Louise looked up from reading the Daily Mail. It was late in the evening and Shane was sprawled along the old sofa in the window, relaxing after a long day in the hospital. ‘It says here,’ she told him, ‘the price of houses is going up.’
‘I know,’ he replied sleepily. ‘It’s lucky we bought this house when we did. I couldn’t afford it now.’
The small terraced house in Fulham had cost Shane three hundred pounds, for which he’d had to take out a mortgage.
‘How much is it worth now?’ Louise asked, as she folded the newspaper in half so she could more easily read Paul Tanfield’s Diary, a gossip column about the elite.
‘Fifteen hundred,’ Shane replied, shutting his eyes and relaxing with satisfaction. ‘One day it will be worth a couple of thousand.’
But Louise wasn’t listening. She was clutching the newspaper, her expression incredulous. ‘My God! No! It can’t be true!’ she exclaimed, an edge of panic in her voice.
Shane opened his eyes and looked over at her. ‘What is it?’
‘It says here… that Mummy’s getting married again! Oh, Shane, it can’t be true, can it? Surely she wouldn’t want to marry anyone else after Daddy?’
He rolled off the sofa, and came over to where she sat. ‘Let’s see,’ he said, taking the paper from her. She looked up at him in anguish.
‘I can’t bear it if she does,’ she said, upset. ‘Daddy only died a few years ago. How are we supposed to accept a stepfather so soon?’
‘You can’t rely on these gossip columns, sweetheart. They print all sorts of rubbish, because it sells newspapers.’
‘But I’ve noticed Paul Tanfield’s is the most accurate. Every story is usually true.’
Shane scanned the column.
Out and about on the town these days is Mrs Liza Granville, 59, widow of banker, Henry Granville, who is being escorted by constant companion Lord Rotherhithe, 72, a Labour life peer and an old friend of ex-Prime Minister, Mr Clement Attlee. A source close to the couple says they are about to tie the knot. Mrs Granville, who was left Hartley Hall by her late husband, sold it in order to buy herself a Knightsbridge house, in which the couple are expected to live after they marry.
There was a long silence as Shane continued to gaze thoughtfully at the newsprint. ‘The first thing you’d better do is find out if it’s true,’ he said at last.
‘I don’t want to have to talk to Mummy,’ Louise said quickly. ‘I wonder if Juliet knows anything?’
‘You’d have heard from Juliet, if she had.’
At that moment Rupert swung into the room in his striped pyjamas. He was tall and strong-looking for a boy of thirteen, and he was disarmingly like his father. Every time Louise looked at him, it struck her with a gentle blow of shock that Jack had only been two years older than Rupert, when she’d fallen in love with him.
‘What’s up?’ he asked immediately when he saw Louise’s face.
‘You should be asleep, old boy,’ Shane said good humouredly.
‘I’m hungry. I came down to make myself a sandwich. Mum, what’s wrong?’ Sensitive and fiercely protective of his mother, it had been Rupert who had offered to give her his little farm in Wales, when he’d heard Hartley had been sold, so she’d still have somewhere to go in the country.
Louise wiped her eyes. ‘The newspaper says Granny’s getting married again.’
His young face registered astonishment. ‘She’s a bit old for that, isn’t she?’
Shane said with a grin, ‘It’s not Mummy’s grandmother, it’s Liza.’
‘I know. That’s what I mean. She’s a bit old to marry; she must be nearly sixty!’
‘Oh, ancient!’ Shane agreed.
‘I’m going to ring up Juliet,’ Louise announced, going to the telephone in the hall. ‘I must find out if she knows anything.’
‘Are you joking?’ was Juliet’s incredulous reaction. ‘God in heaven! What is she thinking of? Not that Mama hasn’t always been a law unto herself, and she’s always wanted a title, hasn’t she? Listen, I’m going to ring Charlotte. Let’s hope that absurd little Spaniard who calls himself a butler answers the phone, although it’s quite late, isn’t it? I’m going to pretend I’m a fashion editor and I need to contact Charlotte urgently. If she knows it’s me ringing, she might refuse to talk to me.’
‘Will you let me know what she says?’
