AUTHORS NOTE: Two for one today as I didn't want to leave you all hanging over the explanation of what happened with Monica and who Eva and Kyle's father is, plus this and the previous chapter were all one but it was far too long so I split it into two.

CHAPTER 37

(GIDEON)

We leave Charles's office and I have to say I am quite concerned, not only because of the startling revelations that came to light today and Eva's response to them but also the fact Vic seemed almost at peace with the revelation that Eva and Kyle shared the same father, when he had been distraught only moments earlier when it was confirmed that Kyle wasn't his son.

There is obviously more going on than is being admitted to at the moment and I just worry that if more revelations come to light, what their affect will be on my wife. Her behaviour today was totally out of character. Yes, she speaks her mind and tact isn't always a strong point of hers but she knows how to behave and yet today she was loud, obnoxious and brazen in what could only be described as her baiting of Jack. Admittedly, I could also understand her unadulterated delight at the fact he wasn't her father, but the way she responded to the results was… bizarre.

We are now driving back to Monica and Vic's house, Sandra had said she would keep Maisie and the boys at her house so we could all have time to talk. I glance at Eva and see she is once again staring at the DNA reports.

"Are you ok angel?" I ask carefully. She looks up at me and smiles, she seems much calmer now which I am relieved about.

"Yeah, it's all a bit mind blowing, I think it's sinking in now though". She stops speaking for a moment and then in a quieter voice almost to herself she whispers a single sentence, "I wonder who he is?" she says.

I reach for her and grasp her hand, "I'm sure your mother will be able to tell you" I say.

Eva nods, "I'm certain Vic knows more than he is letting on, he was gutted when Charles said he wasn't Kyle's dad, but when he then said Kyle had the same dad as me… well his whole demeanour changed, he seemed to accept it and I don't know… was almost happy about it. No happy is not the right word but he was more… I don't know… accepting, but that is ridiculous as mum cheated on him. Not only with Jack but with whoever this guy is". She lets out a small laugh, "but then again after all the trouble Jack has caused after being AWOL for years, I suppose in his mind anyone but Jack would be a good thing!" she pauses again, "You know I keep going over everything dad has said since all this happened. He said mum had cheated on him once and he had forgiven her so this must have been when that was. He also said mum didn't have a lot of maturity and common sense or make the best decisions… I wonder if he was referring to how she was over this guy, whoever he is? All I do know is he has made a few comments and while at the time I thought he was just venting, but they all seem to be starting to make more sense now" she says.

"I'm sure your mother will explain everything when we get there" I say. I have no idea what else to say to her, and after hearing Eva's tales of the different men who wandered in and out of her mother's life when she was younger, I hope that her mother actually does know who Eva and Kyle's father is.

We pull up outside Monica and Vic's house and climb out of the car as we make our way down the path, Kyle opens the front door to meet us.

"I've been looking out for you, mum's home from work and dad has told her the results… she's in a bit of a state, but they were waiting for you to arrive before they explained anything" he whispers to Eva. I look at him and I can tell he is struggling with all this.

Eva nods and we follow him in. I close the front door and pause. I want to stay and support Eva but I feel as though I am intruding on something very private and I wonder if I should go to Sandra's and wait there with Maisie.

My decision is made for me when Eva comes back out to find me. I articulate my thoughts and she grabs my hand and shakes her head.

"No way, I need you here" she says firmly, and that settles it and I dismiss all my doubts and I walk into the small living room at Eva's side. I see Monica still dressed in her Tesco uniform sitting clutching the DNA results and sobbing bitterly. Vic is at her side with his arm around her and he is whispering to her. I hear him tell her, that it's ok and that he understands and she has no reason to feel ashamed. This immediately makes me realise that he does know the identity of the man who fathered Eva and Kyle. I glance at Eva and Kyle but I don't think they heard him as they are whispering to each other. Kyle says something to Eva and then slips out of the room.

