Father Unknown by Fay Sampson Read Free Book Online Page A

think he’s somewhere in the Midlands now. Tamara goes to stay with him occasionally.’
    â€˜But you said there was a stepfather.’
    â€˜Her mother remarried this Easter. Leonard Dawson’s a headmaster. Not at Millie’s school, but another one in the city. I only know him by sight. But he has the reputation of being a bit of a disciplinarian.’
    â€˜So? Do you think Tamara might be scared to tell him?’
    â€˜You mean she’d be afraid of the modern equivalent of flogging her naked through the streets?’
    â€˜Well, maybe not in public. I guess he might think it would reflect badly on him, if he’s been laying down the law to his students. That could be pretty important to a disciplinarian. Can’t even control his own stepdaughter.’
    A shiver ran through Suzie. ‘Control. That’s a nasty word. She’s not his possession.’
    â€˜Oh, believe me, I know plenty of men who would tell you a daughter is.’

SEVEN
    M illie stood in the garden with her back to the house, tearing a glossy camellia leaf to shreds. Suzie watched her. Presently, she got up and strolled towards her daughter. For a while she stood, saying nothing.
    At last Millie broke the silence. ‘Tamara wasn’t in school today.’
    â€˜Is that important? If she’s expecting a baby, there are probably some mornings when she doesn’t feel very well.’
    â€˜I rang her mobile, but it was switched off. So I tried ringing her house after school. And when her mother answered, it was, like, weird. As though she didn’t know Tamara wasn’t at school. She covered up pretty quick. Said she’d been feeling off colour. But she didn’t sound normal. Like she was making it up off the top of her head. And, like . . . frightened. Said I shouldn’t come round to the house because Tamara was in bed.’
    â€˜Frightened?’
    â€˜She was talking too fast and jumpy.’
    â€˜And you didn’t go round?’
    â€˜I keep trying her mobile. Nothing. I’ve texted her, like, dozens of times. She never answers.’
    â€˜If her mother says she’s in bed, Tamara may have switched her phone off to get some sleep.’
    â€˜If she wasn’t well, she’d have rung me.’
    â€˜Women do funny things when they’re pregnant. It takes people different ways. I’m sure she’ll be in touch tomorrow.’
    â€˜She was scared.’
    â€˜Yes, you said that. Talking strangely on the phone.’
    â€˜Not her mother. Tamara . Ever since she told me she thought she was pregnant. I mean, we’d all be scared, if it was us. But she wasn’t just scared about having the baby. It was as though there was something else she didn’t dare tell anybody. Not even me.’
    Suzie ran over all the nightmare scenarios she and Nick had envisaged when they thought it was Millie who was pregnant. ‘Is it something to do with the father? Not a schoolboy date? Something worse than that?’
    â€˜I’ve no idea. She wouldn’t tell me anything .’
    Suzie watched a goldfish shimmer under the lily leaves of the pond. ‘Her stepfather. He’s a bit of a disciplinarian, isn’t he? At least, he is at school, by all accounts. Is she frightened about what he’ll do when he finds out?’
    â€˜I don’t know. He does give me the shudders, though. He’s so big and jolly when you first meet him, but he can change like that –’ she snapped her fingers – ‘if he thinks you’ve said something out of turn.’
    â€˜So Tamara would have reason to be scared of him.’
    â€˜Yes. But it’s not just that. She’d tell me if it was. So it’s got to be something worse.’
    â€˜Don’t let your imagination run away with you, love. Tamara’s got herself into a mess, but it’s not the end of the world. It happens to other girls. It changes their lives, of course,