An hour later, although it was nearly midnight, Juliet drove herself to Fulham, parked the car outside Louise’s home, and hurrying up the front path, rang the bell.
‘Charlotte’s told me everything,’ she announced, when Louise opened the door.
‘Come in. I’ve just made some tea,’ Louise whispered. ‘Shane’s gone to bed because he’s exhausted.’
A few minutes later, curled up on either end of the sofa with their cups of tea, the sisters looked at each other, remembering past occasions in their lives when they’d supported each other in times of crisis.
‘So it’s true then?’ Louise asked hollowly.
Juliet nodded. ‘You know that Mama has been snubbed by all Daddy’s old friends since she sold Hartley? Well, after the Coronation Ball last year, Rosie came home to find Mama quite hysterical because she had no friends. Everyone had deserted her, and she’d bought that great house for entertaining.’
‘Were we too hard on her?’ Louise asked guiltily.
‘Mama is a great survivor. Don’t forget that. She could have handled leaving Hartley very differently,’ Juliet said firmly. ‘Anyway, the point is Rosie meets lots of people and goes to dozens of parties a year, and the people who invite her are the people who love to be written up in Society.’
‘Yes?’ said Louise, not completely understanding.
‘Well, she actually thought Mama might get on with them more than she did with Daddy’s friends, because they’d have a similar background to her.’
Louise covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh, God, we’re being terrible snobs, aren’t we?’
‘Make no mistake, Rosie’s a terrible snob, too. But she was right! Absolutely spot on. She gave a series of drinks parties in that Cadogan Square house that is a cross between a mausoleum and the stage set for Cosi Fan Tutte and in no time at all, Mama had a host of new friends! Really nice, interesting people, who just didn’t happen to be aristocratic.’
There was dread in Louise’s voice. ‘And…?’
‘And one of them was Herbert Brown, a timber merchant who was born near the Rotherhithe docks in the East End, from whence he took the name when Attlee made him a life peer. According to Charlotte he’s a widower, with no children, and she described him as reminding her of a Father Christmas figure. You know, big and jolly and always cheerful,’ Juliet added dryly.
They looked at each other, remembering Henry. Tall, slim and elegant, with the fine features of his mother, Lady Anne, and the charm and manners to go with it.
‘And Mummy likes him?’ Louise said wonderingly.
Juliet’s manner was business like. ‘They’re both lonely. They have a lot in common like going to the cinema, eating in good restaurants, and being gregarious. He’s apparently very rich, so he won’t be sponging on Mama. And she’s got the house of his dreams…? What more can they expect at their age?’
Louise nodded slowly. ‘I do mind, though. Don’t you?’
‘Yes, of course I do. Terribly. No one could ever begin to take Dads’ place, but he’ll always belong to us, won’t he? No one can take that away from us. We had the most marvellous father,’ Juliet’s voice wobbled dangerously, ‘but at least we won’t need to feel guilty about Mama. It’s her life, and you and I are lucky to be happily married so I suppose we shouldn’t begrudge her a little happiness.’ She blinked rapidly and reached for a handkerchief in her handbag.
‘What about Rosie and Charlotte? Are they going to be turfed out of Cadogan Square?’
‘Apparently not, though Charlotte wants to get a flat of her own soon, Rosie wants to stay. That’s no surprise, is it?’
‘Does Amanda know?’
‘Only if she’s read today’s newspaper. I imagine she will thoroughly approve. A member of the Labour Party in the family.’ Juliet raised her eyes to heaven, ‘Oh yes, she’ll approve, all right.’
Louise spoke thoughtfully. ‘She worshipped Daddy, though. He might have had different political views, but she thought the world of him because he had an open mind and treated everyone the same. Our mother marrying a Labour supporter might just take the wind out of her sails. Amanda loves being controversial and different from the rest of us. Now she’s going to be rather overshadowed by a Labour peer in the family, isn’t she?’
Juliet chuckled. ‘I’d better phone her tomorrow and break the news gently.’
‘Do you suppose they’re going to have a church wedding?’ Louise asked, appalled at the thought. ‘Honestly, if they are I’m not going. In fact, I’m not going wherever it’s held. It will bring back all my grief at losing Daddy; there’s no way I can watch Mummy marrying someone else.’