Vic looks up and smiles at us both and I see he too has been crying, and he invites us to sit down. I see Kyle reappear and I see he is carrying a fresh box of tissues, he is watching his mother carefully, he passes her the box and then goes and sits down next to Eva and reaches for her hand. I forget he is only eleven years old as like Eva he is so mature for his age. I think back to their childish behaviour at Charles's office when they were baiting Jack and I inwardly smile… well most of the time.

"Thank you Kyle" Monica says as she opens the new box of tissues.

"That's ok… Look mum, I know you are upset about this but Evie is here now and we both want to know who our dad is, who is he?" Kyle asks bluntly.

I look at Kyle and as they sit there side by side, I see for the first time the similarity between him and Eva. They both look a lot like Monica, they both have Monica's eyes and skin colouring but there are other features visible which obviously came from their father. I look across at Vic and I frown, I had always thought Kyle resembled Vic but he clearly couldn't as he shares no biological link with him. I study Vic's face and then compare it to Eva and Kyle, and I am surprised to see similarities, Eva and Kyle's jaw line and nose, are identical to Vic, but how? I am pulled from my thoughts as I realise Vic is speaking.

"Your mum has confirmed for me what I suspected after the results came out" he pauses and looks at Monica, "Do you want to tell them?" he asks her gently, this results in more sobbing.

"I am so sorry, I lied to you for years Eva. I always knew Jack wasn't your dad, I was already pregnant when I got with him. So, I suppose it's a little ironic that it was Jack who has forced the truth to eventually come out" she sobs.

I feel Eva stiffen but she doesn't say anything to that but just gazes at her mother intently.

"So, who is he then?" Kyle asks impatiently.

Vic is comforting Monica and he looks up. "Your father was a man called Richard Stanton, and he was my cousin" he says.

"Was?" Eva asks.

Vic nods, "Yes, he died before Kyle was born, he knew about Eva but he didn't know about Kyle," he says.

The stunned silence spreads out, both Eva and Kyle take in this information and look at each other, and then Eva clears her throat and speaks.

"Why?" she asks simply.

"Why what?" Vic answers.

"Why lie, and why make out Jack - of all people, was my dad?" she asks.

Vic takes a deep breath, but Monica reaches out and touches his hand, "It's ok, I'll tell them" she says.

"I made a series of mistakes and bad decisions, and despite my recent behaviour I do take full responsibility for it. I am going to tell you everything and then I hope when you have heard what happened you will find it in your heart to forgive me". She pauses, blows her nose and takes another deep breath.

I watch as she looks down at her hands which are fiddling with the tissue as she begins to speak, "Richard was my first love, I fell totally head over heels for him. It all happened very quickly, I was so young, immature really and very naive. I met him just before my 15th birthday, and he was so clever, he always knew the right things to say and do. He was very handsome and he was incredibly successful… but he was also ten years older than me… and he was married" I hear Eva gasp at that but Monica holds up her hand.

"When I met him, I was days away from my 15th birthday and he was already 25, he was honest with me about his age but I want to make it totally clear that I had no idea he was married when I slept with him. I honestly thought he was single. But that was my first bad decision, sleeping with him and believing what he said to me, when he told me he loved me. When I found out I was pregnant and told him, that was when he told me he was married. I was devastated, I felt dirty, I was the other woman even though I had no idea I was. I felt as though I had been used, lied to and played, and I told him that I never wanted to see him again. He left, but assured me he would provide for his child and told me to let him know when you were born. I was broken hearted and on the rebound, and for the first time I didn't believe Richard when he promised me that he would provide for you and that was when I took up with Jack, he had always been around and made it clear he was interested and so that was my second bad decision. My third was when I told him he was your father, Evie". She stops speaking and I see the compassion in Eva's eyes.

