Chapters (60)
- Cover
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- Dedication
- KARLA
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Epilogue
- The Affair
- Hear more from Sheryl
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- A Letter from Sheryl
- The Babysitter
- The Second Wife
- Acknowledgements
My heart rate escalates. I am hot and clammy under my too-heavy parka coat, a bead of sweat snaking its way down my throat to trickle over the soft hollow of my neck. I should have approached the house from the back, snuck through the garden gate adjoining the park and gone in through the conservatory. It’s too late now.
Inhaling deeply, I clutch the steering wheel and ram my foot down on the accelerator, causing the bloodsuckers with press badges to scatter as I screech to a stop.
‘Mrs Connolly!’ One of the reporters follows me through the un-gated drive and pushes a microphone in my face as I spill from the car. ‘How do you feel about the allegations made against your father?’
‘Karla!’ a female reporter shouts, nudging him aside. ‘Can you give us a brief comment? It would be invaluable to the MeToo campaign.’
‘Piss off,’ I hiss. Key poised, I make my way to the front door. He’s my father. What do they want me to say? I’m not here to comment. I have no idea how I feel about him, the man who robbed me of my sister. The man who played a part in the failure of my marriage; who has almost been a third person in my marriage. I’m not sure what he did, what he said to Jason that finally drove home the last nail, but I felt my husband withdraw from me that day. I knew it was only a matter of time before he walked away.
My father categorically denied having said or done anything, according to my mother. I don’t believe it. I don’t trust him. All of my life, I have wondered about him. When I was younger, looking at him through a tiny child’s eyes, I couldn’t conceive of the possibility that this big businessman in his smart blue suits, the man I revered, might tell anything but the truth. As I grew up, I learned differently, and I simply stopped looking. Mum turned a blind eye to his ‘indiscretions’, indiscretions which I came to realise had gone on for longer than I could remember, and I did too. And then came the tragedy that rocked our world. I stopped listening to the voice in my head that whispered the word ‘liar’. I shut it down.