style="font-size:15px;"> Toes wiggled. Bella had a French polish thing going on. Classy. The sort of look he would have expected Kate to go for. If he’d ever bothered to spare a thought for her toenails.
Which he hadn’t. Of course.
‘Who’s Jackie?’ he asked abruptly.
‘My mum. Kind of Kate’s mum, too.’
‘Oh?’ Connor was bemused. Surely her niece’s mother would be more in the category of a sister? ‘How’s that?’
‘Kate came to live with us when she was fifteen. My dad’s her older brother. I was six so it was like getting a big sister for a surprise present. A huge surprise, cos I didn’t even know I had an aunt.’
‘How come?’
Bella lowered her voice. ‘Dad didn’t have anything to do with his family. He left home when he was seventeen.’
‘How old would Kate have been then?’
‘About five? He’s never talked about it. He doesn’t talk about his family at all, really. Neither does Kate. It’s like they’re orphans or they’ve got a secret pact or something. Anyway, it was kind of cool to have a teenage aunt. Especially as I’ve got four younger brothers and sisters and if Kate hadn’t come to live with us I would have been the oldest and had to help look after them all and that would have been a bit of a fun-buster, wouldn’t it?’
Connor knew he shouldn’t be encouraging this kind of personal gossip about a colleague but it was irresistible. There was clearly a mystery here. One that might explain why Kate was the way she was. Why had she gone to live with her older brother and his young family at an age when most girls needed their mothers? Why had her brother turned his back on his family when he hadn’t been much older himself? What kind of parents had these young people had?
Connor wasn’t going to try and analyse why he was so fascinated. He’d probably do that later, when he wasn’t in the company of the irrepressible—and very open—Bella.
‘So you’ve never met your grandparents?’ he found himself asking quietly.
Bella shook her head. She bit her bottom lip as she sucked in a quick breath. ‘Grandma died not that long after Kate came to live with us. She and Dad went off to her funeral and that was that. Except …’
‘Except what?’ OK, Connor was dead curious now. Riveted, even.
‘I shouldn’t say … Kate doesn’t even know I know.’
Connor leaned closer. ‘I won’t breathe a word,’ he promised.
Bella was still hesitating. She looked over his shoulder as though fearful of Kate’s return. Then she looked back at Connor, biting her lip. She wanted to tell him.
And, damn, he wanted to hear.
‘You can trust me,’ he murmured. ‘So can Kate.’
‘I found a letter,’ Bella whispered. ‘About a parole hearing.’
Connor’s jaw dropped. ‘Who was in prison?’
‘I think he still is,’ Bella said.
‘Who?’
‘My grandfather.’
‘What’s he in prison for?’
‘I have no idea.’ Bella shook her head. ‘But I think he went in there the same year that Grandma died and that’s … God, about seventeen years ago so it must have been something really bad—’
‘What’s really bad?’
They both jumped as Kate walked in.
‘My foot,’ Bella said promptly. ‘If it’s broken it would be a really bad way to be starting a new job.’
Connor had to admire the way Bella had extricated herself from a tricky moment but something in Kate’s face made him think that she knew there had been more to the conversation. The glance she flicked at Connor was wary. She would not be at all happy if she knew the kind of private details Bella had been sharing about her aunt, that was for sure. He shouldn’t have encouraged it. He shouldn’t even be here, come to that.
‘I’ve just spoken to the consultant,’ Kate said. ‘He’s had a good look at the X-ray and talked to the radiologist. Nothing’s broken. He’s going to come and talk to you before we go but they’re going to put a compression bandage on and give you a sick note for work for a couple of days. You’ll need to keep it elevated and rested. You might get a set of crutches if it’s too painful to put weight on.’
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