“Why did you do it, Papa?”
“Because I know you, my girl. There would be no Season, no husband. You’d devote yourself to taking care of me and the business both. That’s not the life I envisaged for you.”
“But it’s the life I would havechosen.”
Charles wasn’t listening. He shook his head, pillow rustling under his head.
“I want to see you married and settled, like Louisa. All this business with sketching and managing the offices has gone far enough.”
Eleanor swallowed hard. “Papa…”
“It’s time you heard it all. Please, don’t argue with me. Jonathan tells me that my heart can’t take it. I’ll recover, he says, but each attack will be worse than the last. I talked this all over with Jonathan and Louisa when the diagnosis was first made, and we all agreed it was for the best. Foryourbest.”
Frustration and indignation surged through her. Eleanor closed her eyes briefly.
“Go on,” she managed at last. “Tell me.”
He drew in a breath. It rasped and gurgled in his throat, until Eleanor wanted to cry.
“We decided long ago that you, Eleanor, were going to have to be persuaded into the right course. I don’t want you shackled to the business. If Jonathan had had more interest, then maybe… but that’s by and by. I always intended to see you married, because you will not be wasting your life in the pottery business. I’m sorry, my darling girl. It’s decided. I didn’t want you to know I was dying…”
“Papa!”
“Well, what would you have done about it? I wanted to see you enjoying your life. I don’t want your last memories of me to be all misery. I wanted to see you dancing and having fun, with suitors aplenty. I didn’t want you to think of me ill until it was too late to avoid it.”
She squeezed his hand. Tears were coming thick and fast now.
“Papa, you can’t imagine…”
“So, I decided, when Jonathan told me that my days were numbered,” Charles ploughed on doggedly, “that my will must be adjusted.”
A twinge of fear jolted down Eleanor’s spine. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I will leave you and Louisa just less than a fifty percent share in the business. Twenty-five percent for you, and twenty-four percent for Louisa. The shares will provide plenty of money, along with what you’ll get from me when I die.”
“I… but… I don’t understand, Papa,” Eleanor stammered. “I thought I would take over when you weren’t able to. That’s what I wanted.”
“Well, I want you married and settled.”
“Who will get the other fifty-one percent?”
Eleanor knew the answer even before Charles spoke it. He sighed, closing his eyes. In that moment, he looked ancient.
“I will leave the remaining fifty-one percent of the business to Lord Henry Willenshire. The changes to my will are already made.”
Eleanor got unsteadily to her feet.
“You… you’re leaving the business to Lord Henry?”
Charles looked a little guilty, not quite meeting her eye.
“He is a good man, and a clever one. You needn’t worry about him forcing you out – he’ll let you have a say in the business; I know he will.”
“Yes, but Papa…” Eleanor bit off her protests. Charles looked ill and would only get more ill if she argued with him.
The decision has been made. It was made over a year ago, and they all knew.
They all knew. They all kept it from me.
