Chapter 42
Alex took her hand. ‘Are you nervous?’
‘A little,’ Lili replied. It was an understatement. Her stomach was doing backflips at the thought her grandmother would be there. ‘I wish I’d had a chance to meet her beforehand.’
‘I know, but there wasn’t time. You’ll have plenty of time to talk to her after the service.’
Alex pulled the hire car to a stop as the funeral cortège reached the entrance to the small cemetery where Otto had been laid to rest years ago.
‘That’s assuming Miriam comes,’ commented Lili.
‘Ray said in his letter that she would try to make it to Joseph’s funeral. I’m sure she’ll be here.’ Alex put on the handbrake and turned off the engine.
‘Do you think there might be other members of my family from Israel here too?’
‘Well, you’re about to find out.’ People were getting out of the vehicles in front. Alex opened the driver’s door. ‘I think we walk from here.’
Lili got out of the car. There were at least ten other people in front of them. She stared at the figures; some she recognised, like Joseph’s immediate family and Reggie from the music shop, but others she didn’t. Lili was looking for an elderly lady of Mediterranean appearance.
‘I don’t see her,’ Lili whispered as they stepped forward. Theirs had been the last vehicle in the cortège to arrive at the cemetery.
‘Perhaps she’s still in the car.’ Alex glanced behind them. ‘Or they haven’t arrived yet.’
Lili turned around and looked down the empty street. No other cars had been following them. They stood there for a few minutes until Alex said, ‘We’d better catch up with the others. We don’t want to miss the service.’
Lili nodded, wondering if perhaps Miriam had decided not to make the trip to England after all. She was well into her eighties. Lili hoped ill health hadn’t prevented her from coming.
Alex took her hand and squeezed it tight. ‘Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be here.’
Lili caught the nuance in his voice. He didn’t sound as convinced as he was making out. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing; she was a woman of advancing years; maybe ill health had derailed her plans. Lili didn’t want to think about the other explanation; she had decided she didn’t wish to travel all this way to meet her granddaughter after all. Lili swallowed. She was the only grandparent that Lili had left.
Despite the countless people coming forward to claim they were her grandparents, and that she was their long-lost grandchild, Ray had found her paternal grandparents too. Lili’s father had had an all-too-common surname,Jones.Ray remarked that the people trying to pass themselves off as her relatives must be stupid. It was quite straightforward for a genealogist and a DNA test to establish the truth. Even so, it was time-consuming to vet all these dishonest individuals who were claiming to be related to Lili.
It turned out that Ray had ended up with a solid lead. He had received a letter from someone claiming to be Lili’s uncle, her father’s brother. Inside the note was a photo of himself as a young man with his brother. The photo couldn’t lie; it was Lili’s father.
He hadn’t come forward straight away, even though he was aware of the search for Lili’s relatives. His explanation for the delay was that he had wanted to avoid all the media hoopla and attention, although he did want to see his only niece.
They had met secretly at a coffee shop in Aldeburgh the day before Joseph’s funeral. Her paternal grandparents hadn’t been there. They had died several years earlier. Her uncle told her that his parents, both retired doctors, had wanted their sons to go to medical school. But his younger brother, Lili’s father, had dropped out and gone travelling.
Although there was no question in Lili’s mind that the retired doctor was her uncle, Ray had still insisted on a DNA test. However, it was the details he knew that were not in the public arena that had convinced Lili they didn’t need to take a test to prove they were related.
Her uncle had told her that his brother had lived in a kibbutz in Israel. That was where he’d met Lili’s mother. The only other person outside the immediate family who knew that was Connie, and she had her own reasons for staying away from the media fray that had become part of Lili’s life. The reason the press hadn’t descended on Joseph’s funeral, and turned it into a circus, was Elspeth’s foresight in keeping the arrangements under wraps. Anyone attending was sworn to secrecy.
Speaking to her uncle, Lili had found something out. Her father had told him about her – kind of. Lili recalled what her uncle had said:
I’d been travelling. I was in Africa when he died. Just before the motorcycle accident, he told me he had someone he wanted me to meet. After his death, I assumed he’d meant your mother; I knew she’d died in the motorcycle accident too. I didn’t know he was talking about his child – you, Lili. It’s my biggest regret. If I’d known about you, I would have brought you up.’
Her uncle had married but didn’t have any children. It turned out he’d returned from his stint abroad and opened a GP practice in another London borough, where he’d worked until he retired.
Lili thought about how ironic it was that all that time, she’d had family virtually on her doorstep.
Alex went to fetch Lili a drink and a plate of nibbles from the spread Elspeth had laid out in the kitchen. She wasn’t happy; he knew that. Miriam hadn’t turned up.
He made his way through the lounge, which was filled with people from the local community who had come to the wake to pay their respects. Although Joseph had had few close friends, the antiques business had been a stalwart of the local community for decades. Even so, Alex hadn’t expected so many people, but he guessed most of them had seen the news, and the notoriety had something to do with it. He expected the press to turn up at any moment, but it appeared that nobody, not even the locals, had alerted them, out of respect for Joseph and his family.
It took some time for him to find Lili. She was in the lounge, but she had retreated to the conservatory and was sitting in a wicker chair on her own, staring at Joseph’s prize orchids. Bella growled at Alex as he walked in.
‘Whoa! I come bearing gifts.’ Alex presented the dog with a peace offering in the form of a sausage roll off the plate.