Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Luke
“ B ailey,” Luke said as he marched into the kitchens at Turner Hall.
“She’s expecting you.”
“And she thinks I’m coming for a ring?”
“Yes, they’re laid out ready for you. You are choosing a ring, Sir?”
“I am. Freya wants something flashy,” Luke replied, grinning.
A soft sob came from the stove. Luke turned his head and deflated and then staggered to Maggie, who was wiping her eyes.
“I’m so happy,” she said through another sob.
“Are you? You look like Teddy got sick,” Luke said.
“I miss that dog. When’s he coming back?”
“When Archer is sure he will be safe around the baby, he’s not risking anything. If Teddy isn’t a good mix, then he’ll have to go to another home.”
Maggie wailed into her handkerchief and fell against Luke. He’d never seen her so dramatic. A bubble of laughter rose up, and he couldn’t suppress it.
“Freya hasn’t said yes yet,” Luke reminded her as he cuddled her close.
“How can she not say yes?”
“Cynthia Turner. The meddling we’re uncovering is beyond anything I could have imagined.”
“What did you find out?” Maggie said, suddenly sobering with the news.
“I’d tell you, but if you already know and you are bound by some blood oath, she made you sign not to say a word, I don’t want to put you in an awkward position.”
“You’re a good man, Luke. We appreciate it.”
“Right. So let’s get this over with. Are you going to be able to cope making a cup of tea?”
“Funny lad, go on with you,” Maggie said, smiling through her tears.
Bailey escorted him up the stairs and across the marble foyer. When he got to the morning room door, he paused.
“There are no canes in there, Sir, but can you keep in mind she’s eighty?”
Ignoring his first comment, he answered the second. “She lied to us, Bailey. We’re here under false pretences, and I will call her out on it. It’s the modern way, seeing as she doesn’t want us to learn about Turner Hall and Copper Island, it would seem I’ve discovered why.”
“She’ll never tell you the whole story,” Bailey said.
“That may be so. I think only two people know the truth. Cynthia and Jennifer. Unless I find Jonathan Cranford, then three people know the truth.”
Bailey moved his head back an inch as if to take in the name. Recognition crossed his eyes, but Luke meant what he said downstairs. He didn’t want to jeopardise Maggie or Bailey’s position at Turner Hall.
“Let’s go in,” Luke said.
Bailey snapped out of his trance, opened the door, and walked in first. “Luke Turner,” he said in his deep baritone voice.
Silence greeted them both, but Luke could feel her presence before he cleared the door and looked to the end of the morning room to the conservatory. She wore a navy pair of trousers and a cream roll-neck jumper. Her back was towards them, but Luke could tell she was ramrod straight. She might be eighty, but Luke felt like he was watching a much younger woman spritz her tropical plants.
“I’ll leave you alone,” Bailey said.
He stepped back and closed the door quietly. Luke strode to the other end of the morning room a few feet away from Cynthia. The ring cases were on display with the lids open. He gave the rows a glance but nothing more. He wanted to take his time choosing a ring for Freya.
“You can choose one. I won’t hurry you. While you’re choosing, you can tell me about my great niece or nephew.”
“You should ask Archer, not me.”
“All right. Who are you marrying?”
“The teacher,” Luke said, glancing back to the cases.
He had Cynthia in his periphery while he looked at the diamond rings. They weren’t as big as the one Jason picked. Moving to the other case where emeralds, sapphires and rubies nestled, he took his time. Cynthia fiddled with her small sapphire ring, so he instantly dismissed getting Freya anything remotely blue.
“You’re going to marry a teacher?” she scoffed.
“Now, now, aunty, I wouldn’t dismiss marrying a teacher. You like them, don’t you remember? ”
He said the words like he didn’t know how hard they would hit, but he wasn’t expecting a direct hit. He tilted his head an inch to see her reaction, relaxing his face, so he didn’t show his cards. Each time he scanned right, he had a better view of her.
Cynthia instantly stopped fiddling and was still. So still, he wondered if he’d gone too far. The pain etched over her face was breathtaking. She’d never shown any emotion apart from anger before. Resisting the urge to completely face her and show any concern, he kept scanning. Luke picked out the ring with a large oval ruby surrounded by diamonds. The jewels were set in platinum. It would look stunning on her finger. It was obscenely flashy. If Freya wanted a pretty ring, she could have a pretty ring.
“What are you referring to?”
