‘Don’t be daft. I’ll always be mates with you, Jack,’ I say.
Then I blush again and he does too.
I go charging back along the balcony and down the stairs. As I’m getting into the car, Jack leans over the balcony railing and shouts, ‘Good luck, Destiny!’ and I give him a wave. Then, to my total joy, another door in his block opens and Angel peers out. She stares down at me, her mouth in a comical O. I wave at her too, jump in the car, and we’re off.
‘Pinch me, Destiny. I feel like I’m dreaming,’ Mum whispers.
‘I feel like I’m dreaming,’ I say, giving her the tiniest pinch.
The car doesn’t vanish. It’s really happening. I think about the last time we went down south. This is all so different. The chauffeur is called Jim and he chats to us like he’s a friend.
‘What’s this Debs lady like then, Jim? Do you know her? Do you think she’ll really make this television programme about my Destiny?’ Mum asks.
‘She must think a lot of her to organize this car – I don’t come cheap!’ says Jim, laughing. ‘What are you going to do on television, Destiny?’
‘I’m going to sing.’
‘Oh, great. Well, how about giving us a little song in the car, then? That would be a real treat,’ says Jim.
So I sing Destiny – and Jim cheers when I’ve finished.
‘You’ve got such a lovely voice you’ve made the back of my neck prickle,’ he says. ‘Sing us another one, go on!’
So I sing my way through a whole medley of Danny Kilman songs, and Mum and Jim join in too, Mum singing the chorus, Jim making twanging guitar noises.
‘I’ve always been a big Danny Kilman fan,’ he says.
‘Destiny’s . . . related to him,’ Mum says proudly. ‘He’s going to be on this show.’
‘My goodness! You’re clearly going to be famous too, Destiny. I shall be boasting that I gave you a lift in my car to all my other clients,’ says Jim.
I’d be happy to sing for the whole journey but Mum makes me rest my voice.
‘You need to preserve it, darling. You don’t want to sound all croaky when you meet Debs Wilmott.’
I’m starting to get a bit nervous now. When we stop at the motorway café I can barely eat. What if it all goes wrong? What if this Debs doesn’t like me? What if I make a mess of the song? What if Danny takes one look at me and says, ‘No, you’re definitely not my daughter.’ How are we going to meet up anyway? I thought he’d gone off with this Lizzi girl.
‘Do you think they’ll let us in the gate this time?’ I whisper to Mum.
‘Well, I’m not having you climbing that wall again – you’ll tear your leather jacket!’ says Mum. ‘Don’t worry, darling. I know it’s going to be fine this time.’
When we turn off the main road to Robin Hill at long last, Jim stops the car and starts talking on his mobile.
‘We’re at the end of the road,’ he says. ‘How do you want to do this? Do you want me to drive right up to the gates?’ He listens and then nods. ‘OK, OK, I’ll tell them,’ he says, and rings off.
‘They think it’ll be more effective if you approach the house on foot. They want to film you meeting Danny. We’ll wait here, and the sound recordist will come and get you both miked up.’
‘Oh help!’ says Mum. ‘Not me too?’
She starts scrabbling in her bag for her make-up and then gives my nose a dab of powder too. We see the television people coming. Mum squeezes my hand.
‘Isn’t this exciting, darling? Look, your very own camera crew! You’re famous already!’
‘It won’t spoil anything, will it, Mum? We’ll still be us, you and me?’
‘Of course we’ll still be us, silly girl. Oh, I’m so proud of you. Come on, we’d better get out of the car.’
There’s a camera man and a sound recordist and a girl in ripped jeans who turns out to be Debs herself. She gives Mum and me a kiss on both cheeks, as if she’s known us all our lives.
‘This is fabulous!’ she says. ‘We want to film you as you meet Danny for the first time, OK? So you two just walk up to his gate, and Destiny, you say something on the intercom – just say your name, that’ll do – and then the gate will swing open and you’ll both walk up the drive to the front door, right? Don’t look at the camera, either of you. Just act totally naturally, OK?’
It doesn’t feel at all natural having a mike attached to my T-shirt and a camera man walking backwards in front of me – but Mum grips my hand and we walk along the road and stop at the gate. We look at each other.
‘Go on,’ says Mum.
I take a deep breath and press the intercom. ‘I’m Destiny,’ I say, my voice all shaky with nerves.
The gate clangs slowly open, and we go inside and walk up the drive. We round the corner and the door is open, and there’s Danny standing there, smiling at us. Mum gives a little squeal and pushes me forward. I walk towards him, my legs wobbling, and he opens his arms wide and gives me a hug.
‘Hello, little darling. I’m Danny. I’m your dad.’
I hear Mum give a sob behind me. I know how much this means to her. My eyes are dry but I blink hard as if I’m holding back the tears. I cling to this stranger until Debs yells, ‘Cut!’ looking ecstatic.
‘You little one-take wonder! That was incredible,’ she says.
I edge past Danny. There’s Suzy scowling in the hall, holding Sweetie’s hand, Ace on her hip. And there’s my sister Sunset, a twin in her black clothes. We stare at each other, giggling shyly, and then we hold hands, squeezing tight, as if we’ll never let go.
Jacqueline Wilson, Little Darlings
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