‘I hadn’t thought that far ahead,’ Juliet replied soberly, ‘but I don’t think I could bear it, either.’
‘Perhaps they’ll opt for a quiet registry office thingy?’ Juliet gave a deep sigh. ‘Oh, God, if only Dads hadn’t died. And Hartley was still ours. How happy we’d all still be.’
Having received a phone call from Juliet, Candida told her mother what had happened the next day.
‘Those poor girls,’ Lady Anne said quietly, herself beyond hurt, beyond pain, and resigned to the vicissitudes of life.
‘Damned hard on them,’ Candida agreed. ‘Juliet sounded quite cut up and apparently Amanda is distraught at the very thought of anyone stepping into her father’s shoes.’
‘But this man won’t, will he? No one could take over where Henry left off. I’m just thankful all the girls are grown-up now, and have their own lives.’ Lady Anne sighed. ‘Poor Liza. You can’t blame her, I suppose, for wanting companionship.’
‘I don’t blame her at all. I was a lonely widow myself at one point, but Marcus had been dead for fifteen years before I married Andrew, and I’d made sure Marina and Sebastian knew him and liked him before I even considered accepting his proposal. For Henry’s daughters to find out from a gossip column that their mother was getting hitched again is dreadful,’ she added heatedly.
Rosie phoned Juliet later that day. ‘I gather you’ve heard the news?’ she began, obviously excited. ‘Mummy wondered if you and Daniel would like to come for drinks next Tuesday? It’s time we all got together so you can meet Herbert.’
‘Jesus, Rosie! Do you really expect us to be thrilled by this?’ Juliet exploded. ‘Without a word of warning, without even meeting this man, we’re supposed to welcome him into our midst as our future step-father? Why has Mama sprung this on us all? Does she really expect us to jump for joy?’
‘There’s more to coming for a drink than that. Mummy really wants to see you, Louise and Amanda. It’s important you come on Tuesday.’
‘What’s so important about it, Rosie?’
‘It just is.’ She sounded evasive. ‘Please come, Juliet, and make sure the others come, too.’
With reluctance Juliet agreed. ‘But don’t let Mama think we’re pleased to have this man foisted on us,’ she added. ‘It changes nothing. We’ll never forgive her for selling Hartley behind our backs.’
But by Tuesday evening Juliet had decided that there was no point in their being nasty to Herbert Rotherhithe. She told the others, ‘This is not his fault, so we must treat him in a civilized way. After all, he’s done nothing wrong except wanting to marry Mama.’
Amanda looked mutinous and said nothing, but Louise nodded in agreement. ‘We obviously can’t be rude, but I do hope he’s nice.’
To their surprise, Liza had decided not to hold the drinks party in the enormous ballroom-cum-drawing room, but in what Henry would have called ‘the snug,’ a pretty sitting-room, decorated with magnolia walls and rose patterned chintz curtains and covers. There was a charming casualness about the room, which had books, newspapers and magazines strewn about, and a television set in one corner. At a glance Juliet was sure that Herbert Rotherhithe had influenced Liza’s taste when redecorating this room because she’d previously had it stuffed with a lot of gilt furniture and draped satin curtains.
Rosie and Charlotte were standing with their mother in front of the fireplace when Salvador showed them into the room. There was no sign of Herbert.
‘Hello, darlings,’ Liza said, coming forward to greet them.
‘Mama,’ Juliet said formally.
Louise and Amanda murmured their ‘Hellos’, while Daniel and Shane smiled politely as they returned Liza’s greeting.
They all noticed that their mother looked different. Quieter, less desperate to please, and as if she’d found an inner peace. Even her appearance was softer and she wore a neat little black dress, with two strands of graduated pearls around her neck and simple pearl earrings.
Salvador offered glasses of champagne, and when everyone had been served, Liza quietly signalled for him to leave the room.
Juliet and Louise flashed warning glances at each other, preparing themselves for a showdown.
