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‘That’s reassuring, I guess.’ Hope hesitated. ‘Although it does rather make me worry what you’re expecting to uncover if you think I might want to veto it!’
Cam couldn’t help but laugh. ‘If it’s any consolation, there isn’t a noble family in the land that got where they are through altruistic means. Power is seized by force, held by force, consolidated by force, or at least the threat of it. The history of this nation is steeped in blood and destruction.’
‘You don’t have to sound so excited about it!’
Cam was relieved when he glanced at Hope to find she was giving him a wry smile which took the sting out of her words. ‘Sorry. I think I told you before I’m particularly interested in the history of the church and let me tell you, that’s a very murky topic. One of the reasons why many of the ordinary population were so willing to embrace the overthrow of the Catholic faith was due to the corruption of local priests and monasteries who held the lands they worked on. Promises of salvation were sold like any other commodity and the rents and tithes imposed by the church could be crippling.’
Hope’s mouth quirked. ‘And along came people like my ancestors to fill the void and those poor people ended up crushed under a different kind of system. I remember at least that much from my school history lessons.’
‘Got it in one.’ When she continued to look troubled, Cam wanted to reach out and take her hand, but he settled for giving her shoulder a gentle nudge. ‘Hey, we can’t help the family we are born into, all we can do is try to make things better with what we have. Your family seem to be doing a hell of a lot to support the local community with jobs and opportunities like that training scheme you said your uncle set up.’
Hope nodded. ‘Yes. I suppose that’s true. So, what about you? What’s your family history?’
Cam was a little taken aback by the question, but supposed it was nothing more than natural curiosity on her part. ‘Not as interesting as yours.’ He shook his head. ‘No, that’s not fair. My family aren’t going to be mentioned in connection with royalty anywhere, but every life should be considered of value. My great-grandfather worked in the pits, my mum’s family are from a rural village and their name is in the parish records going back generations. Dad’s a security guard and Mum is still a dinner lady at the same school I went to.’ He let himself remember the pride in her eyes as she poured a ladle of custard over his bowl of treacle sponge. ‘She was always on puddings. My mates used to get an extra big portion now and then, but she was careful never to show me favour.’ He laughed. ‘I also couldn’t get away with anything because if word got to her that I’d been misbehaving or not done my homework properly, then I’d get a lecture for it all the way home. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.’
‘She sounds fabulous, I’d love to meet her one day.’
Cam grinned at the idea of driving his mother through the gates of the estate and watching her expression as she took in the imposing sight of the Hall dominating the landscape as far as the eye could see. She’d probably sniff and make some comment about being glad she didn’t have to worry about heating or hoovering a place that size. ‘I think the two of you would get on like a house on fire.’
‘So, you’ve looked into your family history, then? What did you use? One of those genealogy websites?’
‘Not exactly.’ Turning the laptop slightly so the keyboard was in front of him, Cam brought up his list of saved links. ‘We have access to all sorts of different services via the university including access to the General Records Office. Most people don’t realise that a lot of those popular ancestry research websites are basically front portals for information that is held by the GRO. They’re a bit more user friendly and have nice add-ons where you can build a family tree and stuff like that, but anyone with a bit of computer know-how and some patience could do it all themselves. The university also has access to parish records where they’ve been digitised and a good database of contacts, so we can get help looking at manual records as well.’ Cam glanced at Hope and gave her an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry, I went into lecturer mode for a minute then.’
She grinned and shook her head. ‘No, you’re fine. I like listening to you explain things, you have a really easy way about you which I’m sure your students appreciate. You were telling me about your family…’
‘Oh, yeah. Anyway, I did the whole family tree thing for my parents for their last big anniversary. They are hopeless to buy for, as they always insist they have everything they need and don’t think I should be spending my hard-earned money on them.’ He sighed. ‘I’ve tried to explain that I wouldn’t be earning half what I do if it wasn’t for the two of them, but they won’t have it. I decided to put the skills their support helped me to get into creating something unique for them. I made an album and got copies of marriage and birth certificates, war records for my grandfathers and my great-grandfathers, anything I could get my hands on.’
‘That sounds like a really thoughtful present. I hope they liked it.’
Cam nodded, thinking about the stunned look on his mum’s face when she’d understood the significance of what he’d given them. ‘I wanted to show them how proud I was of not just them, but all of my family.’
‘No robber barons in your bloodline then?’ Hope sounded rueful again.
He laughed. ‘I found a lots-of-great-times-uncle who was transported to Australia for being a thief. Someone on my mother’s side did time for assaulting a policeman. There was a distant cousin who was jailed for being part of the suffragette movement. She smashed the windows of the local magistrate’s house.’
‘She sounds like a hero, not a villain.’ Hope still sounded despondent, which hadn’t been Cam’s intention at all. She fiddled with her pen. Tugging the lid on and off, flipping it around in her fingers then setting it back down, only to start the whole routine over again. He wondered if she even knew she was doing it because the movements looked involuntary, like a tic or a stress-coping mechanism. Rather than draw attention to it, he tried again to ease her feelings about her own ancestors.
‘Look, we all have good and bad people in our families because they are just people at the end of the day, regardless of whether they’re born with a silver spoon or a wooden one. I’m sure there’ll be some other philanthropists in your family history, just wait and see what Barnie unearths once he gets going.’
Rather than reassuring her, his words only made Hope look more stressed. He remembered how tired she’d looked that morning and wondered if the family had revisited their discussion about her great-grandfather after he and Barnie had left with Rhys the night before. ‘Is there something specific that’s bothering you?’
Hope glanced up at him, shook her head and reached for her pen. ‘No. Everything is fine. Let’s go over the timetable one more time to make sure we’re not missing anything.’ Cam could spot a polite version of being told to mind his own bloody business when he saw one, so he flipped to the tab with the timeline he’d drafted on it and they went through it from the start.
By mid-afternoon, they both had a to-do list worked out, and Cam was confident they’d be in really good shape by the time he and the team arrived on site. Hope had called Declan and he’d agreed to come over in the morning and meet Cam so they could discuss the site set-up and management. He reached for the custard cream packet, only to find it empty, and checked the time on his laptop screen. ‘Hey, it’s almost three. You must be starving.’
Hope glanced up from her planner, the dark shadows beneath her eyes even more pronounced. ‘I could definitely eat.’ She reached around to knuckle the small of her back. ‘And I definitely need to stretch my legs.’
While she took the dogs out for a walk, Cam made himself busy clearing off the table and setting out a selection of the goodies from the fridge. His phone rang and he knew who it was before he’d glanced at the screen display. ‘Hey, Barnie. How are you getting on?’
‘Great, thanks. My God, Cam, there’s so much stuff here, I could spend the next month wallowing in all this lovely information like the proverbial pig in shit.’
Cam laughed. ‘You always have such a charming way with words about you. Found anything that might be of use regarding the church?’
‘Not so far.’ Barnie’s voice sounded muffled as though he was talking and eating at the same time, which knowing him, he probably was. ‘But I did find a stack of diaries which might have some juicy scandal hidden in the pages.’
Mindful of his conversation with Hope, Cam warned his friend. ‘Let’s try not to yank too many old skeletons out of the family closet, eh?’
Barnie laughed. ‘Point taken. How’s it going with Hope?’
