I haven’t been to work today.’

‘No? Are you ill?’

He shook his head. ‘I went to the Moller Clinic again.’

‘Why?’

There was no easy way to say this. ‘Our DNA test results came back and they show we have the same biological father.’ He couldn’t bear to look at her.

‘No, that’s not possible. Moller told you it wasn’t.’