Chapter 16
F elicity helped Gran clean up after breakfast the next day. Brent had come to breakfast this morning and still sat out in the dining room, sipping coffee and looking through one of his constant companion files. She went out to collect another tray of dirty dishes and Gran came out after her, looking around the room.
“I’ll get those last dishes. I wondered if you could do me a favor. I thought it might look nice to put up some pinwheels in front of the porch. We’re supposed to have a light breeze for the next few days. They’ll look cheerful, don’t you think?”
“They would.” Gran was always trying to make the porch even more inviting. Flags on the Fourth of July, pumpkins at Halloween, and of course, she went all out for Christmas. But Gran was right, the pinwheels would bring a pop of color to the porch. “Are they in the storage shed?”
“No, I think they’re in the house. In the back room.”
“I’ll go hunt for them.”
Gran looked at Brent. “Brent, would you mind helping Felicity? There are so many boxes in storage and I haven’t had time to organize them.”
She shot Gran a glare, knowing perfectly well what her grandmother was doing. She was trying to get them to spend time together.
“Of course, I’ll help.” Brent rose and collected his folders. He sent Felicity a quick look as if asking for her approval.
She hesitated momentarily, still feeling awkward around him after their conversation about just being friends. But she pushed those thoughts aside and nodded. “Actually, that would be great. Would appreciate the help.”
They made their way to the storage room, an awkward silence stretching between them. She turned on the light, illuminating the cluttered space. “I’m not sure where to start.” She looked around the fully packed room.
“I’ll start in the back.” Brent moved to the far end of the room.
They began shifting boxes, carefully setting them aside as they searched. They fell into a rhythm, working together despite the lingering awkwardness.
As Brent moved a particularly large box, he paused, frowning at the wall behind the shelf. “Hey, come take a look at this. Does something seem off to you?”
She walked over, peering at the section of wall he was staring at. At first glance, it looked normal, but as she studied it, she noticed a slight irregularity in the paneling. There was something odd about the way the wall looked. It was as if it wasn’t quite flush with the rest of the surface.
“That’s strange.” She frowned. “I’ve never noticed anything unusual about this wall before.”
He reached out, running his hand along the surface. Suddenly, there was a soft click, and a small section of the wall sprang open, revealing a hidden compartment.
She gasped. “I had no idea that was there. Gran’s never mentioned anything like this.”
He carefully reached into the compartment and pulled out a yellowed envelope. “Look at this,” he said, his voice filled with excitement. “It’s an old letter.”
She leaned in, her curiosity piqued. The envelope was addressed simply to “V” in faded, elegant handwriting. She glanced at Brent, seeing her own mix of surprise and intrigue mirrored in his expression.
“V as in Vera?” She asked.
“I don’t know. Should we open it?” He turned the envelope over in his hands.
She bit her lip, torn between her curiosity and Gran’s warning that they should leave the past in the past. “I’m not sure.”
“It’s been here a long time. You can tell by the weathered paper. I think we should open it. We might find out something that will help us with our research on Prince Lawrence.”
She didn’t know how to stop him and didn’t know if she wanted to stop him. It surely wouldn’t hurt to open the envelope after all this time, would it?
Still hearing Gran’s words in her head, she nodded to him. He opened the envelope and pulled out two pages. “Look, it is addressed to Vera.”
She peered over his shoulder. “What does it say?”
“Let’s move under the light.”
They walked under the light, and she read over his shoulder. When they were done reading, she looked at Brent. “This pretty much confirms that Lawrence and Vera were having an affair, doesn’t it? He tells her he loves her. He talks about their secret meeting place.”
“And that last line. That he’ll send word to her when it’s the right time for her to see the letter. And if she’s reading it, she’ll know where he’ll meet up with her. He asked her to run away with him. But I guess he never did send word, since the letter is still hidden here.”
Gran called from the kitchen. “Felicity? Did you find those pinwheels?”
