4 #2
‘What’s a social historian?’
‘It’s learning more about how people lived in the past, rather than the events of history. I’ve always been interested in the stories of normal people’s lives, rather than politics and wars.’
‘I get it.’
‘That’s the most interesting part of the antiques business, wondering where an item has originated from, who has owned it before, where it’s lived, what it’s seen. Like I told you before, I like to give my objects their own story.’
‘You talk like these things are alive.’
‘Everything and everyone has a story.’
‘Even you?’
‘Perhaps.’ I take a careful bite of my pizza to prevent me having to say more.
‘So what are you going to say about my grandfather’s things?’ Adam lifts another slice of pizza from the box.
‘It depends very much on what you tell me,’ I say when I’ve finished chewing. ‘What do you know about him and the rest of your family? Was he your paternal grandfather?’
‘No, my mum’s dad.’
‘Were you close?’
Adam shrugs. ‘Not really. Even though I came to live here with him when I was a child, he was always too busy to pay me much attention. He wasn’t really a hands-on grandfather, if you know what I mean?’
I didn’t. My grandparents and I had been very close.
‘How long did you live here for?’
Adam thinks. ‘About five years, maybe. I went to boarding school when I was quite young, so I only spent holidays here, really.’
‘ You went to boarding school?’ I ask in surprise.
‘Yes, what’s so strange about that?’
‘Nothing, nothing at all. You just don’t seem the type.’
‘What type is that, then? Upper crust and snooty? That’s very judgemental of you.’ He gives me a reproving look.
I’m about to apologise when I realise he’s trying to wind me up as usual.
‘Ha ha,’ I say flatly, shaking my head. ‘You’re hilarious.’
‘Aren’t I?’ Adam grins. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Your face was a picture.’
‘Jokes aside,’ I say, trying to bring our conversation back on track. ‘Why did you come and live here with your grandfather?’
‘My mum passed away when I was seven, and my dad upped and left a few years later. I had no choice.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’ I’m surprised, shocked even, to hear that Adam has gone through this sort of trauma in his younger years.
‘Yeah, well, it is what it is,’ Adam says, far too matter-of-factly. ‘Mum died of cancer and Dad couldn’t cope. He walked out one day and never came back. So my grandfather had to look after me. His idea of that was sending me away to boarding school.’
I just nod. Underneath his apparent bravado, I can see this is clearly not an easy topic for Adam to talk about. For once, something we both have in common.
‘So you can understand why I don’t have many happy memories of this house and I just want to sell it as quickly as possible.’ He takes a long sip of his drink and looks out of the kitchen window.
‘Of course,’ I say, then hesitate, debating whether I should say what I want to. ‘You must have had some good times here, though? Perhaps just one or two better memories when your mum was alive? It seems a shame to cast a dark cloud over all your memories of living here.’
Adam looks at me and I wonder for a moment if he’s about to tell me to mind my own business. But instead he appears to consider my question.
‘I do have one good memory,’ he says, remembering. ‘When we’d come to visit my grandfather, my mum would take me into the library and read to me.’ He smiles wistfully. ‘They were happy times.’
I smile too. ‘There’s quite a collection in there. What sort of books did he have back then?’
‘Oh, all sorts. Similar to what’s there now, I suppose. There were encyclopaedias and classical fiction. But there was also quite a big children’s section that my mother would always choose a book from to read to me.’
‘Did you have any brothers or sisters?’ I ask.
‘No, it was just me – only child.’
‘So your grandfather must have got those books in just for you?’ I say.
Adam considers this. ‘Yes, I suppose he must. I’d never really thought about it like that.’ He looks at me. ‘Thank you, Eve. You’ve given me a happy memory of this place. When before, all I had were tortured ones, of missing my parents and living with a grumpy old man.’
‘No problem.’ I’m genuinely happy for him. ‘Is that why you don’t want to part with the books in the library? Because your mother would read them with you?’
Adam nods. ‘Yes, I have so few memories of her that those are special ones.’
‘I completely understand.’ I mean every word.
‘I can see that,’ Adam says, his gaze again lingering on me for just a moment longer than necessary.
‘Now, going back to your grandfather’s story,’ I say hurriedly, uncomfortable once more with this level of intimacy. ‘Do you know if your grandfather bought this house himself or did he inherit it?’
‘He inherited it from my great-grandfather, I believe,’ Adam says, and I get the feeling he’s happy to get back to the matter in hand too.