‘Why don’t we all sit?’ Liza suggested, perching herself on the arm of a large comfortable looking chair. ‘Herbert will be joining us presently,’ she began, ‘and I very much hope you’re all going to like him. He’s a dear man, very kind, and he has no intention of trying to become a step-father. He met Daddy several times during the war and he liked and respected him enormously.’ She faltered and for a moment it looked as if she was going to cry, but then she rallied and her voice was strong.
‘I desperately wanted you all to come here this evening, for another reason.’ She looked at them all, her five daughters and two sons-in-law. Then she drew a deep breath and spoke. ‘I wanted you all here so I could apologize to you all, from the bottom of my heart, for getting rid of Hartley. It was a dreadful, unforgivable thing for me to do, and looking back, it was also a very stupid thing to do. I read somewhere that people often make hasty and irrecoverable decisions when one has been bereaved, but that is not an excuse for what I did.’
Juliet, Rosie, Louise, Amanda and Charlotte continued to look back at her, hardly able to believe their ears, but a voice in Juliet’s head kept saying; But why did you?
Daniel and Shane sat very still, aware that this was possibly the bravest thing Liza had ever done in her life.
‘I know how terribly upset you all were, and I don’t blame you,’ Liza continued contritely. ‘It is something I will regret for the rest of my life. Hartley was the family home, Granny’s home, and perhaps that was part of my trouble. Your father died so suddenly and so tragically, that I became desperate to get away from Hartley and all its memories.
‘I should have talked to you all about it, and told you how cut-off and lonely I felt, stuck in the country in that great house. And I should have consulted Granny; all I can say is I felt panic stricken at the idea of Hartley, which seemed to be hanging like a mill stone around my neck for the rest of my life. Especially as none of you were in a position to actually live there full time and run the place, so when I was approached by a company that wanted to buy it, I said “yes”. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, and I only hope that in time you will forgive me, but that is something I don’t take for granted. Getting to know Herbert has made me see things so differently, and I’ve learned… perhaps too late in life… what really matters.’
Her eyes were brimming now and her once pretty face had turned blotchy.
Rosie went and put her arms around her. ‘Don’t get upset, Mummy. We all make mistakes… God knows, I’ve made enough in my time.’
Juliet glanced at Daniel. He gave her a look of loving understanding, as if to say, the choice is yours, and I’ll support you whatever you do.
Rosie and Charlotte had already forgiven their mother, but Juliet realized that if Louise and Amanda were to do the same, it would only be because she’d led the way. But could she forgive Liza? What really held Juliet back was that her mother had betrayed Henry’s trust.
The silence in the room lengthened, deepened. Someone was going to have to say something soon or the moment of reconciliation would pass forever. What was Hartley, she asked herself, except a house made of bricks and mortar, wood and stone, and a million treasured memories that no one could take away from them? Was it worth the family being split down the middle because it had been sold over their heads?
Sister against sister? Daughters against their mother? No one could take away what Hartley had meant to them all, any more than the memory of their father could be erased from their minds. Even more importantly it struck Juliet that Henry would have been deeply distressed if he knew they’d fallen out with their mother because of it.
‘Never let the sun go down on your anger,’ was one of his favourite sayings.
Juliet rose to her feet, watched by her four sisters with anxious expressions. Then she went over to her mother and kissed her on both cheeks.
‘We’ve been stupid to let it come between us all,’ she said softly. ‘Of course we forgive you, Mama. I did some crazy things myself when I thought I’d lost Daniel forever. We should all have stayed closer to you, instead of being so wrapped up in our own lives when Dads died.’
A moment later all the sisters were hugging Liza and each other, crying and laughing at the same time, with a mixture of sadness at what they’d all lost and a sense of relief that they’d all come together again.
At that moment the door opened and a tall rotund man with a mass of white hair and twinkling eyes set in a chubby pink face stood smiling at them all as if he looked pleased with the way things had turned out.
‘This is Herbert,’ Liza announced unnecessarily, and a wave of mild hysteria made the sisters giggle.
‘I could be the new butler!’ Herbert quipped. ‘How can you be sure?’
He grabbed Louise’s glass. ‘A top-up, madam?’ he asked with a flourish.
Then he shook hands with everyone, before joining Liza in front of the fireplace.
