Chapter 8
EIGHT
A family in a country manor with secrets that will shock and surprise their friends and neighbours.
A gambling debt from the past. A family feud that lingered for a hundred years.
But most of all, a beloved grandmother whose disreputable past will cause huge scandal if it is ever revealed.
But who is the legal heir to the estate?
‘Oh no,’ Marian whispered as she read the brief description.
Claire looked up from her phone. ‘What’s happened? You’re as white as a sheet.’
Marian shook her head. ‘Oh, nothing. Just an item I saw on the news that was a bit startling.’
‘Like what? The weather report? Is it going to rain on my wedding?’ Claire asked, looking worried.
‘Yes,’ Marian lied. ‘I thought I saw something about rain on that day in the long-term forecast.’
‘What? No, that’s not possible,’ Claire said, looking concerned.
‘I’ll look up the Met éireann app. Hold on…
’ She studied her phone for a moment while Marian tried to compose herself.
‘Well, they say it’s going to be a mixture of cloud and sunshine, so that’s what I’m going to believe.
’ Claire smiled at Marian. ‘So now all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.’
‘I must have made a mistake,’ Marian mumbled and put her phone on the table.
She was still shaken by the description of the book that would be published at the end of the summer, a book the plot of which appeared to be based on what she had revealed about the Fleury family to that stranger on the plane.
Had he recorded what she said on his phone?
Was that why he had got off the plane while she was still asleep?
She had to try to get in touch with him somehow and ask him to – what? Change the plot of his new novel?
I have to stop it before it comes out, Marian thought.
Maybe he’ll be willing to change some of the story, especially the details about the grandmother, who has to be Sylvia…
he must have found out something in her past all by himself.
But he might not have been interested if I hadn’t started talking about the Fleurys…
‘Okay, that’s all done,’ Claire said and put away her phone. ‘I think we should get back home before the rush hour. The traffic in Cork can be horrific around five o’clock.’
They paid the bill and gathered up their shopping and then walked back to where the car was parked while Marian kept thinking about what she had read in the book description. She had to look up the website again and see if there was an email address she could use to contact the author.
‘You’re very quiet,’ Claire remarked as they went through the suburbs of Cork city. ‘What are you thinking about?’
‘Oh this and that,’ Marian said vaguely. ‘Just letting my thoughts wander.’
‘That’s okay,’ Claire said. ‘I’m sure you’re thinking about Theo and what’s going to happen with your marriage. But I won’t ask. Tell me if you need to talk. I’ve been through that stuff, too, you know.’
‘Thanks.’ Marian nodded, staring out the window at the green hills and meandering rivers, fields with cattle and horses and old farmhouses.
She had tried not to think about Theo, as he hadn’t been in touch, but Claire’s words brought it all back.
‘I don’t want to talk about Theo right now.
I just want to look forward to the wedding and be there for you,’ she said, remembering Theo’s sullen face as she left for the airport.
She hadn’t said anything to either of the children, not wanting to upset them.
‘What’s next on the agenda?’ she asked, wanting to turn her thoughts away from her marriage problems.
‘Flowers,’ Claire said. ‘For our bouquets. Yours, mine and Naomi’s and Sophie’s. They’re so excited to be flower girls. Little Liam is going to carry the rings on a tiny cushion and Freddie will be carrying a lace hanky, just so he won’t be jealous of Liam.’
‘I love how the boys are called after Sylvia’s husband and son. So sad those two men weren’t alive to see those grandchildren.’
‘Sad for them too,’ Claire said with a sigh. ‘But there is a little bit of their father and grandfather in every one of those children. In their looks and smiles and gestures. That’s what Sylvia said, anyway, and I think it’s such a lovely thought.’
‘It is,’ Marian agreed, thinking of their own parents, who didn’t live long enough to see their grandchildren either.
Then she let her thoughts drift again, to that man she had met and told all kinds of secrets that should never have been revealed to anyone outside the family.
She felt like traitor to cousins she was only beginning to get to know and it was like a niggling pain that wouldn’t go away.
She had been so happy to have this extended family and had looked forward to meeting them.
But now it all seemed tainted by her own carelessness and that made her sad.
That last sentence in the book’s description kept echoing through her mind.
A beloved grandmother whose disreputable past will cause huge scandal if it is ever revealed…
That had to be Sylvia. But what did he mean?
She hadn’t said anything about Sylvia’s past, simply because she didn’t know anything about it.
She had just said that Sylvia was an interesting woman but she didn’t know her at all.
Had he found out something in Sylvia’s past that could be in any way shocking?
What could it be? She remembered vaguely that he had said something about being good at research and digging into the past, but she had thought that was about journalism and politics.
But now she wondered if he had found out something shocking about Sylvia.
Marian had felt that there was something mysterious about Sylvia from the moment they met for the first time a few days ago.
She wasn’t at all the cosy grandmother or countrywoman Marian had expected.
Sylvia had such poise and style, unusual for someone who had spent her whole life in a small country town.
It would also have seemed odd for a sophisticated man like Arnaud to fall for a woman who wasn’t familiar with fine wines, haute cuisine, art and literature.
