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‘So, you’re actually istered shakily as she studied Sybil and struggled to disentangle the faranted

‘It wasn’t hts but when I came clean about who I really was, it sent your mother off the rails’

‘Lies…the gift that keeps on giving,’ Natalie breathed tersely ‘That’s part of the reason I fell pregnant with you, Merry When I had that stupid affair with your father, I was all over the place emotionally I had lost my adoptive mother and then discovered that the sister I loved and admired was in fact my mother…and I didn’t like her very much’

‘Natalie couldn’t forgive ive h money to live a very coued in her own defence ‘I was grateful for their care of her I wasn’t ready to be a mother’

‘At least, not until you were born, Merry,’ Natalie slotted in with perceptible scorn ‘Then Sybil interfered and stole you away from me’

‘It wasn’t like that!’ Sybil protested ‘You needed help’

Merry’s mother settled strained eyes on Merry’s troubled face and said starkly, ‘What do you think it was like forall the love and care she had denied hter instead?’

Merry breathed in deep and slow, struggling to put her thoughts in order In reality she was still too upset about Roula’s allegations to fully concentrate her brain on what the torandmother, not her aunt and Merry had never been told that Natalie was an adopted child She abhorred the fact that she had not been given the full truth about her background sooner

‘The way Sybil treated you, the fuss she uiltily ‘It wrecked our relationship She came between us’

‘That was never my intention,’ Sybil declared loftily

‘But that’s hoas…’ Natalie complained stonily

Merry lowered her head, recognising that she saw points on both sides of the arguave Natalie up to her parents for adoption and she had been barred fro that she was Natalie’s birth mum Merry refused to conde that pretence and the liesout that truth years afterwards had distressed her

‘You say you want a closer relationship withor in hter,’ Merry heard herself fire back at her mother

‘I couldn’t afford the plane fare!’ Natalie snapped defensively ‘Who do you think paid for this visit?’

‘How do you feel about this?’ Sybil pressed anxiously

‘Confused,’ Merry adhtly ‘Hurt that the two of you didn’t tell o And I hate lies, Sybil, and now I discover that you’ve prettyto me my whole life’

In actuality, Merry felt as if the solid floor under her feet had fallen away, leaving her to stage a difficult balancing act Her grand her expectantly and she didn’t knohat she was supposed to say to satisfy either of them The sad reality was that she had always had more in common with Sybil than with Natalie and that, no matter how hard she tried, she would probably never be able to replicate that close relationship with her mother

‘All I ever wanted to do was try to help you still have a life as a single parent,’ Sybil told her daughter unhappily ‘You were so young I never wanted to come between you and Merry’

‘I’d like to meet Elyssa,’ Natalie declared ‘Sybil’s shown me photos She is very cute’

And Merry realised then that she had been guilty of holding her own unstable childhood against herthat Natalieher over for a visit,’ she pro for?’