‘Have you told everyone our immediate plans, dear heart?’ he asked her gently, looking into her face with affection.
Liza dabbed her eyes for the last time. ‘We’re slipping away on December 1st, which is only a month away, to get married privately in a registry office, then we’re flying straight to New York, where I’ve never been but Herbert says is marvellous, for a month-long visit. Candida has invited you all for Christmas, hasn’t she?’
Juliet nodded. ‘God knows how she’s going to fit us all in, what with the children and the dogs, but she insists there’s masses of room, and it’ll give Granny a lift if we’re all around.’ Liza looked sober for a moment. ‘Poor Granny,’ she murmured softly. ‘She’ll probably never want to set eyes on me again, but give her my love, won’t you. And tell her I’m dreadfully, dreadfully sorry?’
‘Granny has a great ability to forgive,’ Rosie pointed out. ‘Remember when Gaston turned up one Sunday when we were having lunch? To be presented with your late husband’s love child must take a hell of a lot of grit.’
‘I’m hoping to make the great lady’s acquaintance one of these days,’ Herbert remarked. ‘Liza has told me a great deal about her. She obviously belongs to the old school of good manners and British backbone.’
Everyone started talking again, glasses of champagne were topped up and Liza said, ‘I hope you can all stay for supper?’ She caught Rosie’s eye and smiled. ‘Nothing grand. Just cold meat and salad, and Josephine has made a trifle.’
Rosie winked back in approval. Meanwhile everyone noticed that Amanda, glasses perched on her nose, hair scraped back behind her ears, was asking Herbert Rotherhithe all about Mr Attlee, and what was he doing these days to wrench power back from Churchill and the Conservative Party?
Daniel moved close to Juliet’s side, and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘That was magnificent, darling. I know it couldn’t have been easy, and I’m so proud of you.’
She looked up at him, smiling. ‘I doubt if I could have done it without you,’ she whispered back, ‘because you give me a sense of perspective. I know now, thanks to you, what’s really important.’
It was December 18th, and before packing to go to Candida’s house for Christmas, Juliet decided to sort out some of the books and furniture she’d been storing from her father’s study, in her attic. It had been agreed she should keep his desk and chair for herself, and they had been installed in her writing room, but there were tables, chests, dozens of boxes of books, and a beautiful glass-fronted bookcase.
Amanda, who’d graduated with honours in economics, had started a job in the Labour Party headquarters, thanks to an introduction from Herbert, and she’d already found herself a flat. In the new year she’d promised Juliet she’d come and choose what she’d like from the items saved from Hartley.
In the meantime, dressed in an old pair of slacks and a headscarf, Juliet worked in the dusty space by the light of a hanging electric bulb, sorting out the boxes of papers. Henry seemed to have kept every receipt, bank statement, tax return, insurance policy and household bill that he’d ever incurred. She hardly knew where to start; was there any point in keeping any of it? Who needed a 1933 receipt for the Rolls Royce he’d bought? Or a 1941 request from the local council to take in evacuees?
After a couple of hours she felt hot, sticky and dirty. Perhaps she should just bundle everything back into the boxes and leave it all? The only interest in all this stuff lay in the low cost of living before the war, and how different it was in 1954. She glanced at the list of staff wages when they’d lived in Green Street. A butler, cook, three parlour maids, two scullery maids, a chauffeur, nanny and nursery maid, and Miss Astley, Liza’s lady’s maid, had cost Henry just over one thousand pounds a year in wages. Nowadays, Juliet’s staff wages in Park Lane for Dudley, a cook and three dailies was double that!
She was just about to close the last box and call it a day when a document slid out from between a stack of business correspondence. She unfolded it and sitting on a wooden crate, spread it on her lap and started to read it.
An hour later Dudley came up to the attic to offer her a cup of tea and found her in the same position, with the document still on her lap. She gazed out of the skylight at the passing clouds, with a strange expression.
He cleared his throat. ‘Everything all right, madam? I wondered if you’d like me to bring you up a tea tray?’ He looked at her still profile.
‘Madam?’ he asked urgently. ‘Are you all right, madam?’