They seemed so in tune with each other, which spoke of a shared interest in everything to do with a cultured lifestyle.
Sylvia is hiding something, Marian thought.
Something that this author must have somehow found out.
But how? And what? She simply had to get in touch with him as soon as possible.
It could be that he had made up a story about Sylvia that would fit into the plot of his novel.
He was probably going to put in a disclaimer saying that the story was fictional and that there was no connection to anyone in real life.
Well, that was all quite correct but if the family in the story were anything like the Fleurys, the gossip would start with embarrassing consequences.
The family was well known. And everyone in Kerry was reading his novels.
‘Daisies and pink roses,’ Claire said. ‘For my bouquet. And then the same colours in the wreaths the flower girls will wear in their hair. What do you think?’
‘Lovely,’ Marian said, pushing the worries about the novel away.
She had to forget about it for the moment and concentrate on the wedding.
There was still plenty of time to find the author before the novel was published in August, which was nearly two months away.
‘They could carry little posies with roses and baby’s breath, just to match the colour scheme. ’
‘That sounds perfect,’ Claire said. ‘And then we’ll have pink peonies and a twig of baby’s breath on the tables.’
Marian nodded. ‘That’ll be really nice.’ The wedding was only a week away and there was so much to do. She felt happy that she was able to be here to help out and support Claire. ‘I hope my outfit will arrive in time,’ she said.
‘It will,’ Claire reassured her. ‘They are usually really quick. Should get to you in a day or two.’
‘Oh, good,’ Marian said. She sat back, relaxed her shoulders and began to look forward to the wedding.
It was wonderful to see Claire so happy.
She deserved it after the heartbreaking time when her first husband had suddenly left her for a new life in Spain.
Marian had never really liked him, despite his good looks and charm.
She had felt in her bones that he wasn’t right for Claire and that he would one day make her miserable.
She had been right, but now it felt ironic as her own marriage was heading for the rocks.
But at least she was back in Ireland and in a place where she had never been to but which had oddly felt like home the minute she stepped inside the ancestral house her great-grandfather had left over a hundred years ago.
She relished the thought that she would live at Magnolia Manor even if it was only for a short time.
She had no idea what she would do after the summer but it didn’t seem to matter right now.
‘Don’t worry about the future,’ Claire said as if reading Marian’s thoughts. ‘Everything will sort itself out eventually.’
‘Maybe,’ Marian said with a deep sigh. ‘It’s just that the road to that eventual sorting out, as you put it, will be steep and rough and full of obstacles. I’m just looking forward to your big day right now. Nothing is more important than that. Then I’ll get a grip and try to sort out my life.’
Claire shot Marian a smile. ‘You’re wonderful.
I’m so happy you’re here at last. My wedding day wouldn’t be the same without you.
But you have to promise me that you will put yourself first when you settle things with Theo.
Don’t let him call all the shots. And whatever you do, don’t go back to Australia if you’re not a hundred per cent sure. ’
‘That I can promise you,’ Marian said with feeling. ‘From now on, everything will be on my terms.’
That thought cheered her up and as they pulled up outside Magnolia Manor, she looked up at the beautiful building and felt its magic giving her the power to go on.
She knew in her bones that this was where she was meant to be.
For how long, she didn’t know but whatever happened, this was where her ancestors came from and it felt like a fortress, protecting her from anything that could hurt her.
Even an author using her story for a novel that might expose the family.
And also from the husband she felt she had run away from.
But all the talk about weddings had brought Marian back to that time in her own life.
She especially remembered when they had bought their first little house in Dublin and Theo carried her across the threshold.
‘Put me down, you fool,’ Marian had giggled. ‘Remember that you’re carrying not one but two people here.’
Theo laughed and gently put Marian on the sofa in the tiny living room. ‘There. Safe and sound, both of you.’
‘Thank you, my gallant hero,’ Marian said and looked adoringly at her husband of only two days.
He smiled and sank to his knees and put his arms around her. ‘I will always try to be your hero, Marian. I know you’ve given up a lot, your independence, your studies, the future you had planned. But I’ll make it up to you, I swear.’ He looked into her eyes. ‘I just want you to be happy.’
‘I am happy,’ Marian had whispered back, touched by his words and the tears in his eyes. ‘We’re having a baby; what could be happier than that?’
‘Maybe more furniture?’ he had suggested.
‘Well, maybe that, too.’
Marian looked around the room that, apart from the sofa, was bare of furniture.
They had only been able to afford to buy this saggy second-hand sofa, a bed and a kitchen table after lodging the downpayment for the little house on the north side of Dublin.
The house was tiny but it was theirs and a start on the property ladder, Theo had said.
They were so in love and so happy to be in their first home and having their first baby that material things didn’t matter.
They were together, a team, and they would work hard to improve their lifestyle, they had vowed.
When Theo had carried her into the house and she had felt his strong arms around her and looked up at his handsome face, Marian had felt such love and happiness she thought her heart would burst. Nothing could ruin their love for each other, she had thought. Nothing could break them apart.
But now, as she remembered how she had felt then all those years ago, she wondered if she would ever be that happy again.