"Are you my dad?"
"Am I…?" Peter couldn't help but laugh at the question; the look on Olivia's face soon sobered his mirth. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I…"
"I was being serious," Olivia cried petulantly. "And you're laughing at me."
"I know, I'm sorry, it's just…" With great effort, Peter managed to subdue his emotions to match Olivia's earnest teenage ones. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise, I just… You know, I wish I was your dad, I really do, but… no, Carla and I didn't get together until, ohhhh, you would've been at least two by then."
"So you're not…" Olivia's face was crestfallen at the sudden return to uncertainty and confusion.
"No, love, I'm not. I'm sorry."
"Then, who is he?"
"That's something you really need to hear from Carla, ahhh…" Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he caught a glimpse of his wife walking towards their table; "speak of the– here she is now."
"I thought I told you to call me," Carla's first words were to chastise her husband, before softening her tone for Olivia. "Thank goodness Peter found you, sweetheart, you had us worried."
"Carla, who's my dad?"
"Oh…" Carla was blindsided by the direct question. "Umm… why don't we go back to the flat and–"
"I'm not leaving here until you tell me!"
"Let's go somewhere more private, hey? What do you say?"
"No!" Olivia refused, stubbornly digging her heels in. "Tell me now! Right now!"
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I see," Peter interjected with a grin.
"Shut it!" Carla snapped at him. "Right," she nodded at Olivia; "you really wanna do this now? Here? In public?"
"Yes!" Olivia almost shouted her affirmation. "Please, Carla, I need to know before I literally explode."
"Okay," Carla reluctantly agreed, dragging over an empty chair from a neighbouring table and sinking into it. "I'm sorry, you're right, you deserve the truth, and you deserve it now."
Despite Carla's apparent willingness to reveal all to Olivia, the silence that descended over the trio became so drawn out that Peter had to nudge Carla back into the present.
"Love," he whispered to her, his hand gently covering her own. "Are you okay?"
"I was engaged to this man, Tony," Carla abruptly began her story. "Tony Gordon–no, sorry, that's not the start, not by a long shot. You have to know about Liam, about me and Liam because… I'd known him most of my life, you see. I knew him and he knew me. But we never… it never happened the way it should've happened. I married his brother when I should've married him. And then afterwards – after my husband, his brother, had died – it was all so… complicated. To have those sorts of feelings for my brother-in-law, it was… so I started seeing Tony. He was a business associate. He was… I thought he was a good guy. I thought… I had Tony and Liam, he had Maria. They got married; Tony and me, we got engaged. And that was that."
"This guy Tony, he's my dad then?"
"Umm… when I say 'that was that', what I mean is… what Liam and I shared, it was too strong, we were too… we couldn't stop. We tried… I tried, believe me I tried. But it was too strong."
"I don't understand," Olivia said, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Is Liam my dad? Or Tony?"
"The thing is…" Carla let out a deep sigh before continuing. "Sweetheart…"
"Carla, just tell me!"
"I don't know," Carla finally confessed. "I don't know who your father is."
"How can you not know? It's either Tony or Liam?"
"I don't know because there was… some overlap."
"Over…" Olivia stared at Carla, her lip curling in disgust. "Oh my god, that's gross! You're…"
Olivia jumped to her feet, pushing the chair so violently that it fell over, clattering to the ground.
"Never mind," Roy said, hurrying to pick up the chair, "let me get that. There we go." Only now did he look at Olivia's face. "Are you quite alright, Olivia?"
"Alright?" Olivia cried, aghast at the shameful truth Carla had presented to her. "Of course I'm not alright! I just found out that my mother is a slut!"
With the look of shock on Roy's face and those of embarrassment on Carla and Peter's still fresh, Olivia stormed out of the café, slamming the front door for good measure as she went.
"Mother?" Roy asked in confusion as he attempted to piece together the latest drama in Carla's life.
"That would be me," Carla said matter-of-fact, raising her right hand in the air, owning her new identity. "I'll explain later, alright, Roy?"
Roy watched in bewilderment as Carla and Peter, without another word, followed Olivia out of the café.
"There she is," Peter said, pointing to the end of the street where Olivia was hurriedly walking away from them. "Come on."
They both jogged after the retreating figure, calling her name and begging her to stop.
"Olivia!" Carla cried as she finally caught up to her and, by gently holding her arm, kept her close. "Where are you going?"
"Dunno," Olivia shrugged. "Anywhere but here."
"I know what I said, it was shocking to hear."
"You're telling me."
"And I know you've probably got a lot of questions, so why don't we go back to the flat and we can talk."
"No." Olivia remained stubborn.
"What do you wanna do then? Hmm?" Carla asked, her own stubborn streak beginning to kick in. "Just stand here in the middle of the street?"
"No."
"What then? Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. Whatever you want."
"Okay," Olivia accepted the olive branch and made her demand. "I want you to call Tony and Liam right now and ask them for a DNA test."
"Oh," Carla said dejectedly. "I wish I could, sweetheart, but–"
"You said you'd do whatever I wanted," Olivia pointed out. "You promised."
"I know," Carla nodded, exchanging a nervous glance with Peter. "I know I did. And I'm going to be completely honest with you, even if it's not what you want to hear. Okay?"
"Okay." Olivia's voice wavered; even she was unsure if she wanted to know more.
"Tony and Liam, they… they're no longer with us."
"Where are they?"
"They're, umm… they're dead. Both of them. I'm sorry."
"They're both…" Olivia took this news badly; she leaned forward, her hands on her knees, her breathing jagged as she fought to control the tears that threatened to overflow, "dead?"
"I'm sorry, darlin'," Carla tried her best to comfort her, rubbing her back gently. "I'm so, so sorry."
"What do I do now?" Olivia asked, looking up at her mother. "I came all this way to find out; this can't be it, it can't be over."
"There is a way we can find out who…"
"How?" Olivia stood up straight, her interest piqued.
"I need to talk to someone first."
"Okay, let's go," Olivia said eagerly. "Let's talk to them, let's go."
"Peter, can you please take Liv home?"
"No!" Olivia cried. "I want to come with you!"
"I'm sorry, but you need to sit this one out. I know you're upset, but this is going to upset other people as well, so… I think it's best if I go on my own. Peter?"
"Come on, Liv," Peter said, directing her with a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. "The sooner we leave Carla to it, the sooner we'll find out the truth."
"But–"
Protest as she would – and she did – Olivia allowed Peter to lead her back to the flat while Carla set out on her mission.
With a deep breath, Carla knocked on the door and silently hoped that no one was home. But Carla was out of luck; the door opened.
"Carla, this is a surprise, what are you doing here?"
"Hi Maria," Carla forced herself to smile, knowing Maria's friendly demeanour would soon turn sour when she discovered why Carla was on her doorstep. "Can I come in?"