Chapter Two
Mr Parker gave Miranda an uncertain look, as if he had something else to tell her. What next, for heaven’s sake ? she wondered. He indicated the brand-new file lying between them. ‘This contains copies of our summary documents and when you’re at the family home in Wiltshire you’ll be able to access the specific financial information of both the trust and your aunt’s personal details, which I gather she kept in the safe there.’
He’d already told her that and she wondered why he was repeating it. She frowned down at the file as something else occurred to her abruptly. ‘If so much information about the Westerbys has been lost, how do I know someone from another branch of the family won’t suddenly appear and claim to be the heir instead of me?’
‘I’ve been calling her your aunt but actually she’s your great-aunt, and she still had the relevant records dating from her generation of the family onwards. I followed them up and you can be quite sure that you really are her heir. From what I’ve heard of her, I doubt Miss Westerby would have made a mistake about something as important to her as that.’
‘What about my cousin? How is he involved?’
‘Mitchell Westerby is the son of your great-aunt’s second cousin, so there isn’t the slightest doubt that you take precedence over him as the direct legal heir. And since she’d found out that he was a gambler and not particularly successful at it, she couldn’t bear to leave him even the more generous bequest she had originally planned. Since you’re accepting her conditions for inheritance, I can now tell you that she’s given him the right to live in a small cottage on the estate for his lifetime. You will, presumably, meet him there.’
‘Oh. I see.’
‘It makes things easier for you that your mother kept the Westerby name when she married and that you did the same, because it was extremely important to your aunt that a female Westerby born and bred inherit the family home.’
Miranda had also been very glad of that when her own brief marriage had broken up. What was wrong with the women of her family, though, that they didn’t seem to form happy marriages?
‘You also met with your aunt’s approval about the way you’ve managed your own finances since you graduated. That was very important to her.’
‘Good heavens! It must be the only thing she ever approved of about me.’
‘Well, she always sounded a little surprised about your financial skills, I gathered from my colleague when he was handing over your affairs to me.’
She frowned. ‘How did my great-aunt know about that for sure? As I told you, I’ve had no actual contact with her since I turned fourteen.’
He hesitated, then said, ‘I gather from our records that she hired a private investigator from time to time to check up on you.’
The thought of that annoyed Miranda intensely but done was done, as her friend Libby would say. ‘I actually know very little about Phyllis’s personal background. She never married, did she?’
‘No. She, um, seemed to dislike men, if you don’t mind me saying so.’
‘I prefer to know the truth about any situation. Did she ever live in a house of her own as well as managing the family home in Wiltshire?’
‘No. She didn’t have another home when she was younger, either, because she lived with her mother in a cottage in the grounds of the family home, the one that she has now allowed your cousin to live in. So you see, she lived in your family home in Wiltshire all her life, taking charge of it when her own mother died without ever inheriting.’
‘So she owned it after the former Westerby died?’
‘No, she never actually owned it and you won’t either. Fairfield House is owned by the trust and whoever inherits the management of that is entitled to live there rent-free for the rest of their life, as you will be able to do from now on.’
That was a wonderful thought, even if she would have to move away from her friends in London.
‘I gather the house is quite old and has belonged to your family trust for nearly two hundred years.’
Why had her mother never told her more about it? That thought made her see another potential problem. ‘The house isn’t heritage listed, is it?’
‘No. Definitely not.’
‘Well, thank goodness for that. One of my friends and her husband had a lot of trouble modernising a house she’d inherited because of that. Has this house been modernised at all?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know.’
He opened his desk drawer and took out a piece of paper, looking rather embarrassed now. ‘There’s one other thing I’m required to do. Your great-aunt wrote this a few years ago and when Mr Lloyd retired, she made me promise that I would read it aloud to you after she died. She had apparently insisted he do the same thing. If I hadn’t given her my word about that, she would have taken her business away from our law firm, so I can’t avoid doing this, I’m afraid. The senior partner reminded me of it only this morning.’
He scowled down at the paper. ‘Believe me, these are not my own feelings and if I could avoid doing this, I would.’
