Daisy's Blog

DAISY STORIES - The Oak
by Crystal Jones © 1995-2007

Chapter 5

“Mr. Zubkov, Daisy speaking. I think I have the solution. Can you come and see me?” Daisy could sense the tension at the other end of the line.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Goodbye.”
Daisy was still eating her Chinese takeaway meal when Mr. Zubkov arrived.

The oak rather fell onto the chair in Daisy’s office. His face looked strained but he said nothing and sat waiting for Daisy to report her news.

“Mr. Zubkov, I’ll tell you a story, maybe some of it’s true, maybe not. When I get to the end of it, you will judge for yourself.” The oak just stared at Daisy.

“About twenty years ago a clever young Russian girl, wishing to perfect her knowledge of English, came over here and met an attractive and intelligent man, a member of the aristocracy, a Lord in fact. Unfortunately the man was already married, so when the Russian girl became pregnant she had only two choices: to undergo a termination, or have the baby secretly and then have it adopted immediately after. In that period of history, a Lord having an affair with a Russian diplomat’s daughter would have caused a lot of trouble had it been made public.”

The oak seemed paralysed. Daisy went on: “The young woman chose to have the baby in England secretly with the help of the Lord, she was very slim and her pregnancy didn’t show much. After the birth of the baby, the girl signed some papers to permit an immediate adoption and returned to her own country.

Now let’s come up to modern times. One day this Lord dies and there is a picture of his son in the newspaper. The son’s name is the masculine version of her own. The young man’s slanting eyes look just like her very own. She must find out if he is her long-lost son. Did the Englishman adopt his own child? After all he had no children with his wife and maybe this had been his only opportunity to have the son he desired so much.

So Valentina goes to the funeral and realises that the young Paul Valentine Fitzgerald looks very like herself, and that he must be her son. The son she thought she would never be able to find or see again - or admit to.” Daisy handed the photocopy of the newspaper article to Mr. Zubkov. He stared at it, still in great tension, then he took to breathing more regularly and looked relieved.

(to be continued)

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