Caroline
At home, Betty would be making one of her pies for dinner, filling in Miranda with palace gossip. Upstairs, Lucy would be pottering around her bedroom – most probably with Annabel asking questions about makeup as she tried on her nail varnish.
It would have been the perfect life, if not for one thing: Angus.
It had been a few days since she’d left Frank, and tonight she’d made up her mind to talk to Annabel.
‘I hope you’re not going to tell me we have to move back.’ Annabel had never been one to keep her thoughts inside. ‘Or are you and Dad going to get a divorce?’
Grappling to merge this with the speech she’d rehearsed, Caroline said, ‘No, we’re not moving back, and yes, we will be getting a divorce.’ She cleared her throat. ‘You see, Dad hasn’t always been the kindest of husbands, and then he gambled our inheritance money.’
Annabel already knew about the inheritance money, and she shook her head.
‘I can’t believe he did that, and I’m probably not meant to say it, but I’m glad that we’re not living there anymore.
It’s so much more fun living with Betty and the others, and you’ve been a lot happier, too.
You laugh a lot. When we were at home with Dad, you barely spoke. ’
‘Once upon a time, he did me a great favour, but now I’ve repaid him for everything he’s done for me with the money he stole.’ She nodded firmly. ‘And so we can have a little freedom, live with Betty for a while until we decide what to do.’
Curious, Annabel looked at her. ‘Does this have anything to do with Angus? Were you just friends, or was there more that you’re not telling me?’
With a deep breath, Caroline began, ‘Yes, that’s actually why I wanted to talk to you. During the war, Angus and I were very much in love. We were going to marry, but he was called up to the front before we had the chance. It was only after he left that I realized that I was pregnant.’
Slowly, Annabel’s face changed from curiosity to a new understanding of who she was. ‘Angus is my father?’
Caroline nodded. ‘That’s right. When he didn’t write back to me during the war, I thought he had been killed. I didn’t know until now that he’d been in a prisoner of war camp. He never knew about you.’
For once, Annabel was speechless, eventually murmuring, ‘That’s why we have the same hair.’ Her face contorted as she tried to understand. ‘But why did you marry Dad?’
‘When I didn’t hear back from Angus, I thought he’d been killed or that he didn’t want to be part of our lives, so I married a man who did.
Dad vowed to keep us, even though he knew you weren’t his child.
In return, I promised never to tell anyone, and that included you, my dearest child.
’ She put her arms around her. ‘I hated deceiving you, but if I’d said anything, Frank would have divorced me and he would have kept you away from me. ’
Horrified, Annabel pulled away. ‘Is he going to take me? Mum—’
But Caroline hugged her tightly. ‘He’ll never take you. Unfortunately, there’s something that he loves more than you, me and any awful retribution he might have planned.’
‘The races,’ Annabel intoned.
‘And to be more precise, the money that enables him to gamble. I found proof that he’d taken out a loan on the back of my job.
If the bank finds out I’m no longer living with him, they’ll call in their loan and take possession of the house.
’ She clicked her fingers, the action unlike her, loud and audacious, and she felt something she hadn’t for a very long time: control over her own life.
They stayed there for a while, held in each other’s arms, until Annabel said, ‘Are you going to tell Angus that you left Dad?’
Caroline pulled back to look at her daughter. ‘I thought we could spend some time by ourselves, you and me, now that we know we can. Perhaps we might visit my home in Yorkshire, and then, if you want, maybe we can go to Balmoral.’
‘I’ve always wanted to go there, Mum, and especially now I know that he’s my father.
’ Annabel pulled away, shaking her head to get used to it.
‘Why don’t you write to him? Tell him what happened.
I’m sure he’d like to see us, too.’ She grinned.
‘And he said he’d take me riding again, so what do we have to lose? ’
And so, later that evening, when everyone had gone to bed, Caroline switched on the lamp beside Betty’s old kitchen table and began to write.
Dear Angus,
There’s a lot to say, but I’ll keep this short for now. Annabel and I are no longer living with Frank – we’re staying with Betty. We’ll be here until the coronation, but after that, well, we are free agents to go wherever the wind takes us.
I thought I would let you know.
With all my love,
Caroline