‘Actually, Val…well, she’s a relative…she’s my mum.’
‘She is?’ His eyes widen. ‘Well, this is a blast from the past! I must have been – what? - twenty-three, twenty-four when I knew your mum? And I was in a band at the time. We were quite well-known on the local circuit in the late Nineties.’
‘You were?’ I stare at him, fascinated.
‘I gave it up to go on the cruise ships.’ He smiles wistfully, remembering. ‘The Lightning Thunderbolts?’
‘Sorry?’ Confused, I glance out of the window, wondering if there’s another storm coming.
‘That was the name of our band?’ He looks at me expectantly.
‘Ah. Yes, of course.’ Shit, am I supposed to have heard of them?
‘We could have gigged every night of the week if we’d wanted to.’ He shakes his head and sighs. ‘Those were the days.’
I nod and smile, waiting for him to eventually put two and two together and realise just who I am; the baby his girlfriend, Val, gave birth to all those years ago…
But for now, he seems locked in dreams of the past. He perches on the edge of Jackie’s desk, arms folded, reminiscing. ‘I was on guitar and the lead singer was Jeremy Watson?’ he says, as if I should have heard of him. (I nod politely.) ‘We’re still in touch and Jem keeps pushing for another come-back. It’s tempting, but I’m not convinced it’s a good idea. Far better to go out on a high.’
‘Did you make a come-back before, then?’ I ask curiously, wishing I could have heard them play.
‘Yes. When I finished on the cruise ships. We were still performing up till five years ago, although with marriages and kids getting in the way, it wasn’t so easy.’
‘Are you married, then?’
He shakes his head. ‘No, I meant the others. Bachelor boy, me. No kids, either. And very happy to stay that way, thank you very much.’
‘Oh.’ My heart sinks.
Why did I come here? What was I expecting? A big emotional family reunion?
I suppose I had some ridiculous notion that Marcus Kingston would know me as soon as he saw me; recognition would flare, his eyes would mist over, and he’d gather me up in a bear hug and tell me we needed to make up for lost time…
Jackie looks at me uneasily. ‘Are you all right, love? You’re a bit pale.’
‘Yes…yes, I’m fine. Thank you.’
Marcus shakes his head. ‘Sorry, sorry, talking about myself again.’
Jackie’s lips twist into a wry smile and she winks at me. ‘His favourite subject.’
He laughs. ‘There may well be some truth in that, Jackie, but I hope I’m interested in other people as well.’ He catches my eye and grins. ‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here.’
Jackie glances at me with interest, and with both their gazes on me, I feel completely on the spot. The time has come for me to explain myself, and with panic rising inside me, I end up forgetting all my rehearsed speeches and just blurting it out.
‘I…think I might be your biological daughter. Well, I know I am. Mum told me.’
The world stands still for a moment. Jackie, her eyes wide, picks up some papers and moves silently from the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Marcus Kingston stares at me as if I’ve just announced that Martians have landed in Bexleyheath.
I stare back, my head spinning wildly. There’s no going back now…
After what seems like an eternity but is probably just a few seconds, Marcus starts nodding, slowly. ‘Yes…yes, I can see the likeness. Wow, yes, you really do look like her. Those eyes. The long reddish-brown hair.’
‘Mum was blonde back in those days.’ I shrug apologetically, thinking of the photos of us when I was a baby. ‘She used to dye it.’
‘Ah, yes, of course. It’s all coming back to me. Well, Marion…’ He smiles, a look of amazement spreading over his face.
‘Um, it’s Madison?’
‘Right. Madison. And when we met last week, I drove you around without even realising we were related? Wow, that’s quite a story.’ He laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘I was entertaining my own daughter in that traffic hold-up without even knowing it.’
I nod, relaxing a little. ‘It’s incredible, isn’t it?’
‘It surely is. Well, pleased to meet you. Again.’ He takes my hand in both of his and squeezes it briefly. ‘I guess we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.’
‘I guess so.’
He shakes his head. ‘I’m not normally lost for words.’
‘Me, neither. I can usually talk for Britain. But this is…’
He laughs. ‘It is.’
‘I hope I’m not interrupting something.’
‘Interrupt all you like. Actually…’ He thinks rapidly. ‘Have you got time for lunch? I’m due a break.’
I nod, but then he says, ‘Hang on, I’ve got an idea. Excuse me a minute, Marion.’
‘Madison? But you can call me Maddy.’
‘Maddy. Sorry. Rubbish with names.’ He smiles broadly at me as he pulls out his phone and punches in numbers, and I feel a little burst of joy inside. It’s like looking in a mirror when he smiles like that. It feels weird but incredible all at once…
He walks away, talking, and when he finishes the call, he says, ‘How would you like to come to the studio on Thursday and watch me record something I’ve written?’
My eyes open wide with surprise. ‘You write music as well?’
‘I do, indeed. And I’ve done some acting. I’ve been in two of the big soaps.’
‘Wow, really? What characters did you play?’
‘Oh, well, they were just bit parts, really. I was a freaked-out postman in one, having witnessed a dead body through a window. And I played a doctor in the other one, delivering the news no man wants to hear.’
‘That he was going to die?’
‘No, that he needed to have part of his tackle amputated.’
‘Ouch.’
‘Just the one testicle.’
‘Ah. Right.’
We grin at each other.
‘So can you come to the studio with me? On Thursday morning?’
I think quickly. Being in charge means I need to be at the café all day. But maybe if I spoke to Fen – told her about my real dad being back in my life – she might let me nip away for an hour?
‘I’d love to,’ I tell him with a smile.
‘Great!’
‘You lead such an exciting life, doing all these different things.’
He grins. ‘Tell you the truth, I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades these days – just while I’m waiting for my big Hollywood break, of course.’
I nod solemnly. ‘Of course.’
‘So, lunch? I’ll just grab my jacket.’ He opens the door into the back room. ‘Hey, folks, this young lady here is my daughter! How about that?’
I stare at him, amazed at how calmly he’s taking it all, and he beckons me with a big smile. ‘Come on. Don’t be shy.’
I start to laugh as I join him at the door, and he grins at me. ‘What’s the joke?’