As he stepped forward with a look of concern, Juliet turned to look at him as if he were a complete stranger. Then she blinked, and heaved herself heavily to her feet.
‘Madam…? Is there anything I can get you, madam?’
She stretched wearily, holding the document in her hand. ‘Nothing at the moment, thank you.’ She was automatically polite. ‘I’m going to have a bath. Maybe tea… or a drink, later. I’ll let you know.’
She turned and walked slowly down the stairs to her bedroom on the first floor. Shedding her dirty clothes, she ran a hot bath and poured a generous amount of scented bath salts into the water. She felt as tired and as battered as she’d done when she’d come off duty, after a night out with the ambulance unit during the Blitz. Who could she tell what she’d discovered amongst Henry’s old papers in the attic, apart from Daniel?
Should she tell anyone? Wasn’t it better to let sleeping dogs lie?
She lay full length in the six-foot-long cast iron bath, her eyes closed, letting the perfumed water soothe her aching limbs. The point was, if she didn’t tell anyone, it was going to be an agonizing burden to carry over Christmas with all the family gathered together.
Would she be able to smile and act naturally for the four long days of their stay, whilst hiding the existence of the document she’d found?
Or would Granny and Candida, both sharp-eyed and intuitive, spot there was something wrong about her demeanour?
Candida and Andrew, always perfect hosts, were in the hall to greet everyone when they arrived on Christmas Eve.
Their charming house was warm with blazing fires in all the rooms, and a nine-foot tree stood in the curve of the staircase in the hall, decorated with artificial snow and silver baubles. Underneath, an ever-growing stack of presents was piling up. All the lights in the house were on, and sprigs of holly rested on top of picture frames and doorways, tied with red ribbon.
‘Well, with all the kids here, I thought we’d jolly well better decorate the house,’ Candida said when Juliet congratulated her on how lovely everything looked.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Juliet asked, determined to hide her feelings. If the family were to know what she’d discovered, the repercussions would be terrible.
‘Dear girl,’ Candida replied, ‘we’re as organized as it’s possible to be with nearly twenty people staying in the house! Andrew’s in charge of drinks, someone else, thank heavens, is doing all the cooking, otherwise we’re all just going to have to muck in,’ she added cheerfully. ‘Ah, here’s Louise! My goodness, how Rupert’s grown!’ With that she bustled off to greet them as they clambered out of their car in the drive.
Juliet and her children went to the drawing room to see her grandmother, who was sitting by the fire.
‘My darling girl, it’s so good to see you,’ Lady Anne greeted her, kissing Juliet on both cheeks. ‘And Tristan and Cathryn, too! What a treat to have you all here. Cathryn, you’re growing into a big girl!’
‘And I’m beginning to feel my age!’ Juliet joked.
Cathryn had inherited her father’s dark eyes and hair and Juliet’s exquisite features.
‘What a little beauty,’ Lady Anne whispered in delight. ‘Now come along, and tell me all your news, Juliet.’
Rosie and Charlotte arrived next, bearing extravagant presents for everyone, and more luggage than anyone else.
‘When is Amanda arriving?’ Candida asked. She worried about the girl, because she was always the odd-one-out in the family, and easily forgotten amid the glamour and good looks of the others.
Louise grinned. ‘She’s arriving later this evening. Herbert has lent her his brand-new Austin Sheerline whilst he and Mummy are in New York and she’s driving herself down after some political meeting she had to attend, in Battersea.’
‘Well…!’ Lady Anne clapped her hands and laughed. ‘That girl’s going to go far. I’m so glad Lord Rotherhithe has taken her under his wing. Henry would have been very pleased.’
Rosie giggled. ‘It certainly pays to know people in high places, doesn’t it? You’ll see quite a change in Amanda, Granny.’
‘I see what you mean,’ her grandmother whispered a couple of hours later, as she watched Amanda talking to Andrew Pemberton. Amanda had had her hair cut short in quite a fashionable style, and she was wearing a very neat dark green tweed suit, and black shoes with a slight heel. She had a pair of fashionable glasses, and she was even wearing a very small amount of make-up.
