Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Marian nearly stopped breathing as she took in what he had just said. ‘You mean it’s true?’ she said in a near whisper when she had found her voice. ‘Whatever is in your new novel? Sylvia did something scandalous in Paris all those years ago?’
‘Scandalous then, not so much now,’ Sean replied. ‘But yes, in Paris in nineteen sixty. If that had come out then, she would have had a very different life in what used to be holy Catholic Ireland, that’s for sure.’ He winked.
‘What did she do?’ Marian asked, nearly dizzy with shock. ‘And how did you find out?’
He shook his head. ‘No, no, Marian, that will have to remain a secret until the novel is published.’ He leaned forward and whispered, ‘Did you think that I’d tell you the secret just like that?’ Then he straightened up and grinned at her. ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’
Marian bristled. ‘I see.’ She picked up her handbag.
‘I’d better leave as you don’t seem to understand the situation you’re putting me in.
I know you found out about Sylvia on your own, but I started the whole thing by revealing some of the family secrets which inspired you to put it all into your novel. ’
‘What situation?’ he asked. ‘Who’s going to find out that you were the one who told me the story of the Fleurys? Only we know.’
‘It says “inspired by a true story” in the blurb,’ Marian remarked. ‘So anyone would wonder what true story that was and then make the connection. It wouldn’t take them long.’ Feeling fed up and annoyed, she got up from her chair. ‘But this is leading nowhere, so I’ll say goodbye.’
‘As you wish.’ He rose and held out his hand. ‘Let’s not be enemies and shake hands. It was nice to see you again, even if you’re angry with me. Lunch is on me, of course.’
She reluctantly shook his hand. ‘Okay. Not enemies, but absolutely not friends. Not ever. Thanks for lunch. Goodbye, Sean.’
‘Goodbye, Marian,’ he said and held her hand in a tight grip for a moment while he looked into her eyes. ‘Pity we can’t be friends. You’re a very attractive woman and I liked talking to you.’
She tried to look away from those velvety brown eyes.
She knew she was attracted to him despite their differences.
But she was married, even if separated, and she couldn’t let herself be swept away by a pair of lovely eyes and a devastating smile.
In any case, what he had done and his refusal to rewrite the parts of his novel that might be damaging to the family had hurt her feelings.
There was a hard core of selfishness about him which was not very endearing.
I’d better stay away from him from now on, Marian thought as she walked out of the pub, confused about her feelings for both Sean and her husband.
‘Oh, Theo,’ she whispered, ‘why did you have to behave the way you did?’ She felt so sad and lonely as she thought of him and how they had parted, wishing that she had told him about the letter she had found.
She should have asked him to explain what that woman meant to him.
They might have had a row, but it could have cleared the air and she wouldn’t have left believing he didn’t love her.
If Theo had given her a plausible explanation, she would not have been as eager to talk to a stranger on the plane.
One thing had led to another, like a game of dominoes, and the result had been this awful mess with Sean’s novel.
All because of her own need for a shoulder to cry on.
Then Marian went back over the conversation in the pub just now and another idea hit her.
Maybe she should tell Sylvia about the novel that was due to be published in about a month?
Marian had become very fond of Sylvia during the time she had been here.
Sylvia was fun to talk to and her take on everyone often made Marian laugh.
She was so good at assessing people and she seemed to see through every attempt at pretence.
Marian would forget about Sylvia’s age as they chatted over a coffee or a glass of wine, simply enjoying the older woman’s wisdom and wonderful sense of humour.
It was an odd friendship, but very sweet for Marian, who felt she had found a kind of mother figure that she had been missing ever since Auntie Rachel died.
Yes, Marian thought, I must warn Sylvia about the novel that is due to be published soon. It would be better for her to be prepared than horribly shocked when the gossip starts to spread.
She didn’t need to reveal her own part in the story, just that she feared that John Peters’ novel could damage Sylvia’s reputation.
With that decision firmly in her mind, Marian got into the car and drove away, feeling slightly better, at least about how the novel might be received.
