HARRIET
‘Mum, have you seen this? The woman in this photo holding a baby looks just like you did years ago.’ Ellie held out the silver photo frame for Harriet to look at.
‘You’ve been in Am … the locked room?’ Had she been through the drawers and found the other photos – the ones she’d removed from the sitting room mantelpiece? Carefully she put the potato peeler down and looked at Ellie.
‘I was being nosey,’ Ellie said, shrugging. ‘I saw the key hanging on the hook and wondered if it was to that room. Can’t understand why people would lock a room and then leave the key in full view. This was on the desk.’ She looked at Harriet. ‘You’ve gone pale.’ She glanced down at the photo again before looking up and saying slowly. ‘It is you, isn’t it? Is the baby me?’ She held the photo out to show Harriet.
Harriet briefly glanced at the picture. ‘Yes it is me. And … yes, the baby is you.’
Taken at Ellie’s christening, she barely recognised her younger self. How the hell had Ellie? Damn. Having carefully cleared all the shelves in the study of any incriminating photos, she’d left the piles of paper on the desk undisturbed, not realising there was another photo there as well.
‘There’s something we have to tell you – which Dad and I were planning to do this evening,’ Harriet added quickly. ‘After dinner.’ Where was Frank now when she needed him?
Ellie shook her head. ‘Can’t wait that long. Come on, Mum, spill the beans about how a photo of us is in an unknown house we’ve rented.’
Harriet moved across to the dresser where she’d placed an open bottle of red to breathe ready for dinner. ‘Pass me two glasses, will you?’ she said, indicating the shelf behind Ellie. ‘Then sit down.’
Wordlessly, Ellie got the glasses and sat at the table while Harriet poured them both some wine.
‘Cheers,’ Harriet said before taking a gulp. ‘Oh dear, this is difficult. Can we not wait for Dad to be here?’
She took another gulp of wine when Ellie said, ‘No.’
‘Okay, here goes. To start with, Ellie, this house belonged to Amy, your aunt. We both spent a lot of time here when you were tiny.’
‘You’ve never ever mentioned her before,’ Ellie said.
‘There’s a lot of things I’ve never mentioned before,’ Harriet said quietly. ‘Amy died earlier this year. Despite not having been in touch for nearly thirty years, you and I were named as the main benefactors of her will – provided I agreed to a couple of conditions.’
Harriet swirled the wine around her glass and took a drink before saying, ‘Which I have. So, this house now belongs to me.’
‘What were the conditions?’
‘I’m not allowed to sell the house – it has to come to you when I die. That was easy enough to accept. The second clause was harder. I had to agree to live here for a year in order for you to receive a legacy of your own.’
‘Why it was so hard to agree to live here? It’s your home town. I’ve never really understood why we didn’t come here for visits in the past. And why a legacy for me?’
‘Long, sordid story which Amy’s will has dragged into the present. Before I tell you, please believe me when I say I’ve wanted to tell you many times in the past, but for various reasons – fear of upsetting you mainly – I didn’t.’ Harriet paused before continuing. ‘It’s your home town too. Aunt Amy was one of your godmothers. The other is Sabine. The thirty year absence was because I ran away, taking you with me.’
‘You left Dad?’
Harriet took a deep breath. ‘No, I didn’t leave Frank. I left your father.’ The words fell into a silence that lengthened for several long seconds before Ellie said, ‘Dad isn’t … Dad?’
‘He is definitely your dad – both officially in that he adopted you when you were three and because he truly loves you. But no, he isn’t your biological father.’
‘Who’s my real father? Why did you run away?’
‘Because your father had an affair,’ Harriet said, answering the second question and ignoring the first for the time being.
Ellie spluttered. ‘Is that all? You ran away because of that? Why didn’t you stay and fight for him? I presume you loved him.’
‘It wasn’t the same in those days,’ Harriet said, wishing Frank would hurry up and return so she didn’t have to have this conversation with Ellie on her own.
‘It was the town’s scandal of the decade. Everyone was talking about the vicar’s wife’s affair with a parishioner. And that was before she became pregnant. There was even talk of the church funds being embezzled – thankfully that wasn’t true. I left because I couldn’t stand being the object of ridicule or pity.’
‘She was a vicar’s wife?’
Mutely Harriet nodded.
‘Was she a friend?’
Harriet shook her head. ‘I knew her, of course. We met for the first time in this house but we never really got the chance to be friends. She was only here a couple of months before she stole my husband.’
‘What’s the name of this woman?’
‘Does it matter?’
Ellie nodded. ‘Yes, of course it does. I need to know all the details.’
‘Vanessa Harford,’ Harriet said reluctantly.
‘And my father’s name?’
‘Oscar. Oscar Widdicombe.’
‘Do you know where he is now? Can I meet him? I want to know what he’s like. I know you think you acted in my best interests concealing things all these years, but I have the right to meet my real father. Which I intend to do.’
Harriet bit her lip as she looked at Ellie. ‘I’m sorry, love. He died about a year before Amy.’ Her words fell into a silence that lengthened
‘You should have told me before. Given me the chance to meet him,’ Ellie said. She drained her glass of wine in three large gulps and stood up. ‘I’m going out – I need to think. I can’t believe this.’
‘Dad will be back soon for dinner.’ Harriet protested.
‘You mean “Frank” will be back. I’m not hungry any more,’ Ellie said. ‘I’ll see you later.’ She was gone, the front door closing noisily behind her.
Frank, returning half an hour later, found Harriet sobbing in the kitchen as she tried to baste the lamb through her tears.
‘You’ve finally told her, then?’ he said, taking the roasting tray from her and replacing it in the oven, before taking her in his arms.
Harriet sank against him gratefully. ‘Yes, and it’s all gone wrong.’
‘Where is she?’
Harriet shrugged. ‘Went out. Said she wasn’t hungry.’ She moved out of Frank’s arms and reached for a piece of kitchen paper to wipe her eyes.
‘Oh, Frank, what have I done? We were having such a good time together before she found a photo of me holding her and started asking questions. I SO wish you’d been here. I’ve hurt her so much and I don’t know what to do now.’
‘When she gets back, we’ll sit her down and talk to her together. Explain our reasons for taking the decisions we did. It’s all a bit of a shock but I know she’ll come round. Angry at first but things will sort. When is her solicitor’s appointment?’
‘Day after tomorrow,’ Harriet said. ‘I hadn’t even told her about that before she went out.’
Ellie hadn’t returned when dinner was ready and Harriet and Frank sat in silence at the table, Harriet literally finding herself unable to swallow the meal she’d prepared. Frank’s usual hearty appetite seemed diminished too. Harriet cleared the table, offered Frank another glass of wine before topping up her own glass and said, ‘Think I might make a start on Amy’s study.’
‘Do you want a hand?’
Harriet shook her head. ‘Not right now, thanks. I really want to be by myself for a bit.’
In the study she pulled out Amy’s office chair and sat facing the computer for several moments before swivelling around and facing the rest of the room. Where to start? So many books. So many files and boxes. What to do with the all the stuff? Who knew whether Amy had any more secrets to be discovered?
Harriet sighed. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to tackle it on her own. Once Ellie’s appointment with Trevor Bagshawe was out of the way, she’d ask both Frank and Ellie to give her a hand sorting it out. Doing it as a family could be a way to help ease Ellie’s pain. Talk it all out as they sorted Amy’s things.
One thing she could do though now the secret was out, was to put the photos she’d hidden away out on display again.