Luke straightened, picked up the empty black leather ring box with a T in gold script on top, which he assumed was for whichever ring he chose and pushed it into the black velvet cushion. He closed the ring box and pressed the stud clasp to secure it. After slipping the ring into his trousers pocket, he left his hand touching his future. Using his other hand, he raked his fingers through his hair. Could he confront her? Glancing at her fully, Cynthia looked stricken but livid.
“I’m referring to Jonathan Cranford, the almost maths teacher at Copper Island High School.”
Cynthia was just livid now. She narrowed her eyes, thinned her lips and breathed in a long lung full of air. If she were a dragon, he wouldn’t doubt he would be burned to a crisp as she exhaled through her nose.
“I haven’t heard that name in a long time,” she said in a whisper. Her body was still unmoving. He expected her to press a hand to her heart, clutching at her neck, and simply lift her hand to strike him.
Nothing but shrewd eyes assessed him.
Luke was pissed off she was playing indifferently. Cynthia had to know there was no hiding now.
“Define a long time?” he said.
He put his other hand in his pockets. Stood feet apart, staring at her, waiting for an answer. Deliberately showing her, he was not leaving until she gave him the answers he needed.
“I don’t answer to you.”
“You produced two heirs. I know one passed away, and the other is still alive. Jonathan too. With Jonathan fathering the heirs to the Turner fortune, I think I’d like to know why you are now fuzzy about liking teachers. Why do you think my marrying a teacher is below me? Do you believe that to be true, or did someone, say, Grandfather, make you believe marrying a teacher was a scandal. He must be turning in his grave that Archer married an actress and Jason married a nurse.”
Luke watched as she reached back and searched for the cane beside her tall, high-backed chair.
Bailey must have missed that cane when he did a sweep. The sight of the head of a lion just before Cynthia curved her thin gnarly fingers around it sent a shiver down his spine.
“You touch me with that cane, and I will burn it and this house. I’ll use it as a torch and set light to this horror house,” Luke barked out. “Gone are the days where you can punish me with a stick for asking questions.”
“Time for you to go,” Cynthia said, clutching hard onto the end of the cane.
He personally knew how heavy the lion’s head was .
“So you don’t deny you sired an heir?” he shouted.
Cynthia said nothing, looking like she’d smelled something foul.
“If you sired an heir, then Archer won’t inherit this estate. Again you’ve given us something that can be taken away when the heir gets here. They’re not that much older than Archer. Hell, they’ll inherit the whole fucking island. Why aren’t they here learning how it’s run? Or are they, and that’s why you’re not teaching Archer?”
More silence followed. The longer she stayed silent, the angrier he became.
“You don’t want to impart any knowledge to us. We’re not allowed access to anything. We have to find out everything the hard way. I found out you bore an heir the hard way. I found the florins, the hard way.”
Cynthia’s eyes grew wide at the news of the florins.
Luke was aware he was yelling, but as long as she had her contrite expression, he knew she wouldn’t keel over with heart failure. He didn’t want her death on his hands.
“Are you going to say anything to what I’ve said?”
“No,” she clipped.
It sounded like a whip lash he felt across his face.
To Luke’s surprise, Cynthia left the room first. She walked with the cane her grandfather had used as a weapon with style. He could hear the faint thud as she hammered it to the ground on every other step. Bailey didn’t open the door for her. Cynthia swung it open.
Another first.
As soon as she was gone, leaving the door open, Luke turned full circle, not knowing any more than when he came in.
“Sir?” Bailey said from the door .
Luke looked in his direction and clutched the ring firmly in his hand, desperate not to have it taken from him.
“Where did she go?”
“I believe the walled garden. Jennifer is with her,” Bailey answered factually but carefully. He searched Luke’s face and then scanned his body. No doubt he missed the cane she carried.
“Right,” Luke said with a nod, looking around the morning room with his family’s portraits adorning the walls, hating they were witness to the downfall of the Turner family.
Bailey snapped him from his thoughts. “Maggie’s asking if you want food.”
Maggie was a feeder, happiest when she could make sure the people she cared for had full stomachs.
“I don’t. I don’t think I could manage a bite after my conversation, but if I don’t go back downstairs, she’ll worry.”
“You’re good to her,” Bailey said, remaining at the open door in his livery uniform.
“She was good to me when mum left, and I was at the mercy of that woman and my grandfather.”
Bailey’s lips thinned, no doubt at memories of him not being able to help them.
“Let’s get you settled in the kitchen. Will Freya be joining us?”
“No, she’s gone back to work.”
“Archer, Jason and Erica are also in the kitchens,” Bailey told him like he needed more persuasion.
Luke smiled. The backup squad were waiting for him.
“Let’s go, Bailey.”