"As I say I was on the rebound, and Jack had promised me the earth when we first got together and like Richard, I believed him but the difference was, I manipulated and lied to him just as much as he did me. I thought that I was never going to see Richard again and I latched on to Jack to provide a father for you. But Jack was a selfish liar as well, as you know. When I told him I was pregnant he left me and didn't want to know, but I couldn't be angry with him for it as although he believed he was your father I knew the truth that he wasn't. The only good thing to come out of all that was that I saw Jack for who he really was as he had always been there in the background. Much to my surprise, Richard kept his word and not only did he keep in touch throughout my pregnancy, he came to see you after you were born and he held you, and to be fair to him he did provide financially for you. He regularly sent money and he came when he could to see you. But… every time he reappeared it was awful, because I still loved him so much. I secretly always hoped when he came that, that would be the time he would tell me he was going to stay and we would be a family, but it never happened. So, I tried to move on. I tried to forget him and I tried to provide you with a good life. Every time I did try though and met someone else, Richard always seemed to coincidentally turn up around the same time and I would end it with whoever I was with in the hope that this time he would stay. It's funny really as Jack also always seemed to turn up again when I started a relationship with someone else as well but he only ever came once under the pretext of seeing you, as he was also under the assumption that he was your dad. It was like he had resumed his position in the background, not in my life but just… there. Eventually, I met Vic and I told him all about Richard and Jack and what I had done. He was shocked and appalled and he told me who Richard was, and who he was to him. Vic told me that Richard was not a nice person. He was selfish and a womaniser and that his marriage had ended before Eva had been born as his wife had discovered one of his other affairs. It seemed I was just one in a long line of other women that he had cheated on his wife with. I say women, but he seemed to prefer much younger girls, teenagers. As Vic told me that all the women he had been with were aged between 15 and 21". I hear Eva tut and mutter the word paedo under her breath.

"Anyway, Vic said he would look after me and you and that everything would be ok from now on and that he would love us and take care of us. He promised that we would be a family and that he would be your dad. That was all I ever wanted and I should never… I was so stupid" Monica covers her face with her hand and starts to cry again.

"Richard turned up again and once again all the old feelings I had for him resurfaced, but this time he told me… he told me he had come to say goodbye. He told me he was emigrating to Canada, he also told me that he had always loved me and that if things had been different we would be together and it would be me he would be taking to Canada and despite what I now knew about him and how I knew deep down that was a lie and he didn't mean it, there was still just a moment that I believed him and I made a mistake, I slept with him. I felt so guilty afterwards and I confessed to Vic immediately what I had done. I told him everything and begged him to forgive me and being the wonderful man that he is, he did forgive me". I watch as she reaches for Vic's hand and smiles lovingly at him.

"He told me he was ashamed of how his cousin had treated me over the years, playing with my emotions and lying to me, keeping me dangling on a piece of string only to let me down again, but he also told me I needed to let him go and stop holding a torch for him, he told me while he understood that Richard was my first and to me that was something special I needed to grow up and forget about him and so it was then I decided to finally let Richard go and move on, really move on with Vic. But then it was only a day or so later we found out Richard had died suddenly in a freak accident at work. It was a huge shock and despite my decision to let him go, part of me… still loved him – he was my first after all and the father to my daughter, and so now I was grieving for him. I tried to hide it as it wasn't fair on Vic for him to see me grieving over Richard and I was all over the place. It was then at that point that Jack turned up again out of the blue and told me he had decided he wanted another chance. He had done this previously many times, as I say coincidentally always around the same time as Richard had previously shown up and this time was no exception".

I wonder if that was Jack's intention, Monica has already said Jack was always in the background, was he there watching her from a distance and every time he saw Richard reappear he thought she was moving on with him and stepped forward to put a stop to it? Now she was also starting a relationship with Vic, someone else for him to push away.

"Do you think Jack did that on purpose mum?" Eva asks and Monica looks at her questioningly.

I listen as Eva articulates exactly what I have been thinking as she points out to Monica that Jack was always in the background and always seemingly coincidentally turning up when Richard did and I see the realisation on Monica's face as she puts all the pieces together that she had been comprehensively manipulated by not one but two men. She remains silent for a moment and then as if nothing has been said she continues with her story.