“Not yet. Still looking,” she called out. She turned to Brent. “Let’s find those pinwheels.”
“Then we can show Darlene the letter.”
“I… I don’t know if we should.”
He looked at her with a confused expression. “Why not?”
“Just… give me time to talk to her first. Can you do that?”
“If that’s what you want.” He handed her the letter, and she tucked it in her pocket.
They resumed their search as her mind whirled with questions. She guessed Lawrence hid the letter on one of his visits. That was the only logical explanation. But why was it still there? Why had he never sent word to Vera to find the letter?
“Found the pinwheels.” Brent interrupted her thoughts and held out a box with pinwheels poking out of the top.
“Great, let’s bring them to Gran.”
They headed to the kitchen, and she was surprised to see Dale sitting at the table, sipping coffee with Gran.
Brent set the box with the pinwheels on the table and stretched out a hand to Dale. “Morning.”
“Good morning. I had a bit of a breakthrough with my research. Found out a bit more about the scandal I remembered reading about.”
“You did? What did you find?” Brent sat down across from Dale. Felicity stood near Gran, noticing the cautious look on her grandmother’s face.
“On one of the prince’s visits, he had a pendant with him. It went missing, or possibly it was stolen. But I found a photo of the pendant and compared it to the one Tori found hidden in Vera’s dressing table at the theater. It’s the very same pendant.”
She looked over at Brent, sure the same thought was going through his mind. This further confirmed that Lawrence and Vera were having an affair.
“Really?”
“My theory is Lawrence gave it to her. But I did some more research into the prince. The year the pendant went missing is the year he formally became engaged to the woman he married a year later. From what I found out, the two were destined to marry from the first year they were born. An arranged marriage of sorts. Who knew they still did that in the 1920s, but I guess they did. She was some kind of royalty too.” Dale set down his cup.
Brent sat looking thoughtful, then spoke. “I wonder if Lawrence and Vera were…” He looked at Gran. “Ah, an item. Maybe they were involved, but then the prince chose his duty and obligation to his country over Vera?”
“Maybe giving her the pendant was his way of saying he was sorry to Vera?” Dale guessed.
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe they were just acquaintances. And she found the pendant after he left. We don’t really know what happened. And it’s not right to make guesses, now is it?” Gran stared at all three of them.
“No, you’re right. We don’t know anything for certain.” Brent looked up, and she saw what he was saying without words. They should show Gran the letter.
Dale rose. “Well, I should head back to the shop. Darlene, thanks for the coffee.” He turned to Brent. “Let me know if I can help with any more research.”
“I will. You’ve been very helpful.”
Dale left, and Brent stood. “I should go too. I want to do some more research on my mother’s family. I’ll see you two later.” He gave her a meaningful stare before leaving the kitchen.
“Gran, we need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. This nonsense about Vera and Lawrence is just gossip and rumors.”
“Actually… it’s not.” She pulled out the letter and handed it to Gran. “We found this in a hidden compartment in the storage room.”
Gran took the letter and walked over to where her reading glasses rested on the counter. She slipped them on and slowly unfolded the pages. She read the pages, then set them on the counter, standing quietly for a moment.
“It appears the prince did have feelings for Vera,” Gran finally said.
“It does look like that.” She took a step closer to Gran. “And he asked her to go away with him.”
“But Dale said he was engaged to some woman from royalty and married her.”
“It does seem like that happened.” She nodded.
“What is Brent going to do with this knowledge?” Gran frowned, eyeing the letter.
“I’m not sure. It is a bit of the island’s history. Especially interesting since it involved a prince.”
“But surely their private life doesn’t need to be made public,” Gran asserted, as if there was no doubt.
“I’m not sure what Brent plans to do.”
“He should do the right thing and just let all this go.” Gran took off her glasses, handed her back the letter, and strode out of the kitchen.
But she wasn’t sure that Brent would agree with Gran’s assertion.