‘She’s realized that even Labour politicians have to look good,’ Rosie whispered back. ‘Not showy, but good. We went on a shopping spree when she got her new job, and it’s quite a transformation, isn’t it?’
‘I’m so pleased for her. And I gather you’re going to continue living at Cadogan Square, Rosie?’
‘Yes. Mummy’s had the top two floors converted into a flat for me and the children. Sophia is nearly seventeen, you know, and Jonathan’s fifteen.’
‘How the time flies,’ Lady Anne remarked, looking at them as they sat chatting to Rupert. ‘What does it mean to Jonathan to have inherited his father’s title?’
‘I think he tries to live it down at the moment,’ Rosie admitted. ‘To be Lord this or Lord that isn’t what they call very “cool” these days. Anyway, so many of the boys at Eton have titles; it doesn’t mean as much as it used to.’
‘Except perhaps to your mother?’ Lady Anne suggested slyly. ‘Now she’s Lady Rotherhithe it’s only natural she should be pleased.’
Rosie shook her head. ‘Mummy’s changed. I think she’d have married Herbert even if he’d still been Mr Brown.’
Christmas day dawned clear and sunny, more like a spring day than a midwinter one. All the young ones were up early, opening their stockings, although little Cathryn was the only one who still believed in Father Christmas.
After church, the family congregated in the hall where Andrew had set up a punchbowl of glühwein, which he poured into glasses with a ladle. The aroma of the mulled wine and cinnamon was warm and heady, mingling with the scent of applewood burning in the fireplaces.
‘Just what one needs after church,’ Amanda observed, taking a swig of the warm drink. ‘God, I’m starving! When’s lunch?’ In the dining room, festooned with paper chains and bunches of balloons, Candida had set up a long festive looking table for Christmas lunch. Candles and crackers, bowls of chocolates and fudge, little antique carved angels and small branches of greenery had been arranged in charmingly haphazard fashion on the table, and with ‘help from the village’ as she always described the local charladies, everyone was quickly served with turkey and ham, half a dozen different vegetables, cranberry sauce, bread sauce and gravy.
‘My dear Candida, you’ve done us proud,’ Andrew said approvingly, as he filled up Lady Anne’s wine glass.
The chatter around the table was lively and animated, and as always, Candida kept the party atmosphere going with her robust remarks and ready laughter. And all the while Juliet was thinking, My God, if they knew! When the main course was eventually cleared, the lights were dimmed, and the Christmas pudding, enveloped in the blue flames of burning brandy, was ceremoniously carried into the dining room.
‘Hurrah!’ Candida bellowed, clapping her hands, amid a chorus of approval from everyone.
Seven-year old Tristan, sitting between Juliet and Daniel on cushions to raise him up to the right level, shrieked with excitement. ‘Has it got sixpences in it?’ he squawked. ‘Can I get a lucky sixpence?’
‘It’s got so much money in it, it weighs a ton!’ Candida joked. ‘There’s a sixpence for everyone here! So if you get two, give one to your neighbour!’
When they were all served, and the brandy butter had been handed around, Andrew took the opportunity of getting to his feet, while all the children prodded and poked with their spoons in search of pieces of silver.
‘Firstly, Candida and I would like to welcome you all, and say how truly delighted we are that you’ve decided to abandon your magnificent town residences to spend the festive season in our humble dwelling.’
Amid the laughter, Candida smiled at him encouragingly. He was a shy, quiet man, and she knew she overshadowed him in her jolly boisterous way, but he never seemed to mind.
‘I’d like to propose a toast,’ he continued, raising his glass of wine, ‘A toast to those we have loved who are no longer with us, and a toast to the young ones who represent the future, but most of all, a toast to us, the grown-ups. May we never again be pulled asunder by strife and discord!’
Everyone rose to their feet, including Tristan who stood wobbling slightly on his chair, as they all drank a toast to the Granville family.
‘May God bless the Granvilles!’ Candida added, ‘and I hope you’ll all come again next year!’
Andrew pretended to stagger with horror, much to the amusement of the young ones. He mopped his brow with a silk handkerchief and swayed in his chair. ‘If the family gets much larger we’ll have to build a wing on to the house,’ he said with a mock groan.
