The Heartbreak Cafe (46 page)

No, no,
she was reaching now – of course her father would have seen Ruth
before, if not in recent newspaper articles, then almost certainly
when she was growing up in the town. Hadn’t she just said herself
that he used to fix things for her family?

‘
And of course you know Trish,’ Nina supplied, and Trish in
turn waved hello.

Well, no
one could say that her dad was a beacon of hospitality, that was
for sure, Nina thought, embarrassed that he hadn’t the manners to
even say hello, to say nothing of shaking hands. But she reminded
herself, they were here for a reason and it wasn’t
hospitality.

Patrick
looked at her. ‘I’m making dinner but I don’t have enough for
everyone,’ he said pointedly.

Nina
groaned, mortified. Could he be any more unsociable? ‘That’s OK,
we’re not here for that. We actually just wondered if maybe you
could help us out with something.’

‘
Oh?’ Patrick looked past them, almost instinctively seeking
out a TV or electronic appliance of some sort, Nina figured. ‘No,
no, we don’t want to fix anything, we just hoped we could pick your
brains really.’

He
frowned, although it was more a look of confusion than
irritation.

‘
Seeing as you’ve lived in Lakeview your whole life,’ Trish
interjected. ‘Remember last time I was here I was telling you about
that book I’m doing?’

There was
a short grunt and Nina was sure he wouldn’t have the foggiest idea
what her friend was on about, much less a recollection of it, but
to her surprise he said: ‘I told you I didn’t have any
photographs.’

‘
No it’s not that. We actually just came across something in
the news archives, something that happened here a long time ago and
we were hoping you might remember it.’

Another
grunt.

Trish
reached into her bag. ‘Do you mind taking a look at this
article?’

‘
I’d really rather have my dinner.’

‘
Look we’re just asking for a quick favour Dad – if you don’t
know anything about it, then you don’t know anything about it. If
you could just take a look –’

‘
Your mother would be a much better source of information, I
think. Yes, you should ask her Nina; she would know.’

‘
But Mum isn’t here now is she?’ Nina replied through gritted
teeth.

‘
You should ask her,’ he repeated, as if his daughter hadn’t
spoken and she looked to her friends, as if to convey that this was
a complete waste of time. Clearly he had no interest whatsoever in
helping them and as usual, couldn’t be more brusque and obstinate
if he tried.

‘
I’m sorry guys,’ she sighed, as Patrick retreated into the
kitchen. ‘There’s no point, we might as well just go.’

‘
Oh for heaven’s sakes,’ Trish exclaimed following him. ‘Mr.
Hughes, really, if you could just take a quick look at this for us,
we’ll be out of your hair in no time.’ She offered the piece of
paper to Patrick. ‘We were just hoping to find out more about what
happened.’

Nina’s
father glanced at the piece of paper and he skimmed through it a
little before his gaze dropped to the floor.

‘
Why did you come to me with this?’ he asked flatly.

Ruth
stepped forward. ‘Like we said Mr Hughes, we thought you might
remember something about it,’ she replied, her tone
eager.

‘
Do you know something about it Dad?’

‘
Yes, I know something about it.’

Ruth
stared at him, as if the strength of her gaze could urge more
information out of him. Welcome to my world, Nina
thought.

‘
What do you know Dad? What happened?’ Almost instinctively,
Nina knew that they needed to tread softly with this. You could
never coerce anything out of Patrick and if they pushed too hard he
would simply clam up and walk out of the room.

‘
Please, Mr. Hughes, we’re just curious, none of us have heard
anything about this before,’ Trish pleaded.

Patrick
exhaled heavily and shook his head. His gaze roamed around the
room, as if he was looking for something. But upon closer
inspection, Nina realised that there was something in his
expression, almost like some kind of internal struggle. She didn’t
understand.

‘
Mr Hughes, really, it’s not a big deal –’

‘
It is a big deal!’ he bellowed and all three of the girls
jumped back in unison, shocked by this ferocity.

Nina’s
heart began to beat very fast. Something was going on here;
something very important but she couldn’t quite put her finger on
what it was. Was … he somehow … involved in this?

‘
Maybe we should go…’ Ruth ventured quietly. She looked at
Patrick. ‘I’m sorry we upset you sir, but we just wanted to find
out if you knew anything about this. We thought it could be
important, but it doesn’t matter, sorry.’

She and
Trish turned to leave, and they looked at Nina who was standing
rooted to the spot, her gaze boring into her father’s.

It was
like every room in the house had suddenly begun to shrink, the
walls bearing in on her. And Nina knew she needed to ask the
question, even though she already knew the answer.

‘
That baby …’ she began breathlessly, ‘the one that was left on
the steps of the café all those years ago. It was me, wasn’t
it?’

Patrick
looked at her, and as always, his face was expressionless. ‘Yes
Nina,’ he replied simply, ‘it was you.’

Nina
stood there, hurt beyond her wildest dreams. She was unable to
speak, unable to move, barely able to breathe. Trish stood frozen
next to Patrick, looking at him in horror. Ruth too was rooted to
the spot, as if afraid to move.

Meanwhile, after dropping his bombshell, Nina’s father had
simply turned around and resumed making his dinner.

She’d
been abandoned as a baby, cast aside by her parents, by Cathy – but
why? What had she done wrong? What was wrong with her – or more to
the point what was wrong with her father? How could he just dump
something like that on her and then go back to his business as if
nothing at all had happened?

‘
Nina…’ Finally she felt Ruth touch her arm, which broke
through her reverie.

‘
I don’t believe you!’ she cried, addressing the back of
Patrick’s head. ‘Mum would never do something like that. She loves
me! She’s always done everything for me – you’re the one who was
–’

Then she
stopped short, realising something. ‘Oh no,’ she whispered, talking
to herself more than anyone else. ‘It wasn’t Mum who left me there,
was it? It was you.’

