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A few minutes later, after refreshments had been brought down from the house, everyone took their seats again. Nate, Sarah, Lili and Ray sat on the two sofas. Elspeth had a seat on the only upholstered chair by the fireplace, and Maisie was seated on a cushion on the floor. William settled on his father’s lap.
Alex hovered in the background, standing behind Lili. ‘Um, look, this is a family thing. I guess I’d better go.’
Lili turned around and reached for his hand. ‘You’re Joseph’s legal representative. I think you should stay.’
Elspeth seconded that motion. ‘He’s going to need you.’
Alex looked at Lili. ‘Is that the only reason you want me to stay – for Joseph?’
The question embarrassed her. There was an uncomfortable silence in which Lili caught Nate staring at her.
Ray was still annoyed that Elspeth had told him off earlier, for reasons he couldn’t quite fathom. He frowned at her. ‘I still don’t know why you suggested I have done Nate and Sarah out of their inheritance?’
Elspeth’s eyes flicked to the photo in her hand. Ray was about to say something when Elspeth held up her hand. Nate whispered in Lili’s ear, ‘No prizes for what her profession used to be.’
Lili smiled. She felt like she was back at school when the headmistress walked into the room and everyone fell silent.
‘Joseph is the best person to tell this story,’ announced Elspeth.
They all breathed a sigh of disappointment.
‘But as he isn’t here right now, I will tell it, and all will become clear.’ She held up a finger. ‘But no interruptions.’
‘But—’
She threw a stern look at Ray. ‘That goes for you too.’
Ray shut his mouth.
‘Otto …’
‘Who’s Otto?’ Maisie asked. No one else dared.
Elspeth’s expression softened. She glanced around the room. ‘A long time ago, when George was a young man, before he came to live at the summerhouse with Joseph, he had another name. He was called Otto.’
While the group exchanged surprised glances, Alex groaned loudly. He now had a good idea what the irregularity about his client was – it had something to do with Joseph’s father’s past.
Maisie just nodded her head and smiled at the old lady who, it turned out, was family. She looked at her dad and her grandparents and Lili. The horrible feeling that she had carried around in her tummy all the time, the sense of dread – as though something bad was going to happen – had gone.
She didn’t have to worry about her mum any more or where they would live, or what food might be in the cupboard; she had all these people to care for her. It was, she decided, the best feeling in the world, having a big family.
The only times she had felt like this before had been when she was with Lili. That was why she had loved staying with Lili and Alex. She knew Alex didn’t want her around. He didn’t play with her and talk to her like her own daddy now did, but he never said bad things to her and told her to go away like her pretend daddies – her mum’s boyfriends.
‘So, back to my story, or George’s story … or Otto’s, as he was then known.’ She paused. ‘Is everyone with me so far?’
There were murmurs ofyes, kind of.
Sarah had a question. ‘Otto doesn’t sound like an English name. I thought my grandparents were from London?’
Ray exchanged a glance with Sarah.
Elspeth frowned. ‘Just be patient, Sarah, I’m getting to that. Like Maisie said, I should start at the beginning …’ She paused for a moment and glanced at Lili. ‘It all started on the island of Corfu.’
‘Corfu?’ Ray glanced at Lili with a question he had kept to himself for now. Lili caught him looking at her and guessed what he was thinking: what did this have to do with her? She thought of the photo Elspeth was still holding and wondered what her connection was to this family. She looked around the room. Weretheyher relatives? Oh, how she wished that would turn out to be true. She loved them like her own.
Elspeth continued, ‘Joseph’s parents were artists. They lived in London and travelled abroad a lot to visit friends.’
Lili stared at Elspeth, thinking,but who was he really?She knew he wasn’t the boy on the gravestone. ‘But who was—’