Her sorrow about Theo was another matter that she had to deal with, but right now, it was better to try not to think about it at all.
A week later, which had been busy and stressful with a lot of deadlines and publicity work to get through, Marian decided to schedule a meeting with Sylvia.
John Peters’ novel would be published soon and it was only by sheer luck that nobody in Dingle had made the connection between the fictional grandmother mentioned in the description and Sylvia.
It was high time to warn her, Marian thought, and sitting at her desk in Pierce’s office, she rang Sylvia’s private number.
She answered straight away. ‘Hello? Is this Marian? How are things with you?’
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ Marian replied. ‘Everything is great here at the office. How are you?’
‘I’m very well, thank you,’ Sylvia said, her voice warm. ‘I hope Pierce gives you a little time off to enjoy the lovely summer weather we’re having at the moment.’
Marian smiled. ‘We’re very busy with a lot of books being published right now. But I do get time off, too, of course and I’ve been swimming from the beach and doing lots of hiking with Pierce and Claire nearly every Sunday.’
‘Wonderful,’ Sylvia said. ‘I’m so glad you’re settling in so well. I’m sorry if I haven’t been in touch for a while, but I’ve been so busy. So what can I do for you?’
‘There’s something I need to talk to you about. Would you be free to have coffee with me in my flat this afternoon?’ Marian asked. ‘Pierce gave me the rest of the day off because he has a meeting with a local author and doesn’t need me.’
‘I’ll check my diary,’ Sylvia said. ‘I think I’m having lunch with someone today, can’t remember with whom, though.
’ She laughed suddenly. ‘I have to write everything down or I’ll forget my own name.
That’s the problem with old age, among other things.
Not that you’ll know anything about that for a very long time. ’
‘I’m not exactly a spring chicken,’ Marian remarked.
‘Compared to me, you’re a teenager,’ Sylvia said. ‘But where were we… Oh yes, this afternoon. Just let me check.’
‘Take your time,’ Marian soothed, not wanting to push Sylvia to do anything in a rush.
‘Back in a minute,’ Sylvia said.
Marian rehearsed what she was going to say to Sylvia while she waited.
She would have to simply read out the description of the novel and see what Sylvia said.
There was no need to say anything about what had happened during the journey on the plane.
Only Marian and Sean knew about her role in what had sparked his interest in the family.
The Fleurys were well known enough for him to have heard about them from some local talking to him in a pub.
The fact that all the other secrets were also a large part of the plot could be revealed to Sylvia later on.
Right now, she just needed to be warned about whatever she had been doing in Paris that would have been so shocking at the time.
‘I can see you at four o’clock,’ Sylvia said, her voice cutting into Marian’s musings. ‘Would that suit you? I need a little snooze after lunch, you see. Maybe we could meet in my study on the ground floor? I find the stairs a little hard on my knees.’
‘Of course,’ Marian said. ‘No problem at all.’
‘Wonderful,’ Sylvia said. ‘See you then, dear girl.’
‘Bye for now,’ Marian said and hung up. There.
It was done and there was no going back.
All she had to do now was to warn Sylvia that there would soon be a novel by a popular author who seemed to have found out some deep, dark secret from Sylvia’s youth.
Some people were bound to make the connection between the fictional and real family that it was based on.
Marian only wished she could undo her own part in what had sparked the author’s interest in the Fleury family.
Why did I have to open my big mouth? she thought. I only started to tell him about the Fleurys to distract him from my problems with Theo. Why didn’t I just tell him about what was going on with me?
She knew she had wanted to turn her own mind away from the sorrow of her break-up with Theo and talk about other things.
She had babbled on about the Fleury family, about Cornelius and how he had gambled away the property and how he had married his twin brother’s girlfriend.
Then there was the necklace that had been given to Rose that had turned out to be fake.
All family secrets that Marian had sworn not to reveal outside the family.
But then she had been careless while sad and tired and she had told someone who turned out to be an author.
