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Aristandros frowned ‘Why would I lie about it? I wasn’t pleased when Susie started dating Timon, but he fell hook, line and sinker for her’

Ella had lost colour, the fine bones of her profile pros that she had not understood but which had given her an uneasy feeling were being explained—her sister’s constant, tactless carping about Ari’s inability to stay faithful throughout the period when Ella had been seeing hiry accusations that Ella didn’t appreciate just how lucky she was

‘No ave her because he loved her But, when you ether and Susie turned her back on that child, Timon couldn’t accept it’

Ella gave him a stricken appraisal ‘Susie turned her back on Callie? How?’

‘She left their staff to take care of her Having got the baby she insisted she could not live without, she rejected her Timon was at his wit’s end He consulted doctors on her behalf Susie refused to see the Susie and applying for sole custody of Callie Their e was very much on the rocks when they died’

Her consternation and sadness at that news palpable, Ella sank heavily down on a chair ‘I had no idea that the situation was so serious If only I had known, if only Susie had been willing to see me and talk to me after Callie’s birth, maybe I could have—’

‘You were the last person who could have helped her She was too jealous of you’

‘It’s perfectly possible that Susie was suffering from severe post-natal depression Didn’t my family try to help her?’ Ella prompted feverishly

‘I don’t think they recognised the extent of the probleet involved once they realised that Susie’s rave trouble,’ Aristandros said flatly

Ella knew that in such circued her mother to mind her own business, and that her mother would not have had the backbone to stand up to hireed She felt unbearably sad Had Susie been suffering from depression? Evidently, however, even Ti to seek professional help Poor Callie had had a troubled and insecure life right froht that it was hardly surprising that the little girl was quiet and somewhat behind in her development

‘How much time have you spent with Callie?’ Ella asked Aristandros

His well-defined black brows pleated, as if he suspected a trick question ‘I see her every day that we’re under the same roof’