Before she left, Sophy turned to kiss her cheek.
She squeezed her arm lightly as she released her. ‘I’m very glad that Saul married you, Lucy,’ she told her, frowning slightly as she saw the sparkle of tears in the brown eyes. ‘My dear, is something wrong? Don’t you feel well?’
‘I’m fine… Just overwhelmed by your kindness,’ Lucy told her shakily. ‘I thought you’d probably loathe me, especially when I think of the way my father behaved towards Saul.’
‘George was my brother, don’t forget,’ Sophy reminded her drily. ‘I know exactly what he was like; we never saw eye to eye as children. I liked your mother very much though. She was a sweet girl.’ She frowned and then said honestly, ‘I must say I was angry when I heard what George had done with the estate—but I suppose I should have expected it. He always was almost obsessive about it. He must have been bitterly disappointed when his second marriage produced another daughter.’
Lucy was beginning to feel the effects of the long flight; exhaustion creeping over her and Saul’s mother’s warm reception of her relaxing her normal guard, she replied without thinking, ‘Oh yes, especially with Oliver being born before he and Fanny…’ As she realised what she was saying she went silent, a dark tide of guilty colour stealing up under her skin.
Sophy frowned again, and then said slowly, ‘Are you saying that Oliver is George’s child?’
She had said too much to retract now and, biting her lip, Lucy nodded her head. ‘That was why he sold off so much of the estate. He wanted to provide for Oliver. He wanted to have him made legitimate so that he could inherit but Fanny wouldn’t hear of it. She went frantic at the very suggestion because she said she couldn’t endure the gossip it would lead to. I don’t think she ever really understood my father’s obsession for the Manor. She could see no real advantage in Oliver inheriting it, especially when my father had provided so well for him financially.’
‘If Oliver had been legitimate, would he have been able to keep the Manor going—financially I mean?’
‘No,’ Lucy told her honestly. ‘And I think in his heart my father knew that. If he himself had lived much longer he would have had to sell—either that or let the house deteriorate around him. The estimate for the roof repairs alone was nearly £250,000, more than my father realised from everything he sold.’
‘Saul intends to keep it—and to have it fully restored. He can afford to of course. Thanks to my husband Saul’s a very, very wealthy man. Harry gave both girls a million dollars when they married but Saul is his partner in the business. Those two are much on the same wavelength when it comes to the construction industry, and they’re very close—much closer in many ways than if they were actually father and son.
‘I’m glad Saul found you, Lucy. We’ve been worried about him; wanting to see him settling down with a wife and family and yet worried that he might marry the wrong girl. He’s had lots of girlfriends—even several serious relationships—but I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen him genuinely in love. I could tell when he came home when Harry was ill that he wasn’t really with us, but of course we already knew about you from his letters and phone calls.
‘I’ll leave you now,’ Sophy said with a smile. ‘If I stay here much longer it will be dinner time and neither of us will be ready.’
Alone in the suite, Lucy went to stare out of the window, turning only when Tomás came in with their cases, which he put in the bedroom. It had surprised her to hear that Saul had talked about her to his family. If all he had intended all along was simply to pay her back for her childish cruelty all those years ago, surely he would have kept quiet about her. But perhaps because of their blood relationship his mother had been curious about her? Telling herself that such speculation would do nothing but re-activate hopes she already knew were pointless, Lucy searched through her case for the silk dress she intended to wear for dinner, noting with relief that it was not creased, and taking it and fresh underwear with her into the bathroom.
She was dressed and putting on her make-up when Saul came into the suite.
‘I didn’t unpack your case because I wasn’t sure what you’d want,’ she told him, watching him unfasten and then flick back its lid.
When he selected a white tuxedo and dark trousers, she knew she had been right in thinking his parents would dine in some formality.
Physically they made a well-matched couple, she thought miserably half an hour later as she caught a glimpse of their double reflection in the bedroom mirror, but they weren’t a couple at all—at least not in the true sense of the word. Just two people held together by the demands and responsibility of the new life they had so thoughtlessly conceived.