Miranda shrugged and waited, feeling quite certain whatever it was would be unpleasant.
He took a deep breath and began to read it in a dull monotone, avoiding her eyes. ‘“To my great-niece Miranda Westerby when she inherits. There are too few family members nowadays, so it is your bounden duty to get married again as soon as you can find a man willing to have you. Please choose a more decent husband than the last one. It was a relief not to have his genes dumped into our family pool.
‘Remember, it’s only right that you pay the family back for this generous inheritance by creating a potential heir of your own, preferably more than one daughter to ensure that the Westerby family name and genes survive. Your mother refused my request for her to remarry after your father died, so she only produced one child and that is not secure enough. Phyllis Westerby.”’
Miranda’s annoyance got the better of her. ‘The old bat should have had children herself, then.’
He gave her an uncomfortable glance. ‘I was told by the head of our firm when I too queried this aspect that she was unable to bear children because she’d had a bad accident as a youngster and that had precluded it.’
‘That’s no excuse for her gratuitous insults to me, though.’
He nodded as if he agreed but didn’t say anything, only waited for her to gesture to him to continue. He had clearly distanced himself from what he’d had to read, so she didn’t hold it against him.
She didn’t say anything else about the Will and other documentation. What was the point? Her great-aunt was dead now. But no way was Miranda getting married again merely to provide heirs for the family. ‘Once bitten, twice shy’ described her feelings about marriage very accurately, because it was too stressful getting unmarried if things didn’t go well. She’d only marry if she felt utterly certain someone was decent as well as attractive.
And if her ex ever dared to come near her again, she’d throw something at him on sight and ask questions later. She would never forgive Keith for thumping her, had been taken by surprise at how quickly he’d changed into a bully once they were married. She’d left him after only a few months because he was stronger than her and hadn’t kept his promise to seek counselling for his violence.
She realised the lawyer was waiting for her to speak so she asked the first thing that came into her mind to give herself time to calm down again. ‘What’s Fairfield House like, Mr Parker?’
‘Don’t you remember?’
‘No. I was very young and I only have a vague memory. Isn’t there a photo among the records?’
‘No. Your aunt said it wasn’t appropriate for it to be photographed.’
‘Why on earth not?’
‘I can’t tell you why not. I’ve only spoken to her a couple of times by telephone since I took over and she was very abrupt both times.’
Had the old woman been losing her marbles? ‘Go on then, please.’
She listened carefully as he continued to share the little he did know about the financial side of things. ‘Your aunt also bequeathed to you her personal portfolio of shares, her collection of Victorian jewellery and whatever money was left in her bank account when she died. She seems to have been good with finances so I should think the share portfolio will amount to a generous sum.’
‘I’m still feeling surprised that she left me any additional bequests after the way she stayed away from me.’
‘The senior member of my firm told me when I took over the account that no one ever knew what to expect from Miss Westerby. He said I should just do as she told me and not even bother to try to advise her about better financial alternatives because she would take no notice. She apparently always went her own way in everything she did.’
‘I already found that out.’
He gave her what looked like a sympathetic glance then changed the subject slightly. ‘Are you at all familiar with the family home?’
‘No. I only went there once with my mother just after my father died. I was very young so have only a very vague memory of it. We didn’t stay long and my great-aunt didn’t offer us any refreshments so I only saw the entrance hall and what was probably a small sitting room.’
‘Goodness.’
‘My main memory of that visit is of my mother getting angry and shouting at her aunt loudly. I found out later that Phyllis had been very reluctant to provide more generously for us from the trust money.’ She shivered at the memories that had brought up of the way her mother had had to scrimp.
‘Well, our records show that your aunt helped financially with your education.’
‘I can understand now why she kept so close an eye on me. She offered to pay all my expenses only if I studied accounting at university, something I hadn’t been interested in.’ Still didn’t really find it interesting, though it had earned her a steady income for years and she knew that she was a capable accountant.
‘That was kind of her.’
‘I doubt it was done out of kindness. She still didn’t want to see me in person. But I did as she asked and she paid my university fees as promised, which I appreciated.’
