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‘I guess so.’
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ said Lili, wide-eyed.
‘What are you thinking?’ The trouble was, Abigail had Toby’s unopened letter on her mind. She wasn’t looking forward to reading it. Was it about the cottage? If she opened it now, would it answer all her questions about The Hideaway and the AncestryDNA kit she’d found? There was only one way to find out. Abigail was about to open her handbag when she glanced at Lili and changed her mind. She wanted to arrive at the cottage and be on her own first.
‘I’m thinking,’ said Lili, ‘that his mum may have had an affair with Lord Somerville. That would make him Daphne’s nephew and would explain why she gave the cottage to him.’
Lili took her eyes off the road again to glance at Abigail. ‘What do you think? That makes sense.’
‘Maybe.’
‘What do you mean –maybe?’
Abigail sighed. ‘Until I speak to his mum, it’s all just conjecture, isn’t it?’
‘Do you think she will tell you who his father was?’
Abigail was wondering if it really mattered. He was gone, and all she was left with was a cottage she didn’t want.
Lili hit the motorway. They had a good hour or so left of the journey. It was beginning to rain. She switched the windscreen wipers on. ‘Have you any ideas what you’re going to do with the cottage? Will you keep it – do you think?’
Abigail sighed. ‘Honestly, I don’t know.’
‘Of course you don’t. Sorry.’
‘It’s okay, Lili. I know I’ve got to figure it out. It’s just—’
‘It’s all right, you don’t have to explain.’
They fell silent. Abigail thought,It’s never going to be all right,He’s gone.What am I going to do without him?She was okay in the flat, with things to do like spring cleaning and clearing out his stuff. There was a reason she didn’t want to go to the cottage; there would be nothing to do but think about him.
‘What’s cine film 8?’
Abigail turned from the window and looked at Lili. ‘Why did you load that stuff in the car?’
‘You mean the projector and the reels?’
‘Yeah. I’m not staying in that cottage, you know.’ It was the one thing Abigail knew for certain. She had no intention of moving in and living there permanently. It might be some people’s dream – a cottage by the sea – but it wasn’t hers. It might have been Toby’s dream, but he wasn’t around.
Lili glanced her way. ‘I didn’t bring it with us for that reason. I just thought that as you weren’t chucking them out, and they belonged to Toby, we should keep them safe. What if something happens to your flat while you’re gone?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, you know, like a burst pipe or something. Things of Toby’s you want to keep could get damaged.’
Abigail stared at Lili. That wasn’t something she had considered. ‘He loved that projector.’ Abigail glanced over her shoulder at the old projector. It wasn’t big. It would easily sit on a coffee table, but the equipment was heavy. Along with the large box of home movie reels, she’d never have been able to bring it with her to the cottage if it hadn’t been for Lili and getting a lift in her van. The train would have been out of the question. She could barely carry the thing out of the house, and that was with Lili’s help.
Abigail sighed and answered Lili’s question. ‘Cine film. It’s what those reels are in the box. In his spare time, Toby loved 8mm film.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ commented Lili, a hint of regret in her voice that she hadn’t really taken the time to get to know the man Abigail had married. And now, at the grand old age of thirty-four, Abigail was a widow. Lili grimaced at how cruel life could be. Worse still, she had no children. She knew that Abigail had had a miscarriage, and after two failed rounds of IVF, she and Toby had been on the verge of giving up on the idea of ever becoming parents. They just didn’t have the money for another treatment – but Lili did, thanks to her legacy.
She did just what she’d said she wouldn’t do and sold one of the paintings she’d inherited to a private collector in return for a good deal of money, most of which went into a trust fund for her oldest friend, Hannah. Lili was very close to Hannah’s daughter, Maisie, and had used some of her inheritance to put Maisie through the private school she’d attended herself. Hannah would never have been able to afford it.
Lili thought that Maisie, a talented artist even though she was still only eight, would benefit from a private education with an emphasis on the arts. Lili still had money over from the sale of that painting. She would have offered to help Abigail and Toby with another round of IVF. She could still do that.
Lili gave her friend a sideways glance. She wouldn’t dream of raising the subject with Abigail – it wouldn’t be appropriate, not right now; not unless she brought up the idea herself. Lili was thinking of the clinic Abigail and Toby had used for IVF. Lili didn’t know the legal ramifications, but she expected that Abigail could still conceive Toby’s baby through the clinic if she wanted to – and if she could afford it. However, from what Lili had seen, it would be a long time before Abigail got over losing Toby – if she ever did.
Lili returned to the subject of the cine film 8 she’d never heard of before. ‘So, about those reels …’