"He… Jack told me how sorry he was, how he wanted to be a dad to you. He told me how he now had another daughter and he was in her life and how it had made him realise what he was missing out on with you, Eva. As I say I was a complete mess, I was grieving over Richard and trying to hide it from Vic so Jack turning up again and messing with me threw me completely. I was confused and I also felt guilty because Jack believed he was your dad because of my previous actions and so… I know it's no excuse but… we had sex. Afterwards I was so ashamed of myself for what I had done so I told Jack that what we had done was wrong, it was a mistake and that I was with someone else and I also told him that he was welcome to come and see you whenever he wanted to - out of guilt mainly for originally lying to him and it was then it quickly became apparent that what he had said had been all talk and he never had any intention of ever wanting to see you. He just wanted to get back with me, and I felt so ashamed of what I had done. I didn't tell Vic as he had already forgiven me once, after my stupid mistake with Richard. I didn't think he would do so again and I didn't deserve to be forgiven after the way I had behaved. About a month later I discovered I was pregnant. Vic was overjoyed at the news and when I worked out my dates, I just didn't know who the father to this baby was so I just kept quiet. When Kyle was born, I convinced myself that Vic was his father as he appeared to resemble Vic a little and I put out of my mind that Vic and Richard also resembled each other. I was just happy that he didn't look like Jack, and so I kept my secret all these years until Jack decided that he was going to turn up again and cause trouble".

Monica looks up with bleak eyes at Eva and Kyle, "I am so, so sorry" she says and then dissolves into a fresh flood of tears.

I turn and look at Eva and Kyle and they are sitting with their mouths hanging open, at the distressing story that has just been told. A moment later Eva stands and goes to kneel in front of her mother and she wraps her arms around her.

"Come on mum, it's ok I forgive you. Now I know the whole story, I realise that you were a young girl who was played and you were manipulated by two selfish men who were thinking from between their legs. You were so young when you met that guy you weren't even 15 but he should have known better. He was ten years older than you so he did know better but the fact is he used and manipulated a vulnerable teenager, just because he wanted sex and that's wrong. Then his behaviour over the years the way he kept coming in and out of your life, messing you about, that was wrong too. But I understand mum, and so does Vic because he forgave you, he understood" she says. She strokes Monica's arm.

"As for Jack the twat, well… it seems to me he just got his jollies by messing with you. He didn't want you mum, you were a challenge to him at first and then after you stopped being a challenge he lost interest and dumped you and became a fucking stalker. He just liked to stand on the side-lines watching and waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble and stop you having some happiness, but it's been proved that he is irrelevant now and not worth another moment of your time".

Monica sniffs and nods, "But…" she begins but Eva shakes her head.

"Don't feel guilty for what happened when Kyle was conceived, that must have been a hell of a time and you were still really young, I mean how old were you, about 21?" she asks.

Monica nods, "I was nearly 22, but I should have grown up by then and had more sense, after all I wasn't a silly teenager anymore" she says with another sniff.

Eva shakes her head, "Mum, don't be so hard on yourself, this guy was your first love. He shows up saying he is pissing off to Canada and you will never see him again, that is shock number one. He messes with your head again and manipulates you into having a farewell fuck with him, which dad forgave you for, never forget that point, he forgave you and so that says to me that he knew what his cousin was like. Then just days after that you hear he has died, so it was bad enough that he was emigrating but now he is gone completely and you feel a very natural feeling of grief for someone who you once loved with all your heart. You felt guilty for feeling that way and tried to suppress it which was a stupid thing to do as that messed with your mind and left you vulnerable when to top things off Jack the twat turned up to play games again with you. Admittedly you shouldn't have slept with him but I can see now how it happened. It was all a complete mind fuck and you made a mistake, but I'm not even going to discuss Jack anymore as he is irrelevant now, but I'll just say that he also used you and messed with your head, and in some ways he was just like that Richard. But all that was nearly twelve years ago, so now we all know the truth I say it's done, finished. So, leave the past where it belongs – in the past. We have all forgiven you for it, dad still loves you, don't you dad?" Eva looks up at Vic and he nods.

