The House at Ladywell: A Mystery Romance by Nicola Slade

Author:Nicola Slade [Slade, Nicola]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Crooked Cat Books
Published: 2017-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

(ii)

I splashed cold water on my face and Patrick looked over my shoulder as I came out of the bathroom.

‘If it’s okay with you, I’d love to have a bath in here tonight. It’s another museum piece and I want to take a closer look at that little old window and the big one downstairs.’ He smiled reassuringly. ‘When we’ve looked at this mysterious box I’d like a proper tour of your house, Freya.’

I pulled myself together and gave him a watery smile. ‘Fair enough. Let’s get it over with, then you’ll understand why I’m such an emotional wreck. I don’t know what it is about this place but that’s the second time since I arrived that I’ve bawled my eyes out.’

He looked concerned, but I led him into Violet’s room where he went straight to the window.

‘This must have been quite a place,’ he whistled. ‘When it was all one house and the garden hadn’t been chopped about. Even now it’s got to be around an acre I should think. She must have been quite a character, your distant cousin Violet.’

I nodded and carefully emptied the Tunbridge-ware box on to the bed. There were the letters, the photographs, a couple of newspaper clippings, and Violet’s notes, along with my own birth certificate. I gestured mutely and he came away from the window.

His face was impassive as he quickly scanned the sentences that had changed my life, then he went back to the top and read it again, more slowly.

‘Bloody hell! No wonder your foundations have been rocked, sweetheart. What a thing to turn up in an old box. Let’s see what else there is.’

Not a lot, was the answer to that. A photograph showed a middle-aged woman, a younger one and a toddler dressed in a broderie anglaise dress and little buttoned boots. I rummaged and found the newspaper article about Dorothy Wellman’s retirement.

‘I think the younger woman is Dorothy,’ I showed the photos to Patrick. ‘Look, she’s got the same stern gaze and those eyebrows look as though they could frown quite fiercely. Useful for a headmistress. The baby must be Violet and the older woman is Dorothy’s mother. I wonder how she took the news of an illegitimate grandchild. Because that’s the only inference I can take from the absent father on Violet’s birth certificate.’

‘She loved the baby,’ he said quietly and I stared at him.

‘Look,’ he said, pointing to the photograph. ‘She’s holding the little one’s hand and smiling at her. It must have been tough for them.’

I peered at the photograph and saw that he was right. ‘You really are a very nice man, aren’t you?’

‘Glad you realise it.’ His voice was cocky but his eyes were serious as they met mine. I caught my breath and went back to the scatter of papers on the bed where I found a pencilled note that had been paper-clipped to Violet’s note and come adrift. It was a brief explanation that the attempts at pregnancy would take place one at a time.

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