It was four o’clock when lunch ended, and just as they were about to get up from the table, the telephone rang.
‘Get that, dear girl, will you?’ Candida asked Rosie, who was nearest to the door. ‘Tell whoever it is that we’ve all gone out!’
Rosie returned a few minutes later flushed with pleasure. ‘That was Mummy, ringing us all the way from New York! Imagine! I could hear her quite clearly, too. She just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. It’s only eleven o’clock in the morning there, and they’ve just had breakfast in their suite at the Plaza Hotel!’ she added, as if that sounded like the most exciting thing in the world to be doing.
‘That was very thoughtful of her to telephone,’ Lady Anne said generously. ‘I hope you told her we all send our love back to her?’
‘Yes, I did, Granny.’ Rosie hugged Sophia. ‘Wasn’t that exciting, darling? Granny phoning us from America? She’ll be back in the New Year and she says we must all get together soon.’
‘I can never, ever, tell them now,’ Juliet told Daniel that night, as they got ready to go to bed. She was sitting at the dressing table, taking off her diamond and emerald earrings and placing them in her jewel box. ‘It would wreck everything, just when we’ve all got together. As soon as I heard Andrew’s toast about the family not being torn asunder again, I knew, no matter what, I had to keep this secret to myself for the rest of my life.’
Daniel came up and stood close behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders. ‘That’s a great burden for you, darling. Do you wish you’d never found out? It’s so hard for you knowing what might have been. And you’ll always have doubts now, won’t you?’
‘You mean wondering if my mother knew all along?’
Daniel nodded. ‘From the beginning I thought it was inconceivable that a banker of your father’s calibre should only leave a will he’d made so many years ago.’ He sighed in frustration. ‘None of you queried it when your mother said that Mr Jones was your father’s solicitor, either.’
‘Frankly, we were all in such shock and so grief stricken that if she’d said the man in the moon was Dads’ lawyer, none of us would have queried it. Anyway, he had been Dads’ lawyer. That I know because I faintly remember him from when I was a child.’
As she spoke, she lifted off the shallow top compartment of her jewel box, which held rings and earrings, and took from beneath it the document she’d found among Henry’s papers.
‘He did admit he hadn’t had any contact with your father for ten or twelve years,’ Daniel said thoughtfully.
‘Which is probably true. This will,’ she continued, unfolding the stiff white paper, ‘was made almost ten years ago. In 1945. Just after the war ended. According to the letter attached to the will, Dads had moved to a legal firm called Cartwright and Soames by then.’
‘And in the will he doesn’t leave everything to your mother?’
‘He left her everything for life,’ Juliet corrected him, ‘and on her death, he requested Hartley was to be passed on to the five of us, and kept as a family home.’ Her voice dropped so low Daniel could hardly hear her.
She put the will back in her jewel box, and carefully replaced the top compartment. Daniel watched her reflection in the triple dressing table mirror, and saw how her delicately featured face was drawn with pain and regret.
‘Oh God, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,’ he burst out, his voice deep and ragged. ‘What a tragedy you didn’t know about this. I wonder why the lawyers – what were they called…? – didn’t contact your mother when Henry died? They must have seen the announcement of his death, not to mention all his obituaries?’
‘Maybe they did,’ she murmured.
He looked horrified. ‘So you really think…?’
Juliet looked up at him, her eyes clouded with doubt. ‘I don’t know, Daniel. I’ll never know, now. For the rest of my life I’ll be wondering… but how can I ask Mama? And what good would that do? It would only cause an even worse rift in the family, just when we’ve patched things up. In fact it would be the end of the family. Daddy would never have wanted that to happen.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘Hartley’s gone. Nothing can be done to get it back. All that’s important now is that we stay close as a family, and support each other.’
Daniel looked deeply into her eyes. ‘Can you bear to live with this secret? And how are you going to face your mother, for the rest of your life with these doubts in your head?’
‘I can do anything,’ she said firmly, ‘as long as I have you by my side. People are so much more important than places. And after all, Hartley was only a place, wasn’t it?’ she added, speaking with more conviction than she felt.