“I’m not sure,” she said. And then she collapsed against him. “Is it really all over?”
“Yes. I doubt that he will bother us again. He would be mad to try it,” Emrys said, wrapping his arms round her.
*
Later, after theirguests had departed and they were alone in their bed, Annis turned in Emrys’s arms and said, “The only thing I don’t understand is why Mama kept the secret of their marriage even to her grave. Why would she do that?”
“I doubt we will ever know that, love,” he said.
She traced a finger over his chest, thinking back to her last moments with her mother, wishing she had told her—
Sitting up with a jerk she said, “The box!”
“What?” he said bewildered. She pushed back the bedclothes and padded over to the bookcase against the wall where her mother’s wooden box sat. She brought it back to the bed and climbed back in.
“Emrys, is there any way there could be something hidden in this box? It was Mama’s, and she gifted it to me on her death. It’s where she kept the ring. I’m wondering if there might be something else in it? I can’t believe she wouldn’t tell me...”
He took the box from her and examined it, turning it this way and that, upside down. “Annis, bring that candle closer, will you?”
She picked up the beside candle and held it while he ran his fingers over the scratched and dulled surface of the box that must have once been highly polished. He unlatched the clasp and opened the box removing its contents: a collection of papers her mother had left her, things from her childhood, the papers for the school, and her will. He felt around inside the box and said, “Ah! I think—”
“What?”
“It has a false bottom, I think. See, it is much narrower and shallower on the inside than one would expect.”
“Why did I never notice that?”
“You weren’t looking for it. Now, how to release—” He frowned, running his fingers all over the inside of the box. “This bit of wood here,” he muttered, pointing to a square of wood flush with the inside panel, near the lip at the front. Using his nail, he prized it out and underneath revealed a catch. Lifting it, the bottom of the box popped up. Raising it up on its hinge, a space was revealed and sitting in it an envelope. He drew it out and handed it to Annis, who took it with shaking fingers.
Her name was inscribed on it in her mother’s spidery writing.
She looked at him, and he smiled encouragingly, putting the box aside. “Open it.”
“I’m almost afraid to,” she said with a tremulous smile. “I realize now, looking back, how afraid Mama was all the time, how protective she was of me. I didn’t realize it then. I just accepted that Aunt had an anxious disposition. But now I am sure it was because she was afraid. I almost don’t want to know what is in this!”
“Annis! I am going to expire of curiosity if you don’t open it!” he said, half joking to make her smile. “What’s the worst that could happen, love? At least you might know what really happened.”
She nodded and opened the envelope, spreading out the single sheet.
Her eyes scanned it briefly then she began to read out loud.
My dearest Annis,
If you are reading this, I am dead, and you have managed to figure out the box’s secret. You will have found the ring, too, if I didn’t give it to you. There is so much to tell you and so much you will need to forgive me for. The ring contains the information you need to know to prove the legitimacy of your birth. I put it there for you to find.
I kept it all from you for your safety, I hope you will come to understand that with time. One will do anything to protect one’s child, and you, my precious baby, are my child.
You must know that I loved him, your father, and he loved me. Of that I am absolutely convinced. He left us to return home because his mother had died, but he always meant to come back to us. I discovered some time later that he had been in an accident, and I was told at the time he was dead.
He’d had a falling out with his family before we met. His father was a harsh man, and he knew he would not approve of our marriage. Your father impressed upon me the need for caution until he could make all right with his sire. I believed, for a while, he had not had that opportunity.
It was only sometime later that I discovered my mistake. That was when his father, your grandfather, found me and threatened me. Nicolas was truly dead by then. It broke my heart all over again to learn he hadn’t died in the accident, only two years later from acongestion of the lungs. But the accident had robbed him of his memories of me and of you.Thatwas why he didn’t come for us.
Your main question will be why I covered up the fact that we were married. It is because his father made me. He said he would “eliminate you” if I didn’t. Even now I hesitate to tell you all this, for I am afraid that with my death he may still find a way to hurt you.
I pray that the dear Lord will keep you safe, my baby girl, and I am so sorry to have kept the truth from you, but I did it to keep you safe. Please know that you were a much-loved daughter of both your parents, and you were prevented from claiming your birthright through no fault of either of us.
All my love,
