Finding Home by Kate Field (books for 6 year olds to read themselves .TXT) 📕

hair. A bit anxious-looking but he was talking to Janet so that might account for it. You can imagine how helpful she was.’

‘Did you hear what he wanted?’

‘A little. He asked if she knew Miranda Brown and Janet said she didn’t and that she was running a shop not an information service. Then he showed her a newspaper clipping. It was about the charity launch – you know, the one with the photo of you with Lia and Corin.’

Mim knew the one. It was the photo she kept in her emergency box – that, embarrassingly, Corin must have seen. It was also the photo that had brought Yvonne to Vennhallow. Her heart sank. What trouble was it causing now?

‘He pointed at your picture,’ Karen continued, ‘and asked Janet if she recognised you.’ She smiled. ‘I won’t repeat Janet’s exact words. She made it clear that if he was another of your sort he wasn’t welcome in the shop.’

Mim was beginning to feel sorry for whoever this man was. She could imagine that Janet wouldn’t have minced her words.

‘Did he say what he wanted?’ she asked.

‘No. He was persistent. He asked if you lived in Littlemead but Janet refused to tell him anything.’

‘Quite right,’ Heather said. ‘She can’t be giving your address out to strange men.’

‘I think she refused out of bloody-mindedness rather than for Mim’s protection. But you’re right. That’s why I didn’t speak to him. He carried on up the hill towards the café but I didn’t see him again after that.’ Karen passed the box of brownies to Mim. ‘Have you no idea who he is?’

‘None at all. But it’s not likely to be good news, is it?’ Mim picked out the largest brownie she could find, deciding to console herself with chocolate. ‘Hopefully Janet will have scared him away.’

Mim was taking a break in a quiet corner of the Boat the next night, reading one of the books that Corin had given her for her birthday when a shadow fell over her table. She looked up. There was a young man standing at the side of her table – tall, skinny, early twenties, exactly as Karen had described him. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and had a rucksack on his back, which wasn’t unusual around here. The Boat was a regular stop-off for ramblers walking the South West Coast Path. He didn’t look much like a walker though. One gust of wind might blow him off the cliff top.

‘Are you Miranda Brown?’ he asked, in a definite northern accent. ‘Mim?’

‘Who wants to know?’ she asked. She put down her book. ‘What’s going on? Have you been asking around the village about me over the last few days?’

He nodded. Colour rose in his cheeks, making him look even younger.

‘I’ve been trying to find you for months,’ he said.

‘Why?’ Mim asked. ‘Who are you?’

He smiled – a nervous but determined smile.

‘I’m your brother.’

Chapter Nineteen

It was the last thing Mim had expected to hear.

‘I don’t have a brother.’ She pushed back her chair and stood up. ‘If this is a joke, I don’t think it’s very funny.’

‘It’s not a joke.’ The young man slipped his rucksack off his back, opened it, and took out an envelope. He pulled out a sheet of paper and gave it to Mim. ‘This is my birth certificate. Have a look at my dad. He’s your dad too, isn’t he?’

‘I never met my dad.’ Mim sank back down into her chair and studied the paper. It confirmed that a boy called Lucas Hamer had been born twenty-four years ago. His mother was a Carol Hamer – the name meant nothing to Mim. His father was a plasterer called Martin Hamer. She stared at the name with a jolt of surprise and confusion. She recognised it. It was the only information she’d ever had about her father, along with the photo she kept in her emergency box.

‘That was my dad’s name,’ she said. ‘Or so I was told.’ She looked at Lucas. ‘Surely it’s just a coincidence – two men with the same name. It’s not an unusual one, is it?’

‘It’s no coincidence. Dad told me about you and asked me to find you. I’ve been looking for a year. I’ve contacted loads of Miranda Browns but none of them were the right one. Then I saw this in the paper.’ Lucas waved the now crumpled cutting at Mim. ‘It said you’d come from Lancashire. You look like Dad. I had to come and see.’

Mim studied his face. Could this be true? Did she have a dad and a brother, a loving family of her own? She wanted to believe it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. But she mustn’t let hope become proof. She had a thousand questions first.

‘Everything okay, Mim?’ Howie paused by her table. ‘Not having any bother, are you?’

‘No. It’s fine. Better than fine. Howie, is there any chance I could take some time off? I need to talk to Lucas.’

‘Well, there’s only the two of us on tonight and it might get busy later. Can you do your talking here and come back behind the bar if you’re needed?’

Mim nodded and Lucas sat down at the table with her. He tipped a few more things out of his rucksack.

‘I’ve brought some ID so you can check who I am,’ he said. ‘Here’s my driving licence and passport, and my old student card.’

It hadn’t crossed Mim’s mind to check his identification. She picked up each item in turn, absorbing the details. He had a passport, so he’d travelled abroad at some point. He’d studied at the university in Keele and his driving licence gave his address in Blackpool. Even these three basic items painted a history of his life that was vastly different to hers.

‘I have these too.’ Lucas opened an envelope and took out a photograph and a piece of plastic. Mim picked up the plastic. It was like a tiny bracelet,