"I do" he says simply.

"Me and Kyle now know the truth and we don't blame you, do we?" she says turning to look at Kyle who shakes his head.

"No" he says quietly.

"As far as we are concerned Vic is our dad, he has always been Kyle's dad from the moment he was born, and to be honest with you, I'm just fucking elated that Jack is nothing to do with me as he now has no reason to come sniffing around here again!" Eva says with a small wry smile.

I watch Monica nod and sniff, "Thank you, I am so proud of you, you know and I am so sorry for what I said to you on Christmas day. I didn't mean it and I was just being bitchy because of everything that was going wrong".

Eva holds up her hand, "Forget it mum, it's in the past with all the other shit" she says firmly.

Eva moves back to sit beside me and she reaches for me. I don't hesitate and I pull her close to me. Monica looks at Kyle warily.

"This is a lot to take in isn't it, are you really alright Kyle, do you want to ask me anything?" she says gently to him.

Kyle nods, "I'm ok, it is a lot to take in. He doesn't sound like he was a very nice person, not really… he used you mum" he says.

Monica nods, "He did, and I realise that now" she says sadly.

Kyle looks towards Vic, "So if he was your cousin does that mean we are actually related somehow, even though you're not my dad?"

Vic nods, "Yes, it does. My mum was Richard's father's younger sister from my grandfather's second marriage, which made me and Richard cousins, so technically speaking you and Eva are also my cousins" he says.

Eva shakes her head, "No, you are our dad" she says firmly and I see Vic swell with pride at that.

"Yeah, I'm your dad" he says, his voice catching slightly with the emotion.

Monica smiles at that, "I am so glad you think that way" she whispers. She pauses and then seems to come to some decision and she looks up "But if you want to know anything about him… your biological dad then all you have to do is ask" she says.

"Do you have a picture of him?" Kyle asks warily, and Monica nods.

"Yes I do, I'm not sure where it is but I know I have one somewhere" she says as she says this she glances warily at Vic who smiles reassuringly at her.

"How did he die?" Eva asks.

Monica sighs. "He was an architect" this produces a sharp inhalation from Kyle, "and he was on a building site overseeing some work on a building he had designed and there was some sort of freak accident, and he died of his injuries. I don't know exactly what happened but that is what I do know" she says.

"How old was he when he died?" Kyle asks.

"Thirty-three I think" Monica says.

"You said he was clever" Eva whispers and I know she is thinking about Maisie's intelligence.

Monica nods, "He was, most of his family were incredibly clever from what he told me, he was an architect and he was also brilliant at Maths, in fact he was brilliant at whatever he turned his hand to, his parents are also very clever they are both doctors I think" Monica says.

"Wow, then how come we never knew any of this, I mean you are part of that family, how come we have never met any of them?" Eva asks.

Vic gives a sad smile and shakes his head, "I was in the black sheep section of the family. My grandfather was married and he had a son Dominic, and his son was your dad Richard. When my grandfather's first wife died, he moved on and married again and it was a decision which didn't go down well with Dominic. He expected his father to stay in mourning for his mother for the rest of his life and as a result of the fact he didn't do that, he refused to have anything to do with any of us. Anyway, my grandfather had a daughter Michelle with his second wife, that was my mum and she had me and my sister Shell. Dominic has pretty much dismissed all of us as unworthy whereas Richard has achieved an almost sainthood type status within the family" he says bitterly.

Eva snorts, "Yet he wasn't half the man you are!" she spits.

