CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT #4
Cristy shook her head and decided they could go no further until Sadie knew what she’d been accused of. As the girl’s mouth fell open and tears flooded her eyes, Anna went to put an arm around her.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sadie choked. ‘I – I had no idea … Oh my God! I’ve shown you the journals, you have copies, so you can see it’s not my writing.
I can give you samples of Lottie’s that match …
But why would she try to make out I interfered with Lottie’s medication?
I’d never do anything like that. I loved Lottie.
I love them both, but this … It’s a form of coercion, isn’t it?
If we keep going she’ll accuse me of a murder I didn’t commit, of forging Lottie’s journals …
She’d never be able to prove it, because none of it’s true …
Oh my God, this is terrible. First she kills my mother, then her own sister … ’
‘So you believe in Lottie’s journals?’ Cristy said gently.
Sadie nodded. ‘Yes, I do. I think everything happened the way Lottie wrote it, maybe until the car was forced off the road. And that, maybe that’s something they did together?’
Cristy nodded, suspecting the same. Seeing the way Sadie was trying so hard not to show how broken and betrayed she felt inside, Cristy’s heart went out to her.
‘What I’m asking myself now,’ Connor said, ‘is why would Lottie write it all down?’
Sadie swallowed hard. ‘It must have been in case it did all come out. If it did, then she’d have a version that she could claim had more credibility because it was written at the time.’
‘But pushing all the blame onto her sister,’ Cynthia said. ‘What a terrible thing to do, if she was involved too.’
‘I’m sure Mia would have done the same if she’d thought of it first,’ Sadie responded bleakly. ‘It’s only now that I’m really seeing just how toxic their relationship was.’
Holding firmly to one of Sadie’s hands, Jasper said, ‘We’re going to have some big decisions to make in the next few weeks, such as do we want to stay on at the lodge after all this?’
Sadie looked lost, haunted, as she rested her head against his and said, ‘Before that we’ll need to do what we can to get the injunction lifted on the journals.
I can see,’ she said to Cristy, ‘that it would totally screw up your series if you can’t use the most …
damning parts, and after everything you’ve done, all the research and moral support …
’ She sighed despairingly. ‘I don’t want to do it to Mia,’ she said, ‘but at the same time we can’t let her hold us to ransom like this.
I mean, I don’t think for one minute that she’s serious about using that noose, or about trying to blame me for something she knows I didn’t do …
But once I leave, if she feels she doesn’t have anything left to live for … Maybe she will do her worst.’
‘We need to talk it through with the lawyers before we go any further,’ Cristy said. ‘We know we can’t use Lottie’s record of the crucial day as it stands, but maybe there are ways around it?’
Sadie looked confused.
‘Sorry, thinking aloud,’ Cristy told her. ‘But whatever we do, we have to be certain it doesn’t fast track us straight into court.’
‘Definitely not where you want to end up,’ David declared, glancing up from his phone. ‘Right now though Sadie has other things to think about.’ His eyes were on her and his voice softened as he said, ‘They’re just coming in through the gates.’
As colour rushed to Sadie’s cheeks Cristy felt a wrenching of nerves in her own heart.
It was hard to imagine how momentous this was for Sadie when she, Cristy, like everyone else in the room, had always known exactly where she was from, and who her family was.
Today, the next few minutes, were probably going to change everything for Sadie in ways too big and too subtle even to guess at, and Cristy could only wish she wasn’t feeling so uneasy about it.
Why was she so tense, so worried that something would go wrong, that it would all blow up in their faces, when she had no logical reason to feel that way?
Picking up on Sadie’s nerves again, she said, gently, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do this alone?’
Sadie shook her head unsteadily. ‘No, I want you to be there,’ she insisted. ‘I think it helps that you’ve already met them, and like I said, I’d really love to have a record of it.’
‘In which case,’ Connor said, ‘shall I video it for you?’
Sadie broke into a smile. ‘Yes, please, that would be lovely.’ Then to Jasper, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.’
