31

Aurora For a second, I’m too stunned to react. I’m now used to having meals alone with Jonathan and his devious mind and wandering hands. Margot and Tom never interrupt us, which I assume is due to Jonathan’s orders. So the moment I hear that familiar voice, I get caught into a denial game, thinking this is a play of my imagination. Or even that Harris decided to be an arsehole today. But it’s neither Harris’s face nor his voice. It’s… Aiden. My nephew whom I’ve never officially met, despite begging Alicia to bring him over during her visits to Leeds. She said she would but had never kept that particular promise. My nephew who called me ‘Mum’ upon first meeting me because he didn’t know I existed in the first place. He walks inside, a hand shoved in his dark jeans pocket. His strides are purposeful and confident. Just like Jonathan. He’s also a carbon copy of his father, looks-wise. The dark hair and the grey eyes. The proud nose and the chiselled jaw. Even the permanent disapproving l