Vic smiles, "Thank you for saying so sweetheart" he says, "but I have never regretted any of my choices. Since I met your mum, I have been part of a loving, caring family and I have four wonderful kids". He shrugs, "So I can confidently say I think my life to this point is an unbridled success!" Then he pauses briefly before adding, "But this isn't about my life, it is about yours and my main concern at this moment is how you two are both feeling after hearing all that?"

Kyle shrugs, "I'm fine, from my point of view it would have been better if it hadn't all come out. I just want things to go back as they were before. You are my dad and always have been and I'm just glad that Jack didn't turn out to be my dad as he was a complete tosser".

Eva lets out a sharp laugh at that, "Well said!" She says, and then she turns to face Vic, "I'm fine as well, but I on the other hand am glad that the truth is now out there. It doesn't make any difference in our day to day lives especially as he is no longer around but it is nice to know where you came from, I think I have that perspective because I am also a mum".

Monica nods, "It is and I'm so sorry I lied to you for so long" she says.

I watch as Kyle excuses himself and leaves the room as he does so Vic turns to Eva, "There is one more thing you should know" he says.

"What?" she asks warily.

Vic reaches for her, "Your grandfather - Dominic knows about you. Richard confessed to him and told him he had a daughter. I'm not sure when it happened, whether it was when you were born or at what point up to the time he died. But Dominic knew about you, because at Richard's funeral he took me to one side and told me that he knew about you. He asked about you and I showed him a photograph of you but that was all and nothing more came of it".

I watch Eva nod, "Is he still alive?" she asks.

Vic nods, "Yes, he is he lives down south somewhere near Bristol as far as I know. He is a senior Consultant at a hospital in Bristol" he says.

Eva nods again, but she looks unimpressed by that, "What about your parents? I mean… I know they are no longer alive, because I've always known that ever since you got with mum… but you've never said how they… died" she asks.

Vic smiles sadly, "Mum died of cancer and dad had a heart attack and died shortly after mum died, we all said it was a broken heart" he says.

I watch as Eva wraps her arms around Vic and hugs him tightly.

oooOOOooo

I am watching Eva closely; she has been unnaturally quiet since we got home. She is busy on her laptop at the moment, Maisie is in bed and I want to say something but I'm not sure what.

Eva looks up at me "I've found him" she says simply.

"Who?" I ask.

"Dominic Stanton, Senior Consultant in Cardiology at Bristol Heart Institute at Bristol Royal Infirmary" she says and points to her screen.

I move to sit beside her and look at the screen. There is a photograph of a smiling distinguished looking man who looks a little bit like Vic.

"I was just curious" Eva says.

I wrap my arm around her, "Of course you were" I say. I pause as I consider my next question, "What are you going to do with this information now you have it?" I ask.

Eva shrugs, "I don't know, he obviously doesn't want to know me, as he knows of me but has never bothered, but part of me wants to meet him… you know face to face… just once" she says. She calls up the picture on her phone of her biological father, which she had taken of the photograph Monica had found before we had left and had showed her earlier and she compares it to the man on the screen.

"They were very alike" she says, "And they both look like Vic too" she adds.

"Well, if you want to do this then it goes without saying that you have my full support," I say.

Eva smiles and leans against me, "Thanks, he only knows about me. He has no knowledge of Kyle, or Maisie for that matter" she says.

"Well whatever you decide to do, I will support you. I don't know if you want to talk it over with Kyle, as I got the impression from him that he just wants to forget this all happened and to go back to how things were before and if you make Dominic aware of Kyle he might want to meet him and that might not be something Kyle would want" he says.

Eva nods, "I am guessing dad knows where he lives so I think I'm going to get his address from him and write him an old fashioned letter to begin with, and take it from there" she says.

"Alright" I say, "I have noticed that you have started calling Vic dad, it started after we got married" I say carefully.

Eva nods, "Yeah, just before we came down from the room which I was getting ready in, on our wedding day… he said some stuff. He said how proud of me he was and how he had always considered me to be his eldest kid, and it made me realise just how much he had done for me over the years and I decided he deserved the title of dad, at that point when I thought my dad was Jack I thought that by not calling him dad I was putting him on the same level as Jack. I mean I never called him dad, and now I'm glad about that, does any of that make sense?" she asks.

