Now
‘Are you sure you don’t mind watching the girls?’ Maria asks, and Meg smiles back at her.
‘I told you, it’s a pleasure.’
‘Thank you so much – I won’t be long. And if you need anything, you have my mobile—’
‘It’s fine, honestly! We’re going to head to the playground and then maybe go for a hot chocolate. It will be fun.’
The solicitor’s office is above a shop on Euston Road. Maria follows the map on her phone until she finds herself outside the address she is looking for. Once she is buzzed upstairs, she approaches the desk. ‘Do you have an appointment?’ the receptionist smiles.
‘Yes,’ Maria nods. ‘I do.’
‘Anna’s will specified that this envelope must be given only to you,’ the solicitor says over cheap spectacles hanging from a string around her neck.
Maria feels her cheeks grow hot. ‘What is it?’
‘Here you go,’ the lawyer says, the letter in her hand.
Maria stands, her whole body bristling with nervous excitement as she moves back down the stairs, her fingers clasping the letter, shivering as she is met by a bitter blast of cold air.
Maria sits on the steps of an old bank, a few buildings down, the sound of traffic and bustling commuters fading away as she opens the envelope, Anna’s cursive script staring back at her.
Dear Maria,
If you are reading this then I am gone and I was right to worry.
I want you to know that I knew about you and David. I saw you together, one night in the kitchen. I suppose even before then I understood there was something between you. I forgive you, and I also need you to understand that I am not who you think I am, and David is not who you think he is.
There is too much to explain, some of which will come to light, but one thing I know is that however much you might love him, you love the girls more – you are the only person on earth who cares as much about Stella and Rose as I do. There is no one else I can trust to help them now, and to help me. You have been a better mother to my daughters than I could ever be, and I am grateful to you for being the person I didn’t have the strength to become.
Below are the details of an offshore bank account with money I have been putting aside for the girls. In total, £500,000, which they will inherit when they are 18. There is also enough for you to look after them until then, and some for yourself for your trouble.
Please look after them. I don’t doubt that David loves you, but the girls love and need you more than David ever could.
Be well.
Anna
The words grow blurred through her tears as she reads them again, before standing and moving towards the crossing. As she reaches King’s Cross station, she sees David, his face staring back at her from the front page of the Evening Standard.
Fake Death Inmate Found Hanged in Cell.