When she’d told one of her university friends about it, Rosie had tried to persuade Miranda to refuse to sign the annual trust fund audits unless the lawyers told her more about the family home. She hadn’t even considered doing that. She wasn’t into quarrelling as a way of solving problems and by then she’d had no desire whatsoever to meet her great-aunt.
She gave him a grim smile. ‘I realised even then that she was doing it to take care of the future of the family, not to help me personally. But I was able to go to university in comfort and not end my course loaded with debts. I enjoyed my years there very much. She not only let me live in a flat she paid for but covered the electricity bills and so on as long as they were reasonable.’
‘Yet you still didn’t visit Miss Westerby?’
‘I was never invited to do that, so I presumed I’d not be welcome and didn’t even try. After I graduated, I was given a month’s notice to vacate the flat, again through your firm, and told to look after myself from then onwards. You probably know that from your records.’
‘Yes. It seemed, um, rather strange, given that you were her heir. I understand the overall situation a little better now and I’m grateful to you for being so frank.’
‘I try to live honestly, Mr Parker. My only contact with my great-aunt from then onwards has been your firm’s annual statement to confirm that the accounts of the family trust have been certified correct. And to tell the truth, I’ve always been chary of crossing her.’
She smiled wryly as she saw him shaking his head as if not happy about this either. She was used to her strange and rather hostile family situation and had learnt that it was usually better to keep the details of it to herself in social situations. Mostly she got on with her life in her own way and her only real regret was the failure of her marriage.
She’d been fooled by Keith, who had turned out to be a rat. He’d started thumping her within a few weeks of the wedding, so she’d warned him she wouldn’t put up with that. When he didn’t stop, she kicked him where it hurt a man most then called for police help to get him and his possessions out of what was, fortunately, her own house.
She’d rushed into a bad choice because she’d been desperate for a family of her own. It was still her duty to marry again and provide an heir, but she was terrified of being fooled by surface charm and making another bad choice. What if she was no good at choosing men? Some women didn’t seem to be able to do it well. How could you ever be totally sure of anyone?
‘You seem to have managed your own finances much better than your cousin Mitchell has done,’ the lawyer said. ‘He barely scraped through a similar degree to yours, which Miss Westerby had funded him for as she did you. Then he invested a legacy from his father’s side of the family unwisely, tried to remedy things and failed, getting into debt even more deeply. I can’t understand why your great-aunt continued to support him.’
‘My guess was that she was helping him in order to provide a back-up heir, in case I let her down and one was needed. I don’t wish to meet him or have anything to do with him if he’s careless with money.’
‘You will inevitably meet him because she’s still letting him live in that cottage and has arranged for that to continue independently of your management of the estate.’
‘So I suppose he’ll be staying there.’
‘Yes. Does it matter?’
‘I suppose not.’
‘He’s never got into financial trouble since. I guess that your aunt had a soft spot for him personally.’
Given this information, Miranda could feel herself relaxing a little. She’d be able to give up her current job and if she didn’t enjoy living in Wiltshire, she could move away after the two years were over. You could put up with nearly anything for two years – except a husband who thumped you.
She’d miss her London friends, though, and would have to try to get to know other congenial people near her new home. Sadly, she didn’t think that most of her current friends would be able to come and visit her because nearly all of them were at the having babies and rearing small children stages of life. One baby was relatively easy to take visiting, but a baby plus a couple of toddlers was far too difficult for both sides to cope with, and she had little experience with children, sadly.
She’d miss Libby most of all. Her neighbour had rapidly become a close friend even though she was old enough to be Miranda’s mother. The two of them had booked to go on this holiday together but regrettably, she didn’t think she should go now, given the conditions attached to the legacy. She’d need to get down to Wiltshire and take a firm hold of the historical family home and everything connected to it. It had been standing empty for weeks and she didn’t think it prudent to leave it any longer in such a vulnerable position.
Such a pity. She hoped Libby would forgive her for cancelling the holiday. Perhaps her friend would be able to come down to Wiltshire for a visit soon.