Oh, what a mess, Marian thought, feeling her stomach tighten at the thought of Sylvia finding out.
But all she would be told right now was about what had happened in Paris in 1960 and that had nothing to do with Marian.
Except I sparked off his interest in the family.
He wouldn’t be writing this story if it weren’t for me.
Marian’s phone pinged, startling her. She looked at it and gasped as she saw who it was from.
Marian, I need to talk to you. I’m in Ireland, on the way to Kerry. I’ll be in Dingle tonight and I’ve booked into a B&B. I feel we need to meet so we can decide what to do. Let me know where you are and when we can get together. Love, Theo.
Marian stared at the message. Theo was on his way here.
This was all she needed on top of everything else.
She was surprised that Theo had decided to come to Kerry.
Did he think he could convince her to come back to Queensland?
She knew she wanted to stay here at Magnolia Manor where she felt so at home.
There was no way she would go back, no matter how much Theo pleaded.
She thought about him for a moment, trying to assess her feelings for him.
She still loved him, even if she had recently also been resentful of the way he had taken for granted that she would stay with him and work in the shop and be his assistant as well as his wife.
She was also hurt that he hadn’t understood how homesick she had been ever since they had first arrived in Australia.
And she suspected that he wanted to stay there, in his hometown, where he had grown up.
But she would never feel at home there. She had never told him this, though, and perhaps it was time she did.
Then there was the letter she had found in his desk, a letter from a woman called Helen he appeared to have been writing to for a long time.
He seemed to have poured out his feelings to her, telling this other woman how frustrated he was with Marian, how he couldn’t understand why she didn’t make an effort to settle down in Queensland.
That letter had hinted at a relationship that was quite close and Marian had understood from what Helen had written that she had been Theo’s girlfriend before he met Marian.
That had made her suspicious of their current connection, but as Marian remembered the wording of the letter, she realised that it didn’t look as bad as she had feared.
Then, when she started to analyse things further, Marian began to see it from another angle.
Theo had been quite happy in Ireland for many years.
Then they moved to Australia and the relationship between them soured as Marian couldn’t get used to life in a country so far away from home, where the tropical climate was difficult to cope with.
I must have been such a pain to live with, Marian thought.
Suffering in silence like some kind of martyr.
No wonder Theo needed a friend to confide in, just as I felt like unburdening myself to someone with a sympathetic ear who happened to sit beside me on a long plane journey.
I’m as much to blame as Theo – or even more, she said to herself with a shiver.
She suddenly knew that Theo had also been feeling unhappy for a long time without telling her. How stupid they had been not to confide in each other.
‘Marian?’ Pierce, having just walked through the door, looked at her with concern. ‘Are you okay?’
Marian pulled herself up. ‘Yes, I’m grand. I was just trying to reply to a text message I just got. But I’ll do the emails and then check through the press release for Karina’s new book first. Shouldn’t take long.’
‘Great.’ Pierce looked at her for a moment. ‘It was just that you looked a little upset there for a moment.’
She smiled at him. ‘Not really upset. Just preoccupied with some private stuff. But no big deal.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. It’s getting a little less busy so if you want to take this afternoon and even tomorrow off, I’ll manage on my own. I have just one new client to deal with tomorrow and a few bits and pieces. Then it’s the weekend and we can all relax.’
‘Sounds good,’ Marian said, thinking what a nice man he was. And such a great boss. ‘I do like working for you,’ she said. ‘It’s all so interesting and varied. And I love how flexible the working hours are.’
‘I think we’re a good fit,’ Pierce said. ‘You’re good at the marketing stuff too. I’m so glad you’re happy.’
‘Who’s the new client?’ Marian asked.
‘A self-published author,’ Pierce said. ‘Someone who’s done so well promoting on his own. But now he needs help with all that so he can concentrate on his writing. I think you might have heard his name. He’s very popular around here.’
Marian’s heart sank. She knew who that author was. ‘Are you talking about John Peters?’