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‘You think there’s a chance I’m not.’
Hugh fell silent. ‘I heard the rumours, of course I did. I don’t want to believe them. I don’t want it to be true. She was the love of my life, and I thought I was hers. But the fact is you don’t look like a Somerville, Oliver.’
‘Doesn’t he take after Mummy’s side of the family?’ Carys asked.
Hugh glanced at Carys, then at Oliver. So did Abigail. She wished she hadn’t dragged them all into this – including Hugh. ‘I am so sorry.’
Everyone turned to look at her.
She voiced her thoughts. ‘I wish I hadn’t shown you all that stupid home movie.’ The last thing Abigail had intended was to hurt the Somervilles, the family she loved. ‘Now, I wish you hadn’t taken the test.’
Oliver shook his head. ‘I’m not sorry. I want to know.’ He turned to his father. ‘Don’t you – once and for all?’
‘You are my son – and that’s that.’
Oliver frowned. ‘And if I’m not, then the Hall doesn’t pass to me – does it?’
‘I told you not to take a test. You know that. You can’t.’
Abigail caught Carys eyeing her father coldly.
‘You’ve believed the rumours were true all along – haven’t you?’
He hung his head.
‘Well, what if they weren’t true? What if Mummy didn’t have an affair?’
He looked up sharply.
Abigail could see the look in his eyes. He hadn’t thought of that. ‘Okay, do it. Check the tests. But I have to ask you, Oliver, are you prepared to lose all this if—’
‘He’s not going to lose anything,’ Carys said defiantly. ‘We all agreed, didn’t we, that all this stays between us?’
Abigail nodded her head vigorously.
They all turned to Hugh. Carys said, ‘Daddy – you said that whatever the result, Oliver is still your son. He is still a Somerville.’
Hugh nodded.
Carys clapped her hands. ‘Great – let’s do this.’
As Oliver logged on to AncestryDNA, Abigail caught Hugh frowning at him. He noticed her staring and looked away.
Abigail was well aware of how Hugh had treated his sister Daphne. She hadn’t inherited a bean from their late father. Hugh had strictly observed primogeniture and the whole estate had gone to him. Would he really let Oliver falsely inherit Somerville Hall, the place that had been in his family for generations, if it turned out he wasn’t a Somerville?
Abigail turned her attention to Oliver. Hugh had warned him not to do this. She stood there, crossing her fingers, praying that Carys was right and Oliver had just taken after their mother’s side.
‘Okay, whose shall we check first?’ He looked about him. Nobody wanted to make that call.
It was Carys who spoke up. ‘Let’s check mine against Toby’s first. After all, this was about finding out if Toby was related to the Somervilles. Everyone in agreement?’
Abigail smiled at Carys. So did Hugh.
Oliver nodded. ‘Good idea.’ He got out of his seat. ‘Abigail …’
She threw him a questioning look. So did Carys. He rolled his eyes. ‘Carys’s and my DNA results are in the database. That means if you log on to your late husband’s account and run a search, if he is related, then …’
‘Yours will show up as some kind of match.’ Abigail got his drift.
Abigail lowered herself into Oliver’s seat and logged on to Toby’s account. She ran a search. It didn’t take long to get a match.
‘I see my name there. What does it say?’ Carys asked.
Abigail stared at the screen and slowly turned around in her seat to face them. ‘It says you and Toby were siblings.’
