Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Alan’s death meant that Venetia was now in charge of the business and working all hours she kept it going until she received an offer she would have been foolish to refuse.
She signed the contract, ensuring that all existing employees were kept on, and she walked off into the sunset a wealthy woman, now in her fifties.
Lawrence – Husband No. 3, as he always jokingly referred to himself – came into her life on a cruise around South America.
She’d never been on a cruise before and had been anxious when she’d boarded the ship in Ushuaia in Argentina whether it was really going to be her cup of tea, but had decided to do it because so many of her friends had told her she’d love it.
She met Lawrence during dinner on her first night onboard. While chatting with him and the other diners around the table, she learnt that he did this kind of holiday two or three times a year, as did many of the other passengers.
She enjoyed his easy-going company and down-to-earth personality and agreed to have dinner alone with him the following evening, and the evening after that.
He told her that he was a retired builder, having started out in life as a jobbing brickie in the East End of London but had gone on to set up his own building company.
He’d been happily married to just the one woman until seven years ago and while they hadn’t any children of their own, they’d fostered over twenty.
He described how their home had been open to any child who’d needed a safe space.
His words had touched an unexpected nerve with Venetia, and she’d found herself becoming quite emotional and told him about Hope Hall.
When they were back in England in their respective homes, she in London, and he in Essex, they met up on a regular basis and six months after meeting, not only had they been on another cruise together and shared a suite, Lawrence asked her to move in with him.
She hesitated. She liked her house in Richmond.
She liked her independence. She’d been single for so long, and had become quite selfish in her ways, doing precisely what she wanted and when.
But being with Lawrence was such fun and she found she genuinely enjoyed sharing her life with him.
She was now in her late sixties and he a couple of years younger, so why not share the rest of her life with him?
But instead of just living together, they took the plunge and tied the knot. Why hang about at their age, they decided.
Looking back on it, those precious few years spent with Lawrence were some of the most enjoyable she’d experienced.
It had been a refreshingly care-free time.
Perfect in fact. But then Lawrence died of a heart attack.
There’d been no warning signs, nothing to indicate his heart was about to give out.
The suddenness of his death was the worst part; if she’d had time to prepare, she would have coped better, or so she believed.
It was after Lawrence’s funeral that she had acquired Bon-Bon. The puppy had instantly given her some much-needed comfort and had helped to fill the huge gap in her life; he had given her a purpose and sense of routine.
Lawrence had left her his large, rambling Grade II cottage which he had beautifully renovated.
It was far too big for her on her own and then one day, while at the hairdresser and flicking through an out-of-date magazine, and glancing idly at the property pages, she had spotted Hope Hall.
Amazingly the place had been converted into apartments and there was one yet to be sold.
Following her instinct, she’d made enquiries about the last remaining apartment for sale only to be told that it had just been sold.
Disappointed, but not thwarted, and having now convinced herself that she should definitely move, she kept an eye on the property market.
She considered all types of property, both in London and in Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, but nothing appealed to her as much as that apartment had, and what it represented to her.
Eventually her patience was rewarded when she saw that an apartment at Hope Hall had come back onto the market.
She didn’t hesitate to put in an offer. It was only once she had exchanged contracts that she realised pets were not allowed.
No matter, she told herself, this was destiny and red tape be damned!
What could make more sense than to complete the circle and go back to where her life had started and live amongst the ghosts of the past?
There had been a time when she would have been too frightened to return, fearful that everything might unravel and the shocking secret she’d carried all her life might be revealed.
She had sworn that she would never tell a living soul what had happened, and it was a promise she’d kept.
Only two other people knew what had happened that night.
One of them, Edie Buckle, was long since dead and who knew whether Lucien was still alive?