Patrick
stiffened suddenly and Nina was briefly aware of Ruth and Trish
retreating slowly from the room, evidently deciding it was best to
give them some space.

But Nina
didn’t want time alone with her father; if anything she wanted to
get as far away from him as possible. But first she needed to know
the truth.

‘
It’s the reason she left you, isn’t it? The reason she took me
away from this place. And she was right – because now I know why
you never made the effort to see me, never tried to spend time with
me; hell even now you barely give me the time of day. What’s so bad
about me that you hated me enough to throw me away, even at such a
young age? What the hell did I ever do to you?’ Eyes flashing with
anger, she waited for Patrick to turn and face her, but instead he
opened a drawer and started to fidget with the utensils.

Nina gave
a short, humourless laugh. ‘Wow,’ she said, ‘What kind of cold,
heartless bastard are you that you can’t even give me an
explanation? Don’t I deserve that much, at least?’

‘
I’m sorry Nina,’ he said simply, but his voice was so low she
had to strain to hear it.

‘
That’s it – that’s all I get? You throw me out in a cardboard
box and all I get is sorry!’

Meanwhile
Ruth had returned to the room. ‘Nina, maybe you should go outside
for a couple of minutes. It’ll help clear your head.’

‘
Oh I’m going outside alright,’ she answered sharply. ‘But
it’ll be for good, because I am never, ever setting foot in this
house again!’

But
Patrick remained unmoved, and still shaking, Nina was barely aware
of Ruth talking her by the arm and leading her out of the kitchen
and then out the front door of the house.

‘
He gave me away …’ she mumbled slowly. ‘He gave me away, he
didn’t want me.’

‘
Sssh, it’s OK,’ Trish said, coming forward to put an arm
around her.

‘
I don’t have anywhere to go…’ Nina started to cry.

‘
Don’t worry about that honey, we’ll take care of you, and you
can stay with me,’ Ruth told her gently.

‘
I never want to see him again...’

‘
And you don’t have to if you don’t want to,’ Trish cooed, ‘Try
not to worry.’

They
walked further away from the house, Trish and Ruth gently guiding
Nina along the path towards the other side of town.

‘
I need to talk Mum,’ she wailed, rooting in her handbag for
her mobile, but Ruth put a hand on her shoulder.

‘
I think that’s a very good idea but maybe wait a little until
you’ve calmed down. I know you said she was very far away so I’m
sure she’ll be doubly frantic if you call her in the state you’re
in now. Best to wait until you’ve had a chance to get over the
initial shock.’

Nina knew
that Ruth was probably right but still how could she not try and
contact her mother? She was the only one who could shed some light
on what had happened, as clearly Patrick wasn’t going to tell her
anything and there was no one else who would –

‘
Ella,’ she cried, stopping dead in her tracks.

Trish
looked at her. ‘What about her?’

‘
I need to talk to her again. I need to ask her what happened
that morning – the day she found …me.’ She looked at her friends.
‘Now we know why she was so determined not to talk about it
earlier.’ Nina’s mouth set in a thin line. ‘But she has no such
excuse now.’

‘
Sweetheart, you’ve had a shock…it really might not be the best
idea…’

Nina
marched forward. ‘I don’t care; I need to know what happened –
everything that happened.’

Conscious
that they really didn’t have any say in the matter, Trish and Ruth
went quiet and didn’t challenge her any further.

And when
a few minutes later, they reached the door of the café, all three
stopped outside it and stared down at the steps, the same thought
going through each of their minds.

Then,
having issued instructions to the others that she needed to do this
alone, Nina stepped gingerly over the top step of the Hearbreak
Cafe, the same one upon which she had been found thirty years
before.

Inside,
she scanned the area, searching for Ella.

The older
woman was at the end of the counter, talking to a customer, but as
Nina approached, she looked up and met her gaze. Immediately her
expression changed and Nina knew that something in her own face had
signalled to Ella that she’d uncovered the truth.

Her boss
said something brief to the person she had been talking to, before
walking forward to approach her, her manner tentative and gentle.
When she was within a few feet of Nina, she stopped and nodded her
head in resignation. ‘So you know,’ she said quietly.

Anger
rushed through her, anger so intense that Nina wanted to pound her
fists on something just to get the frustration out. ‘Yes I know and
more to the point, so did you. You knew about this, knew for all
these years that it was me – and yet you didn’t say anything.’
Tears were running down Nina’s cheeks and she had to gulp for
air.

‘
Oh love,’ Ella rushed forward and gathered Nina into an
embrace. ‘Let’s go out back and we can talk about this.’ She nodded
at the waitress to take over, and swiftly guided Nina through the
kitchen and out towards the food storage area.

‘
My own parents didn’t want me, they don’t love me…’ Because
even though Nina was sure Cathy had no part in this, she couldn’t
be absolutely certain. After what she’d just learned, how could she
be certain of anything?

‘
Your parents love you very much Nina Hughes, you must know
that.’

‘
But then why would they try to … get rid of me?’

‘
Oh honey, no. That’s not what happened at all.’

‘
But it is! My dad … Patrick – he told me himself.’

Ella took
a deep breath. ‘Yes, you’re right, he did do that, but I think
there was actually a reason for it.’ She rubbed her hand up and
down Nina’s back in an attempt to soothe her.

‘
Exactly. He did it because he didn’t want me … he doesn’t love
me … never has, and what’s worse, Mum let him.’ At this thought,
which had just occurred to her, Nina cried as if her heart would
break, and as she did, she felt the baby stirring inside
her.

‘
No she didn’t. Please Nina …let me explain. Perhaps it’s best
if I start at the very beginning, let you know exactly what
happened that night.’