I nod, "Yes angel it does" I say.

I feel her pull away and reach for her phone once more and I know what she is doing as she stands up and finds a notepad and pen. I watch as she pauses and calls Kyle.

"Hey Kyle, how would you feel if I contacted our biological grandfather?" she asks. There is a pause and then she speaks again. "Dad said he knew about me, but he doesn't know about you, I just thought I'd like to meet him, maybe just once. If you don't want me to tell him about you then I won't" she says. There is another silence and then she speaks again.

"Ok thanks Kyle, and listen, if all this starts fucking with your mind you come and you talk to me ok?" I watch and see her smile.

"Yeah, I love you too bro… alright, thanks Kyle, goodnight". She hangs up and pauses a moment before she looks at me.

"He's fine with it" she says and then she turns her attention back to her phone and I watch as she calls Vic and I listen to the one-sided conversation.

"Hi dad" she says, "Listen, I don't suppose you have Dominic Stanton's address do you?" there is a pause, then I see her grabbing the pad and sit poised with the pen.

"Yes, I'm ready" she says, then I see her writing and she reads back an address to Vic.

"Thanks dad" she says warmly, "I know, I just… I don't know I just want to meet him once, but if he doesn't reply then I'll know won't I" she says. I watch as she smiles again, "Yeah I know, thanks dad, I love you too… yeah… bye dad" she says and hangs up.

She looks up at me, "He warned me not to be surprised if I don't get any reply" she says.

I nod, but I worry what will happen if he doesn't respond to her.

Eva looks at me hesitantly, "Do you mind if…?" she trails off and I shake my head.

"No not at all Angel, you carry on this is important to you so you do what you have to do" I say.

"Thanks, I didn't want to look as though I was ignoring you" she says.

"Never" I reply.

Eva comes and sits next to me and after numerous attempts, a number of whispered expletives and a lot of screwed up sheets of paper she looks up at me triumphantly.

"Ok I've done it. I think this sounds ok… would you mind reading it and seeing what you think?" she asks as she holds out the notepad.

I take it from her and begin to read.

Dear Mr Stanton,

You don't know me, but my name is Eva Lauren Cross and I am 20 years old. My maiden name was Trammel and my mother is Monica Trammel. She had a relationship with your late son Richard Stanton and I have been told that he was my biological father and therefore you are my grandfather.

I have been led to understand that you know about me, and I accept that this must come as a massive shock to you for me to contact you out of the blue, but I felt the need to write to you as I have only just found out about your existence and the circumstances surrounding my conception. There are other things which you do not know and which I believe you have a right to. The main one being that your son fathered another child with my mother, shortly before he died. He came to say goodbye to her before he emigrated to Canada, and it was then that my younger brother Kyle was conceived. He was unaware of Kyle as I believe it was shortly after that visit he sadly died. You should also know, you have a great grand-daughter, my daughter Maisie.

I would like to meet you in person, but I totally understand if you don't want to have any relationship with me, but I hope you will agree to meet me if it's only just once.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully I will hear from you soon, if not then I am sorry to have bothered you.

Yours sincerely

Eva

At the end of the letter she has written out her contact details, detailing her mobile phone and her email address.

"What do you think?" she asks.

I nod, "It sounds fine, you have been polite and set out the facts, you have told him what you want and given him all the information he needs to contact you and you've left the ball firmly in his court" I say. But I once again worry what will happen if he doesn't respond.

I voice these concerns to Eva, "But I worry what happens if he doesn't reply?" I say.

I watch her face harden, "If he doesn't then fuck him. I don't know him, so it's no loss on my part" she says defiantly.

"Ok" I say, I'm not going to argue with her but I sense it would hurt her if he did ignore her, and I need to be aware of that and to be ready to be there to support her if that should happen.