Chapter 11
Straight into the shitstorm. I had thought of half a dozen ways to pre-empt it - "Before you get mad…" "I know the newspaper must have been a bit of a shock…" "Just let me explain what really happened…" - and so forth.
But I was saved from all this because when I entered the front door, the phone rang in the hall. I went to answer it. "Hello?"
"Eloise, darling, it’s Aunt Rosa. Are you alright? What on earth have you been up to?! Gerard’s delighted for you to have taken his name, by the way. Did you need us to adopt you?"
My mother had appeared by now, and her face was considerably grimmer than Aunt Rosa’s light tone.
"It’s Aunt Rosa," I said.
"Let me speak to her."
It didn’t seem wise to protest, so I handed her the receiver and fled upstairs. I went into my bedroom and l
