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Carys stared at her, making her feel a little uncomfortable. She continued, ‘So, after seeing this home movie, and the obvious likeness to you, I thought there had to be more to it than that.’ Abigail didn’t add that she’d heard from The Gossip Girls, Mabel and Marjorie, from the charity shop in Cobblers Yard, that Daphne wasn’t one for sentimentality.
‘You’re thinking that your husband, Toby, was related to my family?’
Abigail nodded. That much she thought was obvious, but her main theory, that Daphne had had a lovechild with her on-off lover, Albert, she now knew not to be true. The results of Joss’s DNA test had proved that.
‘Are you seriously suggesting that Toby’s mother and my father …?’
‘No, no. That’s not it. I found a DNA testing kit in his things. He’d made a discovery; the woman who’d brought him up, who he believed was his mother, wasn’t. They weren’t biologically related.’
‘Her name is Joyce, isn’t it? The woman you were talking to Albert about?’
‘Yes. I believe Joyce and Albert were the two trustees.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. But I’m afraid Joyce has dementia, so I can’t get any coherent information from her over all this – apart from one thing; I think something happened involving two babies the night of the Great Storm. But what exactly happened, I have no clue. And you heard Albert’s reaction when I mentioned Joyce. He told me, us, to leave well alone.’
‘Okay, that’s weird.’ Carys stared out into space. ‘My father said the same thing when he discovered that we’d hired a lawyer. It all came out when he found out you were no longer working at the Hall, and that we’d dismissed you. Well, it wasn’t my idea, actually – it was Oliver’s.’
Abigail steered the subject away from Oliver. ‘So, what did your father say when he found out I’d lost my job? And you were going after the cottage I’d inherited?’
‘Well, that’s when things got very strange. Just like Albert, he warned us to leave well alone. In fact, he went ballistic when he found out we’d put the wheels in motion to contest the trust our aunt had set up.’
‘What happened – did you or Oliver find out why?’
‘No, and well, you know Oliver. That was like a red rag to a bull. Now, he wants to get to the bottom of what our father is hiding from us.’ Carys paused. ‘I want to show Oliver this home movie. Do you mind?’
‘Of course not. These were your aunt’s home movies. By rights, they belong to you.’
‘By rights, the cottage should belong to us too, but I want to find out why she gave it to a complete stranger.’
Abigail glanced at the white screen, the picture frozen in time at the point where four children were sitting together, ready to blow out candles on three birthday cakes. She turned to Carys. ‘But that’s the thing. I don’t think Toby was a complete stranger.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Will you take a DNA test?’
Carys surprised her when she replied, ‘Of course. Although I can’t speak for Oliver.’
That didn’t matter to Abigail; she only needed one of them to take the test.
‘It would be fun to find out if we’re like distant cousins or something. But what I don’t get is if he was family, why Aunt Daphne didn’t tell us?’
Abigail pursed her lips as she stared at the screen; she doubted they were just distant cousins, although just who the Somervilles were to Toby she wanted to find out too.
‘Oh, bother, there’s no mobile reception.’
Abigail glanced at Carys, who was staring at her mobile phone. She wondered who she was desperate to call. ‘What about upstairs? Can you get a signal there?’ Cary’s asked, bouncing off the sofa.
Abigail shook her head. ‘Sometimes, but it’s very patchy. And I haven’t got a land line either. Although …’
She glanced out of the window. Carys followed her gaze.
‘The lighthouse!’
Abigail was already shaking her head.
‘I wasn’t going to knock, Abigail. I saw the stairs outside. What’s the worst that could happen? He could tell us to leave if he catches us up there.’
‘Actually, the boot’s on the other foot.’
‘I’m sorry – what?’ Carys asked from the door.