‘I don’t think my grandfather could have afforded to buy a house like this on his wages alone – he worked in banking, but he was only a bank manager, and my grandmother, Lily, she worked at one of the universities as a secretary if I remember rightly. ’
‘Your grandmother passed away before you went to live with grandfather?’
‘Yes.’
I think for a moment. ‘Do you know what your great-grandfather did? He must have had a good job to have afforded a house like this.’
‘He was a professor at one of the universities. I think he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory for a while. When you said your assistant worked there, the name rang a bell. I’m pretty sure that’s where my great-grandfather worked too.’
‘The Cavendish Laboratory specialises in physics. He must have been a professor of physics at the university.’
‘Possibly, I’m afraid I don’t actually know. God, that’s awful, isn’t it?’
‘Most people couldn’t tell you what their great-grandparents did for a living.’
‘I bet you know what your great-grandparents did, don’t you?’ Adam smiles knowingly.
‘I do, actually. My maternal ones anyway. My great-grandmother, Dotty, was one of the first female engineers at RAF Duxford in the Second World War, and my great-grandfather, Harry, was a US serviceman, who was stationed here in Cambridge at the same time.’
‘Cool. Did they become sweethearts and get married after the war?’
‘Not exactly.’
‘What happened then? They must have stayed together or you wouldn’t be here now? Wait.’ Adam pretends to look shocked. ‘She didn’t get pregnant, did she, by a GI Joe?’
‘She did get pregnant before they were married,’ I tell him calmly, not rising to the bait. ‘But there was a wedding shortly afterwards – if it makes you feel better?’
Adam smiles. ‘Thank you, yes, it does.’
‘After the war, Harry left America and came to live here in the UK. He brought my grandmother, Sarah, up himself, with a little help from my great-aunt Amelia.’
‘What happened to Dotty?’
‘She died,’ I say quickly. ‘When my grandmother was very young.’
‘Oh, that’s very sad,’ Adam says, looking like he genuinely means it.
‘Yes, it was. Dotty went missing during the war. No one knows exactly what happened to her, but, eventually, when she didn’t return home, she was presumed dead.’
‘Christ, and she had a young child too?’
‘My grandmother, yes.’
‘And no one in your family ever found out exactly what happened to her?’ Adam seems genuinely interested, so I’m happy to talk about this with him.
‘No, she’s a bit of an enigma within the family. Some people think she might have just up and left, but others think she must have been killed.’
‘So, it’s a bit of a mystery then, what happened to her?’
‘It certainly is. But I guess we’ll never know now.’
‘I bet that really irks you?’ Adam says, tilting his head to one side. ‘A mystery in your family you can’t solve. It’s like one of your antiques you can’t give its full story to.’
‘I don’t think you can compare my great-grandmother’s disappearance with an antique!’
Adam pulls a disapproving face. ‘Even I wouldn’t do that. But it does bother you, though, doesn’t it, this mystery?’
‘A bit.’
Adam raises his eyebrows.
‘OK, a lot. But there’s not much I can do now to try to solve it. It all happened eighty years ago. I’ve been told I look a bit like her, though.’
‘Really, you must have seen photos of her?’
‘A few. I can’t say I see the resemblance. But everyone else seems to.’
‘Amazing. Well, I hate to disappoint, but I’m sure my family history will seem very dull compared to yours.’
‘You might be surprised. Do you know if there are any documents in the house that would tell us anything more about your family? Or photograph albums, perhaps.’
‘Why do you want them?’
‘I just like to get a picture of where the items I’m going to sell have originated from.
I don’t need to see the house deeds or anything.
But sometimes invoices or bills for expensive items are kept, and they help me a lot with both valuation and provenance.
And a photograph album showing people with their furniture, or their precious objects, can tell you so much. ’
‘Right, er … there might be something in my grandfather’s study – his name was George, by the way.’
‘Yes, Ben said last night.’
‘Oh, so he did, you’re right. And my great-grandfather was Archie – I do know that much.’
‘Good.’
‘If we don’t find anything in the study, it might be worth trying the attic. There could be boxes up there we’ve not even thought about yet.’
‘Great idea. We’ll try the study first though. I do love a good rummage in an attic!’
Adam looks at me with a puzzled expression. ‘Really? Aren’t they usually dusty old places full of junk in my experience.’
‘Trust me. An attic is not always where the most valuable items are found, but it’s often where the most interesting treasures are hidden.’