There hadn't been time earlier, but upstairs in her bedroom after work, Lily sat on the bed and typed Declan Madison's name into Google.
She'd mentally prepared herself in case of disappointment. He could be dead, or a serial killer, or he simply might not merit a mention on the internet. She took a deep breath and pressed ‘search' …
And there, like magic, were the details on the screen. Lily's heart began to clatter inside her chest and her fingers tingled, because he was still alive and she'd been so afraid he might not be. There was no photograph, but she just knew instinctively that this was the right Declan Madison.
It was him.
Chapter 8
Gosh, keeping secrets was hard. Lily kept finding herself glancing across the table at Patsy, and Patsy was doing the same to her.
Because Patsy knew about Eddie Tessler, and she knew about Eddie Tessler, and she knew that Patsy knew she knew …
In the meantime, Coral was blissfully unaware and rattling on about something else entirely.
Plus, of course, they had a birthday to celebrate.
Coming to this restaurant in the Montpellier area of Cheltenham was another tradition that had begun the year her mother had died. Having been brought to Maria's months earlier and been enthralled by both the atmosphere and the fettuccine Alfredo, she'd asked to come here again for her birthday. And Maria, the owner, had made a wonderful fuss of her, bringing out the bowl of fettuccine with coloured candles stuck into it and persuading everyone in the restaurant, staff and customers alike, to sing ‘Happy Birthday'. Maria, a mother of seven herself, had succeeded in making what could have been a difficult evening a triumph instead. It might not be the most upmarket and glamorous place to eat, but it was without question the most welcoming. Nine-year-old Lily had hugged Maria and declared, ‘I'm always, always going to come here for my birthday.'
And they had done, every year since. Always the four of them when Nick had been alive, now they were down to three, but the welcome was just as warm, and Maria, like a proud and adoring grandma, still insisted on sticking candles into her food.
This evening they'd had another brilliant time, the food had been delicious and wine had been drunk.
Which wasn't helping at all.
‘Who is it?' said Coral when Patsy's phone signalled the arrival of a message.
Patsy, who had glanced at the screen, gone a bit wide-eyed and hurriedly put the phone down, said, ‘Sorry? No one!' Then her gaze had flickered in Lily's direction and she'd taken another glug of Soave.
‘Is it Tandem Man?' Lily pulled a sympathetic face. ‘Just ignore him and delete the messages. Listen, I think I might have found my mum's boyfriend.' She hadn't meant to blurt it out quite like that, but a change of subject was clearly called for. ‘If it does turn out to be him, do you think he'd think it was weird if I got in touch?'
That did the trick.
‘I was thinking about that too,' Coral exclaimed. ‘I wondered if you'd want to do it. We never knew his surname before. I only ever heard Jo call him Declan.'
‘It's an uncommon name,' said Lily. ‘There's only one Declan Madison in the UK. Living in London.'
‘I think you should do it!' Patsy was enthusiastic, relieved to have the attention shift away from her mystery text. ‘You can tell him about the bangle. And if he's only in London, that's not far away. Would you like to meet him?'
Would she like to meet the man her mother had loved? Of course she would, more than anything. The idea of hearing about her mum from someone who'd loved her in return was thrilling in a way Lily couldn't begin to describe.
‘I would.' She nodded and scraped the last of Maria's legendary tiramisu from the plate with the back of her fork. ‘But what if he says he can hardly remember her? What if Mum loved him but he was never really that bothered?' The idea had been niggling away at her all day. She held up the wrist with the bangle on it. ‘What if this was Mum's most treasured possession but he's forgotten he even bought it?'
Like Dan, with his endless stream of girlfriends.
‘Oh Lily, I'm sure-'
‘What if he's not interested in meeting me because I'm just … nobody to him?'
‘Then he's a complete pig,' said Patsy, ‘and it's his loss. Have you got an email address for him?'
Lily shook her head. ‘No, home address. He's in Notting Hill.'
‘Well send him a letter and see what happens. You never know,' said Coral, ‘he might be thrilled to hear from you.'
‘We could go back now,' Patsy exclaimed, ‘and help you write it!'
Lily frowned at her. ‘I thought we were going to the Star.'
‘I know, but wouldn't you rather get the letter done? We can do it at my place!'
OK, Patsy had really lost the plot now. Her voice loaded with meaning, Lily said, ‘Or we could go back to our house.'
‘What's going on?' Coral was eyeing them with suspicion. ‘And don't say nothing, because something is.'
Patsy looked as if she was about to explode. ‘Fine then,' she blurted out, as if Lily were being the world's biggest spoilsport. ‘We'll go back to your empty house.' Pause. ‘Instead of the one with the film star hiding in it.'
Lily exhaled. Ooh dear.
‘And don't look at me like that,' Patsy wailed. ‘I couldn't help it. It's been killing me all night!'
‘Hang on, am I missing something here?' Coral was bemused. ‘Is it a joke? Was that the punchline?'
Lily shook her head at Patsy. ‘The whole reason they chose you was because they thought you could keep secrets.'
‘I can keep secrets! Just not from Coral! I mean, it isn't fair!'
‘Um, hello? You two?' Coral pointed to herself. ‘I am still here, you know.'
Leaning across the table and almost knocking over the candle, Patsy whispered like a pantomime spy, ‘I've got a film star in my house!'
‘No!' Coral clapped a hand over her mouth. ‘You stole that cardboard cut-out from the cinema? Oh Pats, what if they have CCTV? You're terrible, you really are. Honestly, you should be ashamed of yourself.'
Eddie had been in Stanton Langley for twenty-four hours now, and cabin fever was starting to set in. The cottage was very clean, but it was small. The Wi-Fi was slow, there was no satellite or cable TV and he was going out of his mind with boredom.
Which just went to show, you could dream of going away on holiday and doing absolutely nothing all day, but being on your own and doing nothing within the confines of someone else's home wasn't much fun at all.
Then again, it was still better than being endlessly followed and doorstepped by a heaving mass of paps and journalists.
Eddie tipped his head back against the sofa and heaved a sigh of irritation. It was almost eleven o'clock and there had been no reply to the text he'd regretted sending the moment it had left his phone.
A few minutes later, he heard female footsteps coming up the path, followed by the scratch of metal against the lock on the front door. Caused by a key this time, rather than a professional lock pick. He heard shuffling, muffled whispers and giggles, and smiled despite himself. Patsy was warm and likeable, and he already trusted her. As for Lily … well, she was likeable too. Quick-witted and quirkily attractive, with those mad blond ringlets and huge dark eyes. It wasn't just that, though. There was something about her that had struck a chord. She intrigued him.
Then the front door swung open and they burst into the living room with a clatter of high heels, Lily first, followed by Patsy waving a bottle of wine and two gigantic packets of crisps …
Followed by a third woman, presumably the one they'd been out to dinner with. Eddie's heart sank and his smile disappeared. Oh great, so much for thinking they were remotely trustworthy. Well done, everyone.
‘OK, now listen, don't be cross.' Patsy flapped her arms to stop him in his tracks. ‘I know what we promised, but it's only Coral. She doesn't count. She's one of us, and she definitely won't say anything.'
‘I thought you could keep a secret.' Since she was doing him a favour, Eddie knew he couldn't actually be too cross, but he could still signal his disappointment.
‘I can! I can keep loads of secrets!'
‘Just not this one,' said Eddie.
‘I know, but it was impossible. I knew, and Lily knew too, and there we were in the restaurant, the three of us … It just felt so unfair to leave Coral out.'
‘She did do pretty well,' Lily joined in. ‘She managed not to mention it for almost two hours.'