Page 140 of The Sunrise Sisterhood

She smiled. ‘I know. Unheard of, right?’

His face softened. ‘Darling, we all cock up occasionally. It’s part of being human.’

She dipped her head, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes. He stepped closer and engulfed her in a hug. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. It felt nice.

‘Thanks, Dad,’ she mumbled into his shirt.

‘Want to tell me about it?’

Not really, she thought, but as Marta said, our loved ones deserved honesty and when it came down to it, her dad fell into that category. So instead of clamming up as her body was screaming at her to do, she nodded.

‘Ivy’s dad is called Adam. But he was never my boyfriend. I met him the night Mum died …’

Mike held her and he listened, properly listened, while she told him the whole story: about how she’d pretended to be brave when she’d found out that she was pregnant. About how she had no way of contacting Adam because they hadn’t exchanged numbers. She missed out the bit where she’d pretended to be Sexy Saskia the location scout, but she told him how she’d met up with him again in Salcombe unexpectedly and how lovely he was and how brilliant with Ivy. How she’d known she had to tell him that he was Ivy’s father, but that she’d been scared.

‘Scared?’ Her dad pulled back to look at her.

She nodded. ‘I was worried that if we let him in and he left us that Ivy would get hurt.’

He let out a sigh and smiled sadly. ‘I can guess where that has come from. But history doesn’t have to repeat itself. And he sounds like a decent chap, especially as he seems keen to get involved with a baby who he doesn’t think is related to him. I’d have run a mile if a girlfriend of mine had a baby.’

Clare frowned. ‘Not helping, Dad.’

‘Sorry,’ he said meekly. ‘Carry on.’

‘I decided to tell him.’ She continued to tell him about Jesse and the doorstep disaster and how Adam had gone quiet ever since and hadn’t responded to Ivy’s party invitation. ‘So that’s the story of how I cocked up my daughter’s relationship with her father and upset the only man I’ve ever really—’ She brought herself up short before saying ‘loved’ because she couldn’t possibly love him based on the limited time they’d spent together. But they might have made it that far if she hadn’t been too slow to tell him the truth.

‘So?’ Her father took a step back, his sharp eyes watching her.

‘So what?’ Clare shrugged. ‘That’s it. I tried, I failed. I can’t force him to take an interest in his child, can I?’ She returned his stare defiantly, but he refused to break eye contact.

‘If you could see him now, what would you say?’

‘Where to begin. I’d say …’ She hesitated, her face softening into a smile, eyes prickling with tears. ‘That I miss him, and I’m sorry and I’d like another chance and even if he can’t give me a chance, that Ivy doesn’t deserve the cold shoulder and that if there was any way he’d consider being a part of her life, I’d like to make that happen.’

‘OK, Clare, listen to me,’ he said urgently. ‘Turner Investments, who came here for that lunch the other day, weren’t sure about working with Good Vibrations to begin with. It took days and weeks of emails and phone calls and pitches to them to get them to take that meeting. But I persevered, I kept knocking on their door until finally …’ He held his hands out, eyes sparkling. ‘I cracked it.’

‘Are you seriously comparing the expansion of a chain of sex shops with me reconnecting with the father of my child?’

He opened his mouth, clearly about to protest, and then laughed. ‘Point taken. But what I’m saying is that you’re a Marriott and Marriotts don’t leave any stone unturned.’

She blinked at him, not comprehending. Hadn’t she done that? ‘That letter written from Ivy to him was the last stone.’

Mike tutted fondly. ‘Do you have his address?’

‘Marta’s got his sister’s address.’

He held up his car keys and jingled them. ‘Ready for one last shot?’

‘Now?’ she spluttered.

‘Right now.’

She looked outdoors to where Ivy was holding court, the centre of attention and loving every second of it. She wouldn’t be missed for an hour or so.

Her stomach churned with excitement and nerves as she met her dad’s hopeful face. ‘Let’s do this.’

Chapter Thirty-Eight