He took her in his arms as David said, ‘OK, unless we want to bring them straight into the kitchen, you guys should probably start making your way to the drawing room.’
‘Can I come?’ Anna whispered to Sadie.
‘Of course,’ Sadie replied, squeezing her hand. ‘You all should,’ she told David and Cynthia. ‘Let’s give them the biggest and warmest welcome we can.’
*
The drawing room was large and grand, with high, corniced ceilings, capacious furniture and an entire wall of towering sash windows overlooking an early blossoming copse just beyond Cynthia’s rose garden.
As they entered Anna crossed to the ornate limestone fireplace and lit the touch paper beneath a stack of knotted twigs, while Sadie, mindful of her father’s photophobia, went to close the shutters and turn on the lamps.
A moment later she was standing in the midst of them all, hands bunched to her face as she listened to the voices outside, David greeting the guests and bringing them through to where everyone was waiting.
Cristy watched the girl closely, never more beautiful, nor vulnerable or hopeful.
As their eyes met Cristy felt her tension fleetingly increase, before she relaxed and willed inner strength Sadie’s way.
It was going to be all right, it really was.
David came through the door first and held it wide for Evie to follow, and as Lukas and Gabe came in after them Cristy heard Sadie’s breath catch on a sob.
‘Sasha?’ Gabe said, removing his dark glasses. ‘Sasha, my girl?’
‘Hello, Dad,’ Sadie whispered, her mouth trembling on the words. ‘Thanks – thanks for coming all this way.’
He broke into a smile and Cristy realized this was the first time she’d seen him look happy.
‘I’m glad we did,’ he said. ‘I was very keen to see you,’ and as tears dropped onto his cheeks Sadie ran to him, crying too.
‘It’s all right,’ she soothed, holding him tight. ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’
He nodded, and his voice was muffled as he said, ‘I missed you so much. I was always thinking of you …’
‘Sssh,’ she whispered brokenly, ‘we’ve found one another now and that’s what matters.’
Cristy glanced at Connor as he captured the moments with his phone.
Lukas came forward and cupped Sadie’s face in his hands. ‘I’m Lukas,’ he told her, ‘your uncle. I know you probably don’t remember me …’
‘I remember your hat,’ she told him. ‘You used to wear a hat.’
Laughing in surprise he said, ‘I did. You’re right.
I can’t believe … Imagine you remembering that when you were so small …
’ His voice faltered, but he pushed on, his accent a little more pronounced as he said, ‘I can’t tell you how happy we are to see you.
We always hoped you’d come to find us one day … ’
‘I wish you’d come for me,’ she said. ‘If you knew where I was …’
‘We thought you were safe, that you were getting everything you needed, but we wrote, many times … It seems clear now that our letters were intercepted. Oh, what mistakes we made … Can we ever forgive ourselves?’
‘No, please don’t say that. You’re here now and we have so much to catch up on.’ Sadie turned back to her father and Cristy suspected that only Janina had ever looked at him with so much tenderness.
‘We have many stories to share with you,’ Gabe said shakily, ‘memories of when you were born and how precious you were …’
‘I want to hear them all,’ she said, gazing up into his eyes, ‘but we should at least let you sit down first.’
He smiled again and let her lead him to a sofa where she sat between him and Lukas holding their hands. ‘To think,’ she said to Anna, ‘I’ve only ever had women in my life, and now I only have men.’
‘Hey, just a minute,’ Evie cried, from where she’d been left at the door, ‘you have me too and last time I looked …’
Sadie leapt up to embrace her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she gushed, ‘so stupid of me. You’re Evie, obviously, and I couldn’t be happier to meet you.’
‘The feeling’s mutual,’ Evie assured her, patting her back. ‘I’ve heard so much about you over the years, and now here you are, as beautiful as a summer’s day and exactly as I always pictured your mother to be.’
‘She is,’ Gabe assured her. ‘You’re just like her, Sasha,’ and as more tears pooled in his eyes Sadie went back to his side and wept with him.